Another year, another book review for the Oral History Review. This time, I was invited to review Marko Živković’s Serbian Dreambook: National Imaginary in the Time of Milošević. The latest contribution to the Indiana University Press series on “New Anthropologies of Europe,” Živković highlights the narratives of Serbian civilians – mostly educated elites – who “were as immersed in everyday life as anyone else in Serbia, but also, in their professional role, capable of detachment and the kind of reflection that is enabled by a more synoptic view of the situation” (p. 12). In doing so, he reveals a complex matrix of ethnonationalist mythologies – which he refers to as the Serbian imaginary – that were revised and reinvented by Serbian civilians in their efforts to come to terms with the lived experiences of political upheaval, war, and mass atrocities surrounding the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

For those who are interested, you can download the complete book review here.

The Uganda-based Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) has recently launched its third issue of Voices Magazine to promote local perspectives on “the Right to Know” – its recent campaign to “draw attention to the significance of truth-seeking and missing persons in the transitional justice discourse in Uganda” (Ojok, 4). Throughout the volume, truth-telling is highlighted as a key means of promoting social reconstruction in the region. However, what form or forms should this truth-telling process take?

As a partial response to this question, I was asked by JRP to contribute a brief opinion piece on the various lessons that can be gleaned from international and domestic efforts to locate and commemorate the missing victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and related mass atrocities. I argue that for many survivors, some form of identification will be necessary in order to allow them to accept the deaths of their missing loved ones. Forensic investigations may be a suitable possibility, but caution is necessary. Collaboration with survivor communities should be encouraged in order to ensure that the  investigations are culturally and politically appropriate and do not inadvertently contribute to the deepening of divisions among Ugandans. And in choosing appropriate vehicles for commemoration, a similar strategy should be employed. While nationalized commemoration is often perceived to be an essential and beneficial part of the transitional justice toolkit, its positive potential can only be realized if the surrounding communities support the form and function of the resulting commemorative sites and events. And of greatest importance, such initiatives will undoubtedly require genuine political support at the  international and domestic levels.