Abstract
By relying on the concepts of biopolitics and governmentality, this book attempts to ground Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism between racial states of Ireland and Bosnia, thus explaining its enforced nature. The following chapter grounds Bosnian refugee transnationalism in relation to the racial state of Ireland. It argues that particular nature of Irish interculturalism—Irish biopolitical regime of governmentality—enforced Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism. Homogenising and racialising practices of the Irish state and community development approach of the Irish interculturalism were main ways of achieving this. The chapter starts by a general discussion of the concept of interculturalism and narrows the discussion down to a specific example of Irish interculturalism. The chapter argues that the racial state of Ireland expressed its racialising and homogenising tendencies through a particular type of interculturalism that was based on community development approach. This type of interculturalism sees a nation state—in this case Ireland—as a mosaic of different ethnic groups which need to be managed by the state and assumes homogeneity and cohesion behind each group. Using my ethnographic data, this chapter argues that the Irish biopolitical regime of governmentality—as based on community development approach—failed to acknowledge the heterogeneity of the Bosnian population in Ireland, the lack of community sentiment and interconnected nature of Bosnian people with other people from the former Yugoslavia. It produced quite the opposite—it has enforced Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, Ottoman Islamic Law institutionalised a pact of protection for the non-Islamic subject of the state, collectively known as dhimmi, where in return for their loyalty to the empire, expressed though paying of the jizya tax, they were guaranteed protection and freedom of religion and worship. The millet system of Ottoman Empire has been perceived as an early example of premodern religious pluralism (Sachedina 2001).
- 2.
It is important to note that these models are not clear cut. Not only are there many overlaps between different scenarios, particularly with regard to temporal contexts, but there are inconsistencies within the models themselves. For example, with regard to the melting pot model, it assumes the initial cohort of diversity that will in time melt into the pivotal national identity. In practice, open entry and absorption of new values cannot continue indefinitely, as the incoming minority heritages are incorporated as add-on identities to the already established national value systems, hence the model incorporates the elements of core-plus model. Furthermore, it is questionable if it is possible to have such a unified development of composite national identity considering the power differentials present in all societies.
- 3.
Delanty (2003) argues that the biggest problem with Western multiculturalism lies in the fact that its policies have produced division between cultural and social spheres.
- 4.
Taylor argues that the politics of multiculturalism are about a demand for recognition by minority and subaltern groups. His thesis is based upon the assumption that our identity is partly shaped by the recognition of our own understanding of who we are, or the absence of that recognition. In addition, non-recognition or mis-recognition are forms of oppression. Since mis-recognition can be so oppressive ‘real’ recognition is not just courtesy, but a vital human need that is owed to people. The challenge, according to Taylor, is how to preserve the politics of universality that most Western nation states endorse while dealing with the incoming politics of particularity (Taylor 1994).
- 5.
Descriptive multiculturalism describes the increasing heterogeneity in most post-1945 societies as a result of global political economic changes and increased migration following the demise of colonial regimes. Normative multiculturalism insists on cultural diversity and proliferation of values at the expense of the ideas of national cohesion and unified norms (Goldberg 2004).
- 6.
By ‘cloning theory’ of nation states, he refers to a deep-seated presumption that a nation consists of homogenous, self-reproducing population groups. Therefore, replication of cultural as much as biological is the ground of nation making (Goldberg 2004).
- 7.
The term was adopted from the policy statements of the European Commission, and it was initially applied to the education policy in Ireland before being extended to other areas (Farell and Watt 2001).
- 8.
1997 was designated European Year Against Racism by the European Council of Ministers and member states. In response, in 1998 the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism was created in Ireland. The Committee was comprised of government and non-government bodies and was established by the Department of Equality and Law Reform in order to ensure that the needs of minority ethnic groups would become mainstream concerns of the government and anti-racism and positive inclusion a focus of governmental policy (NCCRI 2009). It was closed in December 2008 due to government budget cuts.
