Pregled: časopis za društvena pitanja / Periodical for social issues

Uvodnik / Editorial

Senadin Lavić — 2025-09-04

The following content of the Pregled is dedicated to scientific conferences held at the University of Sarajevo on 16 and 17 October 2024.

Totalitarni multiverzum biopolitičkih procesa: Izvanbosansko biopolitičko tetoviranje bosanskohercegovačke stvarnosti / Totalitarian Multiverse of Biopolitical Processes: Beyond-Bosnian Biopolitical Tattooing of the Bosnian Reality

Abdel Alibegović — 2025-09-04

The topic, farsightedly focused on the analysis of the biopolitics consequences in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, represents the key to understanding not only its historical legacy, but also its current state, political instability, social dynamics, and the future of everything Bosnian. The title Totalitarian Multiverse of Biopolitical Processes: Beyond-Bosnian Biopolitical Tattooing of the Bosnian Reality aims to be a prolegomena for a complex approach to this phenomenon, emphasizing how biopolitics, as a means of power, surveillance and control over the lives of individuals and populations, shapes various aspects of social, political and cultural life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At its core, biopolitics is concerned with issues of control over life—not only in terms of physical existence, but also through the control of identity, collective memory, and social resources. As a concept that in modern societies constantly balances on the border of totalitarianism, biopolitics threatens to take over all aspects of everyday life, establishing mechanisms of surveillance over body and mind. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, biopolitics, through its totalitarian and repressive nature, is deeply connected with issues of genocide, ethnic identity, clericalization, political instability and the role of the media in generating new agendas of modern biopolitical practice. This paper deals with the research of biopolitical processes in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, analyzing key topics that range from the biopolitics of genocide, through the institutionalization of ethnic divisions, to the creation of a state of permanent political and social instability. These topics not only shape the reality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also lay the foundations for understanding the broader framework of modern biopolitics. Through the concept of "biopolitical tattooing" of the Bosnian reality, the paper will examine how external and internal biopolitical processes have left lasting traces on the Bosnian society and how these processes are reflected on everyday life, identity and social, cultural and political dynamics.

Hibridno djelovanje u funkciji planiranja i ostvarivanja ciljeva biopolitike u Bosni i Hercegovini / Hybrid Action in Planning and Achieving Biopolicy Goals in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ahmed Kico — 2025-09-04

This paper attempts to answer the problem of the starting points, structure, and consequences of biopolitical discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighboring surroundings. It explores geopolitical and security perspectives, essential for understanding the historical processes of ethnopolitics, politics, and ideological hegemony of major state projects. These projects seek to manipulate human lives through technology and cynical political tactics. To achieve the goals of biopolitics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, since the signing of the Dayton Agreement until today (sometimes with greater, and sometimes with less intensity), hybrid operations have been led to destroy the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establish large-state projects known as Greater Serbia (the so-called Serbian world) and Greater Croatia. Hybrid warfare is activities executed by the state, its political elite, intelligence, and/or parastatal groups which are held under the control of some specific state leadership against another internationally recognized state, in this case, Bosnia and Herzegovina, being primarily all political, media, psychological, diplomatic and intelligence, or above all that. In the function of realizing the goals of biopolitics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the targets of hybrid action in Bosnia and Herzegovina are or above almost all forms and aspects of social life, the constitutional order, institutions of the political, economic, judicial, and security system, as well as institutions of religious, national, linguistic, educational and other aspects of the cultural identity of the citizens and peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Upholding the principles of parliamentary civic democracy, and Bosnianism (demos - political people) is crucial for the survival and progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as in complex political communities, during the transition to democracy, no collective right must be exercised before the permanent, effective and irrevocable protection of individual rights is ensured.

Segregacija putem obrazovanja: jedan od ključnih elemenata biopolitičkog diskursa u Bosni i Hercegovini / Segregation Via Education – A Key Feature of Biopolitical Discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarina Bakić — 2025-09-04

