Museums and the making of ‘ourselves’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The study explores the history of three national and regional museums in Bosnia and Herzegovina, how museums contribute to the construction of national and other identities through collections, selections and classifications of objects of interest and through historical narratives. Bosnia and Herzegovina has had a turbulent history and it is for that reason interesting to examine changes in representations of the region and its history over time. The analysis covers the period between 1880s and 2010 ant thus shows how history is constructed and represented in the period from the establishment of first museums to the period after the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the begging of the 1990s. Like in many other countries museums function as institutions that safeguard a group´s cultural heritage and significant narratives about groups´ past. The legacy of the past is through museums made available to larger audience and they are an important force in the formation of collective identities. The notion of museum as a cartographic space of national history, a space for the preservation of cultural and natural (different forms of material) artefacts and as a part of political struggle to define a group or different groups are starting point of this analysis. Museums form and reproduce the idea of common identity, history and geographic boundaries, plus, and this is important to bear in mind, educate and mobilize the population. In this context, the analysis of national museums makes it possible to call attention the impetus of museums and the processes of nation-building at work. Questions which are given the attention in this study are: • How is ‘ourness’ (i.e. national identity) constructed and shaped in national/regional museums in Bosnia and Herzegovina? • Which identities have been articulated during the history of museums?