Date of publishing:
25.9.2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21104/CL.2019.3.02
The Český lid provides open access to all of its content under licenseCreative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
Abstract:
This article discusses the topic of food scarcity, hunger, and survival strategies in the context of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. I open up the question of the role of food in the armed conflict using prevailingly the example of Srebrenica (and partially Sarajevo) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I have undertaken a long-term ethnographic fieldwork between 2013-2018. I argue that the people concentrated in the UN "Safe Area" of Srebrenica were intentionally subjected to mass starvation prior to the genocide. One of the most commonly adopted strategies against the food insecurity was food self-provisioning. In particular, I focus on the everyday strategies that emerged during the armed conflict with a focus on humanitarian aid and the consumption of wild and semi-wild plants. I am trying to show that the bio-cultural knowledge of food self-sufficiency plays an important role in increasing the individual survival chance in times of overall material scarcity and starvation.
Keywords
Anthropology of food;food self-provisioning;social change;war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990s;Srebrenica
Article Text
References
Brunborg, Helge – Urdal, Henrik. 2000. The Report on the Number of Missing and Dead from Srebrenica. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. [Online] [2019-02-13] Retrieved from: www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/krstic_srebrenica_000212.pdf.
Beljak, Nives Rittig – Beljak, Bruno. 2014. The Logic of War and Wartime Meals. In: Collinson, Paul – Macbeth, Helen (eds.): Food in Zones of Conflict: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. New York – Oxford: Berghahn: 95–105.
Carmichael, Cathie. 2003. Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans: Nationalism and the Destruction of Tradition. London – New York: Routledge. This edition published by Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Collingham, Lizzie. 2012. The Taste of War: World War Two and the Battle for Food. United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Collinson, Paul – Macbeth, Helen (eds.). 2014. Food in Zones of Conflict: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. New York – Oxford: Berghahn.
Duijzings, Ger. 2002. Srebrenica: A ‘Safe’ Area, Appendix IV, History and Reminders in East Bosnia. In: Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. [2019-02-13] Retrieved from: www.niod.nl/sites/niod.nl/files/G.%20Duijzings%20-%20Geschiedenis%20en%20herinnering%20in%20Oost-Bosnië.%20De%20achtergronden%20van%20de%20val%20van%20Srebrenica%20-%20Engels.pdf.
Douglas, Mary. 2001. Purity and Danger. An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London – New York: Routledge. This edition published by Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Facts about Srebrenica. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. [Online] [2019-02-13] Retrieved from: www.icty.org/x/file/Outreach/view_from_hague/jit_srebrenica_en.pdf.
Halilovich, Hariz. 2015. Places of Pain: Forced Displacement, Popular Memory and Trans-local Identities in Bosnian War-torn Communities. New York – Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Hasanović, Hasan. 2016. Surviving Srebrenica. United Kingdom: Lumphanan Press.
Honig, Jan W. – Both, Norbert. 1997. Srebrenica – Hronika ratnog zločina. Sarajevo: Ljiljan.
Huss-Ashmore, Rebecca – Johnston, Susan L. 1997. Wild Plants as Famine Foods: Food Choice Under Conditions of Scarcity. In: Macbeth, Helen (ed.): Food Preferences and Taste: Continuity and Change. Providence – Oxford: Berghahn Books: 83–100.
International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991. 2006. Prosecutor vs. Momčilo Krajišnik. Judgement. Case: IT-00-39-T. Date: 27 September 2006.
Jug-Dujaković, Marija – Łuczaj, Łukasz. 2016. The Contribution of Josip Bakić’s Research to the Study of Wild Edible Plants of the Adriatic Coast: A Military Project with Ethnobiological and Anthropological Implications. Slovak Ethnology/Slovenský národopis 64, 2: 158–168.
Messer, Ellen. 1997. Three centuries of Changing European Tastes for the Potato. In: Macbeth, Helen (ed.): Food Preferences and Taste: Continuity and Change. Providence – Oxford: Berghahn Books: 101–113.
Mintz, Sidney. 1995. Food and Its Relationship to Concepts of Power. In: McMichael, Philip (ed.): Food and Agrarian Orders in the World-Economy. United States of America: Greenwood Press: 3–13.
Nuhanović, Hasan. 2007. Under the UN Flag: the International Community and the Srebrenica Genocide. Sarajevo: DES Sarajevo.
Nuhanović, Hasan. 2015. Zbijeg – Put u Srebrenicu. Sarajevo: Centar za napredne studije.
Redžić, Sulejman. 2010. Use of Wild and Semi-Wild Edible Plants in Nutrition and Survival of People in 1430 Days of Siege of Sarajevo during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995). Collegium Anthropologicum 34, 2: 551–570.
Redžić, Sulejman – Barudanović, Senka – Pilipović, Saša. 2010. Wild Mushrooms and Lichens used as Human Food for Survival in War Conditions. Podrinje – Zepa Region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, W. Balkan). Human Ecology Review 17, 2: 175–187.
Redžić, Sulejman – Ferrier, Jonathan. 2014. The Use of Wild Plants for Human Nutrition During a War: Eastern Bosnia (Western Balkans). In: Pieroni, Andrea – Quave, Cassandra L. (eds.): Ethnobotany and Biocultural Diversities in the Balkans: Perspectives on Sustainable Rural Development and Reconciliation. New York: Springer-Verlag: 149–182.
Salimović, Sadik. 2002. Knjiga o Srebrenici. Srebrenica: Skupština Opštine Srebrenica.
Slavková, Markéta. 2017. Cooking and Dining in Times of War and Peace: Changing Contexts and Modes of Food Production, Preparation and Consumption in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. PhD dissertation. Praha: Univerzita Karlova.
Suljagić, Emir. 2005. Razglednica iz groba. Zagreb: Durieux.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex, Medical Dictionary, Salt deficiency. 2012. Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary. [Online] [2019-02-13] Retrieved from: medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ Salt+deficiency.
Vorstenbosch, Tom – de Zwarte, Ingrid – Duistermaat, Leni – van Andel, Tinde. 2017. Famine Food of Vegetal Origin Consumed in the Netherlands during World War II. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 13: 63. [2019-02-13] Retrieved from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5693569/.
Zwaan, Ton. 2003. On the Aetiology and Genesis of Genocides and other Mass Crimes – Targeting Specific Groups. Amsterdam: Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Amsterdam.