As a politics major and a Near-Eastern studies certificate candidate, I had considered focusing my thesis on Iraq - perhaps the most popular topic to satisfy both concentrations - but I could not move past what had already been said and done by the media and academics. After much thought, I landed instead on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country that I first encountered during my middle-school social studies class, when pictures of the war in neighboring Kosovo splashed the front pages of Time and Newsweek magazines, my assigned reading at the time.
War-torn Bosnia would soon occupy my studies. The civil war that pitted Bosnians of Serb, Croat and Bosniak nationalities against each other disrupted the Yugoslav identity that Jozip Broz Tito had forged with moderate success during his rule. The Dayton Peace Accords of 1995 "settled" the conflict but moved politics into a Clausewitzian realm of war by other means.
My natural tendency to need to see things before I act on them (or type, as the case may be) drove me to apply for funding to travel to Bosnia. To develop my thesis, I wanted to interview government officials, journalists, NGO workers, analysts, pundits and the best sources of all - taxi drivers. The application was tedious and forced me to start thinking about the arguments and chapters of my thesis well before many of my classmates even had a topic. Nevertheless, I knew that to write a meaningful thesis about a country thousands of miles away, I would need to see it and experience it for myself. After spending months keeping my fingers crossed, I was granted thesis funding by the politics and Near-Eastern studies departments to travel to Bosnia at the end of the fall semester.
On Dec. 9, my flight arrived in Sarajevo, the country's capital city. Upon arrival, I was immediately greeted by the blistering cold and the equally austere realization that I could not communicate in any of the native languages - Bosnian, Serbian or Croatian. As my taxi driver tried to guess where I was from during the long drive to my hotel, I looked out on an impressive main highway overlooking the Miljacka River, which splits the city into its business and political halves.
The main drag of the city is like a time capsule, combining the ancient geology of its imperial past with the modern amenities of the international presence in Bosnia today. The newest portions of Sarajevo resemble any growing American city with their cosmopolitan architecture of glass and sharp lines. In older regions, closer to the city center, you can see the more pragmatic and lackluster block architecture of the Communist period under Tito. In the old town at the heart of the city, visitors would be hard pressed not to think they were in Vienna. The Austrian Empire's rule of the city from 1878 to 1918 is recalled in the distinct Hapsburg architecture of the Ferhadija section of the city. Finally, at the far end of Sarajevo, where my hotel was located, stands the oldest part of the city, Bascarsija. This neighborhood draws from the region's Ottoman past: The streets there are narrower, winding through rows of stores selling sweets, metalwork, rugs, antiques, kebabs and cevapi. It's like a miniature Istanbul.
Sarajevo is rich with historical landmarks, like the spot where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated or the ski slopes used in the 1984 Winter Olympics. My travels in the area also took me to the southern town of Mostar, famous for its arched bridge built by the Ottomans in the 16th century that hovers over the stunningly blue Neretva River. Though the bridge was destroyed during the war in 1993, it was rebuilt in 2004. Both entrances to the bridge are now dotted with signs that say "Never Forget."
The words on the sign are more than just the guardians of the beautiful bridge in Mostar. They form a mantra that Bosnians hold deep within themselves today. When I talked to the youth at the United World College in Mostar, they shared a general sentiment: After years of division along ethnic lines, it was time for Bosnians to learn from the past and work toward establishing a multiethnic society. They wanted a society founded upon cooperation and dialogue rather than the sensationalist and divisive overtones of contemporary politics.
In December 2007, Bosnia and Herzegovina initiated agreements that put it one step closer to entering the European Union. My trip made it clear to me that much work needs to be done for Bosnia to work for the European Union - and for the European Union to work for Bosnia. My travels opened my eyes to a new Slavic world that I wished I had engaged in earlier. In just two weeks in two cities, I was able to absorb the cultures of the various empires that ruled Bosnia.
When I returned to Princeton, it was with a renewed enthusiasm to put to paper all the musings on Bosnia's future that I had gathered from the front-desk lady in many late-night Bosnian coffee sessions or from conversations with taxi drivers. The opportunity allowed me to take what I once discussed in a classroom and apply it to a dynamic and complex world. It is perhaps in this trip, made with the University's support, that I have learned the most about how a Princeton student is prepared to engage in the world after graduation. While the obscure theories and abstract classes may not translate directly into a career path after four years, they have translated for me into incredible entrances into global communities that have enriched my life and my academic endeavors.
Brian Santana de la Rosa is a senior majoring in politics from Kendall Park, N.J. He can be reached at bsantana@princeton.edu.
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