Interethnic Marriages in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mgr. Maja Ahmić, BA

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This study was designed to examine and compare the position of interethnic marriages in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, before and after the war in the 1990s. It is important to stress that the phenomena of interethnic marriages has been of exceptional significance for every society, since by couples living together and accepting elements from another culture, relationships and interaction are created between different groups and nations. The research has been carried out by the interview method, which makes it unique, since most of the studies done until today have been of a quantitative nature. The theory used was a macrostructural one, based on a previous study done by Blau and Schwartz in 1984. According to the findings, main differences are seen when it comes to childhood and schooling, but there is similarity in couples’ views on the future and the need for every individual to be free in making major life decisions. This study is important because it points to how out how much a segregated education system, complex political rule and religious interference in all spheres of public life can in fact destabilize the city, the country, and probably – the whole region.

Keywords

Key Words, Interethnic marriage, Mostar, education, identity, politics, and war

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 7. 5. 2013

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 29. 5. 2013
• Supervisor: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D.
• Reader: M.A. Dominik Bartmanski, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Sociology / Sociology (Eng.)