Barac, Dajana.
(2016).
Heimatverlust, Zugehörigkeit und Sprache
Erfahrungen ehemaliger Kriegsflüchtlinge aus Bosnien und Herzegowina.
Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Chair of Anthropology.
[mentor Hornstein Tomić, Caroline].
Abstract
The war in the former state of Yugoslavia led to one of the largest migratory movements in that part of Europe. According to the BAMF statistics, round 350,000 refugees were accepted in Germany till January 1996. The intention of this master’s thesis was to reflect the consequences of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted from 1992 to 1995, and to show the story from the side of the refugees, who were forced to leave their homes and family and start a new life in Germany. This empirical study was thus built on the following primary theses: home loss, belonging and language.
This thesis portrays a specific group of refugees, now between the age of 24 and 28, who as children were forced to flee from their origin country. This profile of respondents was never before included in a similar study, therefore it represents a whole new aspect of migratory researches that concerns this parts of Europe. The following themes were processed during the interviews: home loss and flight from Bosnia and Herzegovina, arrival in the first and second host country, language and discrimination, memories about the homeland and the concept of homeland itself.
The arrival, so the interviewed former refugees, was in a way portrayed as a cultural shock combined with many side problems that made the adjustment even harder. Not only the language, but also the residence and work permit made their stay even more unsecure. This problems were followed up with the struggle of learning of a complete new language, integration in the new society, discrimination that came together with it and adjusting to the first host country. After several years of residence, after the relocation to the second host country was undergone, the whole process was again repeated.
This master’s thesis was built as a comparison of the refugees biographical narratives. Although many differences in the background stories existed, their experiences came up as very similar, moreover, they overlapped themselves in ways we could not image in the first place. After finishing this thesis, a new view was given on the stories of the refugees, which has brought the terrifying consequences of the war and the upcoming struggle in new homeland closer to the readers. Last but not least, this thesis showed how the concept of homeland and belonging changes during different periods of life of an individual, and how its reflected and understood by someone, who has never got the chance to develop its full sense of belonging to a certain country.
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Statistics
Statistics