Academic literature on the topic 'Bosnian War stories'

The paper questions the construction of identity in the novels of Slovenian-Bosnian authoress Valerija Skrinjar-Tvrz: Na svojoj, na plemenitoj, Jutro u Bosni and Bosna i Soča, which were combined and published as a trilogy this year. Integrating the period of medieval Bosnia, the First World War, and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992-1995 into one whole, the trilogy achieves multiple coding. Although distant in time, driven by different motivations, and intersected by different ideologies, wars shape the lives of the heroes of this trilogy. In this unique poetic entity, the authoress managed to show the complexity of common life through individual destinies and “small stories” and to deconstruct the conception that history is made up of “big stories”. The identities of individuals in the novels represent the identities of communities whose borders are porous and threaten to destroy the established systems, while individual unfortunate destinies are a mirror of collective traumas from the Middle Ages to modern times. The Trilogy covers almost the entire Bosnian history, trying to include identity constructions and their associated identification features, which the authoress considers representative of contemporary identity re/configurations.

Previous research on victimhood during and after the Bosnian war has emphasized the importance of narratives but has not focused on narratives about victimhood or analyzed post-war interviews as a competition for victimhood. This article tries to fill this gap using stories told by survivors of the Bosnian war during the 1990s. In this analysis of the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia, the aim is to describe the informants’ portrayal of “victimhood” as a social phenomenon as well as analyzing the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the category “victim”. When, after the war, different categories claim a “victim” status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories’ victim status are downplayed. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on.

The article is an attempt to describe the specifics of the „new Bosnian narrative” as exemplified by Karim Zaimovic’s short stories collected in the book Tajna džema od malina. The text synthetically presents the new generation of prose writers clearly referring to the heritage of the so-called „narrative Bosnia” (J. Kršić). The generation of writers contemporary to Zaimovic, which dominated the literary scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last decade of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century, was united by a creative motivation generated by common experiences, which was a reaction to the tragedy of the homeland war. The article briefly characterizes the „new narrative Bosnia”, highlighting the great tradition of narrative (pripovijetka) in local literature. Narrative/Short story is considered to be the most important and valued genre, which in its meaning goes far beyond purely literary boundaries – it has played and still plays an important role in the cultural, social, political and ideological context. In the text, it is shown that Zaimović’s stories, compared with (anti)war writing, are distinguished by: the way of constructing scenes that make up the story adapted from comic art, the presence of fantastic elements known from the work of „Borges writers”, as well as a characteristic, humorous style –where the author deals with the absurdity of war by the use of grotesque and satire, and describes the Sarajevo apocalypse using numerous metaphors and allegories. Even though, Zaimović’s texts cannot be treated as a model or the most representative example of “the new Bosnian narrative“, their unconventional way of presentation of the main theme as well as structural and compositional innovation have earned them an iconic status. The circumstances of the stories, and above all the fate of the young writer, made him a tragic symbol of the drama of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Alija Nametak and Almin Kaplan are two writers of Bosnian-Herzegovinian literature. Their prose work is defined by two separate historical periods. Alija Nametak`s prose originated in the 1930s, retaining a realistic poetic framework of storytelling and thematically entering into historical strife, folklore, and social relations amalgamated into the patriarchal way of life of Bosniak rural communities in Herzegovina. On the other hand, Almin Kaplan creates in the cultural climate of the first decades of the 21st century, combining poetic and prose expression in his literary work. Kaplan's literary world built on post-war actuality realistically depicts Bosnian society and convincingly portrays a man sandwiched between the magma of dreams and harsh reality, at the crossroads of personal and collective values, in a time of economic transition, unemployment, broken ethical values, and new globalist movements, but still burdened by the war trauma of the 1990s. Although they are separated by almost the whole century, Alija Nametak and Almin Kaplan can be connected by certain similarities that will be the backbone of this research: woven into the Herzegovinian ambiance with all its geographical, historical, social, and cultural conditions, both draw their literary motifs from the socio-cultural landscape of Herzegovina, which is a stage for small human stories and universal truths. The research corpus of this paper will be based on the novel Meho (2019) and the collection of short stories Dubravske priče (2020) by Almin Kaplan and several short stories from the collection Trava zaboravka (1966/1998) by Alija Nametak.

