7.17. Inheriting Pasts: Childhood, Youth, Motherhood and Intergenerational Memories in Contexts of Conflict and Change [ES/EN]

This anthropological study examines how generational positioning shapes memory and belonging in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Drawing on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with forty-two residents in East Sarajevo, a city emerging in the aftermath of the Bosnian war (1992-1995) and the violent dissolution of former Yugoslavia as a new urban center for the Serb population, it explores how residents with diverse temporal experiences of socialist Yugoslavia and the rupture of the war make sense of the past in relation to their present, and anticipation of the future. Rather than treating generations as fixed demographic categories, the study approaches them as communal historical subjects formed through shared socio-historical experiences and interpretations of them. Situating residents’ narratives and practices within anthropological debates on historicity and generational temporalities, it argues that generational positioning offers a crucial lens for understanding how articulations of belonging take shape in everyday life in a contested urban environment. The findings reveal that different generations relate to their city’s past, present, and imagined future through distinct temporal sensibilities, which may align or complicate the ethno-national political project of establishing East Sarajevo as a distinct “Serbian” city. These shifting perspectives among different generations shape how individuals interpret continuity and rupture, position themselves within broader historical trajectories, and articulate their sense of belonging to a city marked by war-time logics and the subsequent institutionalization of ethno-national division.

The complex relationship between Judaism and Christianity has profoundly shaped the lives of believers in both faiths. On the everyday level, it found expression in patterns of economic and social cooperation between the Jewish minority and surrounding Christian societies, but also in mutual contempt and hostility. On the ideological and theological level, it was reflected in biblical exegesis, polemics, and cultural exchange—processes that ultimately contributed to shaping both Jewish and Christian identities. Perhaps surprisingly, in modern Jewish-Israeli state education, these intertwined relations still play a central role in shaping how pupils—and their teachers—define their national identity, often framing it in defensive and segregative terms. Research has shown that teachers exert considerable influence over how educational material is conveyed: the decision whether to address a particular subject, and the manner in which it is taught, reflect the values and interpretive frameworks teachers consider relevant to the educational process. Thus, some Israeli teachers approach the history of Jewish–Christian relations as an opportunity to foster democratic values. Through classroom discussions, they highlight themes such as recognition of minority “otherness,” the protection of minority rights, and the pursuit of justice for all. In doing so, they resist the dominant hegemonic narrative and open space for alternative perspectives. This proposed paper will begin by examining how Jewish–Christian relations are presented in the official Jewish-Israeli school curriculum. Drawing on interviews with teachers, it will then analyze the ways in which educators reinterpret the memory of these historical relations to resist hegemonic agendas and to equip their pupils with democratic lenses for understanding the complexities of Israeli society.

The construction of the 'New South Africa' has comprised various inter-connected state-narratives. Under an umbrella of rainbow nationalism - a philosophy of national unity intended to alleviate racial divisions in the wake of apartheid - several discourses have emerged in the constitution of national identity. One such emergent construction has been that of the so-called 'born-frees': a generation of young South Africans born during and shortly following the transition to democracy. The 'born-free' generation has been mythologised in post-apartheid political discourse as both a pillar of identity reinforcement for older generations, and as a conduit through which the 'new youth' are expected to conduct themselves. What role has the South African political establishment played in the invention and attribution of 'born-free' generational identity in public discourse since the end of apartheid? Through a discourse analysis of political speeches and other archival materials over the period 1994-present, this paper contends that the representation of 'born-frees' functions to sustain a linear chronology of democratic progress that draws legitimacy from a mythologised struggle past and a deferred utopian future. As a result, the 'born-frees' occupy a suspended state, in which their ascribed identities are maintained through a temporal choreography that holds the past and future in symbolic balance while the lived present is evacuated of urgency and material transformation. The imposition of these temporal scripts onto the born-frees is in direct conflict with their non-linear and ambivalent experiences of post-apartheid 'presentness', which are instead characterised by entanglements of memory, deferred promises of liberation, and enduring material and affective structures of inequality that resist resolution. Ultimately, the 'born-free' generation emerges as a complex temporal construct - one that encapsulates dilemmas and aspirations of a traumatised society negotiating its relationship with its violent past.

This research begins with the following question: how do UNMSM students construct their memories of the social unrest that occurred between December 2022 and March 2023? The aim is to identify and describe the content, meanings, tensions and debates surrounding these memories; describe the mechanisms of transmission; analyze the relationship between memories of the Peruvian Internal Armed Conflict (1980–2000) and memories of the social unrest (2022–2023); and analyze the forms of political participation and the role that students attribute to the UNMSM. To this end, we conducted qualitative ethnographic research with students and teachers at the UNMSM. Fifteen interviews were conducted and participant observation and field notes were taken. Events commemorating the takeover were also attended and secondary sources such as testimonies, statements, short films, photographs and fanzines were analyzed. Based on this research, it can be concluded that institutional memories disseminated by the university and government, justify the repression and human rights violations that occurred during the protests, establishing policies of silencing based on instilling fear of being denounced for apologizing for terrorism. In contrast, the memories of students who participated in the San Marcos takeover are subaltern, seeking visibility through various mechanisms, including testimonial accounts and artistic practices. These memories are emblematic and linked to memories of past struggles, revealing continuities with the Internal Armed Conflict in terms of violence (“terruqueo” and intimidation) and resistance. Finally, students report on a repertoire of practices learned from political socialization and a vision for the future, of struggle and resistance through community care.