My thesis explores post-war community formation following the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), the deadliest European violent conflict since WWII. The study draws on 18 months of fieldwork and mixed methods data collection in two small towns, Stolac in Southern Herzegovina and Kotor Varoš in Northern Bosnia, which were exposed to intense violence. The thesis uses the concept of community as analytical optic to avoid ethnic "groupism" perspective, which so often obscures the complexity of social relations and the dynamics of communal life in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It understands community as a place and social relations, and also the psychological sense of community. The thesis argues that while these combined forms of violence lead to community loss, a psychological sense of community among the members is maintained, and plays an important role in post-war community formation. The thesis shows that post-war community formation is not a linear process but a dynamic one, which occurs at different levels of the communal social organization. By exploring daily life and historical narratives of the violence in two different post-war communities, the thesis makes a case that community formation is primarily a localized process, which has a way of bypassing ethnonationalist hegemonies. It makes and original contribution by focusing both on the social interactions and creating a space through interactions between the place and the social in the new community emerges through everyday life.

This thesis explores the work carried out by forensic specialists employed by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Headquartered in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), ICMP assists the work of local governments around the world in addressing the issue of missing persons following armed conflict, atrocities, and natural disasters. This thesis focuses on ICMP's efforts to aid the Bosnian government in locating, exhuming, and identifying the remains of the individuals who went missing during the country's recent war (1992-1995). Utilising data obtained via interviews with and observations of ICMP staff members, it primarily represents a study of the management of professional identity in emotionally charged situations, examining the experiences of the forensic specialists who work in the organisation's three mortuary facilities throughout BiH. It explores forensic specialists' work with human remains, their interactions with victims' family members, and their attendance at events in which victims are commemorated and/or buried. Discussion of forensic specialists' experiences with the deceased brings into consideration their varying responses to the remains, emphasising the prevalence and perceived importance of emotional detachment. Situations in which emotional detachment from the remains may prove challenging are considered, as are the varying techniques forensic specialists utilise in managing emotional responses to their work. Examination of forensic specialists' interactions with the living suggests their general dislike of these encounters, although the positive aspects of these interactions are also examined. Exploration of forensic specialists' opinions of attending burials and/or commemorations brings into further consideration the balance between emotional attachment and detachment. While respondents noted the importance of maintaining an emotional connection to their work, they nevertheless emphasised the importance of avoiding such responses while in the mortuary. Commemorations and/or burials become ‘safe spaces' for forensic specialists to express and experience emotional responses to their work that are not overtly professional.