In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims’ survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals or analyzed postwar interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. This article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there was little space for individuality and preservation of self. Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance.

The relationship between identity and national consciousness is one of the important issues, not only, of the sociology of identity but of the overall opinion of the social sciences. This scientific question has been insufficiently researched in the sociological thought of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with this paper we are trying to actualize it. Aware of theoretical-methodological and conceptual-logical difficulties related to the research problem, we considered that in the first part of the paper we make some theoretical-methodological notes on the problems in studying this phenomenon, in order to, above all, eliminate conceptual-logical dilemmas. The use of terms and their meaning in sociology and other social sciences is a very important theoretical and methodological issue. The question justifiably arises whether we can adequately name and explain some of the “character traits” of the contemporary national identity of the Bosniak nation that we want to talk about in this paper with classical, generally accepted terms, identity, consciousness, self-awareness, shame or shame, self-shame. Another important theoretical issue of the relationship between identity and consciousness in our case, the relationship between the national consciousness of Bosniaks and their overall socio-historical identity is the dialectical relationship between individual and collective consciousness, ie. the extent to which the national consciousness of an individual or a particular national group, political, cultural, educational, age, etc., is contrary to generally accepted national values and norms. One of the important factors of national consciousness is the culture of remembrance. What does it look like for Bosniaks? More specifically, in this paper we problematize the influence of “prejudicial historiography” on the development of the culture of memory in the direction of oblivion or memory. What to remember, and why to remember. Memory is part of our identity. The phrase, not to deal with the past but to turn to the future, is impossible. How to project the future and not analyze the past. On the basis of what, what social facts? Why the world remembers the crimes of the Nazis, why the memory of the Holocaust and the suffering of the Jews is being renewed. Which is why Bosniaks would not remember and renew the memory of the genocides committed against them. Due to the Bosniak memory of genocide, it is possible that the perpetrators of genocide are celebrated as national heroes and their atrocities as a national liberation struggle. Why is the history of literature and art, political history and all other histories studied in all nations and nations. Why don't European kingdoms give up their own, queens and kings, princesses and princes. These and other theoretical-methodological questions have served us to use comparative analysis to show specific forms of self-esteem among Bosniaks today. The concrete socio-historical examples we cite fully confirm our hypothesis. Here are a few of these examples. Our eastern neighbors invented their epic hero Marko Kraljevic (Ottoman vassal and soldier, killed as a “Turkish” soldier in the fight against Christian soldiers in Bulgaria) who killed the fictional Musa Kesedzija, invented victory on the field of Kosovo, and Bosniaks forgot the real Bosniak epic heroes , brothers Mujo and Halil Hrnjic, Tala od Orašac, Mustaj-beg Lički and others, who defended Bosniaks from persecution and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian Krajina. Dozens of schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been named after the Serbian language reformer, the Serb Vuk Stefanović Karađić (1787-1864), who was born in the village of Tršić near Loznica, Republic of Serbia. Uskufije (1601 / 1602.-?), Born in Dobrinja near Tuzla. Two important guslars and narrators of epic folk songs, Filip Višnjić (1767-1834) and Avdo Medjedović (1875-1953), are unequally present in the memory and symbolic content of the national groups to which they belong, even if the difference in quality is on the side of the almost forgotten. Avdo Medjedovic, the “Balkan Homer”, is known at Harvard University, but very little is known in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And while we learned everything about the murderer Gavril Princip, enlightened by the “logic of an idea” (Hannah Arendt) symbolizing him as a “national hero”, we knew nothing, nor should we have known, about Muhamed Hadžijamaković, a Bosnian patriot and legal soldier, he did not kill a single pregnant woman , a fighter in the Bosnian Army who fought against the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. When it comes to World War II and the fight against fascism are full of hero stories. For one example, we will take Srebrenica, the place of genocidal suffering of Bosniaks. Before the war against Bosnian society and the state 1992-1995. in Srebrenica, the elementary school was called Mihajlo Bjelakovic, a partisan, born in Vidrići near Sokolac. Died in Srebrenica in 1944. The high school in Srebrenica was named Midhat Hacam, a partisan born in the vicinity of Vares. It is not a problem that these two educational institutions were named after two anti-fascists, whose individual work is not known except that they died. None of them were from Srebrenica. That's not a problem either. Then what is it. In the collective memory of Bosniaks. Until recently, the name of the two Srebrenica benefactors and heroes who saved 3,500 Srebrenica Serbs from the Ustasha massacre in 1942, who were imprisoned by the Ustashas in the camp, has not been recorded. These are Ali (Jusuf) efendi Klančević (1888-1952) and his son Nazif Klančević (1910-1975). Nothing was said about them as anti-fascists, most likely that Alija eff. Klančević was an imam-hodža, his work is valued according to Andrić's “logic” as a work that cannot “be the subject of our work” In charity, humanitarian work, but also courage, sacrifice, direct participation in the fight for defense, the strongest Bosniaks do not lag behind Bosniaks, but just like Bosniaks, they are not symbolically represented in the public space of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We had the opportunity to learn about the partisan Marija Bursać and many others, but why the name Ifaket-hanuma Tuzlić-Salihagić (1908-1942), the daughter of Bakir-beg Tulić, was forgotten. In order to feed the muhadjers from eastern Bosnia, Ifaket-hanum, despite the warning not to go for food to Bosanska Dubica, she left. She bravely stood in front of the Ustashas who arrested her and took her to Jasenovac. She was tortured in the camp and eventually died in the greatest agony, watered and fried with hot oil. Nothing was known about that victim of Ustasha crimes. Is it because she is the daughter of Bakir-beg Tuzlić. Bey's children were not desirable in public as benefactors because they were “remnants of rotten feudalism”, belonging to the “sphere of another culture”. In this paper, we have mentioned other, concrete, examples of Bosniak monasticism, from the symbolic content of the entire public space to naming children.

