The suitcase : refugee voices from Bosnia and Croatia

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The suitcase : refugee voices from Bosnia and Croatia

edited by Julie Mertus ... [et al.] ; foreword by Cornel West ; with contributions from over seventy-five refugees and displaced people, and Dubravka Ugresic ... [et al.] ; translations by Jelica Todosijevic ... [et al.]

University of California Press, c1997

  • : cloth
  • : pbk

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Includes bibliographical references

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: cloth ISBN 9780520204584

Description

The whirlwind of Europe's longest war in half a century has produced this powerful collection of personal narratives essays, letters, and poems from refugees fleeing Bosnia and Croatia. Taking us behind the barrage of media coverage, these stories tell of perseverance, brutality, forced departure, exile, and courage. With startling immediacy and in moving detail, speakers tell of stuffing a few belongings a handful of photographs, a rock from the garden, a change of clothes into a suitcase and fleeing their homeland. Contributors from all ethnic groups and every region of Bosnia and Croatia describe their sense of lost community, memories of those left behind, recollections of town squares that no longer exist, and homes now occupied by neighbors. The editors of The Suitcase, themselves representing the diverse peoples of the region, traveled to camps and temporary homes across the globe to collect these stories. An antidote to apathy, this work moves beyond and outside the vicissitudes of daily politics to portray the human tragedy at the center of present-day Bosnia and Croatia. Probing the intimate losses of countless individuals, it delivers a powerful indictment of injustice, militarism, prejudice, and warfare.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780520206342

Description

The whirlwind of Europe's longest war in half a century has produced this powerful collection of personal narratives - essays, letters, and poems - from refugees fleeing Bosnia and Croatia. Taking us behind the barrage of media coverage, these stories tell of perseverance, brutality, forced departure, exile, and courage. With startling immediacy and in moving detail, speakers tell of stuffing a few belongings - a handful of photographs, a rock from the garden, a change of clothes--into a suitcase and fleeing their homeland. Contributors from all ethnic groups and every region of Bosnia and Croatia describe their sense of lost community, memories of those left behind, recollections of town squares that no longer exist, and homes now occupied by neighbors. The editors of "The Suitcase", themselves representing the diverse people of the region, traveled to camps and temporary homes across the globe to collect these stories. An antidote to apathy, this work moves beyond and outside the vicissitudes of daily politics to portray the human tragedy at the center of present-day Bosnia and Croatia. Probing the intimate losses of countless individuals, it delivers a powerful indictment of injustice, militarism, prejudice, and warfare.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOREWORD Cornel West INTRODUCTION THE SUITCASE The Journey Out Dreams of Home Everyday Refugee Life Children's Voices Starting Life Anew AFTERWORDS The ABCs of Exile Dubravka Ugresic The Face of Women Refugees from Muslim Communities: Algeria to Ex-Yugoslavia Marieme Helie-Lucas Beyond the Balkans judith Mayotte POSTSCRIPT This Is Not War Talk Julze Mertus NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

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