When discussing the biopolitical discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the author of this paper primarily refers to how political elites and state institutions control, regulate and govern the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the perspectives of identity, ethnicity, nation, and body. The theoretical concepts of Foucault and Agamben, concerning the power that state apparatuses hold over the life and death of individuals and groups, are unavoidable in this work. In the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, these concepts gain specific dimensions due to the complex cultural, ethnic, political, and social environment. Agamben's concept of "bare life" is particularly relevant for the author, as sovereignty and population governance are central to understanding the social and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the key elements of biopolitical discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina is segregation through education. Through segregated school systems, state, ethnic, and cantonal structures, as well as so-called political elites, govern the bodies of children and young people through a biopolitical logic. A long-standing phenomenon known as “two schools under one roof” exists, where children of different ethnic groups attend classes in the same buildings but in separate classrooms and under different curricula, maintaining ethnic divisions and controlling social interactions. Although students use the same school building, the classes are organised in such a way, spatially or temporally, that the children rarely meet. This reduces opportunities for spontaneous socialization between different ethnic groups, making it harder to form shared identities. Moreover, students from different ethnic groups learn different versions of history, culture, and language, further reinforcing ethnic differences and promoting identity politics. These distinct curricula often present the past through ethnically particular perspectives, which may strengthen narratives of division and conflict, while reinforcing the idea that ethnic identity is the primary aspect of social existence. The curricula shape younger generations according to nationalist ideologies, aiming to maintain collective identities that are politically advantageous for local elites. This process is a classic example of biopolitical discourse, where education is used to shape the population according to political interests. As a result, ethnic identity is placed at the centre of pupils' everyday lives. It is reinforced as the dominant basis for social interaction, limiting the possibility of forming a multi-ethnic, civic identity. This education model is part of a broader biopolitical discourse related to controlling the population through managing ethnic differences. From an early age, pupils are conditioned to recognise and accept ethnic divisions as part of social reality. It is a method of controlling social interactions, as children grow up in an environment that does not encourage integration or mutual cooperation. In the long term, this education system contributes to the creation of parallel societies within the same territory, where members of different ethnic groups have no common points of socialization or communication, making reconciliation and the building of social cohesion more difficult. The author will confirm the thesis that education in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not just a neutral space for learning but also a battlefield for biopolitical control over how children and young people are shaped, how society is structured, and how the past and future are redefined and understood.

Srpski nacionalizam kao regionalni izazov: posledice i perspektive / Serbian Nationalism as a Regional Challenge: Consequences and Perspectives

Zoran Todorović — 2025-09-04

The paper presents a view of the historical challenges that the Serbian nationalist approach to politics has brought to the region of the Western Balkans, and especially to its immediate neighbors. In the wake of more than a century of historical experience, today it is possible to valorize „effects” of such an ideological concept, but also to anticipate its future directions and consequences. In the new, changed regional and geopolitical circumstances, given the tragic experiences, it is necessary to continue to closely monitor the efforts, aspirations and energy of Serbian nationalism coming from the „old address”. There are still today tangible and obvious political, economic, diplomatic and even open irredentist acts of Serbia directed towards the „old addresses” of its neighbors, and they represent an individual challenge for each of the targeted addresses: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, Montenegro, the Republic of Kosovo and North Macedonia. But in a broader perspective, Greater Serbian nationalism represents a threat and a challenge to the entire region of the Western Balkans because Serbia has not suspended or permanently and irreversibly given up the historical project „Greater Serbia”, except renaming it „Serbian World”.

Biopolitika antibosanskog Levijatana / Biopolitics of the Anti-Bosnian Leviathan

Senadin Lavić — 2025-09-04

The text analyzes the influence of biopolitics and ethnopolitics on the historical-political and cultural structure of the being of Bosnia, which is being directed into dead ends where human life becomes an object of manipulation. The eradication of the life of the Bosnian being is a rational project and is taking place according to the outlined plan of the great-state hegemony of Serbs and Croats. This, unfortunately, is growing into an eradicating Nazism that does not recognize the Other. Bosnia as an object of conquest of Serbian and Croatian hegemony testifies to the continuity of biopolitics and ethnopolitics of anti-Bosnian action.

Uvod u kritičku analizu biopolitičkog genocidnog rata u pojasu Gaze: Teorijski izazovi i društvene implikacije / Introduction to a Critical Analysis of the Biopolitical Genocidal War in the Gaza Strip: Theoretical Challenges and Social Implications

