Education

and
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MAP Education and Humanities
Volume 1 / Issue 1

PUBLISHER
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Senad Bećirović, PhD, International Burch University, Bosnia and Herzegovina

EDITORIAL BOARD
Mirna Begagić, PhD, University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Edda Polz, PhD, University College of Teacher Education in Lower Austria, Baden, Austria
Teodora Popescu, PhD, 1 Decembrie 1918 University, Alba Iulia, Romania
Marlena Bielak, PhD, Stanisław Staszic University of Applied Sciences in Piła, Poland
Ericson Alieto, PhD, Western Mindanao State University, Philippines
Yuliya Shtaltovna, PhD, International School of Management, Germany

E-MAIL
mapeh@mapub.org

© 2021 | MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Education
and
Humanities
Volume 1 / Issue 1

E-ISSN: 2744-2373
CONTENTS

1 WOMEN AS HEROES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

7 INITIAL P4C IMPLEMENTATION IN THE BOSNIAN AND HERZEGOVINIAN

EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT
Remzija Hurić-Bećirović and Mubina Muftić

20 THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON BCS

WITH THE FOCUS ON THE BUSINESS REGISTER
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

28 THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE GAMES ON LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

38 THE BIRTH OF A NATION: VIEWS ON THE EMERGENCE OF NATIONAL IDENTITIES

IN EUROPEAN AND MUSLIM SOCIETIES
Melisa Zukić

47 RADANJE NACIJE: POGLEDI NA POJAVU NACIONALNIH IDENTITETA U EVROPSKIM I

MUSLIMANSKIM DRUŠTVIMA
Melisa Zukić
 mapub.org/mapeh

Education and Humanities Volume 1 / Issue 1

MAP Education and Humanities (MAPEH) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal published
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing, focusing on empirical and theoretical research in all fields of education and
humanities.

E-ISSN: 2744-2373

SHORT RESEARCH

Women as Heroes
in Shakespearean Drama
Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.
University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shahab Yar Khan, University of
Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. E-mail: shahabyar_khan@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT
Shakespeare studies Nature in the context of human behaviour. His drama
deals with transformations and he displays these changes on both social
and personal levels through alternating the graphic images from characters
to situation. In an authoritarian society where lives of women were governed
by a belief system which resulted out of Nature’s disposition of preordained
MAP Education
roles in society, the portrayal of dominating female voices would have
and Humanities
bothered many. Shakespearean drama is a protest against the society which
Volume 1 / Issue 1
is always dominated by the destructive forces of male paranoia, egocentrism,
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors.
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary patriarchal instinct of exploitation of the weak, male sexual anxiety and
Academic Publishing.
corrupt abuse of rules of justice by the powerful. A study of the female mind
Article Submitted: 15 June 2021
Article Accepted: 05 July 2021
presented in Shakespearean drama is seen at its best in The Winter’s Tale. The
Article Published: 20 August 2021 following article is an attempt to explore some of the aspects of Womanhood
in Shakespearean art.

Keywords: Transformation, spiritual revolution, toxic masculinity, wholesome

femininity, regeneration
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.1
and Humanities
MAP Education
Volume 1 / Issue 1

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access Article

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative OPEN ACCESS
ARTICLE
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
 Education and Humanities
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing

Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

PERDITA: Out, alas! spiritual image of Leontes, his male heir, his only
You’d be so lean, that blasts of January son, Mamillius prepares to tell “a sad tale’s best for
Would blow you through and through. winter” to Hermione, the beloved queen of Leontes
Now, my fair’st friend, and Mamillius’ mother.
I would I had some flowers
o’ the spring that might All the seasons are marked by particular
Become your time of day; associations which appropriate to their character-
and yours, and yours, istic features. Winter is almost always associated
That wear upon your virgin branches yet with gloom, death, destruction and hard trial of life.
Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina, Leontes symbolizes all these elements of grievous
For the flowers now, nature within. And, to be honest, through him, the
that frighted thou let’st fall patriarchal system’s decay and corruption is rep-
From Dis’s waggon! daffodils, resented as he is the very ‘zenith’ of the chain of be-
That come before the swallow dares, ing. Colloquially, ‘the old man winter’, the person-
and take ification of winter as a male antagonist was well
The winds of March with beauty; known to Shakespeare’s audience. The stressful
violets dim, images and the design of characters, dominating
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes the text and the movements on stage, are masterly
Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses appropriated for the first tragic half of the play. Le-
That die unmarried, ere they can behold ontes, the self-destructive force, the worn out but
Bight Phoebus in his strength--a malady the established system of social values is at the
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and center of the action. If allowed to continue without
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, checks, this system has capacity to erase all the
The flower-de-luce being one! possibilities of wholesomeness of life. It is reflected
O, these I lack, in the way the play leads us to witness the trage-
To make you garlands of, dies of the ‘death of the future’, personified by Ma-
and my sweet friend, millius and the ‘supposed death’ of elegance and
To strew him o’er and o’er! love shown through the broken hearted mother,
Hermione.
(The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, Sc. iv, 130-150)
The rest of the play, from Acts IV onwards is
The Winter’s Tale is a play about ‘transfor- set in the background of the effect of spring. Spring
mations’. The seasons’ transformation plays an im- substitutes vindictive jealousy, with love. It is the di-
portant symbolic role as the sub-context of the play. verse nature of the passion of love, infused in spring
In Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare enlarges the scope of and manifested on stage through the characters of
transformation by combining the transformations Perdita and Florizel, which, ‘as an affective catego-
of cosmic scales with the changes on the spiritu- ry’ brings unity to the entire latter half of the play.
al grounds of our social arena. Always intrigued by It is the spirit of spring that provides unity to the
the bond between husband and wife, Shakespeare structure of the play and to its thematic patterns as
sees the social climate dependent on this relation- well. Spring in Winter’s Tale, appears as full-fledged
ship, exactly the way it is the tilt in earth-Sun rela- character, symbolizing the spirit of the goddess of
tionship that causes changes of weather on earth. ‘rebirth and regeneration’. Eostre, Flora, Persephone,
Shakespeare studies Nature in the context of hu- Hora are only a few of the names, all the female
man situation. He enjoys alternating the graph- names, associated worldwide with spring, echo in
ic images from characters to situation and draws the persona of Perdita. These are the goddesses of
those metaphors in bold he believes explains his freshness, blossoms, fertility and new hope, the re-
understanding of human mind and soul to his au- generative features of Nature; quite a contrast to
diences. The first three acts of this play are dom- the ‘old man winter’.
inated by winter; exactly the way they are domi-
nated by the destructive forces of male paranoia, In an authoritarian society where lives of
egocentrism, patriarchal instinct of exploitation of women were governed by a belief system which
the weak, male sexual anxiety and corrupt abuse of resulted out of Nature’s disposition of preordained
rules of justice by the powerful. All this destruction roles in society, the portrayal of a dominating fe-
is personified in the character of King Leontes. The male voice over all the male counterparts in Act IV
tone of the tragedy is set when the physical and of this play would have caused many eyebrows to

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 Education and Humanities
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Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

go tense and many fingers were definitely crossed. ‘Tis rigour, and not law.
But then, this was Shakespeare; this is how he had
been challenging the norms of his society for more Your Honours all,
than a decade already and without taking credit
away from him, we can assume that the questions I do refer me to the oracle.
his boys dressed as women were asking on stage
were now the general outcry. ‘(Women, in Shake- Apollo be my judge. (3.2.105-114)
speare’s age) asked new questions about the limits
of authority, equality, freedom of conscience, sexu- Hermione’s speech challenges the patriar-
ality, property, and the legacy of inherited ecclesi- chal system and Apollo’s oracle sealed its consent
astical wisdom about the inherently frail nature of upon it.
woman. That wisdom, derived from the Church Fa-
thers’ teaching on the Fall and endorsed in popular Officer: (Reads) ‘Hermione is chaste, Po-
culture, was at odds with the radical Protestant and lixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject,
Puritan determination to reassess the role of mar- Leontes a jealous tyrant, his innocent babe
riage in society, and as a corollary, the role of Eve in truly begotten, and the King shall live with-
relation to Adam.’ (Dusenberre Juliet, xvi). out an heir if that which is lost be not found.
(3.2.132-135)
The unchallenged position of the sons of
Adam on the throne of civilization was questioned The final sentence can be interpreted as a
much earlier in the play by Queen Hermione. As the warning of the divine forces; our entire male orient-
accused, she delivers the most eloquent speech ed civilization will crumble down if women are not
Shakespeare has ever designed for a woman restored to the pedestal of glory assigned to them
threatened by authority. It was the society where by the order of Nature. Act III, understandably, ends
female submission and silence was considered vir- on a grim note. A sixteen years leap is taken by Time
tuous but here, instead of choosing to be a ‘perfect and we, all of a sudden, find ourselves in the sunny
woman’ through keeping her lips sealed, Hermione pastures and meadows of Bohemia. Act IV and Act
decided to defend her case against the jealous V are dominated by the female triad, Paulina, Perd-
husband and the unjust ruler: ita and ‘resurrected’ Hermione. Nature itself ‘found’
what was ‘lost’ by a corrupt system, the woman-
Leontes: Thy brat hath been cast out, like to hood, serenity and love.
itself,
Perdita, whose speech during sheep-shear-
No father owning it—which is indeed ing festival is quoted above, marks the beginning
of this new age. She is a Hermione without restrains
More criminal in thee than it—so thou of the court’s artificial life; brought up by Nature
herself, she appears in the scene dressed as the
Shalt feel our justice, in whose easiest pas- goddess of spring. The transformation of stage
sage from the gloomy court and its cold conspiracies to
the warm Bohemian meadows where Nature at its
Look for no less than death. (3.2.85-89) best haunts the mind and the human nature at its
most pure warms the heart, confirms Shakespear-
Hermione: Now, my liege, ean plan of orchestrating a spiritual revolution. The
forces reflecting the culture of “toxic masculinity”
Tell me what blessings I have here alive, are replaced by ‘wholesome femininity’.

That I should fear to die. Therefore pro- Shakespeare’s plays, especially those com-
ceed… posed after 1600, repeat time and time again the
thematic patterns of male jealousy, rebellion chil-
--- dren whose legitimacy is put into question and
a female hero emerging from the chaos of the
Upon surmises, all proofs sleeping else plot-structure as the only voice of sensibility. Ob-
serve the following lines, in response to King Po-
But what your jealousies awake, I tell you lixenes’ threats, spoken by Perdita in Act IV:

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Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

PERDITA: Even here undone! land where her plight began sixteen years ago and
transform it to the region of light. When we see her
I was not much afeard; for once or twice first in this scene, she is decked and crowned with
flowers. She dispenses charming, fresh flowers to all
I was about to speak and tell him plainly, the guests, and this gives us a clear idea that Ma-
millius’ “winter’s tale” has broken out into Perdita’s
The selfsame sun that shines upon his court spring colours.

Hides not his visage from our cottage but ‘Shakespeare shifts from the fallen world of
Sicilia, in which the female body is held re-
Looks on alike. sponsible for its ruin, to a Bohemian garden
of fecundity and renewal. These contrasting
Such clarity of thought in opposition to sup- explications of the garden illustrate its mul-
pression, such vocal rejection of the system which tiple interpretations during the Early Modern
is based on manipulation of power and wealth period, and vastly different from the Sicilian
and such refined, philosophically poetic protest is pleasure garden, Perdita’s ‘rustic garden’ is
rarely seen in male voices of Shakespearean dra- an attempt to reclaim the Edenic paradise
ma. These lines were delivered by Perdita after the lost during the first half of the play. Shake-
speech of the King Polixenes who, upon finding out speare’s language in Act 4 is riddled with
that that his son prince Florizel had been in love with allusions to the garden, and while criticism
the shepherdess for quite some time, threatened to surrounding Perdita affords ample attention
destroy her: to her catalog of flowers and its relationship
to the Early Modern debate concerning art
POLIXENES: I’ll have thy beauty scratch’d versus nature, I would argue that her ‘rustic
with briers, and made garden’ functions as a counterpart to Her-
mione’s cultivated pleasure garden. Perdi-
More homely than thy state…… ta’s positive representation of the garden
seeks to redeem her Eve-like mother, and
…………you, enchantment…..
while this reading may seem transparent,
it is in fact much more complicated. (Amy
Unworthy thee,--if ever henceforth thou
Katherine Burnette, 37).
These rural latches to his entrance open,
The passage (Act IV, Sc. iv, 130-150) begins
with Perdita’s address to Camillo. Winds of January
Or hoop his body more with thy embraces,
would blow right through him since he was weak
I will devise a death as cruel for thee and failed to stand against the onslaught of cor-
ruption and injustice. To Florizel, she wishes to offer
As thou art tender to’t. flowers that could match his spirit of the new age
where distinctions of class were about to become
This is typical of the male aggression we obsolete. Immediately the very next reference is to
have seen earlier in the play or, as such, elsewhere daffodils that bloom before the swallows dare re-
in Shakespearean drama. But after the speech of turn from the south. This reference is confirmation
Perdita, things are set in motion to transform. Things of the signs of a new beginning; daffodils are the
transform, dramatically, exactly the way she had first flowers that one may see blooming in spring to
wished in her blessings in the passage quoted at indicate that the wintry nights are over. Violet, the
the very beginning of the present article. The pas- image of modesty and grace is the flower that fol-
sage is from Act IV, Sc. iv. In this scene Perdita is pre- lows next. Modesty and grace, she sees as a virtue
sented to the audience as the Roman goddess Pro- that Juno’s lustrous eyes and Venus’ beauty can-
serpina (Greek, Persephone). This is highly symbolic not circumvent. Reference to violet led to primros-
since we know that the lord of the underworld Pluto, es, the symbol of productivity but also of suffering
had kidnapped Proserpina and she was allowed to and death, and oxlip which was known to be a cross
bring the spring back every year on her return to the between primrose and cowslip. Cowslip was an im-
world. We expect, consequently from our Proseri- age of enchantment, often associated with fairies.
na, Perdita to return to the gloomy darkness of the These flowers, symbols of suffering and magical
beauty lead to lily, the image of innocence, purity

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Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

and fertility. It seems as if without the discourse of expectation to the play and its characters for the
spiritual suffering and feminine grace, the reward sake of wisdom the play intends to impart to us.
for motherhood is barely attained.
Paulina’s role (wisdom personified) in the
Gillyflower comes next to get our attention. Winter’s Tale is a great mystery. The Winter’s Tale,
She says strangely, ‘Of trembling winter, the fair- argues Janet Adelman, presents ‘an astonishing
est flowers o’th’ season / Are our carnations and psychic achievement’. It is through Paulina that
streaked gillyvors, / Which some call nature’s bas- Shakespeare relocates the idea of the ‘the loss and
tards. Of that kind / Our rustic garden’s barren, and recovery of the world in the mother’s body, return-
I care not / To get slips of them” (4.4.79-84). She ing to us what we didn’t know that we had lost’.
‘cares not’ for gillyflower for only one particular
reason, the flower was associated with sexual li- The image of Hermione that is presented in
cense (Norton, 2392). In this passage, while having the ‘statue scene’ is described repeatedly
an argument with Polixenes, Perdita rejects cross- as the property of Paulina. The sculpture is
breeding “for the same reason she rejected festive a piece ‘in the keeping of Paulina’ in her ‘re-
disguise: because she does not believe Polixenes’ moved house’; behind a ‘curtain’, in a ‘chap-
assertion that art can ‘mend nature—change it el’, ‘apart’ from a ‘gallery’ of other images
rather’” (Jensen, 299). owned by the Sicilian courtier (5.2.92–105,
5.3.10–86). Paulina is said to have overseen
Perdita, line by line, emerges as a role mod- the production of the statue with care, hav-
el for the young women of the age, in fact of any ing ‘privately twice or thrice a day, ever since
age. She incorporates all the qualities of the flowers the death of Hermione’ visited the
she distributes; her gifts are not just meant for the
guests at the festival but for all of us who see the ‘removed house’ (5.2.103–5). When dis-
matriarchal system gaining definition of woman- playing the supposed sculpture in the final
hood in her character. scene, Paulina refers to it as ‘my poor im-
age’, and affirms that ‘the stone is mine’
Womanhood is celebrated throughout this (5.3.57–8). Despite this evidence of Paulina’s
play to a level that it bypasses all other plays of status as a patron of the visual arts, critics
Shakespeare in projecting women as heroes. This have not focused on this significant aspect
adventure to explore the hidden potential of women of her function in the play, although Pauli-
as leaders of community was always a fascination na’s matriarchal agency is frequently ac-
of Elizabethan society. Shakespeare’s contributions knowledged.’ (Chloe Porter, 71)
in defining the features of women who deserve to
lead the mankind are absolutely decisive. From Ro- We can only wonder that how an atten-
salind and Viola in 1597 to Mirinda in 1611, we have a dant woman could gain so much spiritual power
galaxy of women who force us to reshape our con- over the monarch of Sicilia that he awaits her good
cepts of role of women in our social and personal judgment before taking decisions of the scale upon
lives. Rosalind’s disguise as Ganymede or Hermi- which the country’s fate depends. However, what
one’s inanimate statue’s transformation to a living we are made to believe in, is a shift in the political
being contributes to our fundamental epistemo- structure of the world that Leontes or Polixenes live
logical dilemma between what is visually seen and in.
what is true.
What Leontes said to conclude the play,
Shakespeare does not portray these great can be taken as a message by the king. He asked
women as exotically beautiful in body or attire; nei- Paulina to lead away in haste from hence so that
ther are these second fiddle to some great male the wholesome state could be restored. It can tru-
hero but they are heroes on their own account, ful- ly be taken as Shakespeare’s message as well for
ly responsible for their actions and independent in the women of such spiritual wisdom as Paulina, the
their minds. These ladies are far from the idea of women of such patience and elegance as Hermi-
‘reduction’; these are the greatest source in Shake- one and women of such courage, grace and nat-
spearean drama of enriching the souls of the read- ural integrity as Perdita to help, by coming forward,
ers and the audiences. Shakespearean art is not the lost mankind and lead us all away from this pa-
escapism; it urges us to include our own horizon of triarchal chaos:

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Women as Heroes in Shakespearean Drama

Shahab Yar Khan, PhD.

Leontes: Good Paulina,

Lead us from hence, where we

may leisurely

Each one demand an answer to his part

Perform’d in this wide gap of time since first

We were dissever’d: hastily lead away.

(Act V, sc. iii)

References

Burnette, A. K. (2010). An Art That Nature

Makes?: Shakespeare’s Ambiguous Garden in the
Winter’s Tale. Appalachian State University. Re-
trieved from https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Bur-
nette,%20Amy_2010_Thesis.pdf

Belsey, C. (1999). Shakespeare and the Loss

of Eden. Palgrave Macmillan.

Dusenberre, J. (1996). Shakespeare and the

Nature of Women. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hawkes, T. (1992). Meaning By Shakespeare.

Routledge.

Jensen, P. (2004). Singing Psalms to Horn-

pipes: Festivity, Iconoclasm, and Catholicism in
The Winter’s Tale. Shakespeare Quarterly 55(3).
Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/236817860_Singing_Psalms_to_Horn
pipes_Festivity_Iconoclasm_and_Catholicism_
in_The_Winter’s_Tale

Porter, C. (2013). Making and Unmaking

in Early Modern English Drama (‘In the Keeping of
Paulina’: the Unknowable Image in The Winter’s
Tale). Manchester University Press.

Shakespeare, W. (2008). The Winter’s Tale.

The Norton Shakespeare. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt,
Jean Howard, Katherine Eisaman Maus, and Walter
Cohen. New York: Norton.

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Education and Humanities Volume 1 / Issue 1

MAP Education and Humanities (MAPEH) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal published
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing, focusing on empirical and theoretical research in all fields of education and
humanities.

