No Country for old (or young) Citizens

In Spring 2011, one of the women I interviewed for my research in Bosnia commented, "a country without citizens, it’s not a country"--and her words have stuck with me. She was speaking specifically about citizenship policies in BiH--and how belonging to one of the three constituent peoples (Bosniak, Croat or Serb) is considered both necessary and simultaneously detrimental to the idea of Bosnia as a state--rather than Bosnia as a home of three nations, doing their own thing, pursuing their own objectives. At least for Bosnia--this three-nations under one state deal has created ample opportunities for nation-building, and not a whole heck of a lot of state-building. Although, of course, things have gotten better since '95 when Dayton was signed--there's now a united police force, common currency, a single flag, there are movements towards some common curriculum (although at least in 2010 that had stalled at covering math and science because they were the least controversial subjects, and therefore least likely to have an impact on national-identity development in schools/in youngsters. Virtually everything else is considered a "national subject" and the content varies considerably between schools/communities. which not only impacts what students learn but decreases mobility considerably (complicating processes of return) because schools are not comparable (for example: which year do you start studying English? how do you integrate a student who is one year, two years ahead or behind his/her peers?). In my research, I came across an amazing article called "Smoking Doesn't Kill, it Unites!" (what a way to kill those years of PSAs we all were subjected to in the States?) by Azra Hromadzic about inter-ethnic mixing in a two-schools-under-one-roof in Mostar over cigarettes smoked between classes (illegally) in the bathrooms (oh coffee and cigarettes. coffee and cigarettes). This isn't the exact article--but looks to be based off of that same fieldwork. and it's another fantastic read--she's doing some really great ethnographic research in BiH. who thought peace-building in Mostar begins in bathrooms? and let it begin with me? the image of hanging out in bathrooms over smokes... sign me up!(?)) 

I didn't expect Selma's (a pseudonym) words to stick with me, or to find parallel relevance here--but tonight I found myself re-reading the transcript of our interview. but one of the things that concerns me is that there's some vibrant nation-building going on, but not a whole heck of a lot of state-building. especially with politics so corrupt (I feel like I can say that pretty safely--but these are my own thoughts--not those of employers, state department etc.) there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest on the part of politicians to really invest in Macedonia the state (Macedonia, or X the nation is so much more sexy. or perhaps more importantly, emotional. there are are a whole heck of a lot more heartstrings attached, that's for sure) and money that should hypothetically be invested in the state--well, a lot of it ends up other places. which makes it even harder for citizens to feel like they belong to something called "the State"--and I mean that not in the socialist sense--when the state doesn't do much in return.