Elmir Karadži — 2025-09-04

This paper starts from the assumption that in contemporary society, (bio)politics permeates all aspects of life through the governance of social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific processes. Here, politics is not understood as a noble activity aimed at organizing human life—as it ideally should be—but rather as a retrograde and destructive force, a superpowered tool used to serve the interests of individuals, groups, and states on both local and global levels. Contemporary politics is portrayed as biopolitics, which is difficult to encapsulate within a single, universally accepted cognitive framework. Through vast possibilities and strategies of manipulation and mediation, biopolitics enforces discipline, control, surveillance, and political and social conditioning of individuals and society as a whole. In addition to the subjects, destructive methods, and techniques used by biopolitics through the instrumentalization of human life and the body, as well as the production of wars, crises, pandemics, and recessions, the paper focuses on a critical analysis of the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which is the par excellence expression of biopolitical practice and strategy. The work draws on the theoretical framework of contemporary critics of socio-political life (Foucault, Agamben, Beck, Engdahl) and seeks to contribute to the academic discourse on the relationships between power, the body, and control in modern societies. In the critical and analytical review of the new experience of biopolitics, in addition to theoretical challenges, media sources and reports more consistently illustrate the nature and scope of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a practical sense. The analysis of biopolitical governance over life in the Gaza Strip reveals a new nature of state biopolitical power and new strategies through which political authorities manage human life, placing the ordinary citizen in a position of watching crimes unfold in real time—without the ability to intervene. The plea of the average person for “humanitarian intervention,” addressed to the “international community,” coupled with political helplessness, industrial violence, mass killings, and destruction using the most advanced weaponry—now equipped with artificial intelligence - consequently creates global instability and regional tension not only in the Middle East. Israel’s intensive implementation of its occupation policy, violations of human rights and the laws of war, the devastation of entire cities within the enclave, ethnic cleansing, and horrific war crimes revive Foucault’s biopolitical principle of exposing one nation to death in order to secure the safety and survival of another.

Medijske politike interpelacije i posljedice etnički razdijeljenog medijskog prostora u Bosni i Hercegovini / Interpellation Media Policies and Consequences of Ethnically Divided Media Space in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Irena Praskač-Salčin — 2025-09-04

The historical facts of the development of the information/communication and media system in Bosnia and Herzegovina represent that each political system has reformed the existing communication channels, organizing them according to its own ideological ambitions. Different types and forms of social control of the media space in Bosnia and Herzegovina in history have most often been motivated by “fear of political subversion“ (McQuail, 2010). The contemporary history of the nineties and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina resulted in the creation of media spaces that corresponded with the ethnically divided territory and continued the media policies of interpellation, blind following/manipulation of the ideology that Marxist philosopher Althusser defines by imposing ways of thinking or living that correspond to established national concepts. Forms of political parallelism of the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina today are visible through indicators of organizational or financial connections between media structures and different political/interest groups, political orientation of editorial and journalistic staff, and the use of media conditioned by territorial-ethnic criteria. The subject of the analysis is the degree and form of political parallelism of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian media in history. The analysis tried to answer the problematic question related to the issue of objective recognition of the needs and interests of the public in the creation of everyday media agendas, which, among other things, should be in the function of criticism, control and integration, and which are today strongly influenced by historical media practice and media heritage. The research starts from the hypothesis that every state-legal organization in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to establish and consolidate a certain system, also established specific communication/media structures, which enabled media promotion and consolidation of the already existing socially established practice of an ethnically divided society. The aim of the research is to point out the importance of establishing and developing stable and independent media organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina that will enable the nation to imagine itself as coherent, significant and homogeneous community and to point out that basic media functions can be valuable resources for overcoming ethnic, political, nationalist and hegemonic policies in contemporary social constellations.

Dehumanizacija bosanskog BIOSA: Biopolitika u rukama etnonacionalizma / Dehumanization of the Bosnian BIOS: Biopolitics in the Hands of Ethnonationalism

Muedib Šahinović — 2025-09-04

The paper analyzes the broader perspective of biopolitics through the theoretical concepts of reference authors with a special focus on the Serbo-Croatian big-state ideologies of ethno-nationalism that use biopolitics to dehumanize Bosnian society. Respecting the specificity of the complex processes that take place within the Bosnian society and the hostile environment, the work investigates biopolitical practices that are not observed in detail in the existing analyzes of the phenomenon and can have a significant scientific contribution to the understanding of the Bosnian biopolitical specificity. The research focuses on models of biopolitical control, surveillance and governance of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were generated through the ideologically structured policies of ethno-nationalism of Serbia and Croatia. Analyzing the processes of complete surveillance and regulation of the lives of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the work actualizes the perspectives of the articulation of the power of big-state centers, which is realized through two different biopolitical praxis that in the end synergistically achieve a unique goal. The first refers to the intentions of the big-state and hegemonic ideologies of Belgrade and Zagreb to make their people in Bosnia different from others by indoctrinating them through the imposition of identity, cultural, economic and political paradigms and thus separate them from the bios of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second praxis is aimed at Bosniaks because they do not belong to the homogenous ethno-national corps of Serbs and Croats and as biological waste are exposed to the harshest forms of biopolitical articulations of power that are realized through ethnic cleansing, camps and genocide. This shows the criminal face of biopolitics impregnated with ethno-nationalist doctrine according to which Bosniaks (Muslims, Turks) are not our kind of people, dehumanizing them in this way and legitimizing their violent removal from the living space, which points to the conclusion that the Bosnian context of dehumanization is perceived as biological reduction to human material - dehumanization, reducing a member of a certain group (Bosniak) and his life to impure material.