In the introduction to their bookSrebrenica: Record of a War Crime, political scientists Jan Willem Honig and Norbert Both write: ‘“Srebrenica” has become synonymous with such an extraordinarily horrific crime that exceptional explanations have been proposed. Stories of conspiracy and betrayal abound. The most popular theory is that Srebrenica fell as the result of a plot involving senior UN personnel, the French government and the Serbian government. Others place the blame firmly on the Dutch UN soldiers, whom they accuse of cowardice during the Serb offensive against the safe area. We reject these explanations. Conspiracy theories tend to be neatly constructed so that every decision, or failure to decide, seems to stem from sinister ulterior motives. They leave no room for the dilemmas of real life, nor for miscommunication or outright failure. As such, they rarely bring us closer to the truth, and more often create a fertile breeding ground for dangerous stab-in-the-back myths’ Honig and Both claim that final culpability should, without a doubt, be attributed to the highest Serb officials and officers who organised the crime and gave the orders for its perpetration. The systematic manner in which the crime was committed, the evidence that detailed plans had been drawn up and that procedures established earlier had been painstakingly carried out — all this points to the direct responsibility of the Bosnian Serb leadership in Pale. Moreover, the Serbian leadership in Belgrade had given, if not the order, then still its tacit consent.

A comparative analysis of selected short stories in the Balkan countries, as well as contemporary short stories of the world, will show us that the key themes of those stories are very similar to the short stories written during the period of transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995-2010). For example, the story of the Soul Operation by an Iranian writer Mohsen Mahmalbafa, The Falcons by a Dutch writer Kader Abdolaha and On the Kitchen Stairs by a Polish writer Witold Gombrowic zinter connect with short stories by authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as The Secret of Raspberry jam by Karim Zaimović or The Devilish work of Zoran Riđanović. A common thread manifests itself in the aforementioned stories, more specifically, a common theme which focuses on the need for eradication of the seeds of submission and compliance with the political system. Most authors focus on their domestic political systems; however, some portray and analyze systems in other countries as they see it, such as a Dutch narrator who focuses on a potential threat of infringement of human freedom. Moreover, Bellow Hubei by an Argentinian writer Anhelika Gorodis her underlines the importance of humanization within a political order. Faruk Šehić examines the political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina from a slightly different perspective. His collection of stories Under Pressure emphases the issue of pressure in the above war model of short stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These stories are the product of pressure and anxiety, with intent to latently promote new ways of spiritual survival, directly relating to the concept and the theme of the story The Past Age Man by Christian Karlson Stead. Further analysis of the alienation theme singled out short stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Plants are Something Else by Alma Lazarevska and Dialogues by Lamija Begagić, and pointed out their connection with some recent international short stories such as The Last Defence by Mahdi Šodžaija a contemporary Persian author who indicates the inappropriateness of spousal relations and the crisis of modern marriage. The alienation theme present in many short stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina also appears in a particularly impressive way in a short story Raggedy Africa by a Slovenian author Mark Švabič, which is clearly related to a short story The Seaside Fairy Tale by Miljenko Jergović from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Extremely interesting are the stories that suggest a crisis of legitimacy of culture and behavior, such as the story of Tito or Curriculum Vitae by a Slovenian writer Maja Novak, or Bankophobia by Ante Zirdum, demonstrating the individual culture of behavior and society in general in a regressive dimension manifested through addiction or phobia from banking institutions

