Abstract:
With nearly 30 years after the end of the 1992–1995 Bosnian genocide, questions about the intergenerational effects of traumatic memories among Bosnian Americans remain critical considering that trauma passed down to progeny is cumulative. Based on oral histories and interviews conducted by the Center for Bosnian Studies and the Bosnian Family and Youth Study in St. Louis, Missouri, several themes relevant to trauma among second-generation youth emerged. First, the youth grapple with their parents’ war experiences, and the employment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a “trope” central to one’s traumatic story becomes a validated social determinant of behavior among families. Second, a tension in the scarce and prolonged communication of knowledge about the past is bound up with the parental dilemma of whether to silence or voice traumatic memories. Third, an identity crisis as youth struggle both as a Bosnian and an American can be related to an intergenerational dissonance in how to remember and communicate past trauma. Fourth, the youth’s rationalization of parental experiences of trauma and survival can facilitate positive communication in families, and strengthen identity construction. Together, the themes related to traumatic war experiences and memories gleaned from narratives of Bosnian American youth suggest that intergenerational trauma characterizes interactions among first- and second-generation Bosnian Americans, and child–parent relationships specifically.
For the full publication, please follow this link. The article written by Asst. Prof. Laura Komják can be found here.