ABSTRACT
Bišćani’s historically and sensorially shaped, sociologically complex, and physically intimate relationship with the Una River intensified during the Bosnian War. During this time, people’s connection to the river became even more proximate, immediate, and vital. Simply put, ratni život (war life) was an amplified unski život. This war-deepened, river-people conviviality facilitated the production of communitas. More concretely, while swimming together during the war, people experienced “synaesthasia”—an intermingling of the senses—which vibrated between the bodies of the swimmers. This “sheer force of the vibrational body” (Atanasovski 2016, 484) created a certain type of viscosity, affective force, and a sense of living together with each other and the river—a prelude to riverine citizenship.
