Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a WarJulie Mertus provides one of the first comprehensive looks at the explosive situation in Kosovo, where years of simmering tensions between Serbs and Albanians erupted in armed conflict in 1998. In a profound and detailed study of national identity and ethnic conflict, Mertus demonstrates how myths and truths can start a war. She shows how our identity as individuals and as members of groups is defined through the telling and remembering of stories. Real or imagined, these stories shape our understanding of ourselves as heroes, martyrs, conquerors, or victims. Once we see ourselves as victims, Mertus claims, we feel morally justified to become perpetrators. Based on a series of interviews conducted in Kosovo, Serbia proper, and Macedonia, this book is one of the first extended treatments of the years leading to war in Kosovo. Mertus examines the formation of Serbian national identity, and closely scrutinizes the hostilities of the region. She shows how myth and experience inform the political ideologies of Kosovo, and explores how these competing beliefs are created and perpetuated. This sobering overview of the region provides a window into a complex struggle whose repercussions reach far into the international community. |
Contents
Student Demonstrations | 17 |
Distribution of the Federal Credit Fund for the Development of Economically Underdeveloped Republics and Provinces | 23 |
Per Capita National Income by Republic and Ethnic Group in 1981 | 24 |
Basic Indicators of Regional Development in Yugoslavia | 26 |
Unemployment in Kosovo by Nationality | 28 |
Young People Remember the 1981 Demonstrations | 56 |
One Man Accused of Being the Ringleader | 87 |
Serbs Who Left Kosovo | 122 |
FIVE | 221 |
The Root Cause of Conflict | 227 |
A Wall of Silence | 269 |
Kosovo in Conflict | 275 |
Confessional Population Count 1838 | 313 |
Census of Districts 1905 | 314 |
1921 1931 1939 | 315 |
1948 1953 1961 1971 1981 1991 | 316 |
Searching for Kelmendi | 165 |
The Alleged Poisoning of Albanian School | 175 |
Young People Remember the Alleged Poisoning | 214 |
Serbian and Hungarian HighSchool Students Acceptance of Other Nationalities | 318 |
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1981 demonstrations accused Alba Albanian leaders Albanian Nationality arrested Assembly autonomy Azem Vllasi Balkans banian Belgrade Borba BORN IN PRIŠTINA Bosnia conflict resolution Country Reports crime Croatia cultural economic ethnic Albanians ethno-national federal foreign NGO Gnjilane goslavia groups happened hospital Human Rights Human Rights Practices Ibid Interview by author journalists Kelmendi killed Kosovar Kosovo Albanians Kosovo Republic Kosovo Serbs Kosovska Mitrovica LIVING IN PRIŠTINA Macedonia Maliqi Martinović Memorandum Montenegrins Muslim nationalist NGOs nians official organizations Paraćin party peace percent Podujevo poisoning police political Politika Prizren problems protest province Ramet Repishti Reports for Human Rizah Rugova Serbia proper Serbian Serbian nationalism Serbs and Albanians Serbs and Montenegrins Slobodan Milošević Slovenia social Socialist sovo stories thing tion Tito Tito's told Truths U.S. State Department University Press Uroševac Večernji list victims Vllasi Vojvodina York Yugoslav Yugoslav press Yugoslavia