Oral History: Stories of Bosnia and Herzegovina

One thing we've learnt here at CIM is that change requires capacity. Our Oral History project had been temporarily on hold due to lack of funding, however we have started to look for ways that will help us achieve our project goals through alternative ways.

As the project requires interviews to collect individual stories, a lot of funds would go towards training staff, offering psychological support to participants, as well as offering a small financial compensation for the cim staff/volunteers who interview the storytellers.

We therefore decided that in order to keep the progress going, we would record some of the stories from our Truth, Healing and Reconciliation project, where people gather and publically share stories of how they were affected by the Bosnian conflict, and if how they managed to reconcile with themselves and those who harmed them.

Whilst we found a way to collect some of the stories we need, we will still need to collect the ramaining through interviews and publish them in  our book of Oral History. This is where we still need your help!

We appreciate your donations, and all the kindness and generosity that comes with the. We hope you will consider making another donation in the future.

All the best wishes,

From all the CIM staff

To all our fantastic donors,

One major obstacle to building peace in Bosnia is directly linked to how we interpret history. Just before the conflict started, history was manipulated and used as propaganda to justify a violent war. Nowadays, history is what keeps the conflict alive, and divides us along ethnic and religious lines. The more the time passes and stereotypes and myths are embedded in the communities, the harder will be to break them down.

Joseph Liechty and Cecelia Clegg, two important scholars in the field have, for example, found that there is a very close relationship between history as it is understood by historians, or outsiders and by the communities. "Communal memory corresponds with myth". These myths create a very strong foundation for Bosnian sectarianism. Liechty and Clegg argue that "The past must not dictate the future as sectarianism wants us to believe". However, there is a long way until Bosnia will get to experience a common, shared, objective history.

The Oral History project would be a strong asset for school teachers, as students will have the chance to learn about the conflict from all perspectives, and from the people who survived it. The project has been on CIM's to-do list for a long time, and although we never managed to get the funding needed to implement it, we will never discard it. To the people out there who have supported our project, we thank you for believing in us, we have the hope and motivation to wait and keep on trying until we see this project done.

As Always, In Peace