E-ISSN: 2744-2373

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

Initial P4C implementation in

the Bosnian and Herzegovinian
educational context
Remzija Hurić-Bećirović1 , Mubina Muftić2
1
First Bosniak Gymnasium, Cambridge International School, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Vareš Majdan Elementary School, Vareš, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Remzija Hurić-Bećirović First

Bosniak Gymnasium, Cambridge International School, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, E-mail:
remzija.huric-becirovic@bosnjackagim.edu.ba and Mubina Muftić, Vareš Majdan Elementary
School, Vareš, Bosnia and Herzegovina, E-mail: mubinamuftic@gmail.com.

ABSTRACT
Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has a fragmented education system which is
resistant to progressive changes. Therefore, implementing a program such as
the Philosophy for Children (P4C) may make a significant impact on the lives of
students and their teachers. In this paper, we discuss some potential benefits
of the program and anecdotal evidence of its efficacy in two B&H schools.
MAP Education
The TPO Foundation, an NGO from Sarajevo -Transcultural Psychosocial
and Humanities
Educational Foundation (TPO Fondacija, Equal opportunities and freedom of
Volume 1 / Issue 1
choice without discrimination on any ground), which has organized the first
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors.
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary training in P4C for teachers from several cantons in B&H, is working on creating
Academic Publishing.
a framework for initiating the implementation of philosophy for children in
Article Submitted: 15 May 2021
Article Accepted: 01 July 2021
cantonal education systems in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Article Published: 20 August 2021 This paper includes two cases of the implementation of P4C in two schools,
through school courses, namely Religious Studies and English Language. The
results of the study showed the program is very interesting to students and
has a potential to improve school effectiveness in multiple ways. The findings
of this study may help instructors to plan and organize their classes to acquire
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published
educational objectives in good and productive classroom atmosphere.
maps and institutional affiliations.

Keywords: philosophy for children, P4C, community of inquiry,

B&H education

https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.7
and Humanities
MAP Education
Volume 1 / Issue 1

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access Article

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative OPEN ACCESS
ARTICLE
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
 Education and Humanities
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing

Initial P4C implementation in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian educational context

Remzija Hurić-Bećirović and Mubina Muftić

1. Introduction own thinking, while some of them will change their

initial opinion through the P4C concept.
Philosophy for Children is part of a curriculum
Communities of Inquiry, in which teachers
for 6- to 16-year-olds, even though it can be used
and children collaborate with each other to reach
with older students in secondary school, as it was
a better understanding (Bećirović, Brdarević-Čel-
intended by its developer Professor Matthew Lip-
jo & Zavrl, 2019), not only of the material world, but
man and his associates at the IAPC (Institute for the
also of the personal and ethical world around them,
Advancement of Philosophy for Children) at Mont-
is a useful method in workshops with students to
clair State University, New Jersey. Lipman was born
discuss everything they really want to discuss and
in Vineland, New Jersey, on 24 August 1923, into a
not uncritically follow the curriculum. Additionally,
Russian Jewish emigre community. Lipman first
this collaboration gives an opportunity to students
came to philosophy during the Second World War
to be more open-minded, because their teacher
when he happened to be given a couple of books
is not the most important person in the room; in-
on the philosophy of John Dewey by an academ-
stead, everyone is a valid contributor. Lipman ac-
ic at Stanford University, where he studied for two
cepted and further developed John Dewey’s idea of
terms as part of his induction into the army (Cam,
a community which “can best serve the citizens of
2013).
an ever-changing world”. This idea of a community
of inquiry and a world which changes for the better
Lipman’s project, conceived at Columbia
should be more developed not only through P4C in
University in the late 1960s in the wake of student
classrooms but also through everyday life.
unrest, was to encourage young people to be more
reasonable: ready to reason and be reasoned with 2. P4C Principles: A tool for teaching and
(SAPERE Handbook to accompany the Level 1 P4C learning dialogical critical thinking in a
Foundation Course, 2016). Students with serious
democracy
behavioral issues are a challenge for their teach-
ers (Mašić, Polz & Bećirović, 2020); however, the
concept of P4C promises to be a great and suc- In an inquiry, it is very important to focus on
cessful way of approaching these students in or- improving questioning in order to develop reason-
der for them to be able to acquire useful skills and ing and reflection, and these bring into play, among
feel more valuable in society. The spirit of the com- other things, emotions and thoughtful expressions
munity of inquiry, which was a new model of learn- of emotions (Rizvić & Bećirović, 2017). It encourag-
ing (Communities of Inquiry) fosters collaborative es open-mindedness and creates conditions for
thinking, caring thinking, creative thinking and crit- change, both for individuals and for communities.
ical thinking (4Cs). The phrase “Community of In-
quiry” was actually coined by the American philos- Inquiry and reflections or dialogue may be
opher Charles Peirce to describe the community of exercised in almost any learning context (Delić &
scientists to which he belonged. Lipman gave the Bećirović, 2016), however P4C has a specific frame-
phrase a new meaning and life by pointing it in the work of action. Alternative names, especially when
direction of philosophical enquiry. He was also in- educators work with primary school children, in-
fluenced by the idea of John Dewey. clude “thinking circles” or “discussion lessons”. It is
strongly recommended that thse sessions of inqui-
Lipman emphasized the importance of ques- ry follow certain principles and procedures. Some
tioning or inquiry in the development of reasoning. principles of P4C are:
His idea is that “we learn to think much as we learn to
speak” (SAPERE Handbook to accompany the Level - Respect for each person’s interests and
1 P4C Foundation Course, 2016, pp. 8), which means questions;
that we “borrow” language, i.e., ideas from others, - Acknowledging that each person’s experi-
without being aware of any underlying assump- ence is unique;
tions. During inquiry sessions, when a teacher asks - No person is the all-knowing;
students to explain their answers and to give the - Appreciation for different ways of interpret-
best reasons for them, it is not easy for some stu- ing and thinking.
dents to do that at the beginning. Through sessions
of P4C they will listen to other participants, think
more about their reasons, and sometimes they will
be open to other students’ ideas and develop their

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Remzija Hurić-Bećirović and Mubina Muftić

There are also certain ground rules, such as: The core of qualitative P4C is a good inquiry.
Do not put each other down; Give each speaker Hannam, as an experienced SAPERE trainer (Blooms-
time to finish; Listen carefully to each other; Give bury.com, 2010) and professor who has been devel-
good reasons for your ideas and opinions; Care- oping the ideas of P4C in Bosnia and Herzegovina
fully develop hypotheses, or possible solutions, to with the TPO Foundation, has discussed inquiry in
our questions; Look for assumptions that may be Religious Education. Hannam (2012) has identified
hidden in our questions or dialogue contributions. two key reasons for advancing inquiry in Religious
Principles of P4C may be presented as dispositions Education (RE). The first, drawing from John Dew-
of virtues to be cultivated, such as: sincerity, open- ey, is that inquiry itself is at the heart of good edu-
ness, curiosity, tolerance, empathy. It is very import- cational practice. The second reason relates to the
ant to add principles of truth and caring for others fact that humankind is living in increasingly uncer-
through thinking and acting. tain times and acknowledging that this has a great
impact on the lives of young people who need to
The ten steps of any inquiry are: prepara- live meaningful lives. We can conclude that both
tion, presentation of stimulus, thinking time, ques- reasons are significant for any proper inquiry and
tion-making, questions-airing, question-choosing, education.
first words, middle words, last thoughts and review-
ing (and planning). These sequences should be Conclusively, P4C allows for a very useful way
interpreted to participants through “SAPERE Hand- of thinking, understanding, finding reasons, dis-
book to accompany the Level 1 P4C Foundation cussing different topics, and it should be included in
Course” (2016, pp. 19-24) and “SAPERE Handbook to the educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
accompany the Level 2A Course (2018, pp. 22-25). If
students understand the basis of P4C, sessions will 3. P4C in the B&H educational context
be more successful.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) is therefore
The development of thought in P4C from crit- quite an unconventional approach to teaching.
ical dialogue to dialogical critical thinking revealed From the outset, the education system in Bosnia and
four thinking models: Herzegovina has been about rote learning (Magill,
2010), or at least accepting that the material taught
1) Logical Thinking by teachers is unquestionable and that it should be
2) Creative Thinking accepted as such, memorized for tests and exams
3) Responsible Thinking and then most likely forgotten in favor of something
4) Meta-Cognitive Thinking (Daniel, 2007). much more interesting or relevant to one’s dai-
ly existence. As a teacher trainee, one is expected
Firstly, teachers-facilitators should be well- to critically evaluate one’s own educational expe-
trained in different models of thinking (Bećirović, rience before it is implemented as an internalized
Hodžić & Čeljo, 2019), including these four: logical, teaching approach. What one can quickly realize
creative, responsible and meta-cognitive thinking is that critical and empathetic teaching has been
as a productive way of facilitating successful ses- noticeably scarce (OSCE, 2012); a systematic top-
sions of P4C with their students. Professor Lipman, down approach inhibits teachers’ collective will-
as a founder of Philosophy for Children, is the author ingness to engage in progressive, self-critical and
of the book Thinking in Education (2003), which has reflexive teaching.
a paramount importance in helping develop think-
ing and inquiry in P4C sessions. The systems Bosnian and Herzegovinian chil-
dren face are not just defective and complicated
Principles of P4C and the learning process of political systems but also largely patriarchal fam-
dialogical critical thinking are possible if facilita- ilies, especially in rural areas (Bećirović, 2012; Mei-
tors follow the rules of democracy. Echeverria and er, 2019), and business environments which are
Hannam (2016) wrote the chapter “The community pathologically conductive to corruption (European
of philosophical inquiry (P4C): a pedagogical pro- Commission, 2019) and sexism (Gačanica, 2019). If
posal for advancing democracy.” The aim of that young people are not given tools with which they
chapter is to make a contribution to the educa- can dismantle illusions of inevitability of things, they
tional debate about the democratic nature of the will be prisoners of the systems which make their
Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) (Echever- lives unnecessarily difficult and stressful. P4C is one
ria et al., 2016). of those tools because it is not a set of rules that one
memorizes only to disregard them when circum-

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Remzija Hurić-Bećirović and Mubina Muftić

stances change. Being able to see different angles selves to see the other person’s side as a default,
of the same issue and accept opposing views is a especially at the time of crisis, which we also wit-
skill worth working on in this unpredictable day and ness now. Lately, it appears that western countries
age. have halted their immense progress in creating and
maintaining an open society which made them into
As P4C sessions with students’ progress, arguably the most desirable political aspiration for
the motivation of the teacher increases, fueled by everybody else on the planet. Divisions, terrible mis-
positive responses of young children and teenag- communication and outright tribalism is far from
ers to discuss questions on which they themselves the 21st-century world people had envisioned in the
agreed. P4C is a kind of Socrates’ method of ques- new millennia.
tioning with empathetic guidance: it is implicit phi-
losophy that does not require knowing concrete Great literature and philosophy teach us that
philosophers’ biographies, theories and conclu- one must soldier on towards one’s perceived light
sions. This approach allows children to explore the even in the grimmest of circumstances because
world on their own terms without the fear of being the other options would be motivationally devas-
ridiculed for their lack of experience. It gives children tating. As a teacher in B&H, it is not difficult to see
agency in education by allowing them to question what intricate networks of cynicism beset the youth
the truth in a textbook or those of their teacher. In in this country. Therefore, it is necessary to work on
P4C, truth is a very contentious subject because in warding off the defeatist conformism of this society,
principle one does not assume that an inquiry will and in that respect P4C can certainly become one
end in a final and uncontended conclusion we may of the more useful tools.
call “the truth”.
The plan of the TPO Foundation in Sarajevo is
For that reason, that basic feature of inqui- to train a group of teachers through P4C training,
ry might be considered a stumbling block for those who will teach other educators in B&H, and to intro-
teachers who hold certain things to be unquestion- duce the ideas of this philosophy into the curricu-
ably true, such as the belief in God or the author- lums of different cantons in FB&H. If it succeeds, it is
ity of one’s personal life lessons. Whatever one’s useful to follow the examples of the Republic of Slo-
beliefs or opinions may be, inquiry presupposes venia and other countries, and introduce P4C as an
that we suspend our firm belief in them as we en- optional subject in several grades of primary and
ter the classroom with an open mind. By doing so, later secondary school.
one allows for other participants’ perspectives to
be seen and heard; the invisible sound wall that is The first five-day SAPERE (Society for the Ad-
created by deeming something to be unquestion- vancement of Philosophical Inquiry and Reflection
able is then torn down, allowing room for dialogue. in Education) TOT (training of trainers) with the P4C
In postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a conflict method was held in August in 2018 in Sarajevo. The
in which claims of religious superiority were abun- trainer was Dr. Patricia Hannam, who works as an
dantly used as an excuse to create so-called “pu- Education Advisor in the UK and is a longtime train-
rified territories”, devoid of other religious and na- er at the SAPERE Institute. The participants were
tional groups, even the seemingly simple phrase teachers from the following schools in Sarajevo
of believing in God becomes extremely potent in and Zenica Canton: the Second Gymnasium in Sa-
underlying assumptions. For this society to find its rajevo, the Third Gymnasium in Sarajevo, the First
path towards healing, it is of greatest importance to Bosniak Gymnasium in Sarajevo, the Franciscan
unpack such assumptions and see where they lead Classical Gymnasium in Visoko, Vareš Majdan Ele-
to and how they are often being abused. mentary and Stranjani Elementary in Zenica. There
were also representatives from the Faculty of Phi-
The increasingly complex globalized world losophy in Zenica and a representative of the Jew-
(Dubravac, Brdarević-Čeljo, & Bećirović, 2018) de- ish Community of Sarajevo and members of the
mands that its citizens be able to question things TPO Foundation. After the initial one, another three
in order to respond adequately to the never-be- TOT sessions (each four-day long) were held with
fore-faced challenges. With the threat of climate the same group of trainers who are now certified
change, active engagement and cooperation for each level of training with the SAPERE London In-
stand out as key ingredients for the construction of stitute certification. All trainers conducted at least
a more optimistic view of its future. P4C is an oppor- ten philosophical inquiries with children and stu-
tunity for every child, adolescent and young adult dents from 2018 to 2020 and simulations within the
to realize their potential power in contributing to
a more compassionate society by training them-

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TOT group, they wrote essays and reflections on key 3.1.1 Philosophical dialogue - class inquiry
texts and took the final exam (TPO Fondacija, What session on the topic of marriage
is SAPERE B&H).
The class is made up of third-grade students
3.1 Initial P4C implementation in Case 1
(age 17). They have previously had two philosoph-
ical inquiry sessions (in the second semester) and
By working as a teacher of religious studies, are acquainted with the basic practical principles
confessional and non-confessional subjects, it is and rules of inquiry. They have also had two philo-
easy to include P4C lessons in teaching because sophical inquiry sessions in the first semester.
almost all lessons, especially for students in higher As a warm-up activity we told students to
grades, offer opportunities for practicing the 4Cs. play one short game – exchange seats with one
another. After the game, they explained in three
There are often many lessons in textbooks words the term “marriage”. At the end of the ses-
with interesting information about different or simi- sion, we had reminded them of some of the words
lar rules in e.g., monotheistic religions, lessons about from the beginning: love, communication, patience,
morality, caring for others, places of worship, sa- compromise, trust, community, relationship, un-
cred writings, festivals, pilgrimages, denominations derstanding, feeling, respect, common aspirations.
in religions, family etc. – all of which offer plenty of After explaining the term “marriage”, they seemed
opportunity for discussion in inquiry sessions. ready to try and write down some questions. The
students came up with the following questions:
Our goal for P4C in the near future, includ-
ing class contexts and some challenges, is to work 1. Is trust more important than love?
more extensively on implementing the active lis- 2. What are the consequences of the lack of
tening practice in our class, so that our students trust in marriage?
can translate it into their everyday lives, and to find 3. Are marriages more successful when they
ways to make collaborative and caring thinking a are built on trust?
more prominent part of inquiries, especially cre- 4. How to keep the trust?
ative thinking.
Each student was allowed one vote by put-
We find that many sessions that we had with ting a tick on a question. We suggested that they
our students were successful. We have realized that could vote for their question, but that we would have
some students were more interested in inquiry ses- preferred them not to. The question with the high-
sions than others. Active listening and supporting est number of votes was: “Is trust more important
one’s opinion with valid arguments are two very im- than love?” All questions contained the term “trust”.
portant parts of inquiry which are underdeveloped
in Bosnian and Herzegovinian education systems.
We hope that ministries of education in B&H (at Facilitator: You chose this question: Is trust
least in Sarajevo Canton) will recognize the para- more important than love? In all questions we
mount importance of P4C. have a term ‘trust’. Could you tell us some-
thing about this question? Could you explain
In our teaching and facilitating, every next why you chose this question?
session has produced better discussion and a
complete adherence to the rules of P4C. We plan B. M.: We brought up this question by re-
to further explain the concepts of P4C to our stu- phrasing the first one.
dents with a presentation, a video-clip, a poster,
N. M.: Because love and trust equally matter.
cards, handbooks, with the idea in mind that we will
practice being aware of these concepts and imple- Facilitator: When you hear what somebody
menting them at each session. Personal opinions said, you can take these cards such as: I
and their expressions are very important to our stu- agree, I disagree, I think... because, I partially
dents. agree...because. N. M. said that love and trust
equally mattered. What do the others say?
(Repeating the rules of inquiry)

Dž. Dž.: Yes, they do equally matter.

Facilitator: Why do you think that?

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H. M.: Because love and trust should coexist in L. G.: Love is irrational and it leads us in our re-
a relationship. lationships with the one we love. Love makes
us curious, and it can sometimes take people
Facilitator: Anyone else who agrees with H. in the wrong direction. In such cases, it is im-
M.? Here you go, A. N.! portant to think of both objective and subjec-
tive aspects of the relationship, because love
A. N.: Me, because they are equally import- and trust themselves mean security.
ant. If one loves somebody but there is no
trust, that relationship has no future. H. M.: They [love and trust] are sometimes
separate. But then, they are not equally im-
L. B.: I agree. Love without trust is like a house portant. Love can sometimes overtake trust
without a roof. You have it, but it’s not com- and vice-versa.
plete.
Facilitator: Who agrees with H. M.? Here you
Facilitator: Well done. T. Š. agrees, too. Why? go, N. M.!
T. Š.: Because one [love] cannot exist without N. M.: Well, I can trust someone who’s my
the other [trust]. Both have to exist. friend, but that doesn’t mean that I am going
to be in a relationship with them.
L. G.: I would say that trust is the foundation
of where love originates, and that is mutual B. Č.: People usually get into relationships
trust. and marriage because of love, not trust.
Facilitator: Now, I gave you some papers that Facilitator: Very smart thoughts! Let’s have
may help you. Raise your hands and join the an applause for you!
discussion. Yes, H. M.?
B. Č.: Primarily [they get into relationships]
H. M.: Trust is more related to our mind, and because of love, and then love becomes less
love is more related to emotions, and these important, but trust grows as the two are to-
two have to be balanced. gether for a longer time. I think trust and re-
spect are necessary for a relationship to exist
Facilitator: Well said. Please, go on, B. M. for a longer time.
B. M.: There’s one song that says that the line Facilitator: How to save that love?
between love and hatred is very thin. I think
love is easily destroyed if trust is broken. A. N.: Sooner or later, the person who doesn’t
feel the love will be looking for it.
Facilitator: Very smart of you to relate this
topic to a song. There’s one ayah in which Al- H. M.: I think trust is somehow limited, con-
lah says that He placed affection and mercy trary to love which is endless. If trust is broken
between spouses. Yes, Dž. Dž.? at the beginning of a relationship it takes a lot
to be taken back, but love is infinite.
Dž. Dž.: A relationship is built on trust, not
love. A relationship is firmer and love is built L. B.: Love is what makes us go into a relation-
throughout the time. ship; of course, it should be maintained and
strengthened.
Facilitator: What are the consequences of
love being more important than love? Do you Facilitator: So, it seems that love is infinite.
think that marriage can be built on trust, not Could you explain? There’s no right or wrong
love? answer.
Dž. Dž.: Yes, because we can love someone, H. M.: That’s my opinion – love is loving some-
and not trust them. body’s traits of character. But when it comes
to trust, either there is trust or there isn’t.
L. B.: Well, at the beginning of every marriage
and relationship there’s love. After many L. B.: I want a reply to her [A. N.’s] statement
years, trust has more value than love. It’s not that people will be looking for love, but when
more important than the other, but in one we are in our 20s or 30s, we will have the care,
moment it overtakes love.