Društvo znanja u kontekstu kulturne traume i društvenih transformacija / Knowledge Society in the Context of Cultural Trauma and Social Transformations

Adnan Džafić — 2025-09-04

The existence of any society depends on a system of knowledge, trust, and identification of its members with that society. Exclusion from society threatens human existence, whereas a society that fails to achieve this connection among its members cannot survive. Social prosperity is not necessarily and exclusively conditioned by economic well-being. In fact, social well-being also depends on sustainable peace, the rule of law, the absence of corruption, and the existence of institutions that prevent the abuse of force. Social changes in the last 60 years – the transition from industrial to post-industrial, modern to postmodern society – have changed the concepts of the knowledge and education system. Instead of knowledge and education being goals for improving society, they have become a means to achieve economic growth and profit, without any critical thought. Societies in Southeast Europe are facing a continuous exodus of population, especially educated and qualified personnel, while unsuccessful political, economic and cultural elites further complicate the situation in these societies. In this context, contemporary societies are also facing cultural trauma, a collective phenomenon that arises as a consequence of devastating events such as war, genocide, war crimes and all other types of crimes, generally due to the escalation of violence. The more educated layers of society are often the first to recognize and articulate traumas, which shows the connection between education and the ability to cope with cultural traumas. The crisis of trust further complicates these processes, and its recovery is crucial for the restoration of the democratic order. At the same time, the concept of the “knowledge society,” which once promised progress and social justice, is collapsing today. Instead of being a means for the common good, knowledge has become a tool for market goals and economic profit, thus marginalizing its wider social significance. Trust and values that are crucial for social cohesion are now undermined, while education is increasingly moving away from its emancipatory potential.

Ka jačanju javne sociologije u Bosni i Hercegovini – Mogućnost za repozicioniranje društvenih nauka / Towards Strengthening Public Sociology in Bosnia and Herzegovina – An Opportunity for Social Sciences Reposing

Sarina Bakić — 2025-09-04

When discussing the future and position of the University and social sciences and Humanities in the current cultural, spiritual and moral environment of Bosnian society, it is important to design and try to promote a different vision of sociology. In the context of this specific thesis, the author will try to elaborate on the importance of advocating for public sociology, which represents a sociological discipline from the aspect of connecting academic, scientific, sociological research with a wider audience and social actors, including citizens, activists, civil society organizations and decision-makers. Unlike traditional, professional sociology, which is often directed exclusively towards the academic community and professional publications, public sociology aims to bridge the gap between academic theories and everyday life, directly engaging in problems that concern the wider public and society as a whole. In this paper, the main focus will be on the thinking of Michael Burawoy, a prominent British sociologist, who is considered one of the leading proponents of public sociology. Michael Burawoy defined this discipline as a bridge between sociological research and social actors who strive for social change and believes that sociologists should not be mere observers of social phenomena, but active participants in shaping them. In other words, public sociology is important because it connects academic research and theoretical insights with a broader social context, allowing sociologists to directly contribute to the understanding and solution of social problems. It is important to emphasize that public sociology seeks to increase the social responsibility of sociology as a science of society, so that sociological knowledge does not remain limited to academic circles, but contributes to more serious problem solving in the wider society. Also, this paper will emphasize that there are several specific fields, i.e. social issues, which should be more strongly included, and when it comes to public sociology in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first thing that is meant here is inequality in all spheres of life, social justice, the culture of poverty, environmental protection, the area of human rights, the questioning of power relations in society, and efforts to contribute to social changes through a critical attitude towards existing institutions and policies. The author will plead to invite academic experts to go beyond the boundaries of the university and to become more actively involved in various public debates, political processes and struggles for social justice. Only in this way does sociology become a tool for social change, and not just an academic discipline. Furthermore, through the presentation of empirical data and critical analysis of social phenomena, public sociology can contribute to the suppression of various cultural and social stereotypes, myths and prejudices, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and regional contexts where such narratives are dominant. Through more intensive public work, sociologists can provide critical insights into the ways in which power is abused, analyze structures that perpetuate injustice, and propose alternative models of social relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author underlines the importance of public sociology in understanding complex issues of cultural identities, because it directly involves local communities and allows the voices of marginalized social groups to be heard in the wider social discourse.