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has resulted in a one-sided presentation of the phenomenon of “war violence.” Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives in general but have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this article is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing survivor narratives of the 1990s war in northwestern Bosnia. The focus is on analyzing interviewees’ descriptions of wartime violence and the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the phenomenon of “war violence.” My analysis reveals an intimate relationship between how an interviewee interprets the biographical consequences of war violence and the individual’s own war experiences. All interviewees described war violence as something that is morally reprehensible. These narratives, from both perpetrators of violence and those subjected to violence, recount violent situations that not only exist as mental constructions but also live on even after the war; thus, they have real consequences for the individuals and their society.

La tesi verterà sull’intervento di combattenti russi tra le fila dell’esercito della Repubblica Serba di Bosnia, nella guerra in Bosnia ed Erzegovina. Si analizzeranno il loro impiego operativo, i moventi ideologici e politici che li hanno spinti a combattere in una guerra lontana e per un paese diverso dal loro e le pratiche commemorative utilizzate sia nella repubblica serba di Bosnia che in Serbia per celebrare il loro coinvolgimento. In questo contesto si cercherà anche di dimostrare, sulla base delle fonti reperite nel corso di una ricerca sul campo in Bosnia, come questi combattenti si fossero arruolati come volontari e non come mercenari, cercando di dare risposta a una questione divisiva che permane nella discussione accademica e che non ha permesso di arrivare ad una definizione sufficientemente chiara del loro coinvolgimento nel conflitto bosniaco. Si cercherà inoltre di dimostrare come l’intervento, e la successiva glorificazione di questi volontari abbia portato a conseguenze considerevoli nell’approccio strategico e operativo russo nei conflitti combattuti nel primo ventennio del XXI secolo.

August of 1995 marked a turning point in President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy stance and overall United States (US) diplomatic engagement in the Bosnian War. Traditional narrative emphasizes the genocide at Srebrenica in July 1995 as the calling for US intervention in the wake of the continuous failure of the international led coalitions. While this reasoning is accurate to an extent, it fails to include a vital component that had long been speculated but unable to confirm. Through investigation of recently declassified documents, I will propose a specific ulterior motive accounting for the particular timing of US unilateral intervention; Clinton’s upcoming 1996 spring re-election campaign. The Balkans have a troubled and turbulent history. Various empires and religions have forged divisive ethnocultural identities over the last two thousand years. After WWII, a decentralized economic system exacerbated regional disparities and political instability, resulting in the resurgence of nationalism in the 1980s, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars. The horrific events at Srebrenica in July of 1995 marked the return of genocide to Europe. From 1991-1995, the international community, including the United Nations, failed repeatedly to broker a peace deal between the warring factions, showing ambivalence and disorganization in the freshly minted post-Cold War world. Although Clinton’s foreign policy was founded on humanitarianism, it was not until the ongoing crisis threatened his re-election campaign that decisive unilateral action was taken, with the objective of brokering a peace deal before winter at all costs.

