Description
In the fall of 1995, peace was brokered between different parties involved in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the help of international diplomacy in the city of Dayton, Ohio. During the peace talks, a division line was drawn between two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska. This ‘peace cartography’, guided by international expertise, was presented as a neutral and objective process – however, it not only solidified ethnic divisions but also introduced neoliberal and neo-colonial mechanisms in handling them. This project is interested in tracing the consequences and afterlives of this cartography – by exploring how they were inscribed in the post-war development of landscapes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through design research on particular landscapes in which the division line was drawn, the project will make legible how their future was shaped by peacebuilding visions. By creating an atlas of technologies, things and practices involved in drawing the line, it will explore how these visions were staged as ‘progressive’ and ‘benevolent’ through cartographic design. The research starts with a systematic analysis of maps and visualisations produced in the context of conflict and peacebuilding in ex-Yugoslavia, focusing on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It continues by engaging with specific case studies of post-war landscapes through fieldwork, design research and atlas-making. Finally, the research insights will inform the design of visualisation methods and tools which can support a critical and situated approach to visualising the complexities of landscapes in peace and conflict contexts.
Key questions
Methodology and sources
Project team
Jana Moser is head of the department of Cartography and Visual Communication and coordinator of the research area Geovisualisations at IfL.
Jana Moser studied Cartography and received her doctorate from Technical University of Dresden, with an investigation of the cartographical history of Namibia until 1990. Before she joined IfL, Jana Moser was head of the post “Historical Atlas of Saxony” in Dresden at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig.
Sebastian Lentz is director of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) and Professor for Regional Geography at the Leipzig University.
Before joining the IfL he held positions as Associate Professor for Geography at the University of Mannheim and as Professor for Human Geography at the University of Erfurt. Among other functions, Sebastian Lentz is vice president and member of the board of the Leibniz Association, speaker of the Leibniz Science Campus ‘Eastern Europe – Global Area’ (EEGA) and member of the board of trustees of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). He is the responsible editor of ‘Nationalatlas aktuell’, co-editor of ‘Raumforschung und Raumordnung’ and member of several editorial boards and committees such as MSU Vestnik, Moscow and Ukrainian Geographic Journal, Kyiv.
Mela Zuljevic is a design researcher with a PhD in architecture (UHasselt, Belgium). In her doctoral thesis, she explored the uses of the past in design – by engaging with postcolonial and critical development studies to address how the past is mobilised in staging visions of development. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, working at the intersection of design, cartography and landscape research. Her research project looks at cartographic legacies of international diplomacy and peace-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on how they materialise in the landscape. Besides her research project, she coordinates the Multi-Perspective Visualisation Laboratory for Peace and Conflict Cartography (VisLab) of the KonKoop network.
Previously, she studied Design and Visual Communications at the University of Sarajevo. She worked as an assistant professor at the Interior Design Department of the ‘Dzemal Bijedic’ University of Mostar. As a co-founder and coordinator of the Abart art collective, she explored artistic and curatorial practices in public space, focusing on the post-war division and reconstruction of Mostar. Through her participation in various design projects and artistic collaborations, she gained significant experience in visual, artistic and curatorial practices and methodologies (for example, see Transition Landscape Atlas).
Jana Moser is head of the department of Cartography and Visual Communication and coordinator of the research area Geovisualisations at IfL.
Jana Moser studied Cartography and received her doctorate from Technical University of Dresden, with an investigation of the cartographical history of Namibia until 1990. Before she joined IfL, Jana Moser was head of the post “Historical Atlas of Saxony” in Dresden at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig.
Sebastian Lentz is director of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) and Professor for Regional Geography at the Leipzig University.
Before joining the IfL he held positions as Associate Professor for Geography at the University of Mannheim and as Professor for Human Geography at the University of Erfurt. Among other functions, Sebastian Lentz is vice president and member of the board of the Leibniz Association, speaker of the Leibniz Science Campus ‘Eastern Europe – Global Area’ (EEGA) and member of the board of trustees of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). He is the responsible editor of ‘Nationalatlas aktuell’, co-editor of ‘Raumforschung und Raumordnung’ and member of several editorial boards and committees such as MSU Vestnik, Moscow and Ukrainian Geographic Journal, Kyiv.
Mela Zuljevic is a design researcher with a PhD in architecture (UHasselt, Belgium). In her doctoral thesis, she explored the uses of the past in design – by engaging with postcolonial and critical development studies to address how the past is mobilised in staging visions of development. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, working at the intersection of design, cartography and landscape research. Her research project looks at cartographic legacies of international diplomacy and peace-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on how they materialise in the landscape. Besides her research project, she coordinates the Multi-Perspective Visualisation Laboratory for Peace and Conflict Cartography (VisLab) of the KonKoop network.
Previously, she studied Design and Visual Communications at the University of Sarajevo. She worked as an assistant professor at the Interior Design Department of the ‘Dzemal Bijedic’ University of Mostar. As a co-founder and coordinator of the Abart art collective, she explored artistic and curatorial practices in public space, focusing on the post-war division and reconstruction of Mostar. Through her participation in various design projects and artistic collaborations, she gained significant experience in visual, artistic and curatorial practices and methodologies (for example, see Transition Landscape Atlas).
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