Univerzitet i budućnost humanističkih i društvenih znanosti: Znanost u doba etnopolitike / University and ahe Future of Humanities and Social Sciences: Scienece in the Age of Ethnopolitics

Senadin Lavić — 2025-09-04

The future, university development importance and perspectives are topics that imply strategic thinking about the knowledge concept that would ensure theoretical, cultural and general human orientation in a time of far-reaching life transformations. In the epochal changes that have befallen upon humanity, when it is difficult to follow historic-cultural and scientific-technological processes, it is necessary to preserve the idea of a Bosnian university that would be the backbone of the maintenance and development of Bosnian society and its plurality. Humanities and social sciences within the university have a special place and importance for the social content and conceptual schemes of an era. They cannot be replaced by skills or technical achievements, and therefore it is necessary to preserve and develop their essential mission in the work of the university.

Rodne studije na Univerzitetu u Sarajevu: Prekinuta institucionalizacija / Gender Studies at the University of Sarajevo: Interrupted Institutionalization

Amila Ždralović — 2025-09-04

This paper examines the status and potential of gender studies programs at the University of Sarajevo. It presents the history of gender/women's/feminist studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a primary focus on the postgraduate and doctoral gender studies programs. The postgraduate program in "Gender Studies" was offered from 2006 to 2012, while in 2013, a doctoral program in "Gender Studies" was launched, admitting only the first generation of students. Through an analysis of relevant documents, including curricula, announcements, reports, and other supporting materials, the key aspects of the program are discussed—from the content of the courses to institutional and economic barriers. The study identifies circumstances that have negatively impacted the further development and institutionalization of the program, as well as links to a decline in student interest, limited financial resources, program expenditures, and the commercialization of the program at the University of Sarajevo. Although the "Gender Studies" program formally exists and represents the only such educational program at the University of Sarajevo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, no calls for new admissions have been made for over a decade. This analysis invites a discussion on the potential for reactivating the program, with the aim of advancing gender studies in the academic context of the country.

Uloga digitalne humanistike u transformaciji društvenih i humanističkih nauka / The Role of Digital Humanities in the Transformation of Social Sciences and Humanities

Nadina Grebović-Lendo — 2025-09-04

Digital humanities is an interdisciplinary academic field that connects digital tools with research in the humanities and social sciences, combining traditional humanistic methodologies with contemporary technologies. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview and analysis of current topics in digital humanities, with a particular focus on the method of distant reading. The analysis is based on works indexed in the Web of Science databases, specifically within the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The corpus consists of 28 scholarly articles. The results of the analysis show that the papers can be grouped into two thematic categories: the first includes studies that engage in critical reflection on digital humanities as a field, while the second comprises works that focus on the practical application of digital humanities methods in various academic disciplines. The most represented works are from the field of literary studies. Special attention is given to encouraging the academic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina to consider integrating digital humanities approaches into their own research practices. As an illustration of the possibilities offered by digital tools, the paper includes a case study using the Voyant tool.

Digitalna era transformacije univerziteta: Izazovi i prilike za društvene i humanističke nauke / Digital Era of University Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Sciences and Humanities

