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Problematic Identity-building at the Museum of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka

Publication at Faculty of Social Sciences |
2016

Abstract

This article analyzes the historical narratives presented in the exhibitions at the Museum of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka. It also clarifies who promotes that particular representation of history and what factors influence the museum's decisions.

The article explores the museum's development, its organization, financing, and self-presentation, and most importantly the narratives of its permanent and temporary exhibitions. During our analysis, we emphasize the way in which an ingroup is defined in opposition to outgroups, and especially the question of whether or not this act of defining is aimed towards a calming of inter-ethnic relations.

The article shows that the Museum of Republika Srpska has a strongly Serbian nationalist tone since, as a key cultural institution of Republika Srpska, it has become an instrument of the centralized politics of memory within the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.