Identicide in Bosnia and Croatia: The destruction, reconstruction, and construction of landscapes of identity

This thesis is concerned with the intentional destruction of landscapes of identity during warfare and their post-war reconstruction. The concepts in this project are situated within the context of the geography of place and within the constructs of the notion of landscape as a cultural practice in creating and supporting a sense of identity. The targeting of landscapes of identity during warfare, identicide, is of utmost interest to this study because it is a diagnostic feature of contemporary warfare employed by belligerents against contested symbols within landscapes of identity.; The complex outcomes of the effects of conflict upon people and their lived-in landscapes are something with which geography is concerned. This study examines how the link between people and their places strengthens identities, and in particular, the destruction of this link during contemporary armed warfare that can lead to trauma and a sense of anomie. Moreover, the applicable laws and standards that offer protection to cultural landscapes are explored and some insights are offered regarding why such destruction continues with impunity.; In the event of war, it can be argued that landscape has four dominant layers. First, the pre-war landscape that exists prior to the onset of armed conflict. Second, the war-ravaged landscape which exists during the throes of aggression. Third, the post-war landscape of emergency reconstruction, third-party intervention, and the ruins of culture appears. Lastly, a layer of territorialized spaces emerge that are, in part, created by particularistic foreign groups aiming to further homogenize the lived-in landscape.; The implications of post-war reconstruction of such landscapes become a complex issue for groups that provide the materials, expertise, and resources for long-term, post-war peace and stability. International Community involvement in the Balkans, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is examined to understand current post-war reconstruction policies and praxis. Moreover, third-party involvement, a sort of humanitarian neo-colonialism, contributes to the sponsored reconstruction of post-war cultural landscapes, particularly noted by the territorialization of place after contemporary armed warfare. This study raises the notion of terrains of opportunity created by warfare but appropriated by the pathologies of nationalism and fundamentalism that tend to polarize the landscape to produce the problematic fourth layer of landscape.; Three case studies illuminate these theoretical implications: the Sarajevo National and University Library, Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina; and the Old Town of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Each demonstrates that the International Community's post-war reconstruction praxis hinges upon economy-building motives, despite the conciliatory discourse permeating the projects. Although the three cases are situated within the former Yugoslavia, the theories of identicide and the territorialization of landscapes after war can be sensitively applied to war-torn societies beyond the Balkans.