Nihada Delibegović Džanić — 2025-09-04

The digital era generates extremely complex transformative processes in educational institutions, particularly universities worldwide. We are witnessing a transformation of the entire concept of knowledge and the understanding of its purpose and role. The implementation of digital resources and platforms opens up a whole network of possibilities for greater access to knowledge/information and global connectivity among academic communities. Tools such as online libraries, digital databases, digital archives, and various platforms for virtual collaboration are now available to students and educators. However, with this progress come significant challenges and open questions, especially for the social sciences and humanities. These disciplines face a dilemma: will the digital transformation advance or marginalize them? Digital platforms offer advantages in terms of accessibility and innovation, but they also bring dangers. It is inevitable that digital platforms enable faster access to information and innovative teaching approaches, but they also carry numerous risks for the future of education as a whole. There is an increasing trend of pronounced marginalization of the social sciences and humanities, partly as a consequence of the strong focus on STEM disciplines, which are often at the center of attention due to their technological nature and the profit they generate. Moreover, the hegemony of capital-interest trends, which favor technical and market-oriented approaches to education, threatens the traditional mission of universities as spaces for the development and generation of healthy trends in contextual critical thinking. Profit-oriented concepts of education, supported by neoliberal ideology, focus on technological and market-valuable disciplines, while the social sciences and humanities risk being pushed aside. There is a clear trend of favoring various forms/models of hybrid teaching, which combine online and in-person lectures. The loss of physical interaction can negatively affect the development of critical thinking and dynamic discussion in the social sciences and humanities. At universities that have historically been bastions of critical thinking, neoliberal pressures, and direct attacks on critical/liberatory thought are supported by rapidly growing concepts of exclusively profit-oriented paradigms of rationality. Additionally, the digitalization of education and the digital transformation raise the question of the future of the concept of the "knowledge society," which is increasingly being profaned. In this context, the "knowledge society" becomes a concept losing its authenticity, as knowledge is increasingly used as a means for market prosperity, rather than as a tool for the development of broader societal progress. Controlled neoliberal societies, driven by the hegemony of capital-interest trends, increasingly influence the direction of university development, leading to attacks on critical thought.

Uvodna riječ / Word of Introduction

Fahrudin Kujundžić — 2025-09-04

The Institute for Literary and Cultural Studies of the NIRSA Center of the University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Philosophy, and the Department of Comparative Literature and Information Sciences, University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Philosophy, organized on 19 April 2024 an international scientific conference "Engaged Art", held at the University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Philosophy. Seventeen authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro participated in this scientific conference. We are pleased to publish nine scientific papers that were developed after presentations at this gathering.

Angažovana umjetnost – da ili ne? / Engaged Art – Yes or No?

Edin Pobrić — 2025-09-04

The aim of this paper is to try to summarize and problematize, and then to offer some theses that were discussed at the Scientific Meeting entitled Engaged Art. The gathering was held on April 18, 2024, in the premises of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo. Eighteen speakers participated in this Conference. Approaches to this topic were interdisciplinary (fine art, novel, poetry, theatre, film, drama, etc.), historically different (contemporary, ancient Greece, 19th century, etc.), so the following questions were highlighted, which this text underlines: what is engaged art today anyway?, is art in itself already engaged or is there really a special genre of "engagement"?, is engaged art connected to ideology, and if so, in what way!? These and similar questions are the subject of this work.

Odnos prema društvu u Aristofanovim komedijama / Society in Aristophanic Comedy

Fahrudin Kujundžić — 2025-09-04

This paper deals with various aspects of the relationship to society in Aristophanes’ comedies. The analyzes include all eleven preserved plays of Aristophanes, and the focus is primarily on the internal logic and issues of dramatic technique: the initial dramatic situation, characters, action and the relationship between the characters and the plot. In this way, an attempt is made to point out Aristophanes’ dramatic construction of society in the comedies themselves, in order to open up the most important wider, genre and historical problems on that basis. In the introduction of the paper, the framework is briefly established with the help of the basic theses of the traditional approach to Aristophanes, in the context of the study of the so-called political comedy, as Aristophanes’ plays were defined by Albin Lesky. The chapter “Dramatic Construction of Society in Aristophanes’ Comedies” presents the results of the research of all Aristophanes’ plays individually, in accordance with the given methodological principles. On this basis, the chapter “Aristophanes’ Contradictions” develops a discussion on the most important highlighted features of Aristophanes’ poetics, in order to conclude by pointing out the broader problems that the analysis of dramatic technique leads to. On the trail of selected traditional critical literature, but also with the significant influence of examples of a contemporary approach, this paper accepts the regularly emphasized thesis that Aristophanes was deeply rooted in his historical and cultural context, in constant dialogue with current social issues. Nevertheless, although a framework of historical dimension is inevitably introduced, the aim of this paper is to indicate the very technical basis of Aristophanes’ plays, which is claimed to be a reliable literary foundation for discussions about Aristophanes’ social involvement.