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but nobody is going to look for love in some- the beginning of a honeymoon and 60 years
body else in their 60s. later. It is obvious that there will be oscilla-
tions in the relationship.
T. Š.: Why do people cheat on their spouses
in their 60s? Apparently, that person is feel- Facilitator: Why is it obvious that there will be
ing the lack of something in the relationship oscillations? Love might not be expressed the
with their spouse and they’re looking for it in same way, but still, the community should be
somebody else. built. People sometimes don’t need a lot. A
flower or a sweet gesture means a lot. Could
A.N.: Yes, but these problems begin earlier, you give an example?
not in the 60s. It becomes a bit deeper – the
lack of love might have been a struggle for L. B.: Love can be strengthened and built, and
these people for a much longer time. I think, just like A. N., that love is very abstract. I
believe that it cannot be created or strength-
Facilitator: That can last for a long time. ened by everyday gestures. For example, if a
husband gifts his wife more than often, she
T. Š.: I wanted to add something on what H. can get bored and we see where materialism
M. said about love being infinite. That implies comes from.
that when we love someone, we will show our
love for that person every day differently. We A.N.: The feeling of being with somebody
can surely have a lot of reasons to love them. matters.

Facilitator: So, creativity matters as well. Next L. G.: Yes, love changes throughout the time,
is I. D. it is impossible to expect that somebody
loves us the same way like they used to be-
I.D.: At the beginning, Dž. Dž. said that trust is cause people change every day. Because
necessary for a good marriage and that love we change, because we evolve, that’s why
can be built later. I disagree because I think love evolves into another type of love. After
that love is necessary to form a marriage and decades of marriage, it is not the feeling of
that trust is built later. Love cannot be built, being in love that makes the relationship. Af-
because it becomes more of a habit than ter that long time, many aspects make that
love. With time, we’ll see that our loved one relationship, from life philosophy to the most
is trustworthy and ready for communication. important community – family.
That is how trust is built and that’s why I think
love is more important for marriage. I.D.: I agree with L. G. because I think that a
person loves someone even if they don’t de-
L. G.: The first moment when we meet some- serve it.
one might be a result of love and our heart
might lead us to that we like someone, and Facilitator: Why do they then love them?
to wish we spent some time with them, but
everything that comes after is the result of I.D.: Because emotions cannot be controlled,
honesty and trust between two people. Love for example, a woman may love her husband
is the trigger; trust is what leads us later. In even if he isn’t a good husband, but it is a
the end, we love someone because we trust question if she will stay and if that marriage
them. And if it’s the case that we trust some- will be healthy and stable.
body because we love them, I think that re-
lationship at that point is on the wrong path. Facilitator: Thank you. You mentioned emo-
tions that cannot be controlled. Can you ex-
A.N.: I agree with I. D. and I think that emotions plain that?
are something that we can’t build and what
we cannot influence. After a long time, we still L. B.: We cannot have an impact on whether
like the person and their character, and trust we’ll like somebody or not. We cannot have
is only gained. an impact on whether we’ll love somebody or
not. Maybe we don’t like people like them at
B. M.: I just wanted to say that after 60 years, all, but our emotions and feelings are stron-
it [love] depends on the person’s mindset. ger than us and they win.
We cannot expect from one person to always
behave the same way with us, for example, at

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L. B.: I think we cannot control what we feel Facilitator: H. M., is that continuity possible?
but we can control how we express our emo-
tions. A.N.: I think it’s possible for love and trust to
be continuous, and even if it’s not, spouses
A. N.: I agree with them and I think that people should complement each other.
in general realise that they are not for each
other and that they are missing something, L. B.: If two people find each other and love
after that first spark that can be deceiving. each other, everything will succeed to feel the
same love, respect and trust after 60 years,
Facilitator: Raise your hand who thinks that just like at the beginning.
we are close to our answer. Take a better look
at this paper and let’s proceed to discussion B. M.: It is important for spouses to be “at the
if trust is more important or is there some- same wavelength”, that is, to have different
thing else more important? ways of expressing love and to understand
each other.
L. B.: Mutual respect.
Facilitator: In Islam, a term Kafa’ah is used to
Facilitator: Are there any other opinions? describe marital suitability and compatibility,
that is, for spouses to be of similar status, al-
I. D.: Whatever we say, it may not be for some though they don’t have to be.
people. Every person takes a different stance
on marriage and friendship and it varies. B. Č.: Love and trust should be proportional
as much as possible, and if love fades, trust
Facilitator: How good is that [what I. D. said] should weaken, too, and vice-versa.
for the marriage?
I.D.: Is it possible for them to be continuous
A.N.: Yes, we are not all the same people and and proportional? I think not, because every
we differ. Marriage cannot be made with a marriage comes across obstacles, such as
pattern. family issues, lack of trust and such. It is dif-
ficult to be constant when it comes to mar-
N. M.: We cannot determine if it’s good or riage and emotions.
bad, it doesn’t mean that somebody is going
to feel good in their marriage because peo- A.N.: There are couples who express their love
ple sometimes don’t agree on some aspects only by words, but that can become tiring
of their lives. and fake and it becomes a habit. It becomes
monotonous and it loses its purpose.
Facilitator: Many people start building their
marriage by observing other marriages. That Facilitator: Can we now proceed to our final
is often unrealistic and people are unhappy thoughts? We could discuss this, but we don’t
with everything they want to have, such as have much time.
travelling or something else, but their spous-
es cannot afford that. Dž. Dž.: I would like to ask only one more ques-
tion: What if trust disappears or if love fades?
Dž. Dž.: I think A. N. or I. D. said what I wanted What would the consequences be like? Or
to say. We, as human beings, think differently. would they be the same?
Marriage cannot be a pattern.
A.N.: I think it’s easier to renew love than trust.
H. M.: To conclude, it depends on everything;
at the beginning, both love and trust matter H. B.: To conclude this question, both are im-
and they should be constant. portant and marriage cannot exist without
both of these. Both are important.
L. G.: I think in both cases it is important to
know that trust and love are built in a rela- H. M.: I agree with A. N. I think trust is more
tionship that brings safety and comfort, just important because it is easier to rebuild love.
like tranquility, peace or wellbeing… Love and
trust sound equally beautiful and comfort- Facilitator: Any other final thoughts?
able, just like the words I mentioned later.

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H. B.: Trust and love depend on the personali- dents’ statement and repeat them for others, but
ties. Some people can control it, and for some there was a strong need for everyone in the class
people it won’t be a success. to offer their opinions immediately, which is some-
thing we need to learn to handle more effectively,
Facilitator: I would like to remind you of some even though we have used the following method,
of the words you wrote: love, communication, i.e., to write on the blackboard in which order are
patience, compromise, love, community, re- the students going to respond. Listening to others
lationship, understanding, feeling, respect, is something that is sometimes even a problem for
common aspirations, respect… Repeating facilitators, especially when they have four or more
words are love and respect. To those who lessons with other students before the session.
wrote this: would you change something Some students do not want to share their opinions
now? Would somebody like to share their and they have had to explain that there is no wrong
opinion if it changed, or if it was strength- answer (for some questions) and after this expla-
ened? I heard a lot from you today. Thank you nation they shared their own opinion more freely.
for sharing your opinions. I would like I. D. to
arrange the cards. Choose a few cards. You 3.2 Initial P4C implementation in Case 2
may take them and this is our final exercise.
We used the language of dialogue and we
were discussing trust, marriage and love. Being an English teacher, it is possible for us
to integrate P4C inquiries in our teaching because
I.D.: On this card it says that we gave reasons there are numerous lessons especially for high-
and explained our ideas – I think we did so. er grades which offer opportunities for practicing
the 4Cs. There are often “culture corners” in the
B. M.: We listened to each other. textbook with interesting information about world
cultures and/or Anglophone cultures with topics
I.D.: We stayed focused on the questions. such as lifestyle, customs, behaviors, and cultural
openness. In the textbook “Challenges 4” (Harris
H. B: We gave an opportunity for everyone to et al., 2010), there are modules such as the media,
speak. environment, imagination, fashion and looks that
have to be taught and they have enormous poten-
H. M.: We used dialogue and had interactions tial for inquiry.
with each other and the teacher.
Similar to Case 1 situation, we find that our
L. B.: We talked about different ideas. students and we need to additionally work on im-
plementing active listening practices and to find
Dž. Dž.: For ideas, we gave examples and we
ways to make collaborative and caring think-
explained them.
ing a more prominent part of inquiries. We plan
Facilitator: This is the end. Thank you and on choosing two to three classes where we would
good luck! hold inquiries on a regular basis (twice a month).
With a continuous implementation of active listen-
ing and supporting one’s opinion with arguments,
The facilitator gave questions on which all we believe that significant progress can be made.
students in the classroom may respond; there Furthermore, if inquiries become part of the annu-
were a lot of big ideas in the questions, possibili- al plan which is submitted at the start of the aca-
ty of broad answers and creativity, too – which are demic year, there is room for the teacher to operate
important for P4C. The facilitator tried to give more without pressure or fear of failing to meet the stan-
material with new questions for deeper and more dard goals for one’s subject.
productive inquiry with the intention of getting clos-
er to an answer to the main question. Key concepts of P4C can be better present-
ed to primary school students through a PowerPoint
The lack of active listening is a big problem. presentation and a poster, which can also serve
As this group’s facilitator, we could have been more as a tool for later self-reflection. By implementing
aware that there was a lack of active listening and inquiries in a higher grade (14-15 years old) and a
should have prompted the students to offer exam- lower grade (9-10 years old), we can make com-
ples for their opinions and to listen to others, in or- parative progress and take notes on which meth-
der for them to be able to either agree or disagree. ods, warm-ups, topics, voting options etc. work bet-
We were able to emphasize the core of the stu- ter for each age group.

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3.2.1 Philosophical dialogue - class inquiry Facilitator: You also think older people
session on the topic of respect should respect you.

E. A.: I want to say something about the

The class is made of 4th- and 5th-grade stu-
first question (Should we respect those who
dents (ages 9-11). They have previously had two
threaten us?) I think we shouldn’t respect
philosophical inquiry sessions and are acquainted
them: they are threatening us, why should
with the basic practical principles of inquiry. As a
we respect them?
warm-up activity, we wrote down three unfinished Facilitator: But you might do what they tell
sentences on the blackboard: you, even though you don’t respect them.
1. Respect is... E. A.: Yes.
2. I respect those who...
3. I don’t respect those who... D. R.: I think we shouldn’t respect those who
threaten us. Just because they could do
Students were asked to give their ending to whatever they like we should respect them?!
these sentences before they attempt to form ques-
tions on the topic. After a brief discussion of their Facilitator: Have you ever been in a situation
particular choices for each of the sentences, they like that? Were you ever bullied?
seemed ready to try and write down some ques-
tions. The students came up with the following D. R.: Yes, by a girl M. She laughed at my sur-
questions: name and bit me.

1. Should older people respect younger peo- Facilitator: And that’s of course why you
ple? can’t respect her.
2. Should we respect those who threaten us?
D. R: Of course not.
3. If parents don’t take care of us, should we
respect them? B. M.: I want to say something about the
4. How to earn respect? second question (Should older people re-
5. Who deserves respect? spect younger people?) Older people think
6. Should we respect those who don’t respect just because they are older, they can tell
us? us what to do. I have a sister and we work
things out together; for example, I go to the
Each student was allowed one vote. We were shop one day and then she goes the next
wrong not to prohibit students from voting for their day.
own questions because there were students who
found the voting to be a kind of a game where Facilitator: So, she has earned your respect.
they could win if their question was chosen by oth- If she were behaving differently towards you,
ers. The question with the highest number of votes you wouldn’t respect her.
was: “Should we respect those who threaten us?”,
closely followed by: “Should older people respect A.R.: I have an example! Just the other day,
younger people?” an older woman in my building threatened
me because my ball ended up on her balco-
Facilitator: You chose this question: “Should ny. I don’t respect her because she yelled at
we respect those who threaten us?” Another me and threatened me even though I asked
question with a high number of votes was: nicely for my ball back.
“Should older people respect younger peo-
ple?” We can focus on either one of these. Facilitator: You are agreeing with B. M., “Just
because you are older it doesn’t mean you-
A. B.: I think older people should respect us, deserve my respect”.
just like we respect them, when we go to
the shop for them, they should at least say E. A.: I agree with D. R. How can you respect
“Thank you”. people who were bad to you, who did bad
things to you? I have the same example as
A. D.: I agree with A. B. D. R. The girl M. behaves terribly towards me,
but she hasn’t bit me yet.

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Initial P4C implementation in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian educational context

Remzija Hurić-Bećirović and Mubina Muftić

Facilitator: Does that mean that you will Bećirović, 2018), but their patience for others and
fight with her more often because you don’t ability to empathetically and critically listen to each
respect her? other is seriously underdeveloped; however, this
pervading trait is possibly a reflection of the greater
E. A.: Yes, she has said many horrible things B&H society because it is difficult to listen to differ-
to me in these four years that we have been ent voices and opinions which are not aligned with
in class together. what we are accustomed to. While social media
and the internet as a whole now allow like-mind-
E. T.: But how do we earn respect? ed people to communicate easily, excluding those
with differing opinions can create an isolation bub-
Facilitator: We talked about what respect ble where attention is paid only to those people,
means to you. Here on the blackboard, you news, and events which one finds agreeable.
said that respect is: when you help some-
one, when somebody takes care of us, when If there is a will for change in order to reduce
somebody respects your privacy... if you do miscommunication and loneliness and increase
these things, you could earn somebody’s emotional understanding, it is imperative to allow
respect. young people to recognize the erring modes of ex-
istence which have been perpetuated so far in the
This inquiry was predominantly based on Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. In a society in
sharing personal opinions, sometimes backed with which younger voices used to be silenced because
explanations and examples. There is still much of their “inexperience”, we have come to the point
room for development of other types of thinking, where a tenuous scaffold is needed in a pursuit of
starting with collaborative thinking. The facilitator truth in order to avoid a chaos of opinion output.
should have taken control in this area and insist- P4C allows children and adolescents of all ages to
ed on repeating others’ opinions and offering more collaborate in order to explore the whys of some
concise explanations of their opinions. aspects of contemporary life.

As this group’s facilitator, we could have been

more aware that there is a lack of active listening
and should have prompted the students to listen to
others to be able to either agree or disagree. We
were able to emphasize the gist of the students’
statements and repeat them for others to bear in
mind, but there was a strong need for everyone
in the class to offer their opinions instantaneous-
ly, which is something we need to learn to handle
more effectively.

4. Conclusion

Philosophy for children (P4C) is an innova-

tive way to include children into the flows of life ir-
respective of their age by allowing them to express
their opinions and have their opinions heard. In-
quiry facilitators have an important task of helping
create an emotionally secure environment where
children and adolescents can share their points of
view. However, P4C is not intended to simply open
up space for everyone to say something without
evaluating the process which led them to certain
conclusions, which may be immensely valuable for
their being in this world.

Children and adolescents in Bosnia and Her-

zegovina definitely have much to contribute during
inquiry sessions (Kovačević, Brdarević-Čeljo &

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Education and Humanities Volume 1 / Issue 1

MAP Education and Humanities (MAPEH) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal published
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing, focusing on empirical and theoretical research in all fields of education and
humanities.

E-ISSN: 2744-2373

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

The influence of the English

Language on BCS with the focus on
the business register
Rumejsa Ribo 1, Vildana Dubravac 2
1
University of Zenica, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rumejsa Ribo, University of

Zenica, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. E-mail: rumejsa.ribo@unze.ba and Vildana Dubravac,
International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. E-mail: vildana.dubravac@ibu.
edu.ba

ABSTRACT
The main objective of this corpus-based study is to shed more light on the
influence of the English language on BCS with the focus on the business register.
The specialized and written corpus was designed in order to examine at what
levels of BCS the impact of English is most notable. The corpus was based on the
texts from the news portal Klix. The results showed that the influence of English
MAP Education
was evident at all levels of BCS, but most prominent at the lexical and syntactic
and Humanities
level. All the phrases from the corpus were analyzed and it was found that out
Volume 1 / Issue 1
of 148 phrases, 113 were the examples of the influence at lexical level and the
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors.
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary rest, 35 precisely, were the examples of the influence at the level of syntax. As
Academic Publishing.
for the lexical level, most borrowings are nouns, but BCS also borrows a large
Article Submitted: 05 May 2021
Article Accepted: 15 July 2021
number of verbs, as well as adjectives. Some of these borrowings are adapted
Article Published: 20 August 2021 to the rules of BCS, while the others are either used in their original forms or
they are used in some hybrid forms. When it comes to the syntactic level, BCS
borrows inflections, modification patterns, collocations, as well as passive “by
phrase”. Finally, these Anglicisms were also analyzed in terms of writing and
spelling and it was found that there are many inconsistencies regarding the
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published
spelling of these borrowed words primarily due to the fact that most of them
maps and institutional affiliations.
are either brand new Anglicism or they simply were not adapted to the rules
of BCS. However, it was concluded that, despite the previously mentioned fact,
some rules regarding the spelling of Anglicisms can still be formed.

Keywords: Transformation, spiritual revolution, toxic masculinity, wholesome

femininity, regeneration

https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.20
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MAP Education
Volume 1 / Issue 1

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access Article

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
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 Education and Humanities
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The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

Introduction Moreover, the influence of English is not rarely visi-

ble at different levels, modifying even the syntax of
It is often argued that the lingua franca of other languages.
today is the English language. In the Preface to
the second edition of his book English as a Global This research paper will investigate the im-
Language, Crystal predicts that there was nothing pact of English on Bosnian, Croatian and Serbi-
likely to stop the continued spread of the English an or BCS as noticed in the corpus composed of
language as a global lingua franca, “at least in the papers related to business published online by a
foreseeable future” (2012, p. 9). Twenty-four years well-known news portal Klix. The analysis will reveal
later, it seems that his prediction was not far from whether the impact is present only at the level of
the truth. Due to its omnipresence, the English lan- syntax, or it extends its influence over other levels of
guage has influenced many languages around the language use.
world. BCS did not manage to escape that influence
and therefore it has been affected in many different Literature review
ways. The word “influence” here could easily be re-
placed by the word “change” since the English lan- There is a plethora of research studies and
guage has changed languages around the world in papers which examine the immense influence of
different ways. That change has not been sudden English on Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian or in our
but rather very subtle. The English language has case, on BCS. Most of the studies focus primarily on
had to come a long way from being taught only in the reasons as well as on the results of this influence.
school to being used in the media and then also in It can be argued that the majority of authors agree
the streets among the native speakers of other lan- that mass media, social media and new trends are
guages. the major source of these influences.

