ABSTRACT
In this chapter I discuss instances of oral history’s critical engagement with the two official historical narratives and memories that have long been key tools for Albanians and Serbs to imagine themselves as hostile national communities in Kosovo, through the past each wants to remember. More broadly, the chapter makes the case for an effective use of oral history in breaking the vicious circle of victimization and violence in ethnic conflict. Oral history puts the spotlight on the individual as a teller of stories/histories, revealing the multiplicity of narratives and memories – sometimes conflicting, as in “divided” memories – which are individual but are ideologically and culturally mediated. It thus performs two crucial functions for opening up a dialogue between conflicting parties: it uncovers all the plots of fragmented memories that have remained hidden from public discourse and it disrupts and challenges homogeneous narratives that have been functioning as cages of the mind. If the aim of historical dialogue is to create a “reparative reading” of the past that moves beyond the “paranoid” exposure of guilt and hatred, all memories, including traumatic memories, must be acknowledged, and oral history is most effective in achieving this outcome.
