Newspaper Obituaries and Transnational Practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The recent war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has caused probably the greatest wave of migration of the Bosnian population into other countries, which also influenced traditional customs, including those relating to death rituals. When it comes to death, migration into other countries opens many questions, including those related to the decisions about the place of burial. Thus, for example, migrants chose to be buried either in their home or adopted countries. Also, there is a question related to the decisions about death announcements. In adopted countries, death is often announced through the existing webs of communication inside migrant communities, while in home countries death is announced through the media, especially through newspaper obituaries, which is specific to larger urban areas. This paper addresses the phenomenon of newspaper obituaries as a possible window into the way that Bosnian migrants elsewhere deal with the question of burial and death rituals. In addition to newspaper obituaries, this paper relies on ethnographic material that includes a number of informant interviews. The analysis demonstrated that such death obituaries could be observed as a form of transnational practice that includes the maintenance of relationships and communication of Bosnian immigrants with their home country.