We can argue with certainty that the ex- However, some authors believe that the glo-
pansion of media and social networks has greatly balization takes precedence over all the other fac-
helped English in its process of becoming the lead- tors. In their study The English language and glo-
ing language in the world. This influence on the na- balisation (2008) Pašalić and Marinov explain how
tive languages would not be so great without the both globalization and the English language as a
existence of mass and social media (Dubravac & lingua franca led to considerable changes in the
Skopljak, 2020). Many people, argues Čedić (2008), economic domain. Therefore, they continue, this re-
especially younger generations, tend to use English sulted in many companies requiring from their em-
simply because it is “cool”, “in” and “modern” or ployees “a good command of English” (p. 1). They
because of “fad” and “fashion” (p. 26). Simeunović conclude that “a fair knowledge of English has be-
(2008) also believes that the use of Anglicisms has come a prerequisite for a professional and social
become to be the “symbol of status” (p. 193). She promotion in Croatia” (p. 1). Along the same lines,
further argues that we encounter an abundance of Simeunović (2008) also believes that the influence
Anglicism in many professions. Sometimes, their of the English language as a lingua franca is most
use is justified, but in many cases, native speakers evident and prominent in the domains of econo-
use them only to sound more “eloquent”, “modern”, my or when it comes to the language, in the legal
“cool”, or even “educated”. Just like there is a ten- and business register (p. 193). These assumptions
dency among some people to use longer words to were confirmed by Isaković (2019) who found many
sound “smarter”, similarly, some people tend to use characteristics of English as a Lingua Franca in the
English words to impress their listeners (Dubravac corpus collected from a few Bosnian companies in-
& Skopljak, 2020). This phenomenon of using En- ternationally oriented. On the other hand, Dubravac
glish words and its linguistic forms increasingly, (2016) and Šijerkić and Milak (2018), Šehović (2009)
led to the creation of some hybrid languages, such argue that this influence of the English language is
as Spanglish or Serglish (Mišić Ilić, 2011) and many most profound in the language of media, namely,
others. This might eventually even lead to the dis- the language of Bosnian press which has under-
appearance of some minority languages. In fact, gone a sea change in recent years. In a very simi-
what concerns the language purists most are un- lar study, Brdar (2010) investigates the presence of
doubtedly the words or linguistic forms the speak- the English vocabulary in the language of Croatian
ers use quite spontaneously and unknowingly. media. She build her research around the collec-
tion of over 60 media texts and what she found is
that those texts which were translated from the

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The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

English language, usually on the subject of British Klix’s Business news section were selected and an-
pop culture and music, had a great number of An- alyzed.
glicisms. However, the reason why the Anglicisms
were used in other types of texts, she argues, is fad. Having regard to the Simeunović’s claim that
Balenović and Grahovac-Pražić (2016) take matters the influence is evident “at all levels of language”
a step further questioning whether Croatians can (2008, p. 194), the language of the selected texts
understand the language of mass media anymore was analyzed in terms of writing, pronunciation,
since the influence of English is so enormous. The grammar, semantics, pragmatics. It was found that
same issue was investigated by Skopjak (2017), who the impact of English is most notable both on the
concluded that it happens quite often that Bosnian lexical and syntactic level. Therefore, only the lexi-
people resort to Anglicisms which they do not un- cal and syntactic features of the corpus data were
derstand fully, but tend to use them following the analyzed along with the ways in which the phrases
current trends. It seems difficult to avoid the impact from the corpus were spelled. When it comes to the
of English due to its presence in numerous domains organization of the results and discussion part, it is
of everyday life. divided into three sections: the examples of lexical
influence, the examples of syntactic influence and
In a like manner, Milić (2013) claims that the the influence at the level of writing or spelling.
English language has even found its way to the
sports terminology, thus changing it profoundly. For the purposes of this study, Čedić’s
Milić explains “that English-Serbian language con- classification of Anglicisms was used, as well as
tacts in the field of sport are not only limited to the Simeunović’s classification in terms of shape, cre-
transfer of new forms with their inherent lexical con- ation and justification of Anglicisms (Simeunović,
tent from English into Serbian, but (that) they also 2008, p. 198).
include taking over new English-based meanings,
clippings and compound forms with non-inflec- According to Čedić (2008), there are three
tional types of Anglicisms:

Modifiers” (p. 1). Similarly, the presence of English 1. “common” Anglicisms (they “behave” like
was investigated and confirmed in other regis- other words in Bosnian lang. - receive gram-
ters, music (Kajtazović, 2012), political and legal matical cases etc.)
discourse (Ajšić, 2014, Bilbija & Osmankadić, 2016;
2. “productive“ Anglicisms
Okičić, 2016), and advertising discourse (Dubravac
& Milak, 2016), to name a few. 3. “brand-new“ Anglicisms (those which are
written or even pronounced the same way
Taking into consideration all the previously
as they are in English, e.g. boho) (p. 26).
mentioned findings by various authors the aim of
this study was to investigate the significance of the
influence English has on the language of Bosnian
press with the focus on the business register. Results and discussion

Methodology
The examples of lexical influence
The aim of the current corpus-based study
was to shed more light on the influence English Out of 148 phrases from the corpus, 113 or
has on the Bosnian language with the focus on the 76% of phrases were influenced at the lexical level.
business register. Since there is no a ready-made Most of these Anglicisms were common Anglicisms,
corpus which could be with regard to the pur- but still, a great number of them were brand-new
pose of this research, a specialized written corpus Anglicisms which means that more and more word
was designed. The corpus comprises 148 phrases are weaving their way into BCS. When it comes to
which were collected through the analysis of a sig- the parts of speech which were mostly influenced,
nificant number of texts from the news portal Klix. those are nouns primarily, then verbs and adjec-
The Klix news portal was purposefully chosen due tives, which confirmed the findings of the previous
to the fact that it is the most read and prominent studies (Dubravac, 2016; Šijerkić & Milak, 2018).
news portal in Bosnia. Since the focus of the study
was the business register, only the texts from the

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 Education and Humanities
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The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

As expected, most of the nouns were com- diskusiju sa svjetskim, regionalnim i geni-
mon Anglicisms. Some of the examples of these jalnim umovima advertajzing industrije”,
common Anglicisms from the corpus are: grant, saopćeno je iz organizacije Brending kon-
plan, industrija, sektor, direktor, marketing, korpo- ferencije.4
racija. Nouns such as plan and grant look like their
English counterparts completely. However, nouns If we analyze the last group of the examples
korporacija, industrija, direktor, sektor and market- in terms of their justification we can argue that for
ing resemble their English counterparts a lot. The some of them, their use is not justified as they have
difference is mostly only in one letter and it is almost their BCS counterparts. For example, the noun ad-
every time the letter “c” (director vs. direktor). These vertajzing has its BCS counterpart which is reklam-
borrowings act like any other nouns in BCS and in- iranje. However, this shows that some of the bor-
flections can be attached to them. However, even rowings are used either because of fad or because
with the inflectional endings, many English speak- the translators are unwilling to find the correct and
ers would recognize these words and the transla- acceptable translation equivalents for the words in
tion for these nouns is even not that necessary. the source text. The last example, advertajzing, is
the best example of this. There are two words which
Another type of noun borrowings from En- mean advertizing in BCS: a common borrowing
glish are brand new ones. Many examples of these marketing and reklamiranje. The author of the text
nouns were found, namely out-licencing, CEO, re- used none of them, but rather the word advertajz-
volving fonda, advertajzing and others (see exam- ing which shows that sometimes these borrowings
ples 1(a), 1(b), 1(c), 1(d). What is significant for these are used unjustifiably and only because they sound
nouns is that there is inconsistency in their spelling, more mainstream.
they sound unnatural (e. g. advertajzing) in BCS
and furthermore, the inflections are very often add- When it comes to the borrowed verbs, it is
ed to the unchanged words taken from the English important to explain that even some of verb fea-
language (e. g. revolving fonda). tures were borrowed. It can be seen on the follow-
ing example, namely the verb implementirati. The
(1a) Poseban fokus je na poslovima out-li- actual example was used together with the oth-
censing-a koje planiramo ponuditi na er two borrowings from the English, plan and re-
američkom tržištu kao i proširenje izvoza u forme, which shows that even greater linguistic
zemlje Bliskog istoka i Afrike.1 forms are borrowed from the English language. The
same could be said about the following examples:
(1b) Dubai Islamic Bank Group obavlja od nominovati (za nešto), formirati (vlast), alocirati,
2013. godine, a već 2015. je bio nominovan dominirati (mostly common). Moreover, even some
za najboljeg CEO-a u eminentnom tak- hybrid examples, such as *ukalkulirati (see example
mičenju CEO Awards , koji se organizuje od 2) were found which show the immensity of the in-
strane magazina Finance Monthly.2 fluence of the English language.

(1c) Ukupnim sredstvima, u visini od 4,7 mil- (2) Prvi je novac, a drugi javni tender koji ima
iona maraka, obuhvaćena su i ona koja će svoje faze i vremensko trajanje u koje često
mjesečno biti alocirana na račun trajnog znaju biti ukalkulirani i mjeseci odlučivanja
revolving fonda od povrata glavnice dodi- nakon uobičajenih žalbi konkurencije.5
jeljenih kredita putem Razvojne banke FBiH,
u očekivanom godišnjem iznosu od 350.000 Many adjectives in the corpus were also
maraka.3 borrowings. However, what is a specific feature of
these borrowings is that they are mostly “nativized”
(1d) Zbog toga je “Hack the influence” slo- and adjusted to the linguistic rules of BCS, proba-
gan pod kojim organizatori devete Brend- bly since they are usually used in clusters with oth-
ing konferencije pozivaju brendove na još er words which are not necessarily the borrowings.
jedno edukativno druženje i konstruktivnu

1  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/general-americke-vojske-david-l-grange-je-novi-savjetnik-uprave-bosnalijeka/190523107
2  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/privreda/na-sbf-dolazi-direktor-dubai-islamic-bank-grupe-cija-dobit-prelazi-1-9-milijardi-
km/190412134
3  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/privreda/krediti-za-unaprjedjenje-poslovanja-u-visini-od-4-7-miliona-maraka/190405067
4  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/predstavljen-program-devete-brending-konferencije/190523062
5 https://www.klix.ba/biznis/privreda/euro-asfalt-dobio-posao-gradnje-testne-piste-aerodroma-bihac/190515091

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 Education and Humanities
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing

The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

Some of the examples are: komercijalnih banaka, In BCS, nouns are usually modified by adjec-
ekskluzivni plasman, Јahorina ekonomski forum. tives and nouns cannot modify other nouns. How-
ever, in recent times, we can encounter many ex-
The examples of syntactic influence amples of this modification which sound unnatural
in BCS. Some of these examples are: internet strani-
In accordance with previous studies (Du- ca, biznis sector, lizing sector, direktor brend dizaj-
bravac, 2016; Šijerkić & Milak, 2018) our findings in- na, grant program, advertajzing industrija, faktoring
dicated the impact of English at the syntactic level. system, panel diskusija and so on (see examples
35 out 148 examples were the examples of syntac- 4a, 4b, 4c). As it is evident, instead of saying inter-
tic influence, which is 24% of the examples. Most of netska stranica the author of the texts used noun
these examples are related to the inflections, mod- internet to modify noun stranica. The same was
ification and the use of by phrase in the BCS pas- done in the other examples and what is surprising is
sives. Inflection borrowings prove that the influence that a great number of these examples was found.
of the English language at examples of the syntac- As for the use of these types of modification in BCS,
tic level is no less significant than the influence on we can argue that it is not justified even if there are
the lexical level. If we analyze the examples of the no TE (translation equivalents) or BCS counterparts
borrowed inflections, we will see that most of these for some nouns such as grant or factoring.
inflections came together with the borrowed words
they were part of (e. g. viceguverner, info sesija) (4a) Očekuje nas i ažuriranje podzakonskog
(example 3). However, after some time certain in- okvira za mikrokreditni i lizing sektor.7
flections, such auto, mikro as in the examples mala
i mikro preduzeća, autodijelovi, kompatibilnih auto- (4b) U okviru zakonom propisanih na-
motive kompanija, became independent and now- dležnosti, FBA je usmjerena na očuvanje
adays BCS speakers use them to forms other nouns stabilnosti bankarskog, mikrokreditnog, liz-
and the like. Basically, these types of flections fall ing i faktoring sistema, zaštitu deponenata,
into the second group of Anglicisms according to zaštitu prava i interesa korisnika finansijskih
Čedić (2008), namely productive Anglicisms. usluga, te unapređenje sigurnog i zakonitog
poslovanja subjekata bankarskog sistema.8
(3) Konačno, ove info sesije, dokaz su po-
trebe nastavka saradnje i podrške investi- (4c) Selma Omić, članica Uprave Addiko
cionim projektima dijaspore.6 Bank dd Sarajevo učestvovala je u panel di-
skusiji “Razvoj trade finance usluga na po-
All the languages can be classified into synthet- dručju Zapadnog Balkana”, održanog u ok-
ic or analytic languages. The first ones are those viru godišnjeg sastanka Odbora guvernera
in which syntactic relations are expressed by in- EBRD u Sarajevu.9
flectional morphemes rather than by word order,
whereas analytic languages are those in which This type of noun modification is used most
syntactic relations are expressed primarily by word in the branding, labeling, the names of certain sum-
order rather than by inflection (Denham & Lobeck, mits, conferences, fairs and the like. Some of the fol-
2012, p. 185). Most European languages are indeed lowing examples from the corpus serve to support
synthetic, whereas English, even though it has some this claim: SBF (Sarajevo Business Forum), Sarajevo
synthetic features, falls into the latter group, and as Business Bridge Awards, Jahorina ekonomski fo-
such is different from BCS, a synthetic language. rum, Brending konferencija, Samit 16+1, AS Holding
Therefore, BCS and English belong to the separate kompanija (examples 5a, 5b, 5c).
groups of languages and as a result of that some of
their features are significantly different from each (5a) Danas vodim Holding kompaniju koja
other. However, this did not stop BCS speakers to raste i razvija se zajedno sa Bosnom i Her-
borrow even some syntactically different linguistic cegovinom kojoj najviše dugujemo, ali i
forms form English such as modification.

6  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/finansije/usaid-diaspora-invest-okupio-35-poduzetnika-u-trebinju/190313100
7  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/finansije/u-bankama-u-fbih-zabiljezen-rast-aktive-kredita-novcanih-sredstava-i-depozi-
ta/190424029
8  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/finansije/u-bankama-u-fbih-zabiljezen-rast-aktive-kredita-novcanih-sredstava-i-depozi-
ta/190424029
9  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/smart-cash/podrska-addiko-banke-sme-sektoru-broj-izdatih-garancija-porastao-za-vise-od-
100-posto-u-protekle-cetiri-godine/190508105

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 Education and Humanities
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The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

zajedno sa našom regijom u kojoj živimo i However, when it comes to common bor-
poslujemo.10 rowings from English, we can argue that there is
some consistency in the spelling as well as that
(5b) Sve spremno za četvrti Јahorina ekon- some rules regarding the spelling of these borrow-
omski forum, stiže i Ana Brnabić11 ing can be formed, such as that letter “c” is usually
changed into “k” (director is changed into direktor),
(5c) Predstavljen program devete Brending letter “x” into the cluster “sk” (expansion is changed
konferencije 12 into ekspanzija), and so on. Also, some inflections or
suffixes precisely are consistently translated in the
When it comes to the collocations borrowed
same manner, such as -ship into -stvo (partnership
from English, these are mostly verb collocations.
into partnerstvo), -(t)ion into -cija (action into akci-
As it has been pointed out before, sometimes even
ja) and the like.
larger linguistic forms are borrowed, as it can be
seen in the following examples of verb collocation Conclusion
borrowings: implementirati projekat, projektovan
rast, nominovan za najboljeg CEO-a. Most proba- The presented study deals with the English
bly, when some words are borrowed, such as verbs borrowings and analyzes them in terms of their
in these examples, even their syntactic features are syntactic and lexical features. The results of this
borrowed along with them. In this case, these are study showed that the influence of the English on
their collocation features. BCS is very significant. All the examples from the
corpus were taken from a collection of texts pub-
The example from the corpus prepoznato i lished by the news portal Klix. Corpus comprised 148
nagrađeno od strane kvalifikovanih eksperata is a words out which 76% of examples presented lexical
great example of passive by structure borrowing. influences and the rest, or 24%, presented the lexi-
BCS is a language which gives more prominence cal influence. This shows that the influence is most
to the active voice and therefore some passive notable at the level of lexicals. Nouns are a part of
structure, such as passive by phase sound unnat- speech which is influenced most, but the verbs and
ural in certain registers. This passive linguistic form the adjectives are not resistant to this change and
is common in legal register or some other registers, influence.
but in other registers it is not preferable to use this
form. However, with the influence from the English When it comes to the syntactic influence of
language, even that aspect of BCS is undergoing English, even the inflections were borrowed. Some
change. of these inflections such as auto, moto and others,
were domesticated and nowadays they act just like
The level of writing any other BCS inflection. Besides inflections, modi-
fication patterns, especially the noun modification,
As it has been stated previously, the exam-
were borrowed. Therefore, many examples showed
ples were also analyzed in terms of spelling or writ-
that due to this influence more and more nouns in
ing. One of the findings was that there are many
BCS are being modified by other nouns, which is not
inconsistencies regarding the spelling of these
natural in BCS. Also, the collocations did not escape
examples simply due to the fact that some bor-
this influence and many collocations, especially
rowings are brand new and they were not domes-
verb collocation were borrowed.
ticated or adopted enough. This is evident in the ex-
amples such web-stranica vs. web stranica, e-mail When their spelling was analyzed, it was
vs. email (or even imejl) and the like. evident that there are many inconsistencies in the
spelling of these borrowings mostly because these
Also, in the names of conferences, forums,
borrowing did not go through the process of adap-
festivals and similar events, we can see the ten-
tation to BCS. However, some rules regarding the
dency to write each word of the name in the capi-
spelling of these borrowings could be formed such
tal letters which is a feature of English and not BCS
as the change of the letter “c” to the letter “k” and
(e. g. Sarajevo Business Forum instead of Sarajevski
the like.
poslovni forum).

10  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/privreda/rusmiru-hrvicu-pripala-prestizna-nagrada-na-10-sarajevo-business-foru-
mu/190417066
11  https://www.klix.ba/biznis/privreda/sve-spremno-za-cetvrti-ahorina-ekonomski-forum-stize-i-ana-brnabic/190422108
12 https://www.klix.ba/biznis/predstavljen-program-devete-brending-konferencije/190523062

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 Education and Humanities
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The influence of the English Language on BCS with the focus on the business register
Rumejsa Ribo and Vildana Dubravac

Finally, when the Klix articles were analyzed Dubravac, V., & Milak, E. (2016). English in
it was found that every text had around 30-40 (or Bosnian Advertising Discourse. In A. Akbarov (Ed.),
even more) Anglicisms or linguistic forms influ- Current research on language learning and teach-
enced by the English language. Taking into con- ing (pp. 268- 285). Cambridge Scholars Publishing:
sideration the fact that the average Klix article has UK.
around 250 words, 30 to 40 Anglicism per the article
on average, or 12%-16% of the article, is a lot and it Dubravac, V., & Skopljak, N. (2020). Foreign
shows how big and significant the influence of En- and multilingual language play on social sites as an
glish on BCS is. There are many reasons for that, identity marker. Journal of Multicultural Discourses,
and some of them have been even mentioned in 15(1), 61-79.
the study, such as fad, but this aspect of the influ-
ences requires for more substantial analysis. Crystal, B. (2012). English as a Global Lan-
guage. Cambridge University Press, England
As the opinions on the Anglicisms are divid-
ed, it would be significant to investigate this phe- Čedić, I. (2008). Riječnik Anglicizama u
nomenon more substantially. The questions such Bosanskom Jeziku. Institut za jezik, B&H.
as whether English (or any foreign language) is
Denham, K., & Lobeck, A. (2012). Linguistics
enriching or threatening (our) language are still
for Everyone: An Introduction. Cengage Learning.
mainly unanswered. Even though some research-
ers paid more attention to the reasons behind there Isaković, L. (2019). BELF: Subject matter or lin-
is a tendency to use Anglicisms more increasingly, guistic correctness in e-mail communication. Jour-
the subject still remains not completely tackled and nal of Education and Humanities, 2(2), 51-64.
therefore, some further research will be needed.
Also, most of the studies deal with the borrowings in Kajtazović, E. (2012). Engleske posuđenice
the written language, thus leaving the spoken lan- i prevedenice u oblasti muzike u bosanskom/hr-
guage aside. So, continued research into this as- vatskom/ srpskom jeziku [English loanwords and
pect of English-Bosnian connection appears fully loan translations in the domain of music in Bos-
justified. nian/ Croatian/ Serbian]. Master’s thesis. University
of Tuzla.
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Education and Humanities Volume 1 / Issue 1

MAP Education and Humanities (MAPEH) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal published
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing, focusing on empirical and theoretical research in all fields of education and
humanities.

