“The Beautiful Life” and the Run Up to War

Life in prewar Bosnia was shaped by the rhythm and character of everyday experience at the local level as well as by the larger historical forces that formed group identities in the region. As we will see, daily experience was different for those who lived in rural towns and villages than it was for those who lived in one of the large cities of Bosnia. We explore the nature of everyday life before the war largely because one's past provides a framework for evaluating and comparing current experience. This is especially true for refugees who have been forcibly removed from their former lives (Miller et al., 2002). This chapter introduces the texture of everyday life as revealed through the voices of Bosnians themselves. The chapter also reviews, very briefly, the forces that shaped group identity in the region as a prelude to a discussion of the historical origins of the war itself.