REMEMBERING

At the end of the twentieth century, the official end to communism in Europe marked the onset of major migrations. Perhaps the most abrupt of these was the forced migration of more than two million people during the political violence in former Yugoslavia. In Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), tens of thousands of civilians were subjected to physical and cultural genocide because of their ethno-national identities, with Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and members of ethnically mixed families suffering the worst of the wartime violence. As many as one million of those forcibly displaced between 1992-1995 became refugees, a large number of whom came to North America. While those in this diaspora have rebuilt their lives, many continue to identify as refugees due to a lack of recognition and repair for their losses in multiple Yugoslav successor states, and in solidarity with current refugee populations. 

This image is from Bosnian American artist Aida Šehović’s participatory public monument made with Bosnian coffee elements to remember those who died during the wartime genocide. Between 2006 - 2020 the monument was installed in a different city in North America and Europe.

During my research exploring women refugees’ creative efforts to remake their lives and livelihoods in Chicago, people often remarked that:

“NO ONE ASKS US ABOUT OUR LIVES BEFORE THE WAR”

OBJECTS

In particular, women were frustrated that people did not ask about their working lives: where they went to school, what kind of jobs they had, what sort of homes they made. They wanted people to recognize that their lives did not begin and end with the traumas of war. And younger women—those who were children during the war—wanted to learn more about their parents’ and grandparents’ experiences before the war, but often found it difficult to ask. 

Placing the focus on objects is a way to start conversations and discuss topics that are sometimes challenging to approach directly. Objects also help stimulate memories and the sensory parts of being human such as smell, taste, touch, and sound. 

By centering conversations around the meaningful objects of traditional coffee service, older adults share stories with the younger generation. This type of coffee preparation and service is a social ritual that is rarely done alone. It helps create the space to share experiences, pass along knowledge, and to connect over memories that are funny, happy, nostalgic, sad, and sometimes painful.

BOSNIAN COFFEE

Sometimes also referred to as “pravu kafu / the real coffee,” or “Turkish coffee,” traditional Bosnian coffee practice uses džezve, symbolically significant coffee pots found across the Balkan Peninsula and in regions influenced by the Ottoman period. In Bosnia they are often made of copper and etched with regionally emblematic motifs. There is also a wide variety of colorful enamel-coated džezve in use. Coffee is served in fildžani, small porcelain cups. Many women of the older generation were given their first džezva and fildžan by their husband’s family as part of their wedding gift. These coffee sets helped to establish a new couple’s first space, even if it was a small simple room attached to their parents’ home. Džezve were among the cherished possessions women tried to bring with them as they fled their homes during the war.

Nowadays most people use electric coffeemakers and espresso machines, and džezve and fildžani may be displayed more than used. When traditional coffee is prepared it is often a sign of great affection.