E-ISSN: 2744-2373

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

The Influence of Online Games on

Learning English Vocabulary
In High Schools
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić 1, Aida Tarabar 2
1
The Fourth Gymnasium Ilidža, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
University of Zenica, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Adela Mašić, The Fourth
Gymnasium Ilidža, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. E-mail: adela_masic@hotmail.com and
Aida Tarabar, University of Zenica, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
E-mail: aidatarabar@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In the last couple of years, there has been an obvious increase in the number
of school children proficient in English. One of the main reasons is the influence
of the media, as well as students’ great exposure to video games. The aim
of this study was to investigate the connection between video-game playing
and English language proficiency based on age, gender and latest grade
MAP Education
in English language. A questionnaire was completed by 71 middle and high
and Humanities
school students answering a range of questions on the quantity and quality of
Volume 1 / Issue 1
the video game they play. The results showed that video games have a great
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors.
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary impact on language learning, as well as that vocabulary and communication
Academic Publishing.
are areas of most benefit. Therefore, as a form of highly desirable entertainment,
Article Submitted: 20 May 2021
Article Accepted: 30 June 2021
video games provide a positive and motivating atmosphere which is perfect
Article Published: 20 August 2021 for adopting a foreign language and may have positive impacts on obtaining
and improving vocabulary.

Keywords: online games, language learning, English vocabulary,

communication, proficiency
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

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 Education and Humanities
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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

Introduction and becoming cultural icons. What is also relevant

is that there are two very important advantages of
Ever since English language became a lin- these mediums: communication and interaction;
gua franca, people from all over the world started both very important in increasing proficiency of the
learning it. It has become the main part in the lives players. Each game has a platform for communi-
of many people, especially with the rise of the Unit- cation and discussion in order to find out how to
ed States after the World War 2, the influence of En- pass the level, or complete some tasks, especially
glish language is felt everywhere. Due to the devel- with the development of massively multiplayer on-
opment of modern information technology, as well line game (MMOG or MMO), which is a type of an
as the development of globalization, the Internet online game with large number of players, typically
revolutionized the way humans communicate and from hundreds to thousands, and the language in
learn a language. Computers are used in almost use is English. These games enable players to co-
every field of life, and the internet has become very operate and compete with each other on the large
important information source. Whilst adults are not scale, and most of the time players have to inter-
that willing to use computers in such an extent, at act meaningfully with the people all over the world.
home or at work; using computers and the internet Due to the different video game genres, the vocab-
has become natural for children. ulary used in games varies. Taking in consideration
these advantages, video gaming has become a
Since the vocabulary is basis of any lan- great tool in learning English vocabulary. Therefore,
guage, many studies have paid a special attention it seems appropriate to analyze the influence online
to that field, and various methods and strategies games have in the process.
have been examined to find some appropriate ways
to facilitate its acquisition. Due to the fact that the The aim of this study is to explore the influ-
Internet has become an essential part of everyday ence of online games on learning English vocab-
life, it was taken in consideration as an important ulary in high schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
tool for obtaining and improving vocabulary. Al- First, relevant research was reviewed. Second, a
though there are many advantages in using the In- questionnaire was given to middle and high school
ternet for vocabulary learning purposes, one of the students attending The Fourth Gymnasium Ilidža
most important is: intrinsic motivation for students about the influence of online games on their English
due to the fact that it is a useful tool to communi- language proficiency. Third, the results of the survey
cate with people all over the world. Hence, vocabu- were analyzed. Finally, the question if online games
lary acquisition best occurs in a relaxed, motivating, contribute to learning English vocabulary was ex-
and enjoyable environment. Therefore, games may amined.
be an important factor in creating such an environ-
ment. Literature review

The area of the internet that became very Due to the increase in number of mid-
important for non-native English speakers was the dle and high school students who play the online
development of video games. Lately, more and games, and in relation to the fact that students are
more people, especially children, started playing coming to school more proficient in English lan-
various video games. At the beginning, video games guage, there are a few studies that were conduct-
were not that useful in the process of acquiring ed to analyze the influence of these games on the
new vocabulary, due to the fact that the first video language learning processes. According to some,
games mostly consisted of a bunch of shapes cre- these games can have some negative effects such
ated only for moving towards other objects, without as excessive playing or gaming addiction (Pet-
any depth to the play besides being just a reflexive ry and O’Brien, 2013), on the other hand, they also
test. Most of them did not have any narrative con- provide players with some benefits such as feelings
text, and the graphic was really poor. Over the time, of achievement and sense of community (Sublette
games became more and more complex regarding and Mullan, 2012). What is more important for both,
the game play and the story, thus becoming a great English teachers and learners is that these games
source for both passive and active language learn- provide great possibilities for education as well
ing. With the development of the technology, video (González-González and Blanco-Izquierdo, 2012).
games have become more and more advanced,
and are to be compared with the characters form One of the most important factors in learn-
the cartoons or movies, thus engaging the story, ing a language is motivation, and according to

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

some studies gamers/learners are more relaxed as games are fun, confidence boosting, motivating
and motivated to interact, and they perform much and relaxing the learners’ interest will increase.
better in terms of language skills (Rankin et al.,
2006; Suh et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2013). According to Besides motivation, one very important
Warschauer and Healey (1998, as cited in Sørensen factor in learning a language is the willingness to
& Meyer, 2007), games have often been utilized to communicate. One way to achieve that is through
increase motivation and authentic communica- playing video games, MMORPGs, specifically. Since
tive practices, since they have been seen as an en- those games provide low-anxiety environment
joyable factor in language learning. It is said that and have a multiplayer component, they are easy
games create a fun environment, related with lei- and natural way to produce language. The article
sure activities, and most interactive games provide “Video Games as Opportunity for Informal English
communicative activities while being played. In this Language Learning: Theoretical Considerations”,
case, the game players will be using language both R.G. da Silva, describes two particular skills that
to learn and be able to participate in games bet- video games help improve: receptive skills (read-
ter (Sørensen & Meyer, 2007). In order to play better ing and listening) and expressive skills (writing
they engage in authentic communication through and speaking) (da Silva, 2014). It is done by giving
listening, speaking, reading and writing in the target players particular vocabulary they then use with-
language –English, with other players (Rama et al., in the proper context. Since most of the MMORPGs
2012). are played among non-native English players and
native-speakers, it leads directly to better form of
What is important to state is that there are language acquisition (Rankin et al., 2006).
two different types of MMORPGs, commercial and
educational type which can be used to facilitate FL/ One more study was done by Theodorsen
L2 learning. The later, also called serious games, “in- (2015), where he introduces the concept of Task-
clude an identifiable teaching presence specifically Based Language Teaching method, and proposes
for improving some aspect of language proficien- the notion of “task” being an activity or goal carried
cy” (Hubbard & Bradin Siskin., 2004, p.457). Serious, out using language, and thus helping to understand
or educational games’ main objectives are learn- in what way video games have a great potential
ing and behavior change (Connolly et al., 2012) and being language learning tools, because players are
can provide some in-game rewards if tasks are active in the world which provides linguistic input
accomplished (Nagle et al., 2014), leading then to a using visuals, stimuli and context. In addition to this,
greater motivation. an article entitled “Playing video games: A waste of
time …. Or not?” by Olli Uuskoskis (2011), researches
Interesting study Reinders and Watta- two teenagers playing Final Fantasy X, as playing
na (2011) discuss was done by Chen and Johnson they repeat the dialogues spoken by the charac-
(2004, as cited in Rudis & Poštić, 2018). What they ters in the game. Being able to mimic the speech
actually did was to use a commercial game Nev- produced by the characters, the players are able
erwinterNights (developed by Bioware in 2002) and to transfer the same words in their own vocabulary
added a language learning aspect to the game. and outside the gaming situation (Uuskoski, 2011).
According to Rudis and Poštić (2018) even non edu-
cational online game can be beneficial to learners To conclude, in theory the influence of online
if modified, the more experience the player has with games on language acquisition so far points to the
the game, the better chance to acquire the skills fact that online video games can be used in teach-
needed for the language learning. Most of the video ing a language. Most studies agree that online
games provide a lot of vocabulary items, granting video games provide extra stimuli e.g. visual cues,
the player to use it in order to communicate with voice acting, narratives, context, discourse which,
other players. when paired with some linguistic resources, may
enhance the learning process. Many researchers
In the study done by Yip and Kwan (2006) see the potential of video games to be “edutain-
titled “Online vocabulary games as a tool for teach- ment” (a combination of education and entertain-
ing and learning English vocabulary”, was stated ment) (Rudis & Poštić, 2018). On the other hand,
that learners who play online vocabulary games some studies suggest that there are some draw-
tend to learn more appropriately and could retain backs as well especially with older games, since
the new words for a longer period in comparison to they do not include language, or language barely
those who are not provided with the games. As long relevant while playing.

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

The current study was guided by the follow- participate since most of them play online games,
ing research question: so the topic of the research was something they
were really interested in. The participants needed
RQ1: Do online games have any influence approximately 15 minutes to fill out the question-
on learning English vocabulary for middle and high naire.
school students in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Results
Methodology
Part 1.
Participants

The research sample consists of 71 middle

and high school students in Sarajevo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, whose native language is Bosnian.
They learnt English language as a foreign language
attending The Fourth Gymnasium Ilidža in the aca-
demic year 2019-2020, ranging from 15-19 years old,
from the 1st to the 4th grade, and level of language
from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate.
Q1. Please rate your English proficiency by
Instrument and procedure
choosing the appropriate answer for each of the
In order to collect data for the research pa- four skills.
per an online questionnaire, Google form, created by
The most proficient areas of English lan-
the researcher was used. The main purpose of the
guage are listening and reading, followed by
questionnaire was to gather as much information
speaking, and the least proficient skill being writing
as possible on the topic of interest. The question-
(Figure 1).
naire had four parts: first part consisted of general
questions (age, gender, latest grade); the second
part examined some general questions about their
gaming habits (if they play games, how often, what Q2. How old are you?
games, what kind of games); the third part had to
with more specific questions (specific areas of lan-
guage, skills they improved by gaming); and the
fourth part was more about the influence and ben-
efits of gaming outside the classroom. The link to
the questionnaire was given to students during the
classes to fill in, the researcher being present all the
time in order to help if necessary. The questionnaire
consisted of 28 questions, a series of descriptive The graph shows that most of the students
statistical analyses (e.g. mean, percentage and are 18 years old, followed by 16 years old, but as pre-
range) were performed on the quantitative data. sented all grades are included, from the 1st to the 4th
Some of the questions included answers: multiple grade (Figure 2).
choice, open answers, strongly agree, agree, dis-
agree, and strongly disagree, not at all, very little, Q3. Gender of the participants: both of the
somewhat, a lot, substantially. Some questions were genders were included in the research as present-
repetitive in a way that students could answer them ed (Figure 3).
like multiple choice or open answers depending on
the students’ ability and willingness to write or just
circle. Either way an answer would be provided.

At the beginning, the participants were

asked to read each question carefully, to be honest,
and to provide a response for all the questions. They
were informed about the research and reason for
doing the research; they were more than willing to

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

Q4. What is your latest grade from the En- Students who gave a positive answer to Q5.
glish language course? mainly play games once a month or less (35,8%),
followed by many times a week (23,9%), and there
are those who play the games every day more than
2 hours (20, 9%) which is also a high percentage
(Figure 6).

Q7. How old were you when you first started

playing computer games?

Majority of participants answered that their

latest grade in English was 5 (68,1%), followed by 4
(23,2%), which implies that they are more than ca-
pable to understand and answer the questions well
(Figure 4).

As presented in the first part of the ques-

tionnaire, most of the participants are 18-year-olds, Very interesting answers were given to this
with the latest grade in English language 5 (excel- question; ages ranging from 3-14 years old, though
lent), most proficient in listening and reading, and most of them started playing computer games at
almost the same number of both girls and boys age 6 and age 10, respectively (Figure 7).
play online video games.
Q8. When you play computer games, for
Part 2. how long do you usually play during the day?

Q5. Do you play or have you ever played

English video games on computer, console, web
browser or mobile device?

When asked to specify how many hours a

day they usually play, participants gave differ-
ent answers from: I do not play them, to 4-5 hours
a day, the most of them playing approximately 2
As the graph shows a huge percentage of hours a day (13,8%) (Figure 8).
the participants (94,3%) said that they have played
video games (Figure 5). Q9. When asked what was the first game
that they played students named many different
Q6. If you responded positively to the fifth games from the most played to the least played
questions, please state how often you play com- as following: Super Mario, GTA, Fifa 10, Sims, Mine-
puter games: craft, Counter Strike, Kingdom Hearts, Battlefield,
My Little pets, League of Legends, Call of Duty, Winx,
Hugo, Snake, Tetris, Candy Crush, etc. as we can
see games depend of the age and interests, thus
so many different genres.

Q10. Participants were asked to say which

games they prefer; single player or multiplayer
games, and as we can students prefer Multiplayer
games (53,7%) (Figure 9).

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

Q. 14.1/14.2 Do you find gaming vocabulary

useful outside the classroom? If yes, how?

Q11. Do you play computer games with?

65,2% answered yes, and the examples they

gave were very interesting: speaking and under-
standing slang words, being able to understand
native speakers, gaming vocabulary is actually the
real vocabulary, useful phrases, well it helps me
to learn new words and it’s more interesting than
someone just telling you, it develops our language
skill in day to day communication, I have learnt cer-
When asked with whom they play more tain words, that otherwise I wouldn’t have known,
friends from Bosnia and Herzegovina or people all to communicate with people from different coun-
over the world, 65,2% answered both (Figure 10). tries, to understand articles on the internet, to learn
new things, I’ve learnt a lot of terminology for easier
The second part of the questionnaire was communication in gaming, there isn’t a thing such
related to their gaming habits. A very high percent- as “gamer vocabulary”, because they use normal
age of the participants (94,3%), play online games; English words and phrases, talking with friends, you
most of them once a month or less (35,8%), but learn to adapt to different situations with a diverse
there is also a high percentage who play every day vocabulary (GG (good game), noob (newbie),
more than 2 hours (20,9%). They started playing pickaxe, axe, birch, oak, spruce, planks, armor stand,
online games at a very young age some of them leggings, chess plate, chest, dragon), in that way,
were just 3 or 4 years old, but mostly at the age of words stay in our heads much longer (Figure 11).
6 and 10 respectively. 53,7% play multiplayer on-
line games with both their friends from Bosnia and Q15. What skills of English language have
Herzegovina and all over the world; the list of the you found most useful in games, and they were giv-
games they provided as the games they play was en a choice.
rather long.

Part 3.

Q12. /13. When asked to specify the game/

games they learnt most English from answers were
very different varying from: every game I played I
have learnt something new, every game new word,
way too many to count all of them, but some of
them are Call of duty bo 3, cs:go, League of legends,
Fortnite, mostly games on random websites, all of As presented in the chart the most useful
them; one of them said that he/she did not learn skill used in games is speaking (62,5%) (Figure 12).
English via games.
Q16. I believe that playing computer games
has improved/has contributed to the improvement
of my English:

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

ly agrees that online games contributed to the im-

provement of their English language.

Part 4.

Q20. Have the skills you have acquired

through video games benefited you at school?

Most of the participants either agree (36,9%)

or strongly agree (32,3%) (Figure 13).

Q17. What kind of areas of language have

you learnt or what have you improved in when
gaming in English?

As presented, 45,3% answered somewhat,

following with a lot (23,4%) (Figure 16).

Q21. Do you feel that gaming ENHANCES your

English studying, in other words, it helps you study
English more effectively at school as well? If yes,
how?

What is interesting to notice is that the par-

The areas of English that they mostly im- ticipants gave various answers and explanations,
proved due to the games are expressions, idioms, but the answers are mostly tied, meaning Yes
phrases (70,8%) and words (69,2%) (Figure 14). (7,1%)- No (7,1%).
Q18. When asked to specify what skills in Q22. Have the skills you have acquired
particular they learnt or improved most of them through video games benefited you elsewhere out-
answered reading, but mention equally other skills side games and studies?
such as: speaking, listening, and writing.

Q19. They had to specify which has gaming

more improve spoken or written language skills:

More than a half of them answered Some-

what (53,2%) (Figure 17), which is very interesting
since in the next question:
Most of them said both (49,2%) (Figure 15). Q23. If you feel that the skills you have ac-
quired through video games benefited you outside
In the 3rd part they were asked to speci-
the games, please tell how you have used these
fy how they benefited from playing online games
skills, they gave so many different examples:
in terms of English language. In the answers giv-
en they mostly said that they benefited from ev- Well, with my communication skills that were
ery game they play in terms of vocabulary; the skill improved by video games, I am able to easily talk
mostly used is speaking; and the language used is to anyone anywhere in English, while speaking to
both spoken and written. Majority agrees or strong- tourists, reading English texts etc., it has improved

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

my communication skills, to communicate with Most of the students said that they learn En-
other people players, and to have more themes to glish in order to play games better (53,4%) (Figure
talk about, mostly understanding slang, also it has 19).
helped a lot in communication learning new things,
developing reflexes and many more, well, my En- Q27. Do you think that online games would
glish vocabulary was better by the years, because, be a good tool to use in schools, especially English
in the same time, I was learning English at home language classes? Why/Why not? Answers they
and in school, I have been approached by tourists gave were very interesting since most of them think
and I told them directions they needed. that would be a good thing due to the fact that
games are fun and motivating. :
Q24. To what extent do you believe English
computer games benefit learning the language? Depending on the game, it could be used as
a way to make students want to learn, or rather have
fun while still learning; yes, it would help students to
learn to communicate, I do think that online games
would be a good tool to learn English, I think there
are a lot of fun games that could help in learning
English, Yesss because it’s a WAYY better way to
get the kids interested in what they are learning,
people like new ways to learning and could benefit
them in some way, Yes, because they can improve
communication skills which are really important in
Most of them answered Somewhat (43,3%), learning a language, Yes because of the different
followed by the Substantially (30%) (Figure 18). phrases where we can learn how exactly and when
we should use them, I think games would be a good
Q25. If you believe that playing computer tool to use in English class, because that is some-
games facilitates learning English, please describe thing innovative and different, that would keep the
what kind of skills you believe the players learn or student entertained for a longer period of time re-
improve. Some of the answers given: sulting in increased interest in learning English and
better results. It could also have drawbacks, but
Writing, speaking, reading, listening, words, they can be avoided by limited usage of games in
communication and listening, spoken English and class, they could be useful in terms of having one
new words, idioms and slang, idioms, phrases and class where we play games and then write and dis-
communication skills mostly, pronunciation of less- cuss phrases and words and grammar used in that
er known words and phrases which benefits us in game, well they would, as long as they where edu-
the terms of speaking and vocabulary lessons, cation based and had a use in education, Yes. The
communication, learning vocabulary and easier kids learn better when they have fun.
sentencing, depends on the game, some games
encourage speaking while other encourage writ- Q28. If possible give one example of how an
ing, they improve reading, vocabulary and in some online computer game can be used in a classroom,
cases listening and understanding, mostly writing, and describe its benefits in terms of vocabulary,
reading and English vocabulary. grammar, communication, pronunciation, etc.

