ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the. Balkan war between July 1991 and early 19961 was, both directly and indirectly, a global catastrophic event. The Balkan war linked historical, religious and cultural events of the recent and distant past to a murderous mistrust, hatred and a perpetual state of life and death struggle in the present. Through an approach informed by ethnography and philosophical hermeneutics, the chapter closely examines and interprets the meanings, experiences, ideas, reference points and emotions that Serbian Australians have about life in the shadow of the Balkan war, its impact on their health and wellbeing, and the cultural mechanisms at play as they try to make sense of it. The tradition of philosophical hermeneutics was chosen as the interpretive raft for understanding fieldwork with Serbian Australians. Philosophical hermeneutics was particularly valuable to explore how the understandings about Serbian Australians were shaped by social, historical and interactive processes.