Pravo na grad u urbanoj fantastici Terryja Pratchetta / The Right to the City in Terry Pratchett’s Urban Fantasy

Džana Mehmedović — 2025-09-04

This paper examines how representations of everyday life in urban fantasy, insofar as they lie outside the utopian and the dystopian, reflect real anxieties, but also desires and needs, related to urban development and life in cities. Fantasy excellently expresses numerous social problems and tackles the issues of gender, racial, and class identities in a unique way. Significant historical, political, and social issues are also woven into the fantasy narratives through the literary representation of the lived space, but how they thematize the problems dealt with by urban sociology and critical urban theory, especially those related to the concept of "right to the city", are almost unexplored. Through the example of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, it will be investigated which practices of everyday life correspond with some of the most significant conclusions and requirements of critical urban theory. The work of urban theorists such as Henri Lefebvre, Alan Jacobs, Donald Appleyard, Jane Jacobs, and others will be consulted. J. R. R. Tolkien believed that fantasy appeals to the reader because its narratives are shaped around basic human desires. It will be shown how, by fueling the fantasy of a dialectic between a space of adventure and a place of safety, a vibrant and fulfilling practice of urban everyday life, and a community that actively participates in it, this kind of literature can help to mobilize these desires and encourage work on the appropriation of urban space.

Emotions and Literary Engagement in the Representation of Social Reality / Emocije i književni angažman u prikazivanju društvene stvarnosti

Kornelija Kuvač — 2025-09-04

Considering the importance of the cultural coding of emotions and the number of current studies that investigate the expression, representations and functions of emotions in literary texts, and starting from J.P. Sartre’s theses on human emotions and engagement presented in his essay Engaged Literature, this paper will connect these two phenomena by investigating representation and the function of fear in the novel by the contemporary Croatian writer, Damir Pilić, Kao da sve je normalno (As If Everything’s Normal) (2018). Sartre defines emotion by anticipating contemporary constructivist and cultural approaches when claiming that emotion is always an expression of a certain way of life and worldview common to a class or an entire age. Thematizing the post-war reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and dealing with the consequences of the traumas left on citizens by war crimes, Pilić represents fear as the central emotion of his novel on the levels of its content, symbolism and genre. After explaining the relationship between emotions and literary engagement in the representation of social reality (according to J.P. Sartre), the analysis of the text in question will develop the hypothesis that Pilić posits fear as Sartre's "synthetic unity of affectivity", meaning that every feeling and every form of psychic life is actually a manifestation of the individual's social position and is closely related to the feeling of the collective. This paper will also consider how the author's intentions affect form and creative process (the genre hybridization of the political and social novel with elements of narrativized photo reportage and horror).

Odbijanje položaja nijeme žrtve u izvedbenoj poeziji palestinske autorice Rafeef Ziadah / Resisting the Position of the Mute Victim in the Spoken Word Poetry of the Palestinian Author Rafeef Ziadah

Adisa Bašić — 2025-09-04

Spoken word poetry is crafted for public performance, created with the intent of being heard and observed, rather than merely read. Common themes in contemporary performance poetry are social injustice, violence, identity issues, and gender and racial discrimination. Palestinian-Canadian poet Rafeef Ziadah addresses the plight of Palestinians in her works published across three albums—Hadeel, We Teach Life, and Three Generations. Her poetry explores their war-related suffering, the prolonged apartheid policies against them, displacement, and life in the diaspora. Additionally, her themes encompass the status of Arab women, homelessness, widespread disenfranchisement, and the suffering experienced by marginalized groups—including women, children, and migrants. The suffering of others, often encountered through media, frequently leads to a certain saturation and indifference (Sontag), accompanied by a cynical perception that not all human lives merit equal sorrow (Butler). Thriugh her poetry, Ziadah rebels against the callous perpetrators and indifferent media, vehemently refusing to let Palestinians be rendered mute and passive subjects of reporting. She restores human dignity to victims, grants them voice and identity, advocates for resistance on their behalf, grieves for them, thus affirming that their lives are worthy of being lived.