Q26. Related to motivation: They really gave some interesting and good
suggestions:

Some games improve knowledge on cer-

tain words, for example cooking games could be
played in class and could also help in developing
vocabulary connected to the topic. The same goes
for variety of other topics, such as pets, health, mu-
sic, geography, science and computers and many
more. Also, many games require a lot of listening
(to instructions for example) and reading, which
improves those abilities and also keeps students

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The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary In High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

entertained for much longer. Whilst listening to the cordance with the findings of González-González
way the words are pronounced in a game, students and Blanco-Izquierdo (2012), Thorne et al., (2009),
would improve pronunciation, because otherwise Reinders and Wattana (2011), Chen and Johnson
they don’t have many ways of listening to English (2004, as cited in Rudis & Poštić, 2018; Yip and Kwan
speaking. Example: A character in a game said a (2006), da Silva (2014), Rankin et al. (2006), Theo-
random sentence and now the students have to dorsen (2015), Uuskoski (2011).
translate it and analyze it (which tense it is). There
are games for everything. So, for example kids could When asked whether or not online games
learn food words if they played cooking games. Myb should be included in the teaching process, as a
some multiplayer games like cs1.6 where kids from tool for learning new vocabulary and practicing
class will talk with each other on speakers specifi- speaking skills students mainly answered that they
cally in English. would love that because games are fun, interesting,
motivating, and that would be something new and
In the 4th part they were asked to decide innovative and as such they would create a positive
whether or not online games benefited them at atmosphere and increase interest in learning a lan-
school and outside school, and if they though on- guage. All of the findings were consistent with the
line games should be used at school to help them findings of Rankin et al. (2006), Suh et al. (2010), Kim
learn the language. Interesting to notice that 45,3% et al. (2013), Warschauer and Healey (1998, as cited
said somewhat, followed by a lot (23,4%) regard- in Sørensen & Meyer, 2007), Connolly et al. (2012),
ing school; and 53,2% also said somewhat outside Nagle et al. (2014).
school. Then in Q.23 they provided a long list of ex-
amples where and how they benefited by playing One thing that was very interesting, and
online games in the real life situations. Regarding which was contrary to expectations is that when
motivation 53,4% said that they learn English in asked about their proficiency in English language
order to be able to play games better; and they and were given the options of the skills (Q1.), accord-
agreed that using online games in the classroom ing to results the most proficient skill was listening
would be useful and motivating; and gave some then reading, speaking was on the third place. Yet,
very interesting examples how to use online games later in the results we can see that games mostly
in class. have effect on vocabulary and speaking.

Discussion Limitations

The main aim of this research paper was There are some limitations regarding this
to try to determine whether or not playing online study. The first limitation is that this study should be
games helps students improve their vocabulary. done with more participants from different schools
both primary and secondary, so the sample might
From the answers given by the participants, be too small to generalize.
it is obvious that online games have a consider-
able influence on language learning due to the fact The second limitation is that the study was
that most of them are highly motivated to learn done only with the students as participants, from
new words in order to improve their performance their point of view. In some further studies teachers’
in the game. What is clear from this research is that perspective might as well be included, which would
online games present a great resource for learn- give a better insight, and some pretest and posttest
ing and expanding vocabulary, not just words, but of specific vocabulary should be given.
expressions, phrases, slang; because majority of
participants said that every game they play pro- Conclusion
vide a huge amount of new words. The other very
To conclude, it is obvious that there is a con-
important finding of the questionnaire was the ef-
nection between playing online games and acquir-
fect online games have on communication skills;
ing new vocabulary. Proper understanding of the
they help people with speaking skills, since most of
words is very important for the game and the play-
them play multiplayer games with both non-native
ers in order to achieve the objectives and win. The
and native speakers of English language. Also, most
better understanding the better result, so players
of them said that the vocabulary they learnt in the
are highly motivated to start learning new words
game helped them a lot outside it as well, in the real
and phrases in order to make progress, and pass a
life situations. All of the above findings were in ac-
level. It also proves that playing online games can

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Adela Mašić and Aida Tarabar

contribute to improvement of language acquisition Reinders, H. and Wattana, S., 2011. Learn
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E-ISSN: 2744-2373

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

The Birth of a Nation: Views on The

Emergence of National Identities in
European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić
Srednjoškolski centar Hadžići, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melisa Zukić, Srednjoškolski centar
Hadžići, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. E-mail: zukici@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT
The emergence of a nation can be understood through the prism of modernist or traditionalist
ideas but both ideas agree on the fact that the struggle for territory and influence, the development
of the state through the bureaucracy and the collective experience of the community are
fundamental conditions for the emergence of a nation and national identity. National identity
creates an atmosphere and space in which members of the nation exist, providing the possibility
of socialization and cooperation between different strata of society that accept common values
and traditions, which has enabled a uniform collective self-definition. The theoretical starting
MAP Education points for understanding the origin of the nation inevitably touch on the French theoretical aspect
and Humanities for which the state is a community of people in a certain area, the homeland is represented by a
repository of historical memories, and the patria by a community of laws and institutions of unified
Volume 1 / Issue 1
political will. From the German theoretical aspect, the emphasis is on the nation as a community
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors. of birth and gender culture. The people are understood as a superfamily of common ancestors,
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary languages, customs and religions. In addition to the above theories, the theory of the historical will
Academic Publishing. to live together is unavoidable, which emphasizes the common historical destiny of people living
Article Submitted: 27 June 2021
in one country, thus creating a common identity that has a transcendent meaning. In addition to
Article Accepted: 16 July 2021 the above, the nation can be understood as a judicial-administrative product with a collective
Article Published: 20 August 2021 foundation in the state within which sovereignty arises. The cultural background of the creation of
the nation and national identities, in its essence, opposes the modern desacralization of the world.
Although Western nationalism offered an integrative force for the creation of larger states that
no other ideology could provide until then, it led to bloody conflicts and violence in the transition
from agrarian to industrial societies. The crises produced by nationalism have been overcome by
secularized ideas, values, myths and symbols from the Judeo-Christian tradition, which is easiest
to reach in Western European societies in times of crisis. Nation-states in the Muslim world did not
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with appear until the 20th century. After the decisive secularization, nation-states became a political
regard to jurisdictional claims in published framework in Muslim societies as well. Nationality in its loyalty to the nation was opposed to the
maps and institutional affiliations.
hitherto generally accepted loyalty to the ummah. In order to alleviate the tension in this regard, the
starting point for the development of nations in Muslim societies is the secularization of traditional
values. Religious feeling remains at the root of nationalism in Muslim societies, so loyalty to a
nation implicitly means religious loyalty as well. Nevertheless, modern processes of globalization
transcend nation and national identities as sources of interethnic conflicts. The foundations are
being laid for a global pacification culture that encourages self-definition of local cultural identities
and a new way of emphasizing people’s sovereignty. As modernization failed in the expectation of
weakening national consciousness, national identities and nationalist movements strengthened at
the end of the 20th century. The nation once again has the potential to offer solutions to problems
that have emerged in a globalizing world in which a sense of continuity of a common past has
been disrupted, as important determinants of identity.

Keywords: nation, national identity, nationalism, ummah, globalisation

https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.38
and Humanities
MAP Education
Volume 1 / Issue 1

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access Article

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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 Education and Humanities
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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

Introduction a certain measure of personal immortality through

faith in a historical and destined community. It is
With the development of industry, capi- a European response to the modern challenges of
talism and modern democracy, ideas about the uprooting and disillusionment in the world. Com-
nation appeared, which even then were tradition- munities that have been realized through religion
ally considered ethnic features present since the in the previous period, strive to survive in the na-
collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The mod- tion. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th centu-
ernist aspect of the creation of national identities ry, the nation became a powerful legitimation idea
finds its expression in movements, ideas and doc- in Europe, and later in the world. The emergence
trines aimed at cultural determination of politics, of nationalisms in the transition from an agrarian
self-emancipation of individuals and national sov- to an industrial society when political and cultural
ereignty, while the traditionalist aspect of nation- boundaries changed, led to bloody conflicts and vi-
al identities derives from ethnic cultures and / or olence. Western nationalism appears in the period
communities. etc., turn into nations. Both under- of the disappearance of smaller and the creation of
standings of nation-building and national identity modern nation-states. This process drew from na-
agree that the struggle for territory and influence, tionalism an integrative force that no other ideolo-
the development of the state through the bureau- gy could provide until then.
cratic apparatus and the collective experience of
the community (historical memory, myths, sym- For this purpose, nationalism had a certain
bols) are fundamental conditions for the emer- number of secularized ideas, values, meanings,
gence of national identity with industrialization and myths and symbols from the Judeo-Christian tra-
democracy. Externally, national identity provides dition, which is the easiest to reach in Western Eu-
social, economic and political space for the exis- ropean societies in times of crisis.
tence of members of the nation, while internally it
ensures the socialization of individuals as citizens of The attitude of Muslim nations towards the
the nation, implying cooperation of different social nation-state as a modern creation is marked by
strata and acceptance of common values ​​and tra- the understanding of the ummah as a commu-
ditions equal to collective self-definition. Through nity, starting from the understanding of the world
the literature, we encounter three basic theoretical community of Muslims to particular communities.
views on the origin and content of a nation as well Therefore, belonging to the ummah does not sup-
as elements of national identity. According to the press other identities. which basically took piety as
French theory, states are communities of people a key factor in valuation. The multiethnic charac-
in a certain area, the homeland is a repository of ter of Muslim states shows that the basic classifi-
historical memories, and the patria is a community cation of the population was based on religion and
of laws and institutions of unified political will, with the institutions were always organized on a territo-
legal equality among citizens. In German theory, rial rather than an ethnic basis. Nation-states in the
the key element of the formation of a nation is the Muslim world emerged only in the 20th century af-
community of birth and gender culture, the people ter the overthrow of the multiethnic Ottoman state,
as the “superfamily” of ancestors, language, cus- to eventually become a historical fact and political
toms and religion. The theory of the historical will to framework for Muslims. The idea of ​​nationality as
live together relies on the common historical des- loyalty to the nation in Muslim states generated a
tinies of people living in one country, thus creating dilemma of loyalty to the ummah or nation-state. It
a common identity that has no racial significance. is for this reason that the secularization of tradition-
A nation is an abstraction made up of a common al values ​​is the starting point for the development
heritage from the past and a present will to live to- of nations in Muslim societies. Since the concept of
gether. At the same time, the nation can be reduced religiosity is close to the concept of national unity,
to a mere judicial-administrative product with a religious feelings remain at the root of nationalism.
collective foundation in the state within which sov-
ereignty arises. In this sense, we represent the na- Contemporary philosophical, socio-polit-
tion in a constant process of integration of modern ical and economic studies deal with the issue of
society through politics. The emergence of the na- contemporary domination of nations and thus the
tion indicates perspectives on the civic develop- possibility of interethnic conflicts, representing the
ment process, when civic interest is produced by beginning of world or global culture as a pacifi-
the nation. In a cultural sense, the nation opposes cation factor that would enable the development
the modern desacralization of the world, providing of individual identities. Global culture encourages

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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

self-definition of local cultural identities and a new dance with the above, we encounter three basic
emphasis on popular sovereignty. Although mod- views on the origin and content of the nation and
ernization was expected to weaken national con- the elements of national identity: the French the-
sciousness, we are witnessing a world in which the ory implies states as communities of people in a
strength of national identity and nationalist move- certain area, homeland as a repository of historical
ments is growing at the end of the twentieth centu- memories and patriots as a community of laws and
ry. As globalization disrupts the sense of continuity institutions with a single political will, with a sense
of a common past and the memory that are im- of legal equality among citizens as members of
portant determinants of identity, a nation that of- the community, guaranteeing civil and legal first,
fers solutions is once again becoming an appeal- political rights and duties, economic rights, public
ing identity pattern. education system, etc. It represents an important
basis of interstate relations in the international sys-
The emergence of the nation/s tem, so in that sense the origin of the nation would
in European societies be determined by the “state legitimacy of the peo-
ple’s structure affirmed in the community of polit-
The process of nation-building through lit- ical and legal character” (translation: the author)
erature can be viewed from a modernist or tradi- (Baraković, 2008: 92) based on the declaration of
tionalist perspective. Modernists link the emergence human and civil rights. document which is 26.8. In
of the nation with the development of industrialism, 1789, during the French Revolution, it was adopted
capitalism and modern democracy, while tradi- by the French National Constituent Assembly as
tionalists believe that ethnic features are the core the forerunner of the first French Constitution. By
of the nation whose development can be traced thus establishing universal human and civil rights,
back to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, it establishes at the same time the doctrine of peo-
ie. of the early Middle Ages. The former consider ple’s sovereignty and equal opportunities. Article 1:
nations to be the product of some of the various People are born and live freely and equal in rights.
social actors within modernity (kings, bourgeoisie Social differences can only exist as general values.
and parts of the aristocracy, or merchants, bankers, Article 3: The principles of every sovereignty are
industrialists…), while the latter consider that there found only in the People / Nation. No one, no person
is a certain historical continuity between premod- can exercise authority that does not come from the
ern ethnic communities and nations. modern state People / Nation. “By using and applying appropriate
apparatus and its associated cultural and educa- methods of delimitation and dismissal with the rul-
tional drive. It follows that for modernists the cre- ing feudal aristocracy, the French bourgeois revo-
ator of national identity is nationalism, expressed lution could, by practical political measures, create
in movements, ideas and doctrines aimed at cul- the conditions for the emergence of civil order and
tural determination of politics, self-emancipation the development of the nation as historical facts. In
of individuals and national sovereignty, while tra- addition to establishing the civic historical-cultural
ditionalists prefer national identity as an extension and the broadest political existence of the French
of previously conceived ethnic cultures and / or nation, in the key heterogeneity it suppressed or
communities. they are transformed into nations in established the domination of the feudal epoch by
various ways, through religion, customs, language, the civil order. “ (Baraković, 2009: 124).
etc. In essence, both definitions of the nation agree
that the struggle for territory and influence (wars), The German theory as a key element of the
i.e. the development of the state (bureaucratic ap- formation of a nation, it implies: “community of birth
paratus, army) and the collective experience of the and native culture”, people as a “superfamily” of
community (historical memory, myths, symbols), ancestors, language, customs and religion. Howev-
are the basic conditions for national identity. with er, as the leading authority in the field concludes,
industrialization and democracy. On the outside, “Every nationalism, in fact, contains civic and ethnic
national identity has the task of determining and elements in various degrees and forms” (Smith ac-
providing social, economic and political space in cording to Cvetković, 2002: 54).
which members of the nation exist, and on the in-
side, it is reflected in the process of socialization of In addition to the above, the nation can
individuals as citizens of the nation, implying coop- be understood as a judicial-administrative prod-
eration of opposing social strata and their accep- uct with a collective foundation in the state within
tance of common values ​​and traditions collective which sovereignty arises. Regardless of the multi-
self-definition (Cvetković, 2002: 52-53). In accor- dimensionality of the functions of national identity

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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

and different ways of its origin, the relevant thesis creation, in different periods of its security of the
remains that premodern cultural identities, their people”, enabled the achievement of the place of
separate definitions of past and future, motives, vi- certain peoples in positioning their significance for
sions, desires, ideals, were and remain the basis of the “complete civic order”. In this sense, individual
modern nations. The barbaric successor states of nations have formed historical, social and political
Rome in the West could not in themselves be “na- development through the nation through different
tional” communities. However, they created the first expectations, “and by exercising functions in the or-
conditions for special collective (ethnic) identities der of civic hierarchical coordination, an individual
from which, guided by the interest of certain so- national identity has been built and determined”.
cial strata, ideas and movements, modern nations Therefore, it is safe to say that “civic interest pro-
would later be formed. Theoretically, the “territori- duced the nation!” (Baraković, 2008: 84)
al / civic” as well as the “linguistic / ethnic” mod-
el of a nation share common beliefs about what Given that the nation’s adopted civic in-
separates a particular community from others: a terests significantly mediate the structure of the
land-bound homeland, a common mass culture, people, developing an appropriate civic political
historical myths and memories, accompanied by environment, ideologically reinforcing vitally pre-
mutual legal rights and duties of all members of dictable or fictitious goals, ideas and interests, the
the community within a single legal system, as well nation is a “phenomenon of civil society and civic
as a common division of labor and production sys- interests, literally civic identity superior to the peo-
tem, with mobility throughout the national territo- ple” (Baraković, 2009: 127).
ry (Smith according to Cvetković, 2002: 66). In that
sense, we represent the nation as a constant pro- In cultural terms, the nation represents a
cess of integration of modern society through poli- kind of resistance to the modern desacralization of
tics, and Baraković (2009: 117-118) in that sense refers the world. That is why nations are in a modern, se-
to the nation as a “political, cultural, social and eco- cure wall of self-esteem, behind which is a spirit-
nomic community derived from the interests of civil ed and self-indulgent modern individual. From this
society development tendencies”. Its emergence perspective, it does not matter whether nations last
is determined by the conditions in terms of inter- as imagined, or ontological communities. By origin,
nal dynamics, primarily the forces that constituted their life force is unquestionable, so suffice it to say
it as well as external circumstances covered by the that nations are positioned like a “mother’s wing”,
influence of civic effective political entities, to make representing a shelter that protects from the daily
the formation of national identity dependent on struggle for survival in the market of goods, people
their interests. The nation, therefore, is not a social, and capital (Cvetković, 2002: 54).
political or broadest cultural product created with
The emerging national identities today
the intention to remove the limitations and weight
most fully meet the transgenerational existential
of subordination characteristic of the constitution
needs that modernity shares with its predecessors:
of an ethnic community, nor is such a product in-
“Overcoming oblivion through posterity, establish-
tended to place the individuality of the individual in
ing collective dignity by invoking the golden age,
the broadest level of connection with the commu-
realizing brotherhood through symbols, rituals and
nity. relationships and identification! On the basis of
ceremonies that connect living members to the
the suitability of civic development, the nation over-
dead and fallen”. The nation, therefore, provides a
came the political and economic form of the order
certain measure of personal immortality through
of feudalism, the grown and formed structure of the
faith in the “historical and destiny community”, and
ethnic community. The nation did not eliminate or
thus creates a new confidence in a certain order
resolve the suppression of individuality retained by
and meaning of individual and collective existence
the existing way of feudalism, but by different rela-
(Cvetković, 2002: 55). In any case, the emergence of
tions, means and mechanisms perfected the forms
nations represents, initially, an exclusively Europe-
of economic and political activity that mediated
an response to the world’s own modern challenges
and expressed the social and individual relations.
of “eradication” and “disillusionment”. Namely, the
The emergence of the nation is a part of “opening
processes of modernization, the industrialization
perspective to the civic development process, i. e.
of society and the secularization of the world of life
it has created and provided conditions for exten-
through science and technology, annulled the old
sive historical and developmental tendencies”. The
ties between people and the community. Replac-
nation, as a “historical, cultural-political and social
ing the previous religious and dynastic principles of

