ABSTRACT

This article looks at everyday encounters in Mostar to investigate how boundaries are enacted and displaced by its dwellers. Drawing on participant observation in two cafes, it considers boundaries not only in their spatial capacity, but in a confluence of space and time. It reflects on how owners and customers mobilize the idea of the pre-war city as a space of interethnic tolerance to criticize the contemporary city. It discusses how the creation of temporal boundaries complicate the narrative of the divided city and sheds light on attempts to restore places of co-existence in sharp contrast to the prevalent social order.