Neighbors at War: Anthropological Perspectives on Yugoslav Ethnicity, Culture and History

Before the former Yugoslavia was divided by wars, its inhabitants successfully lived side by side in peace. This collection seeks to explain how former neighbors became enemies, with the hope that understanding what drove these peoples apart will help us discover ways for them to coexist in peace again.

Contributors analyze political cartoons, psychiatry, the arts, visual media, and law to present a diversity of views on the conflicts in Yugoslavia. While the chapters in this book deal with regional developments, they are not so much focused on politics as they are concerned with how values and attitudes are altered and new identities formed. Thus, this volume goes beyond recent journalistic accounts and should remain relevant for years to come.

This book began as a special issue of the journal Anthropology of East Europe Review. Most of the contributors to that issue have revised their chapters for this collection, and new chapters have been added, including one on the recent war in Kosovo. Essays range across all of former Yugoslavia, emphasizing the variability and diversity of ethnic relations throughout its history.

Contributors are Mart Bax, Brian C. Bennett, Nikolai Botev, Bette Denich, Elinor Despalatovi, Hannes Grandits, Joel M. Halpern, E. A. Hammel, Robert M. Hayden, Goran Jovanovi, Eva V. Huseby-Darvas, David A. Kideckel, Mirjana Lausevic, Lynn D. Maners, Julie Mertus, Robert Gary Minnich, Rajko Mur i, Edit Petrovi, Christian Promitzer, Mirjana Pro i -Dvorni, Janet Reineck, Jonathan Matthew Schwartz, Andrei Simi, and Stevan M. Weine."