Il periodo immediatamente successivo alla fine della guerra fredda è caratterizzato da grandi cambiamenti, primo fra tutti la scomparsa di una delle due superpotenze che fino a quel momento si erano combattute in campo ideologico, economico e militare. Oltre al crollo dell’URSS, si assiste perciò anche al crollo di un sistema di equilibri che durava dalla fine del secondo conflitto mondiale. Gli Stati Uniti da una parte e, dall’altra, la Comunità Europea, che poi diverrà Unione Europea, stanno sviluppando nuovi approcci alla politica estera. In questo periodo molti cambiamenti stanno avvenendo anche nei Balcani e, in particolare, nello Stato jugoslavo: questo è il contesto in cui vanno inserite le vicende che porteranno alla dissoluzione della Jugoslavia e alle conseguenti guerre balcaniche. La storia della dissoluzione della Jugoslavia e l’analisi delle conseguenti guerre dei primi anni Novanta non sono facili da affrontare: la molteplicità di attori, le molte cause, le numerose teorie politiche, gli interessi dei leader jugoslavi e occidentali rendono complicato scegliere una sola chiave di lettura dell’intera vicenda. Nonostante la difficoltà nel circoscrivere l’argomento, questo lavoro cerca di focalizzare l’attenzione sulle politiche di USA ed UE in questo frangente. L’intreccio delle politiche statunitensi ed europee influenzerà le vicende jugoslave e, allo stesso tempo, forgerà il rapporto tra USA ed UE in ambito di politica estera. Al fine di analizzare al meglio la tematica presentata, la tesi è suddivisa in quattro capitoli: il primo tratta in termini generali della situazione di USA ed UE dopo la guerra fredda in ambito di politica estera; il secondo riassume per sommi capi la storia della Jugoslavia fino alla dissoluzione; il terzo si focalizza sulla guerra in Bosnia nel periodo 1992-1995; infine, il quarto cerca di riprendere le tematiche principali e di elaborare degli spunti di riflessione. In conclusione, la tesi si propone di dare un quadro generale delle politiche EU-US nella Jugoslavia dei primi anni ’90 con l’obiettivo di analizzare i nuovi rapporti e le nuove politiche tra Stati Uniti ed Unione Europea.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of war-related psychological trauma on refugees from the former Yugoslavia who came to Australia in the last 20 years, and to examine how their process of recovery from trauma was assisted by the power of healing relationships, family strength and resilience. The aim was to explore the entire family unit in the context of whole-family interaction.

This thesis is a qualitative analysis of the international legal response to rape as war crime in the former Yugoslavia. Through the examination of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the case law it has generated, this thesis addresses the question will the androcentric characteristics of law found in domestic rape cases be replicated at the international level? More specifically this thesis undertakes an examination which questions will international law be able to adequately amplify and listen to women voices, or will the women’s words be silenced by the rule of law? The following research is loosely informed by Carol Smart’s (1989) sociology of law theory combined with Liz Kelly’s (1988) notions of coping, resisting, and surviving. The purpose of using Kelly’s theory is to go beyond viewing women as inevitable victims of sexual assault. The methodological approach is both qualitative and inductive. It draws on data from the ICTY structure, Statute, Rules of Procedures and Evidence, case law and transcripts and women’s stories presented outside the legal realm. The analysis reveals that while written law (including the interpretation and application of the law) is somewhat aware of the experiences of women, it falls short of adequately responding to the needs of women. A detailed look at the women’s stories of war revealed diverse experiences not captured in the legal realm. The women’s stories spoke of concerns beyond sexual assault and other crimes identified by the ICTY Statute. This thesis also introduces alternatives or complimentary approaches to law when dealing with war crimes. These alternatives include women’s local groups and truth commissions. This thesis also identifies the criminological relevance of studying war crimes (as defined by international law) and crimes of war and marks an important step in understanding rape and war from a criminological perspective.
February 2005

The “Serbian Adolf” figures as one of many parallels between the Nazi aggression of World War II and the more recent wars in Bosnia (1992–1995). Though many recognized and drew attention to the atrocities committed against Bosnian civilians, the stories and images of deportation, mass murder, and concentration camps failed to stir an effective response from the international community of states, which had, fifty years before, promised to defend civilians from such abuses. This occurred despite clear signals that the Serb leadership meant not only to run an expansionist campaign to divide Bosnia with Croatia but also to destroy the Bosnian Muslim population. Instead, there were arguments about whether or not the Serb campaign in Bosnia was genocide, and if it was not genocide, whether it required intervention by other governments, especially by the Western powers. This is to say that although the experiences of World War II produced institutions to limit the excesses of war, especially as it affects civilians, this experience does not seem to have significantly changed the narrow political calculus of most states. In fact, the ideals enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations or the international law that applies to the conduct of modern warfare, such as the Geneva Conventions, are often viewed as outside or antithetical to the “reality” of international politics. It is more productive for the purposes of explanation to recognize that principled institutions, such as the UN or international law, are as much a part of world politics as are the interstate norms of sovereignty or national security. Yet while the institutions that are designed to promote collective security and provide relief from the vagaries of the international state system have gained in the postwar world, they are still beset with the contradictions of those same vagaries, namely, that states must both submit to and enforce the principles that would constrain them. The failure to intervene in Bosnia, at least on behalf of the civilian population if not also for the state of Bosnia itself, is a case in which governments that should have championed principles of international law found it more convenient to demur, despite an international awareness of the war’s excesses.

