What do people from other countries think about Bosnia-Herzegovina?

It depends on how much they know or don't know about us, and what their prejudices regarding us are. Bosnia-Herzegovina was a part of Yugoslavia, an independent subject as a region of the Republics. For a decade and a half before the collapse of Yugoslavia, Bosnia was well known throughout the world for the Olympics as well as the birthplace of two Nobel Prize-winners and of many world famous talents (such as the film director Emir Kusturica and the musician Goran Bregovic).

In recent years, foreign media have labeled us through war images. Thus, when people from abroad visit any Bosnian-Herzegovinian town they experience a cultural shock. These towns live a more or less civilized life and offer a rich cultural content unlike the economy which is catastrophic and totally destroyed. Foreigners do not see existing internal subjective problems. They meet familiar people who have contributed to the process of  building European civilisations to which they are completely racially and visibly related, which is not surprising given the fact that the Central Balkans are the cradle of the European population. Despite the proclaimed multiethnicity in Bosnia, however, the multiracial societies which are present in almost all parts of the EU are just beginning here.


How would you describe Bosnian people?

We are very creative and polyvalent nation which has a good sense of humor; a people who for centuries nurtured multiethnicity and multiconfessionalism with a high coefficiency of tolerance on which Europe is still working.
Like most people in the Balkans, we have our verbal anecdotes or verbal formulations that are the product of deep layers of past and mental structure, in this area which is a crossroad of civilizations and the battlefield of various empires. Brothers by mother (braća po materi), murderers by father (ubice po oćevima), for centuries we beat each other.
Austro-Hungary exploited many Bosnians of different religions in their battles, which were considered among the best soldiers on their fronts. That's why the Bosnian equivalent for 'peaceful sleeping' is related to war: 'sleeping as slaughtered'.


Can you tell us some anecdotes about Bosnians?

During former Yugoslavia, men from Bosnia -Herzegovina were considered attractive, so they often were in relationships with women from other countries. There is a funny anecdote about Sejo (a Bosnian guy) and Charlotte (an American woman).
He took Charlotte out for dinner and she asked him for a traditional Bosnian cake. He said he will take her to try Tufahija (sweet apple desert), but she answered: “So, Bosnians are like that, on first date they want to f!?k you!“


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Note:
Prof. Dr. Besim Spahic works at the Faculty of Political Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo: He has published several books, among others 'Challenges of Political Marketing: To Pass the Second Exam or To Kill Bosnia-Herzegovina' (2000), 'The Image of the City' (2001), 'National Anti-Marketing of ex Yu and BH Nations' (2001).

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