2021 Events

Working Title: Bosnian Studies – A Reader for an Emerging Field

Editors
Dženeta Karabegović, PhD, University of Salzburg, Austria (dzeneta.karabegovic@sbg.ac.at)
Adna Karamehić-Oates, PhD, Fontbonne University, United States (akaramehicoates@fontbonne.edu)

Deadline: February 1, 2021

Join us for an evening with Bosnian author Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, who will talk about her new book, The Cat I Never Named.

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess will be joined by a conversation partner, Elma Salesevic, to discuss her book and talk about the impact of their experiences during the war.

Left Bank Books Presents ONLINE is streamed live on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LeftBankBooks.STL/.

During the summer of 2021, the St. Louis Bosnian Chamber of Commerce will host bi-weekly social gatherings of younger and older generations of the local community to support the project of preserving Bosnian identity and cultural history.

Sundays, 1-3pm | June 13th, June 27th, July 11, July 25th, August 8th.

Snacks provided.

2021 Oscar nominee for Best International Feature Film, Quo Vadis, Aida?, recounts and dramatizes the legacy of one of the worst mass murders in European history since the Holocaust: the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. More than 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were murdered by the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska. Through the eyes of Aida Selmanagic, a translator working at a United Nations base just outside Srebrenica, the film shines a brutally intense light on the toll that suffering, terror, and fighting in Bosnia takes on humanity.

Ida Sefer, President of the Bosnian-American Genocide Institute and Education Center (BAGI), will moderate a discussion centered around several key themes of the film: the international failure that was depicted in the film, ongoing genocide in the country, and acknowledging courage and resolve of the survivors, among other topics.

Panelists include Emir Suljagić, Director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center; Dr. David Pettigrew, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University; Nihad Brankovic, Government Relations Coordinator, Western Balkans Program, International Commission on Missing Persons; and Hasan Hasanović, Srebrenica genocide survivor, curator, and interpreter at the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

Screening and discussion sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Center.

Community Partners
Bosnian-American Genocide Institute and Education Center (BAGI)
Educators Institute for Human Rights Congress of Bosniaks of North America
Center for Bosnian Studies at Fontbonne University

BON 410 / BL01D St. Louis's Bosnian Community: Narrative, Memory, and Identity [Fall 2021]

In this unique course, students will work with their Bosnian neighbors to develop a public exhibit featuring the Center's collection of Bosnia-related materials. There is an opportunity for follow-up internships with the Center during spring 2022.

No prior knowledge of Bosnian history or culture is required.

More information is available here: https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/bosnia/academics.html.

ŠTO TE NEMA

Laumeier Sculpture Park Explores Remembrance, Connection, and Strength of Community with Aida Šehović.

This solo exhibition of work by artist Aida Šehović includes the archive of ŠTO TE NEMA, a public monument to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, which traveled to 15 cities around the world between 2006 and 2020. The community-built archive preserves a collection of more than 8,372 fildžani (small porcelain coffee cups) as well as posters from each exhibition. In addition, a photo installation from Šehović’s related photo installation, Family Album, 2018 will also be on display.

Šehović’s work serves as a learning tool for community organizing, resistance, and healing. ŠTO TE NEMA addresses broad issues surrounding identity, collective remembrance, trauma, and displacement. The series of events during the course of the exhibition includes a gallery talk with the artist, a public lecture at Webster University, and a private gathering for families affected by the Bosnian war and genocide for collective reflection and healing.

Šehović is Laumeier’s 2021 Visiting Artist in Residence. Her engagement with the Bosnian community in St. Louis includes collaboration with Laumeier’s 2021 Cultural Thinker in Residence, community organizer Elvir Mandžukić,

Conference welcome and program overview by Patrick McCarthy, Working Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina

10 am: Ending Genocide Denial & Glorification of War Criminals, David Pettigrew and Adna Karamehic-Oates

11 am: NATO Membership for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sean Turcalo and Azem Dervisevic

12-1 pm: Break

1-2 pm: Euro-Atlantic Integration and EU Membership for B&H, Adnan Cerimagic and Vildana Bijedic

2-3 pm: Election and Constitutional Reform, Almira Delibegovic-Broome and Mead Misic

All times are EST.

Presentation of the 2021 Civic Courage Award to Elvedin Pašić.

Reception and award ceremony followed by remarks from Pašić. In English.

Taylor Library is located in the horseshoe drive off Wydown. Lot parking is available off Big Bend Boulevard.

The Civic Courage Award was established in 2015 and is awarded for courageous commitment to the civic values of respect, equality, and pluralism that represent the best traditions of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Recipients are presented with the award at a formal ceremony and reception hosted by the Center for Bosnian Studies.