Socijalno angažirana umjetnost u Bosni i Hercegovini između dva svjetska rata / Socially Engaged Art in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Period between the Two World Wars

Anja Bogojević — 2025-09-04

In the Yugoslav cultural and artistic space, between the two world wars, social art did not have a unified concept – stylistically, aesthetically nor ideologically. Permeated by diverse cultural and historical roots, sociopolitical challenges and material conditions, social art, however, in its diversity and plurality, insisted on active participation in transforming the existing social reality. Social engagement manifested itself through all available media, forms and strategies of artistic practice. The artist had, on one side, been employing traditional art forms to convey sociopolitical ideas and ideological messages or to express resistance and a clear anti-war attitude, while on the other side they have been exploring new artistic approaches and thus producing various avant-garde and innovative artistic expressions. By interpreting the complex sociopolitical, cultural and historical conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the context of related tendencies of Yugoslav art of the period, this paper explores the socially engaged artistic practices which aimed to activate the social function of art and affirm the social aspect of artistic practice. The paper demonstrates the measure in which the turn towards socially relevant themes also incentivised formal innovations and avant-garde breakthroughs in oeuvres of Roman Petrović, Petar Tiješić, Voje Dimitrijević and the art collective “Collegium artisticum.ˮ The paper, a segment of the broader doctoral research on socially engaged and avant-garde activity in fine arts, architecture and synthetic theatre in the interwar period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, opens new possibilities for interpreting and evaluating Bosnian-Herzegovinian social art in the said period.

O angažiranom i didaktičkom u umjetnosti / On Engaged and Didactic in Art

Amila Ramović — 2025-09-04

Experience is never simple, one-dimensional, mono-medial, or temporally linear: its rhizomatic form spreads through space and time, and its scope, complexity, and intensity are defined by its subject. In a similar way, those strategies, that may also be epistemic, manifest within art: those are strategies derived from such experience and that reflect it. They imply the need to understand the polysemies of the world and, in practice, involve avoiding the affirmation of known truths. If we accept the assumption that art has the ability to be a tool for improving life, then this ability can only be located in empowering the audience, specifically through pointing to ways of avoiding the passive adoption of narratives and identities shaped by dominant systems of thought. The goal is provocation: instead of presenting drama before the eyes of the audience, it offers a "drama of perception" whose action continues in the life of the spectator. The outcome is art with active participants, rather than viewers – passive voyeurs seduced by images (Rancière). If destabilization of meaning is a prerequisite for creating space for fantasy, does art that didactically delivers unambiguous messages hinder the establishment of an emancipated spectator and thus obstruct the realization of its self-determined function—engagement and change? And does it consequently become a means of disempowering the institution of art within social frameworks?

Umjetnost, kultura i opsada / Art, Culture and Siege

Hana Bajrović Čardaković — 2025-09-04

This paper by Hana Bajrović Čardaković and Nihad Kreševljaković analyzes the cultural resistance in Sarajevo during the siege, with a particular emphasis on the role of theatre. The Siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996), the longest in modern history, resulted in widespread suffering and destruction. However, art remained a vital form of what is termed cultural resistance. Through various means of expression, particularly theatre, artists endeavored to preserve humanity and a semblance of normalcy amidst the brutality of war. The Sarajevo War Theatre, established in 1992, became a symbol of resistance and provided a space for confronting the harsh realities of conflict. Engaged art, as articulated by Jean-Paul Sartre, reflects the social and political challenges of the time, and Sarajevo's artists conveyed narratives of survival and hope through their works. During the siege, Sarajevo hosted thousands of cultural events, including 57 premier performances by theatrical institutions. The theatrical landscape's internationalization, bolstered by the arrival of notable artists such as Susan Sontag, further strengthened cultural resistance. The paper underscores the significance of art as an essential human necessity, one that cannot be stifled even under the most arduous conditions, and emphasizes the importance of art as a synthesis of the aesthetic and the ethical.

Hronotop čekaonice: Narativi o opsadi Sarajeva / Chronotope of the Waiting Room: Narratives of the Siege of Sarajevo

Berin Češkić — 2025-09-04

The paper presents the concept of the chronotope of the waiting room and explores its characteristics through a corpus of works about the Siege of Sarajevo. The waiting room is depicted as one of the dominant chronotopes in twentieth-century art, with antecedents in literature about epidemics and sieges. Its key features include the spatial isolation of a community, the suspension of time within that isolated space, the disruption of symbolic order, and the spread of violence like contagion within it. The effort of all artistic works analyzed is emphasized in their fight against the evil affecting the community by fostering empathy and individualizing each victim. The paper primarily analyzes the novels The History of a Disease (Istorija bolesti) by Tvrtko Kulenović, Diary of an Exodus (Dnevnik selidbe) and Introduction to Floating (Uvod u lebdenje) by Dževad Karahasan, the theater production Waiting for Godot (Čekajući Godoa) directed by Susan Sontag, as well as the films Death in Sarajevo (Smrt u Sarajevu) and The Perfect Circle (Savršeni krug).