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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

social cohesion, the nation in Europe emerged as evaluation. Nationalist consciousness, through the
the basic principle of political legitimacy, changing collective subconscious, absolutely elevates the
religion and dynasty presented itself as a binder of nation, and the dimension of irrationality assumed
political life within a separate community, so Bara- by it provides the subconscious with relevant con-
ković (2009: 121) describes the nation as “political tent, in the subconscious it has its raison d`être. Re-
form through which manifests civic legitimacy and alizing in civil relations the real implications of ir-
the individuality of the individual determined by it. rationality, it occupies a share in the standards of
‘A community that was previously realized through civic standards. On the other hand, perceiving real
religion should now be maintained through na- differences outside the scale of the national area
tional feeling in life’ (emphasized by Š.B.)». At the or with measures that do not include economic
beginning of the 20th century, the nation became strength and power seems and is treated as some-
«the most powerful legitimating idea of ​​Europe, thing atypical.
and later of the whole world” (Šulce, according to
Cvetković, 2002: 56). Nationalism appears in a period of “turbu-
lent rearrangements” in the transition from agrar-
Nationalism, an irresistible identity myth ian societies, prone to nationalism or cultural ho-
mogeneity, to industrial when political and cultural
Nationalisms consider national identity to be boundaries change, leading to bloody conflicts and
a value of the highest degree, a “collective cultural violence (Markešić, 2010: 531).
phenomenon” (Smith, ) that allows for coexistence
with confessional, regional, and traditional identi- In the modern world, “nationalism rep-
ties. Thus, “nationalism requires that one believes resents perhaps the most compelling identity
too strongly in something that is clearly not so” myth” (Smith, 1998: 7 according to Markešić, 2010:
(Hobsbawm, 1993: 14 according to Markešić, 2010: 531), which we find in various forms. However, We-
533), making the national homeland sacrosanct - hler believes that the so-called “Western national-
most sacred, inviolable, unquestionable (Wehler, ism”, established even before the emergence of in-
2005: 46 according to Markešić, (2010: 533). Thus, dustrial societies, in a period of revolutionary crises,
Smith states that the notion of “national identity” in- which occurred in the processes of modernization.
cludes a sense of political community that implies In those times of the disappearance of smaller and
“at least some common institutions and a code of the creation of “united” modern nation-states, na-
rights and duties for all members of the commu- tionalism offered an integrative force that no other
nity”, which also refers to a certain social space, a ideology could provide until then. He offered a new
fairly well-defined and limited territory. with which basis of legitimacy, while replacing old notions of
its members identify and to whom they consider the world with his own, thus “integrating and legiti-
themselves to belong (Markešić, 2010: 533). Import- mizing a sovereign nation-state” and accelerating
ant features of national identity are extracted from “nation-building with the goal of complete homo-
this: geneity and indisputable national identity” (Wehler,
2005, 30, 33 according to Markešić , 2010: 531). In ad-
1) historical territory, i. e. homeland, dition, nationalism had to have a certain amount of
ideas, values, meanings, myths and symbols, which
2) common myths and historical memories, it used generously. According to Wehler, the Ju-
deo-Christian tradition defines Western European
3) common mass, public culture,
societies, and in times of crisis it is easiest to reach
4) common legal rights and duties of all mem- for its repository of symbols. Wehler presents four
bers of the nation, Old Testament ideas that nationalism managed to
secularize and implant in domestic traditions, both
5) common economy, with territorial mobility in Western European societies and in Bosnian-Her-
of members of the nation (Smith, 1998, 29- zegovinian society.
30 according to Markešić, 2010: 533).
It is done through:
In that sense, comparing nation and nation-
alism, Baraković (2009: 138) points out that a nation • an adapted image of the “chosen people”,
is a civic functionalization of unity; unlike national-
• “promised”, “holy land”,
ism, civic national consciousness does not rise to
an absolute requirement, an absolute goal, and an

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Melisa Zukić

• the deadly hostility of opponents who The emergence of the nation

could prevent the “chosen people” from entering in Muslim societies
the promised land,
Given that the world religions, and thus Is-
• the historical mission that the “chosen lam took its place many centuries earlier than the
people”, or its leader, should fulfill “on the sacred nation, the attitude of Muslims towards the nation
ground of the future nation-state” (Wehler, 2005: as a modern creation is marked by a specific un-
34-35 according to Markešić, 2010: 531). derstanding of the ummah (Abazović, 2006: 42).
The term Ummah in the general sense represents
To consider oneself a chosen people, in We- community, and is also related to the term umm -
hler’s opinion, implies: mother. Although used in the pre-Islamic period, the
Qur’an consistently defines the nature of the con-
• Instead of an alliance of Yahweh and Isra- cept of the ummah within the Meccan verses, while
el, an alliance of “Providence”, “World Spirit”, “Histo- for us a particularly significant historical role of the
ry” and the nation in question is established; Muhammad’s ummah is explained in the Medina
verses. Terminological explanations begin with the
• This establishes a distance towards others
term Muslim in a historical and missionary context,
and the different by creating internal homogeneity
defining the physical identity of Muslims by turning
and strengthening external borders towards “sworn
to the Kaaba and the practice of Hajj (Al-Ahsan,
enemies”;
2004: 25-27).
• A myth of origin is created, stabilizing the
The universality of the message of Islam
ethnic community and the people’s brotherhood by
addressed to people of all races and languages​​
making members brothers and sisters (Markešić,
creates a world community of Muslims, that is. um-
2010: 532). The land thus promised becomes the
met. Belonging to the ummah, according to Karčić
Homeland, and nationalism determines the exact
(2012), does not suppress other identities, which
boundaries of the land of the ancestors, soaked in
as a fact reflect the diversity and richness of God’s
the blood of the ancestors, as the places where the
creatures, and “piety” plays a crucial role in valuing
folk culture and language developed. The delineat-
them. The historical perspective indicates the mul-
ed boundaries of the promised land that should be
tiethnic character of Muslim states - from Medina
inherited by the chosen people must never be for-
to the Ottoman Empire, for which the main criteri-
gotten. And only a person of messianic qualities will
on for classifying the population was religious, ie. to
be able to do that. Messianism thus offered escha-
Muslims and Ahl-Z-Zima as protected members of
tological hope for imminent deliverance from “slav-
published religions and Islamic institutions have al-
ery” and entry into the “new Jerusalem” (Markešić,
ways been organized on a territorial principle and
2010: 532).
not on an ethnic one (Karčić, 2012). Nation-states
Of particular significance for the establish- in the Muslim world emerged only in the 20th cen-
ment of nationalism is the proclamation of univer- tury after the overthrow of the multiethnic Ottoman
sal brotherhood, which is especially emphasized state, to eventually become a historical fact and
in the religious scriptures. Due to the possibility of political framework for Muslims.
serving the symbolic reserves of religion and at the
Initially, the European idea of ​​nationality
same time consecrating religious traditions, na-
as loyalty to the nation, opposed the concept of
tionalism is closest to religion, because it promises
the ummah until the beginning of the 20th centu-
to overcome uncertainty, interprets the meaning
ry, when the emergence of Muslim nation-states,
of existence, offers justification for suffering, warns
the dilemma of primary loyalty: “ummah or na-
of norms and values, offers group integration from
tion-state” (Al-Ahsan, 2004: 45). Therefore, the de-
within, encouraging community members to par-
velopment of nations in Muslim countries goes first
ticipate in rituals. would reinforce a sense of group
by the secularization of traditional values, which,
belonging and gain a sense of difference from oth-
unlike nations in the European environment, still
ers. Religion emphasizes the meaning of transcen-
had religious weight. As Hans Kohn writes accord-
dence, suggesting the cost-effectiveness of sacri-
ing to Al-Ahsan (2004: 47), about the development
fice for the nation (Wehler, 2005: 40 according to
of national identity in Muslim countries: “... National
Markešić, 2010: 532).
symbols have gained religious authority and sa-
cred inviolability. The truth that people will defend

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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

with their lives is no longer just religious, sometimes alization of the logic of capital values, provoking a
not religious at all, but rather national, in order to new self-definition of local cultural identities and a
become in fact a “Muslim nationality,” as Smith ob- new emphasis on popular sovereignty. At the same
serves according to al-Ahsan (2004: 48). Rosenthal time, globalization is based on the thesis of a world
explains the consequences of this: “We are witness- state, an unfulfilled desire of both utopians and ty-
ing today how vulnerable Islam is gradually giving rants, embracing and uniting all humanity, finds its
way to secular nationality ... The classical concept place as a regulatory idea for the practice of inter-
of religious and political Islam has now been jeop- national relations (Cvetković, 2002: 57).
ardized by the idea of ​​the French Revolution, the
separation of religion and politics” (Al-Ahsan, 2004: Contrary to Weber’s expectation that with
93). The concept of confession is close to the con- the development of the modernization process
cept of national unity, because as Anderson states there will be a weakening of national conscious-
according to Majić (2012: 156), the absence of “sa- ness, we are witnessing the fact that the strength
cred languages” does not necessarily abolish reli- of national identity and nationalist movements is
gious feeling, but it remains the basis of national- growing at the end of the twentieth century (Gol-
ism. This successfully explains the attitude towards ubović, 1999). Globalization challenges the sense of
language, and the rule of not translating the Qur’an continuity, erasing the common past and memory
into other languages, because “the essence of Is- as important determinants of identity. As the nation
lam is in Arabization, in drawing the people into one offers solutions, it becomes an attractive pattern of
world community of languages ​​and government. identity emerging as a personified collectivity op-
(...) Islam does not construct nations, but decon- posed to the helplessness and depersonalization of
structs them” (Hastings, 2003: 175-176). individuals. In such circumstances, ethnic / national
characteristics become historically relevant again.
Hastings (2003) also points out that the It can be concluded that ethnic / national mobiliza-
emergence of a nation located in the age of medi- tion is reviving today as a result of:
eval society when ethnicities grow into nations is a
characteristic of Christian things, which, if they ap- • reactions to modernization leading to an
peared elsewhere, occurred as part of the process identity crisis;
of Westernization and imitation of Christendom. • severing ties with the primary group in mod-
ern society, leading to loneliness and loss
National identity and globalization due to the severance of ties between indi-
viduals and society;
The possibility of “overcoming the nation”, • feelings of vulnerability and the need to pro-
and thus interethnic conflicts, is the subject of con- tect the group mentality;
temporary philosophical, socio-political and eco- • confusion due to plurality of values.
nomic studies. They are characterized by a tenden-
cy towards “world peace” or “global order” deprived According to Golubović (1999: 83), Claus Offe
of the main generator of modern wars of the na- points out that the renewal of national identities in
tion, where current trends of globalization repre- Eastern Europe in particular comes from the loss of
sent the beginning of world or “global culture” as a sense of belonging to a discredited state by ad-
a pacification factor that would allow unhindered dressing the nation as a “reference point for identi-
development of individual identities. Since global- fication and loyalty” (translated by the author of the
ization finds its basic purpose in the domain of eco- current paper). Modern states are mostly multina-
nomics and the logic of “free movement of goods, tional, and the state does not match the nation. It is
people and capital”, it also serves the appropriate assumed that the importance of national identity
ideological design of the constant human need for will grow in the XXI century, as the fundamental is-
domination and exploitation, as well as the pursuit sues that cause the process of modernization and
of global culture capable of it neutralizes and re- globalization have not been resolved:
moves particular ethnic and national cultural iden-
tities through the mass media. At the same time, • the opposite of globalizing processes and
however, the superficiality of cosmopolitan culture the particular independence of the people,
is overlooked, freed from historical memory, feelings
and (self) respect, and primarily directed towards • the existence of tensions between person-
self-irony and consumption. As timeless and uni- al and collective identities,
versal, global culture represents a technical gener-

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The Birth of a Nation: Views on The Emergence of National Identities in European and Muslim Societies
Melisa Zukić

• expanding the transnational space in appear until the 20th century after the overthrow
which a clear pattern of group identity is lost, of the multiethnic Ottoman state, only to become a
political framework for Muslim states with the pro-
• the growing plurality of confusing identity cess of secularization. The nationality that expects
patterns, undoubted allegiance to the nation was opposed
to the understanding of the ummah of the previ-
• mixing cultures, ous period. Precisely for this reason, the secular-
ization of traditional values ​​is the starting point for
• tendency towards assimilation of nation-
the development of nations in Muslim societies, un-
alities in the representation of the global village.
derstanding that religiosity as a concept is close to
Conclusion national unity. Religious feeling remains at the root
of nationalism in Muslim societies. The issue of con-
Whether it is a modernist or traditional- temporary domination of nations and interethnic
ist understanding of nation-building and national conflicts lays the foundations for a global pacifica-
identity, they both agree on the fact that the strug- tion culture that encourages self-definition of local
gle for territory and influence, the development of cultural identities and a new emphasis on national
the state through the bureaucracy and the collec- sovereignty. Although modernization was expect-
tive experience of the community are fundamen- ed to weaken national consciousness, at the end of
tal conditions for national identity with industrial- the 20th century the strength of national identities
ization and democracy. In addition to the fact that and nationalist movements grew stronger as glo-
national identity provides space for the existence balization undermined the sense of continuity of a
of members of the nation, it also ensures the so- common past that are important determinants of
cialization and cooperation of different strata of identity.
society through the acceptance of common values​​
and traditions unified by collective self-definition. References
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https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.38 Page 46
 mapub.org/mapeh

Education and Humanities Volume 1 / Issue 1

MAP Education and Humanities (MAPEH) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal published
by MAP - Multidisciplinary Academic Publishing, focusing on empirical and theoretical research in all fields of education and
humanities.

E-ISSN: 2744-2373

IZVORNI NAUČNI RAD

RADANJE NACIJE:
POGLEDI NA POJAVU NACIONALNIH
IDENTITETA U EVROPSKIM I MUSLIMANSKIM
DRUŠTVIMA
Melisa Zukić
Srednjoškolski centar Hadžići, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina

Svu korespondenciju vezano za ovaj članak uputiti na Melisu Zukić, Srednjoškolski centar Hadžići,
Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina. E-mail: zukici@hotmail.com

SAŽETAK
Nastajanje nacije možemo razumijevati kroz prizmu modernstičkih ili tradicionalističkih ideja ali
obje ideje se slažu oko činjenice da su borba oko teritorija i uticaja, razvoj države kroz birokratski
aparat i kolektivno iskustvo zajednice temeljni uslovi nastanka nacije i nacionalnog identiteta uz
industrijalizaciju i demokratiju. Nacionalni identitet kreira atmosferu i prostor u kojem egzistiraju
pripadnici nacije, obezbjeđujući mogućnost socijalizacije i saradnju između različitih slojeva
društva koji prihvataju zajedničke vrijednosti i tradiciju što je omogućilo ujednačeno kolektivno
samodefinisanje. Teorijska polazišta razumijevanja nastanka nacije nezaobilazno se dotiču
MAP Education francuskog teorijskog aspekta za kojeg je država zajednica ljudi na određenom prostoru,
and Humanities domovina je predstavljena skladištem historijskih sjećanja, a patria zajednicom zakona i institucija
jedinstvene političke volje, koja osigurava pravnu jednakosti među građanima. Sa njemačkog
Volume 1 / Issue 1
teorijskog aspekta naglasak je na naciji kao zajednici rođenja i rodne kulture. Narod se razumijeva
ISSN: 2744-2373/ © 2021 The Authors. kao nadporodica zajedničkih predaka, jezika, običaja i vjere. Pored navedenih teorija, nezaobilazna
Published by MAP - Multidisciplinary je i teorija o historijskoj volji za zajedničkim životom koja naglašava zajedničku povijesnu sudbinu
Academic Publishing. ljudi koji žive u jednoj zemlji, stvarajući tako zajednički identitet koji ima nadrasno značenje.
Article Submitted: 27 June 2021
Pored navedenog, naciju možemo razumjeti kao sudsko -administrativni produkt sa kolektivnim
Article Accepted: 16 July 2021 temeljem u državi u okviru koje se javlja suverenitet. Kulturna pozadina kreiranja nacije i nacionalnih
Article Published: 20 August 2021 identiteta u svojoj suštini se suprotstavlja novovijekovnoj desakralizaciji svijeta. Iako je zapadni
nacionalizam ponudio integracijsku snagu za kreiranje većih država koju do tada nije mogla pružiti
ni jedna druga ideologija, on je na prijelazu iz agrarnih društava u industrijska vodio krvavim
sukobima i nasilju. Krize koje je nacionalizam proizvodio prevladane su sekulariziranim idejama,
vrijednostima, mitovima i simbolimaa iz judeo-kršćanske tradicije za kojim je u kriznim vremenima
zapadnoeuropskim društvima najlakše posegnuti. Nacionalne države u muslimanskom svijetu se
pojavljuju tek u 20. vijeku. Nakon odlučne sekularizacije nacionalne države postaju politički okvir i
Publisher’s Note: MAP stays neutral with u muslimanskim društvima. Nacionalnost u svojoj odanosti naciji se suprostavilase dotada opšte
regard to jurisdictional claims in published prihvaćenoj odanosti ummetu. Da bi se ublažila napetost u tom pogledu početna tačka za razvoj
maps and institutional affiliations.
nacija u muslimanskim društvima je sekularizacija tradicionalnih vrijednosti. Religiozni osjećaj
ostaje u podlozi nacionalizma u muslimanskim društvima, tako da odanost naciji implicitno znači i
religijsku odanost. Ipak, savremeni procesi globalizacije nadilaze naciju i nacionalne identitete kao
izvore međunacionalnih sukoba. Postavljaju se temelji globalnoj pacifikacijskoj kulturi koja potiče
samodefinisanje lokalnih kulturnih identiteta i novi način isticanja narodne suverenosti. S obzirom
da modernizacija nije uspjela u očekivanju da oslabi nacionalnu svijest, krajem 20. vijeka jačaju
nacionalni identiteti i nacionalistički pokreti . Nacija ponovo ima potencijal da ponudi rješenja za
probleme koji su se pojavili u globalizarujećem svijetu u kojem je narušen osjećaj kontinuiteta
zajedničke prošlosti, kao važne odrednice identiteta.

https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2021.1.1.38
Ključne riječi: nacija, nacionalni identitet, nacionalizam, ummet,
globalizacija
and Humanities
MAP Education
Volume 1 / Issue 1

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access Article

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 Education and Humanities
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RADANJE NACIJE: POGLEDI NA POJAVU NACIONALNIH IDENTITETA U EVROPSKIM I MUSLIMANSKIM DRUŠTVIMA

