National identity in my own words has two different factors. It is the identity that a nation obtains from both internal and external contributors. A key part of this identity that a nation represents is it that there is a contrast with others in the surrounding region. A national identity can only belong to one country and no other because that defeat's the meaning behind what it represents. There is nothing special about a country with an identity that is a replica or even a pretty close double of another's country's identity. A national identity brings in both internal and external contributors because history has its role in defining an identity of a nation. In layman's terms, a neighboring country is an external factor but when the the people of that country have chosen to occupy another's own land, that affects the identity of that people's land internally decades later. That external country's people has now inhabit another's country and adds to the history and internal national identity of that country through the aspect of race and ethnic background. The internal national identity has been altered because those people who have moved in have brought their own traditions, religious practices and language with them. The ethnic background identity of this one country has now shifted because of an external contributor.
My country of focus is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Up until March 3, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Present day Bosnia and Herzegovina's population consists of "Bosnian(50.1%), Serb(30.8%), Croat(15.4%) and Other(2.7%)" (CIA, 2019). In contrast "... to the other Balkan States, Bosnia has no titular people, and no ethnic group is or has been in the majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hjort, H., Frisen, A., 2006). The presence of external regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina is evident in the population statistics. The languages spoken in this country are also skewed similarly to the statistics of ethnic backgrounds with Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian being recognized as official national languages. This can be explained through the country's participation in the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Along with these ethnic groups is the presence of "Islam, Orthodox, Christianity and Roman Catholicism (Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Bosnia and Herzegovina's location in the region between Croatia and Serbia has often made them "...vulnerable to nationalist territorial aspirations" (Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Part of the national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in its history. Control of the region dates back to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century then to Austria Hungary in 1878. The region was then "...incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" and then into the "...Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia"(Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Bosnia and Herzegovina would later vote for independence in 1992.
The history of this young nation does not end there as 'cleansing wars' erupted immediately displacing approximately "two million people in much of Bosnia and Herzegovina"(Pickering, P, Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). The countries of Serbia and Croatia had chosen to take control of regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina they had declared as their own and this led to thousands of casualties. People with knowledge of this event have said that "The war brought about large demographical changes: towns and areas that were formerly mixed have been 'ethnically cleansed'"(Hjort, H., Frisen, A., 2006). It took intervention by international influences to end this conflict and would declare Bosnia and Herzegovina as an unstable ethnically divided country. The result of this would be differentiating views in a political way of the future of the country and even the justification behind its very existence. The conflict between neighboring countries on Bosnia and Herzegovina is not at the height of violence and disagreement it was in the past but there is still tension felt among the region.
The effect of Othering has been prominent in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been written that "Centuries of competition between the different ethnic groups had imbued certain places with a strong historical meaning for particular communities"(Black, R., 2012). The influence of the three nationalist regions impacts the national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a complicated way. A people from a specific region may refer to a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina as "home" but would also trace their heritage to another country outside of its heritage. They may choose to be recognized as people from the outside country but because their "home" is a region part of recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina, it brings up some complications. A Serbian family may be suitable for this example because of Serbia's involvement with the region as part of Yugoslavia but also over the cleaning wars in which the country of Serbia had argued over a region they felt belonged to them. The idea of returning home is " ...a somewhat problematic notion, a notion manipulated and adapted over the course of the war" (Black, R., 2012). Bosnia and Herzegovina is a young country in terms of years of independence. But, it is old when tracing down its historical involvement with other nations. The national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is complicated because it takes into account history and the path its people in the future now want for it. Furthermore, there is still tension because of the three nationalist groups.
----------------
References
Black, R.
(2002). Conceptions of ‘home’ and the political geography of
refugee repatriation: between assumption and contested reality in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Applied Geography.
Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622802000036
CIA. (2019). Bosnia and Herzegovina. The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
My country of focus is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Up until March 3, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Present day Bosnia and Herzegovina's population consists of "Bosnian(50.1%), Serb(30.8%), Croat(15.4%) and Other(2.7%)" (CIA, 2019). In contrast "... to the other Balkan States, Bosnia has no titular people, and no ethnic group is or has been in the majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hjort, H., Frisen, A., 2006). The presence of external regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina is evident in the population statistics. The languages spoken in this country are also skewed similarly to the statistics of ethnic backgrounds with Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian being recognized as official national languages. This can be explained through the country's participation in the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Along with these ethnic groups is the presence of "Islam, Orthodox, Christianity and Roman Catholicism (Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Bosnia and Herzegovina's location in the region between Croatia and Serbia has often made them "...vulnerable to nationalist territorial aspirations" (Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Part of the national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in its history. Control of the region dates back to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century then to Austria Hungary in 1878. The region was then "...incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" and then into the "...Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia"(Pickering, P., Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). Bosnia and Herzegovina would later vote for independence in 1992.
The history of this young nation does not end there as 'cleansing wars' erupted immediately displacing approximately "two million people in much of Bosnia and Herzegovina"(Pickering, P, Lampe, J., Malcom, N., (2018). The countries of Serbia and Croatia had chosen to take control of regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina they had declared as their own and this led to thousands of casualties. People with knowledge of this event have said that "The war brought about large demographical changes: towns and areas that were formerly mixed have been 'ethnically cleansed'"(Hjort, H., Frisen, A., 2006). It took intervention by international influences to end this conflict and would declare Bosnia and Herzegovina as an unstable ethnically divided country. The result of this would be differentiating views in a political way of the future of the country and even the justification behind its very existence. The conflict between neighboring countries on Bosnia and Herzegovina is not at the height of violence and disagreement it was in the past but there is still tension felt among the region.
The effect of Othering has been prominent in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been written that "Centuries of competition between the different ethnic groups had imbued certain places with a strong historical meaning for particular communities"(Black, R., 2012). The influence of the three nationalist regions impacts the national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a complicated way. A people from a specific region may refer to a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina as "home" but would also trace their heritage to another country outside of its heritage. They may choose to be recognized as people from the outside country but because their "home" is a region part of recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina, it brings up some complications. A Serbian family may be suitable for this example because of Serbia's involvement with the region as part of Yugoslavia but also over the cleaning wars in which the country of Serbia had argued over a region they felt belonged to them. The idea of returning home is " ...a somewhat problematic notion, a notion manipulated and adapted over the course of the war" (Black, R., 2012). Bosnia and Herzegovina is a young country in terms of years of independence. But, it is old when tracing down its historical involvement with other nations. The national identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is complicated because it takes into account history and the path its people in the future now want for it. Furthermore, there is still tension because of the three nationalist groups.
----------------
References
Black, R.
(2002). Conceptions of ‘home’ and the political geography of
refugee repatriation: between assumption and contested reality in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Applied Geography.
Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622802000036
CIA. (2019). Bosnia and Herzegovina. The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
Hjort,
H., & Frisén, A. (2006). Ethnic Identity and Reconciliation: Two Main Tasks
for the Young in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Adolescence, 41(161), 141–163. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=20634725&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Pickering,
P, Lampe, J., Malcom, N. (2018). Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina
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