Hitler was drawn into an armed intervention in the Balkans by Mussolini’s rash attack on Greece. He had preferred to exploit the region’s material resources for his expansionist policies in the East. Once committed, his policies revealed a highly improvisational and often contradictory character. He compromised his racial policies with respect to the Slavs and the volksdeutsch. He quickly discovered that the main collaborationists, the Croat Ustaša, Serb Chetniks, Bosnian Muslims, and Slovene Guards were ineffective or unreliable in repressing the Partisans. He allowed his subordinates great latitude in carrying out his vague instructions. He maintained his friendship with Mussolini but deplored Italy’s ineffective occupation policies. His main concern during the war was to secure the region against landing by Western forces. After the surrender of Italy, his forces disarmed the Italians and took over their occupation duties, finding only the Albanians welcomed them.

ON THE PHENOMENON OF COFFEE AND PLACES WHERE IT WAS PREPARED IN BOSNIA IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES The paper follows the chronology and the methods of spreading coffee in the Ottoman Empire, which relatively quickly reached from Yemen to the Hijaz, i.e., Egypt, then to Istanbul, and finally to other cities in the Eyalet of Bosnia. Considering the fact that this was a very important phenomenon, which relatively quickly became a very active and influential social factor, the paper also points out the role of different groups of people in the spread of this drink. Among them, the most important role was played by merchants, students, pilgrims, dervishes, and Ottoman dignitaries, who brought coffee to the places where they performed their duties. All this influenced the adoption of this practice by various classes of society at the time. The paper also discusses the cyclical attitude of the Ottoman ulema and Porte towards coffee, which ranged from disapproval and strict prohi-bition to acceptance and approval, which accompanied the massive expansion of the coffeehouses. In the 17th century, this attitude changed again, after the great fire broke out in Istanbul in 1633, which served as an excuse to re-ban coffee and demolish a large number of coffeehouses, but this situation did not last long.Special attention was paid to the first news about coffee and coffeehouses in several cities in Bosnia. Based on the analysis of the text from Pečewī’s History, where the first coffeehouse in Bosnia was mentioned, it was determined that he actually described a coffeehouse for meeting distinguished people of Ayalet that was within the Pasha’s court in Banja Luka, and not in Sarajevo as was previous-ly thought. In addition to the coffeehouses in Banja Luka, there were also similar places where coffee was prepared in cities like Sarajevo, Foča, and Mostar. The paper draws attention to the fact that the gathering places of people, where they hung out over coffee, were different – the courts of Ottoman dignitaries, houses of city dignitaries, bazaar and mahala cafes, the coffeehouses near fortresses, 181O fenomenu kahve i mjestima gdje se pila u Bosni u 16. i 17. stoljećuhammams, and places in the open air where the army drank coffee while resting during a military campaign.Also, a prominent fact came from the source of that time that coffee and coffee-houses were the reason for intellectual meetings, but also a place where stories from history and oral tradition were told, as well as a place for singing heroic songs with fiddle or traditional music instrument called saz similar to the lute. Keywords: Coffee, coffeehouse, social life, Bosnia, court, guesthouse, bazaar

The chapter analyzes teaching traditions among Muslim women in Bosnia and how Islamic knowledge is transmitted, embedded in practices such as prayers, Quran recitation, singing and teaching. A case is provided of some Sarajevo women’s recitation gathering (mukabela) at the end of Ramadan which included instructive speech of some length. A young preacher (vaiza) made use of the common genre elements for a Muslim sermon and moved with confidence between comments on the Quran, paraphrases of narratives from the hadith and moral stories set in the present. The vaiza’s legitimacy to speak in the mosque was based on her formal education, reputation of personal piety and knowledge of local prayer and song traditions. Hence the audience accepted the preacher’s authority to give ethical guidance and included her interpretations of contemporary Muslim life with their conceptions of national heritage.