- 9.
It is broadly agreed (MacLaughlin 1994) that economic growth during the 1990s transformed Ireland from a country of net-emigration to one of net-immigration. 1996 was identified as a ‘migration turning point’ (Ruhs 2005). Since the recession, however, emigration has returned (CSO 2011; see also Smyth 2011).
- 10.
The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (1999: 9) defines integration as ‘the ability to participate to the extent that a person needs and wishes in all the major components of society, without having to relinquish his or her own cultural identity’. Yet, as the turban and hijab examples show, in practice, there is a line to where cultural identity can be taken, which, when overstepped, threatens the cohesiveness of national identity.
- 11.
Titley uses examples such as the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands and terrorist attacks in London and Madrid to show how the policy of multiculturalism was blamed for these atrocities.
- 12.
The notion of the ‘golden thread of shared values’ was used by Gordon Brown to describe a need to reach back to the core set of social norms that define Britishness in the multicultural ‘crisis’ (Brown 2004).
- 13.
Bosnian Orthodox and Bosnian Catholic populations were, in the light of the Yugoslav ideology of containing nationalism, perceived as having their homeland in Serbia and Croatia, respectively.
- 14.
After the conflict when Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent republic this identification was further transformed into ‘Bosnjak’.
- 15.
Key concepts within the Yugoslav state’s nationalities’ policy were narodi and narodnosti. While the former was often translated in Western literature as ‘nation’ and latter as ‘ethnicity’, this translation does not convey the accurate meaning in the original usage of the terms (Shanin 1989; Bringa 1995). Narodi were the main constituent ethnicities of the six former republics of Yugoslavia, namely Slovenians, Croats, Serbs, Muslims (after 1961), Macedonians and Montenegrians. Narodnosti included other state recognised minority groups living of the territory of former Yugoslavia whether they were groups who nationally belong to other states, such as Albanians, or other ethnic groups like the Roma population.
- 16.
The census of 1971 allows for the category of Bosanac but it defines it as regional rather than national belonging that fits the category of the undeclared.
- 17.
Wahhabis would be clearly distinguishable on the streets of Bosnia due to their appearance. The men have shaved heads, long beards and wear shin-length trousers, while the women wear burqas.
- 18.
Additionally, it relates to the reclaiming of their European cultural heritage prior to the Ottoman occupation, as well as to the old Orientalist debates concerning the dichotomous nature of Western versus Eastern belonging (Bakic-Hayden 1995).
- 19.
The term nekulturni, while directly translating as ‘non-cultured’, does not exactly mean that these people have no culture. Rather it claims that the culture that they have is not the right kind of culture, it is not the ‘high’ culture of the urban population, but a traditional peasant culture. Furthermore, the term is not to be confused with the second meaning of nekultura in Serbo-Croat which refers to people without manners. While sometimes the second meaning is implied as part of the first, the connection is not straightforward.
- 20.
Brcani are people from Brcko, a city in northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina considered one of the urban centres in the country. In the post-Dayton Bosnia, following the Dayton Agreement, the Brcko District, of which Brcko is the capital city, is an independent unit of local self-government in Bosnia.
- 21.
Raja and papak are the terms used specifically in Sarajevo. In other parts of the country, different terms are used for the same distinction.
- 22.
‘Mentality’ is a word used a lot in Serbo-Croat closely related to ‘mindset’.
- 23.
‘Incoming people’ refers to the demographic changes that have occurred in post-Dayton Bosnia resulting in many rural people moving into urban areas.
- 24.
When she says ‘they’, she is referring to the Refugee Agency and other government bodies that have participated in the refugee resettlement process.
- 25.
This is the last available breakdown of the cases handled by the project.
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Halilovic-Pastuovic, M. (2020). Bosnian Post-Refuge Transnationalism and Ireland. In: Bosnian Post-Refugee Transnationalism. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39564-3_3
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