Bosnian Refugees in Chicago: Gender, Performance, and Post-War Economies studies refugee migration through the experiences of survivors of the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia as they rebuild home, family, and social lives in the wake of their displacement. Ana Croegaert explores post-1970s Yugoslav-era socialism, American neoliberal capitalism, and anti-Muslim geopolitics to analyze women's varied perspectives on their postwar lives in the United States. Based on more than a decade of fieldwork and with a focus on performance, Croegaert takes readers into staged performances, coffee rituals, protests, memorials, homes, and non-governmental organizations to shine a light on the pressures women contend with in their efforts to make a living and to narrate their wartime injuries. Ultimately, Croegaert argues that refugee women insist on understanding their wartime losses as simultaneously social and material, a form of personhood she labels "injured life." At a time of mass displacement and heated political debates concerning refugees, Croegaert provides an engaging portrait of a lively and diverse group of women whose opinions on citizenship and belonging are needed now more than ever.
Ana Croegaert is assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of New Orleans.
Chapter 1: Refugee Women and a Chicago Volag Chapter 2: Making Home and Family after War, and from a Distance Chapter 3: Ajla in Stolac Chapter 4: Shifting Time in The Social Life of Bosnian Coffee Chapter 5: American Balkanism and the Optics of Violence Chapter 6: A Trade in Stories Chapter 7: #BiHInSolidarity / Be in Solidarity
Ana Croegaert's Bosnian Refugees in Chicago: Gender, Performance, and Post-War Economies provides a rich, multi-faceted portrait of Bosnian refugee life in early 21st century Chicago. It documents individuals' struggles to come to terms with the injuries of war, ethnic violence, and displacement in the former Yugoslavia, focusing in particular on women's efforts to create domesticity and social connection. Drawing on intimate observations and interviews in homes, coffee shops and public spaces, as well as analysis of social media, public events, and artistic expression, Bosnian Refugees in Chicago provides a deeply moving and politically astute account of the "refugee" experience in an era of austerity politics and heightened racial tension in the United States. -- Jane Collins, University of Wisconsin
