Doing History, Doing Peace? Contested History, the Work of Historians and the Search for Reconciliation in the Balkans

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How can contesting visions of the past, as well as efforts to instrumentalize history for nationalistic purposes, be addressed in the interests of socio-political reconciliation? What role can scholars play in this process, and what are the dangers and opportunities in bringing together historians from opposing sides of a conflict offer for those seeking to promote peace and dialogue?

Through the support of a grant from USIP, a group of Serbian and non-Serbian scholars from across Europe and North America came together in dialogue to examine key documentary evidence about the underlying causes and tragic course of the Yugoslav catastrophe.

The major goals of the project included forging permanent links among these scholars; employing shared research methods to resolve key controversies that have erected barriers to mutual understanding; and transmitting the work of the dialogue to the public sphere. One of the outcomes of this effort is the edited volume in English and Serbo-Croatian, Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative, co-edited by Charles Ingrao and Thomas A. Emmert.

Charles Ingrao will discuss the challenges of the project and its outcomes. Dr. Watenpaugh will contrast the role of history and historians in reconciliation in the context of the Middle East, including Armenia-Turkey disputes over history. Dr. Cole will consider recent projects convening international historians in order to de-nationalize history and make it a tool for communication rather than hostility.

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