Ethnographic experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina: "living in" the field and encountering fieldwork challenges in urban areas

Abstract

Our world is encountering various social, cultural, economic and political obstacles, as well people who live in such context. Having in mind that we belong to the discipline who study such topics, it is necessary to share and re-evaluate our research experiences with each other. In this lecture I will show my own ethnographic experience from the fieldwork done in urban areas of Sarajevo, East Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2017 until 2019. What was the challenge for me as an ethnologist-anthropologist of Serbian ethnicity and Orthodox religion to study compatriots in the neighborhood country, from which I partly descent? What encounters did I have by examining members of other nations and other religions, Bosniaks (Muslim) and Croats (Catholic), who speak the same polycentric language with the same substance and structure as I do? By “living in” the field with people, the knowledge about them was increasing, but also the circumstances regarding my own research position(s) which unavoidably merged with my life position(s). Informants’ perspectives also changed, as the self-awareness became an important part of their skills for overcoming critical times. Data on ethnographic experience in this presentation will give insight into challenges that our discipline has, and will offer possible stances based on which future generations can think and act when examining communities around them. Furthermore, it will suggest that our role as ethnologists and anthropologists will become visible when results of our work begin to provide widespread mutual understanding between different populations around the world.