Scholar Šaćir Filandra's New Book Reimagines Bosnian History Through Regional Figures
Renowned Bosnian scholar Šaćir Filandra recently unveiled his latest work, 'My Homeland in World History: The Game of Identity,' during a scientific interview held in Sarajevo. The book's presentation featured Filandra himself, alongside Sead Turčalo, the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, who served as moderator for the discussion, as reported by [Klix.ba](https://www.klix.ba/magazin/kultura/sacir-filandra-predstavio-knjigu-moj-zavicaj-u-svjetskoj-povijesti-igra-identiteta).
Filandra's multi-layered study delves into the political lives of prominent individuals hailing from lower Herzegovina, a Mediterranean region of Bosnia that constitutes the author's ancestral home. Among those whose stories are explored are figures such as Count Sava Vladislavić, Dimitrije Mitrinović, Mihailo Miloradović, Mustafa Golubić, Šefkija Behmen, Ali-paša Rizvanbegović, Esad Ćimić, Šerif Arnautović, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Fra Rafo Barišić, Salim Ćerić, Alija Isaković, Nijaz Duraković, and Rusmir Mahmutćehajić.
By examining the political trajectories of these notable personalities, the author undertakes a critical re-evaluation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's historical, political, and spiritual developments over the past three centuries. The work effectively demonstrates the profound ideological and ethnopolitical interconnectedness and mutual dependence of the nation's diverse cultural identities.
Approaching the analysis of Bosnian-Herzegovinian, regional, and global intellectual and ideological currents from an epistemological stance of the margin or periphery, the book presentation underscored the imperative to decentralize prevailing ethnopolitical narratives. This perspective advocates for acknowledging identity differences without unduly emphasizing or exploiting them.
While written in the first person, the book meticulously incorporates a comprehensive scientific apparatus. Its methodological framework situates the biographies of these prominent Herzegovinians within the crucial issues of their respective eras, thereby addressing a vast array of topics. These range from the Ottoman arrival in Bosnia, the Treaty of Karlowitz, and the influence of Peter the Great, through to the processes shaping Bosnia and Herzegovina's eventual state independence.
