The sources and questions relate to Case study 2: Kosovo (1989–2002) – Causes of the conflict: Ethnic tensions between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, rising Albanian nationalism.

Source Q

Julie Mertus, a professor of law, writing in an academic history book, Kosovo: how myths and truths started a war (1999).

Politicians manipulate public fears in order to suit their own needs to stay in power … An antidemocratic coalition within Serbia began to formulate a nationalist ideology and produce propaganda. Serbs were said to be the victims of Albanians in Kosovo; they needed the protection of a strong leader like Slobodan Milosevic … In an atmosphere of economic and political insecurity, the victimization ideology begun in Kosovo caught on quickly …

Over time, the nationalism became radicalized: difference was framed in terms of perceived physical differences in skin, nose, ears, sexuality … A gendered imagery of Albanian men and women was adopted. In the Serbian and Yugoslav presses, Albanian men were accused of violence against women, although Kosovo had the lowest reported incidents of sexual violence in Yugoslavia. Albanian women were portrayed as mere baby factories, despite statistics indicating that childbirth rates of urban Albanian women and those of other urban women in Yugoslavia were nearly identical. Accused in the past of being culturally inferior, Albanians were increasingly depicted as also being genetically inferior.

The sources and questions relate to Case study 2: Kosovo (1989–2002) – Causes of the conflict: Ethnic tensions between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, rising Albanian nationalism.

Source R

V Mićović, a Serbian researcher, gathering data for a graduate thesis “Socijalna distanca i etničke stereotipije kod srednjoškolaca madjarske i srpske nacionalnosti” [Social distance and ethnic stereotypes in high school students of
Hungarian and Serbian nationality] (1986).

160 seventeen-year-old ethnic Serbian and Hungarian High School students living in Serbia were asked questions about their ability to accept other nations. Given 50 proposed attributes, both positive and negative, students chose the ones they considered typical of each nation.

These are the Serbian students’ perceptions of Albanians.

The sources and questions relate to Case study 2: Kosovo (1989–2002) – Causes of the conflict: Ethnic tensions between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, rising Albanian nationalism.

Source S

Djuric Bosko, a Serb who moved out of Kosovo, being interviewed by an American researcher in 1995.

I was a police officer for 32 years but I had to leave … My neighbour was watering his yard and then he would “forget” to turn off the water and my basement would be full of water. Then they would go through my yard shouting: “Go, move out, what are you doing here?” … It was not safe to walk during the night. Kids were often assaulted and beaten [by Albanians] … My kids had problems at work. Serbs were never given promotions, so my children moved away…

Resolving the conflict in Kosovo depends mostly on foreign policy. Albanians have huge support from outside and therefore they don’t agree to living jointly with the Serbs. They want an ethnically clean Kosovo. If they get independence, they will expel the few remaining Serbs from there …

Their natality [birth rate] is, I think, the greatest in Europe. Every woman of theirs gives birth to ten to fifteen children, and very few Serbs have more than two or three kids. Emigrants from Albania were coming, too. Even the SUP [Secretariat of Internal Affairs, the Serbian police] was buying properties in Kosovo for them.

The sources and questions relate to Case study 2: Kosovo (1989–2002) – Causes of the conflict: Ethnic tensions between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, rising Albanian nationalism.

Source T

Tim Judah, a reporter and political analyst, writing in an historical investigation The Serbs: history, myth and the destruction of Yugoslavia (2009).

Hostility between the communities was aggravated in the 1990s by poverty, which in turn became increasingly difficult to redress [remedy] because of the Albanian population explosion coupled with Yugoslavia’s growing economic crisis. Increasing numbers of Serbs sought their fortune elsewhere, and in villages with small Serb populations the more Serbs that left, the more insecure were those that remained behind. They felt uncomfortable surrounded by a hostile Albanian population. Albanians claim that Serbs began to leave for economic reasons, and Serbs that they did so because they were threatened, and even attacked. There is truth in both arguments. Anti-Serb graffiti were daubed [painted] on the walls along with demands for a republic. The Yugoslav police and army clamped down harshly when angry unemployed Albanian youths demonstrated.