Melisa Zukić

Uvod zajednicu. Ona je evropski odgovor na moderne

izazove iskorijenjenosti i raščaranosti u svijetu.
Razvojem industrije, kapitalizma i moderne Zajednice koja se ostvarile kroz religiju u prethodnom
demokratije pojavljuju se ideje o naciji koje su periodu, nastoje se održati u životu kroz naciju.
se i tada već tradicionalno smatrale etničkim Stoga, početkom XX vijeka nacija postaje moćna
osobenostima prisutnim još od propasti zapadnog legitimacijska ideja u Evropi, a kasnije i u svijetu.
Rimskog Carstva. Modernistički aspekt kreiranja
nacionalnih identiteta svoj izraz nalazi u pokretima, Pojava nacionalizma na prijelazu iz agrarnih
idejama i doktrinama usmjerenim na kulturno društava u industrijska kada se mijenjaju političke
određenje politike, autoemancipaciju pojedinaca i i kulturne granice, vodila je krvavim sukobima
narodnu suverenost, dok za tradicionalistički aspekt i nasilju. Zapadni nacionalizam se pojavljuje u
nacionalni identiteti proizilaze iz etničkih kultura i/ili periodu nestajanja manjih a kreiranja modernih
zajednica, koje se uz pomoć vjere, običaja, jezika i nacionalnih država. Ovaj proces je upravo iz
dr., pretvaraju u nacije. Oba razumijevanja kreiranja nacionalizma crpio integracijsku snagu koju do
nacije i nacionalnog identiteta se slažu na poziciji tada nije mogla pružiti ni jedna druga ideologija.
da borba oko teritorija i uticaja, razvoj države kroz Nacionalizam je u tu svrhu raspolagao određenom
birokratski aparat i kolektivno iskustvo zajednice količinom sekulariziranih ideja, vrijednosti, značenja,
(historijsko pamćenje, mitovi, simboli) predstavljaju mitova i simbola iz judeo-kršćanske tradicije za
temeljne uslove nastanka nacionalnog identiteta kojim je u kriznim vremenima zapadnoeuropskim
uz industrijalizaciju i demokratiju. Nacionalni društvima najlakše posegnuti.
identitet na spoljašnjem planu obezbjeđuje
društveni, ekonomski i politički prostor za Odnos muslimanskih naroda prema naciji
egzistiranje pripadnika nacije dok, na unutrašnjem kao modernoj tvorevini je obilježen razumijevanje
planu osigurava socijalizaciju individuuma za ummeta kao zajednice, počevši od razumijevanja
državljanina nacije, podrazumijevajući pritome svjetske zajednicu muslimana pa do partikularnih
saradnju različitih socijalnih slojeva i prihvatanje zajednica. Stoga, pripadanje ummetu ne potire
zajedničkih vrijednosti i tradicija ujednačenih ostale identitete. koji su u osnovi kao ključni faktor
kolektivnim samodefinisanjem. Kroz literaturu, pri vrednovanju uzimali pobožnost. Multietnički
susrećemo se sa tri osnovna teorijska gledišta karakter muslimanskih država pokazuje da je
o nastanku i sadržaju nacije kao i elementima temeljna klasifikacije stanovništva bila po vjerskoj
nacionalnog identiteta. Za Francusku teoriju osnovi a institucije su se organizovale uvijek na
države su zajednice ljudi na određenom prostoru, teritorijalnom, a ne na etničkom principu. Nacionalne
domovina je skladište historijskih sjećanja, a patria države u muslimanskom svijetu se pojavljuju tek
je zajednica zakona i institucija jedinstvene političke u 20. vijeku nakon rušenja multietničke Osmanske
volje, uz pravnu jednakosti među građanima. U države, da bi vremenom postale historijska
Njemačkoj teoriji ključni element nastanka nacije činjenica i politički okvir muslimana. Ideja o
je zajednica rođenja i rodne kulture, narod kao nacionalnosti kao odanosti naciji u muslimanskim
„nadporodica“ predaka, jezik, običaji i vjera. Teorija državama generirala je dilemu o lojalnosti ummetu
o historijskoj volji za zajedničkim životom se oslanja ili nacionalnoj državi. Upravo iz tog razloga,
na zajedničke povijesne sudbine ljudi koji žive u sekularizacija tradicionalnih vrijednosti je početna
jednoj zemlji, stvarajući tako zajednički identitet koji tačka za razvoj nacija u muslimanskim društvima. S
nema rasno značenje. Nacija je apstrakcija koju čine obzirom da je koncept religioznosti blizak konceptu
zajedničko naslijeđe iz prošlosti i sadašnja volja za nacionalnog zajedništva, religiozni osjećaje ostaje u
zajedničkim životom. Nacija se istovremeno može podlozi nacionalizma.
svesti i na puki sudsko -administrativni produkt sa
kolektivnim temeljem u državi u okviru koje se javlja Savremene filozofske, sociološko-političke i
suverenitet. U tom smislu naciju predstavljamo ekonomske studije se bave pitanjem savremenog
stalnim procesom integracije modernog društva prevladavanja nacija a time i mogućnosti
kroz politiku. Pojavljivanje nacije ukazuje na međunacionalnih sukoba predstavljajući početak
perspektive građanskom razvojnom procesu, kada svjetske ili globalne kulture kao pacifikacijskog
građanski interes producira naciju. U kulturološkom faktora koji bi omogućio razvoj individualnih
smislu, nacija se suprotstavlja novovijekovnoj identiteta. Globalna kultura potiče samodefinisanje
desakralizaciji svijeta, obezbjeđuje izvjesnu mjeru lokalnih kulturnih identiteta i novo isticanje narodne
lične besmrtnosti kroz vjeru u historijsku i sudbinsku suverenosti. Iako se očekivalo da će modernizacija

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Melisa Zukić

oslabiti nacionalnu svijest, svjedočimo svijetu • Francuska teorija podrazumijeva države

u kojem jača snaga nacionalnog identiteta i kao zajednice ljudi na određenom prostoru,
nacionalističkih pokreta krajem XX vijeka. S obzirom domovinu kao skladište historijskih
da globalizacija narušava osjećaj kontinuiteta sjećanja i patriu kao zajednicu zakona i
zajedničke prošlosti i sjećanje koje su važne institucija s jedinstvenom političkom voljom,
odrednice identiteta, nacija koja nudi rješenja, uz osjećanje pravne jednakosti među
ponovo postaje privlačan identitetski obrazac. građanima kao pripadnicima zajednice,
garantujući građanska i zakonska prva,
Nastanak nacije/a u europskim društvima politička prava i dužnosti, ekonomska prava,
javni sistem obrazovanja itd. Predstavlja
Proces nastanka nacije kroz literaturu značajnu osnovu međudržavnih odnosa u
se može posmatrati iz modernističke ili međunarodnom sistemu, pa bi u tom smslu
tradicionalističke perspektive. Modernisti nastanak nastanak nacije bio određen „državnim
nacije vezuju uz razvoj industrijalizma, kapitalizma i legitimitetom osvjedočena narodna
moderne demokratije, dok tradicionalisti, smatraju struktura građanski afirmirana u zajednicu
da se u etničkim osobenostima nalaze jezgra političko-pravnog karaktera“ (Baraković,
nacije čiji se razvoj može pratiti još od propasti 2008:92) koja počiva na deklaraciji o
zapadnog Rimskog Carstva, tj. ranog srednjeg pravima čovjeka i građanina, dokumentu
vijeka. Prvi smatraju da su nacije proizvod nekog kojeg je 26.8. 1789., za vrijeme  francuske
od različitih socijalnih aktera unutar moderne revolucije  usvojila francuska Narodna
(kraljeva, buržoazije i dijelova aristokratije, ili pak ustavotvorna skupština kao preteču prvog
trgovaca, bankara, industrijalaca…), dok drugi francuskog Ustava. Uspostavljajući tako
smatraju da između predmodernih etničkih univerzalna ljudska i građanska prava,
zajednica i nacija postoji određeni historijski postavlja istovremeno doktrinu narodnog
kontinuitet koji se konkretnije modelira pomoću suvereniteta i jednakih mogućnosti. Član
modernog državnog aparata i njemu pripadajućeg 1: Ljudi se rađaju i žive slobodno i jednaki u
kulturno-obrazovnog pogona. Iz navedenog slijedi pravima. Društvene razlike mogu postojati
da je za moderniste tvorac nacionalnog identiteta, samo kao opće vrijednosti. Član 3: Načela
nacionalizam, izražen u pokretima, idejama i svakog suvereniteta nalaze se jedino u
doktrinama usmjerenim na kulturno određenje Narodu/naciji. Niko, nijedna osoba ne može
politike, autoemancipaciju pojedinaca i narodnu vršiti autoritet koji ne proističe iz Naroda/
suverenost, dok tradicionalisti nacionalni identitet nacije. „Koristeći i primjenjujući odgovarajuće
radije vide kao produžetak prethodno začetih metode razgraničenja i razrješavanja sa
etničkih kultura i/ili zajednica, koje se na različite vladajućom feudalnom aristokratijom,
načine, preko vjere, običaja, jezika i dr., pretvaraju Francuska buržoaska revolucija mogla
u nacije. U suštini gledajući, oba određenja nacije, je praktičnim političkim mjerama stvoriti
slažu se u tome da su borba oko teritorija i uticaja uvjete nastanku građanskog poretka i
(ratovi), odnosno razvoj države (birokratski aparat, razvoju nacije kao povijesne činjenice.
vojska) i kolektivno iskustvo zajednice (historijsko Pored postavljanja građanske historijsko-
pamćenje, mitovi, simboli), temeljni uslovi nastanka kulturne i najšire političke egzistencije
nacionalnog identiteta uz industrijalizaciju i francuske nacije, u ključnoj heterogoniji ona
demokratiju. Nacionalni identitet na spoljašnjem je građanskim poretkom potisnula odnosno
planu ima zadatak određivanja i obezbjeđivanja ustanovila prevladavanje feudalne epohe“.
društvenog, ekonomskog i političkog prostora u (Baraković, 2009:124)
kojem pripadnici nacije egzistiraju, a na unutrašnjem
se ogleda u procesu socijalizacije individuuma za • Njemačka teorija kao ključni element
državljanina nacije, podrazumijevajući saradnju nastanka nacije podrazumijeva: „zajednicu
suprotstavljenih socijalnih slojeva i njihovo rođenja i rodne kulture“, narod kao
prihvatanje zajedničkih vrijednosti i tradicija, kroz „nadporodica“ predaka, jezik, običaje i
jedinstveno kolektivno samodefinisanje (Cvetković, vjeru. Ipak, kako zaključuje vodeći autoritet
2002: 52-53). U skladu sa navedenim susrećemo se u toj oblasti, „Svaki nacionalizam, u stvari,
sa tri osnovna gledišta o nastanku i sadržaju nacije sadrži građanske i etničke elemente u
i elemenata nacionalnog identiteta: raznim stepenima i oblicima“ (Smit prema
Cvetković, 2002: 54).

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Melisa Zukić

• Treća teorija temelji se na historijskoj volji ograničenja i težinu potčinjenosti karakterističnu za

za zajedničkim životom. Prema ovom konstituciju etničke zajednice, niti je takav produkt
gledištu, zajedničke povijesne sudbine ljudi opredijeljen u namjeri da individualnost pojedinca
koji žive u jednoj zemlji stvaraju zajednički postavi u najširi nivo povezanosti sa zajednicom,
identitet koji se ne oslanja isključivo na u kontekst neposrednog odnosa i identificiranja!
porijeklo, rasu, jezik i sl... Ernest Renan prema Na bazi prikladnosti građanskog razvitka nacijom
Cvetković, (2002: 66) o tome kaže: “Nacija je prevladan politički i ekonomski oblik poretka
nema rasno značenje, jer sve moderne feudalizma, izrasle i formirane strukture etničke
nacije su mješovitog porijekla. Prošlost je zajednice. Nacijom nije otklanjana ili razrješavana
pokazala kako su se granice između nacija suspregnutost individualnosti zadržana zatečenim
stalno mijenjale. Nacija je jedno apstraktno, načinom djelatnosti feudalizma, nego su drugačijim
duhovno načelo. To je duh kojeg čine bogato odnosima, sredstvima i mehanizmima usavršavani
zajedničko naslijeđe iz prošlosti i sadašnja oblici ekonomske i političke djelatnosti kojima su
volja i obaveznost na zajednički život.”. se posredovali i dolazili do izražaja društveni i sami
odnosi pojedinaca“.
Uz navedeno, nacija se može shvatiti i kao
sudsko -administrativni produkt sa kolektivnim Pojavljivanje nacije predstavlja dio
temeljem u državi u okviru koje se javlja „otvaranja perspektive građanskom razvojnom
suverenitet. Nezavisno od višedimenzionalnosti procesu, tj. ona je stvorila i omogućila uvjete
funkcija nacionalnog identiteta i različitih načina prostranim povijesno-razvojnim tendencijama“.
njegovog nastanka ostaje relevantna teza po Nacija, kao „historijska, kulturno-politička i
kojoj su predmoderni kulturni identiteti, njihova društvena tvorevina, u različitim periodima svog
zasebna određenja prošlosti i budućnosti, motivi, osiguravanja naroda“, omogućavala je postizanje
vizije, želje, ideali…, bili i ostali podloga modernim mjesta određenih naroda u pozicioniranju njihovog
nacijama. Varvarske države-nasljednice Rima na značenja za „cjelovit građanski poredak“. U tom
Zapadu same po sebi nisu mogle biti „nacionalne“ smislu su pojedini narodi historijski, društveni i
zajednice. Međutim, one su stvarale prve uslove za politički razvitak putem nacije formirali kroz različita
posebne kolektivne (etničke) identitete iz kojih će očekivanja, „a ostvarivanjem funkcija u poretku
se kasnije, vođene interesom pojedinih socijalnih građanske hijerarhijske koordinacije izgrađivan je i
slojeva, ideja i pokreta, formirati moderne nacije. određivan pojedinačni nacionalni identitet“. Stoga
Teorijski gledajući, „teritorijalni/građanski“, kao se slobodno može reći da je „građanski interes
i „jezički/etnički“ model nacije dijele zajednička producirao naciju!“ (Baraković, 2008:84)
vjerovanja o tome šta konkretnu zajednicu dijeli
od drugih: riječ je o zemljišno omeđenoj domovini, S obzirom da nacijom adoptirani građanski
zajedničkoj masovnoj kulturi, historijskim mitovima interesi bitno posreduju strukturom naroda,
i sjećanjima, uz koja idu uzajamna zakonska razvijajući odgovarajući građanski politički
prava i dužnosti svih članova zajednice u okviru ambijent, ideološki učvršćuju vitalno predvidljivi
jedinstvenog pravnog sistema, kao i zajednička ili fiktivni ciljevi, ideje i interesi, nacija predstavlja
podjela rada i sistem prozivodnje, uz mobilnost po „fenomen građanskog društva i građanskih
cijeloj nacionalnoj teritoriji (Smit prema Cvetković, interesa, u doslovnom smislu građanski identitet
2002: 66). U tom smislu naciju predstavljamo nadređen narodu“ (Baraković, 2009: 127).
stalnim procesom integracije modernog društva
kroz politiku, a Baraković (2009:117-118) u tom U kulturološkom smislu, nacija predstavlja
smislu upućuje na naciju kao „političku, kulturnu, vrstu otpora novovijekovnoj desakralizaciji
društvenu i ekonomsku zajednicu proisteklu iz svijeta. Zato su nacije u moderni, sigurnosni zid
interesa razvojnih tendencija građanskog društva“. samopoštovanja, iza kojeg se nalazi razduhovljeni
Njen je nastanak određen uvjetima u pogledu i sebi prepušteni moderni individuum. Iz te
unutrašnje dinamike, prvenstveno snagama perspektive gledajući, svejedno je traju li nacije
koje su je konstituirale kao i vanjskih okolnosti kao „zmišljene, zamišljene ili ontološke zajednice.
obuhvaćenih utjecajem građanski djelotvornih Nastankom, njihova životna snaga je neupitna
političkih subjekata, da formiranje nacionalnog pa je dovoljno reći da se nacije postavljaju poput
identiteta učine zavisnim od svojih interesa. „majčinskog krila“ predstavljajući zaklon koji štiti od
„Nacija, zbog toga, nije društveni, politički ili najšire svakodnevne borbe za opstanak na tržištu roba,
kulturni produkt nastao s pobudom da otkloni ljudi i kapitala (Cvetković, 2002: 54).

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Melisa Zukić

Nastali nacionalni identiteti, danas da pripadaju (Markešić, 2010:533). Iz toga se izvlače

najpotpunije zadovoljavaju transgeneracijske bitna obilježja nacionalnog identiteta:
egzistencijalne potrebe koje moderni dijele sa svojim
prethodnicima: „Prevazilaženje zaborava putem 1) povijesni teritorij, odnosno domovina,
potomstva, uspostavljanje kolektivnog dostojanstva 2) zajednički mitovi i povijesna sjećanja,
pozivanjem na zlatno doba, ostvarivanje bratstva 3) zajednička masovna, javna kultura,
kroz simbole, obrede i ceremonije koji žive 4) zajednička zakonska prava i dužnosti svih
pripadnike zajednice povezuju s mrtvima i palima…“. pripadnika nacije,
Nacija stoga, obezbjeđuje izvjesnu mjeru lične 5) zajednička ekonomija, s teritorijalnom
besmrtnosti kroz vjeru u „historijsku i sudbinsku mobilnosti pripadnika nacije (Smith, 1998.,
zajednicu“, te samim tim stvara novo pouzdanje 29-30 prema Markešić, 2010:533).
u izvjesni red i smisao individualnog i kolektivnog
bivstovanja (Cvetković, 2002: 55). U svakom U tom smislu poredeći naciju i
slučaju, nastanak nacija predstavlja, u početku nacionalizam Baraković (2009:138) ističe
ekskluzivno evropski odgovor na vlastite moderne da je nacija „građansko funkcionaliziranje
izazove „iskorijenjenosti“ i „raščaranosti“ u svijetu. zajedništva; za razliku od nacionalizma, građanska
Naime, procesi modernizacije, industrijalizacijom nacionalna svijest se ne uzdiže do apsolutiziranog
društva sekularizacijom svijeta života kroz nauku zahtjeva, apsolutiziranog cilja i vrednovanja.
i tehniku, poništavali su stare veze među ljudima i Nacionalistička svijest posredstvom kolektivno
zajednicom. Nadomjestivši prethodna religijska i podsvjesnog apsolutizirano uzdiže naciju, a njome
dinastička načela društvene povezanosti, nacija pretpostavljena dimenzija iracionalnosti osigurava
se u Evropi, javila kao osnovno načelo političke podsvjesnom relevantan sadržaj, u podsvjesnom
legitimnosti, smijeniši religiju i dinastiju predstavila ima svoj raison d`être. Ostvarujući se u građanskim
se kao vezivo političkog života unutar zasebne odnosima zbiljskih implikacija iracionalnosti,
zajednice, pa Baraković (2009:121) naciju opisuje zauzima udio u standardima građanskih mjerila.
i kao „politički oblik posredstvom kojega se S druge strane, sagledavanje zbiljskih razlika izvan
ispoljava građanski legitimitet i njime određena, mjerila nacionalnog područja ili s mjerilima koja ne
individualnost pojedinca. ‘Zajednica koja se ranije uključuju ekonomsku snagu i moć doima se i tretira
kroz religiju ostvarila treba se sada kroz nacionalni za nešto atipično“.
osjećaj u životu održati’ (naglasio Š.B.)“. Početkom XX
vijeka nacija je postala „najmoćnija legitimacijska Nacionalizam se pojavljuje u razdoblju
ideja Evrope, a nešto kasnije i cijelog svijeta“ (Šulce, “burnih preuređenja” na prijelazu iz agrarnih
prema Cvetković, 2002: 56). društava, nesklonih nacionalizmu ni kulturnoj
homogenosti, u industrijska kada se mijenjaju
Nacionalizam, neodoljivi identitetski mit političke i kulturne granice, vodeći krvavim sukobima
i nasilju (Markešić, 2010:531).
Nacionalizmi, nacionalni identitet smatraju
vrijednošću najvišeg stupnja, “kolektivnom U modernom svijetu “nacionalizam
kulturnom pojavom” (A. Smith) koja dopušta predstavlja možda najneodoljiviji identitetski
koegzistiranje s konfesionalnim, regionalnim i mit” (Smith, 1998:7 prema Markešić, 2010:531), koji
tradicionalnim identitetima. Tako, “nacionalizam nalazimo u raznim oblicima. Međutim, Wehler
zahtijeva da se prejako vjeruje u nešto što očito nije smatra da se tzv. “zapadni nacionalizam”, etablirao
tako” (Hobsbawm, 1993:14 prema Markešić, 2010:533), i prije nastanka industrijskih društava, u razdoblju
čineći nacionalnu domovinu sakrosanktnom - revolucionarnih kriza, do kojih je dolazilo u procesima
presvetom, nepovredivom, neupitnom (Wehler, modernizacije. U tim je vremenima nestanka manjih
2005:46 prema Markešić, 2010:533). Stoga, Smith i stvaranja “ujedinjenih” modernih nacionalnih
navodi da pojam “nacionalnog identiteta” uključuje država nacionalizam ponudio integracijsku snagu
neki osjećaj političke zajednice koja podrazumijeva koju do tada nije mogla pružiti ni jedna druga
“bar neke zajedničke institucije i jedan kodeks ideologija. Ponudio je novu osnovu legitimnosti, dok
prava i dužnosti za sve pripadnike zajednice”, koji je stare predodžbe o svijetu nadomjestio svojima,
uz to upućuje na određeni društveni prostor, na čime je “integrirao i legitimirao suverenu nacionalnu
prilično tačno obilježen i ograničen teritorij s kojim državu” te ubrzao “tvorbu nacije s ciljem dovršene
se njezini pripadnici poistovjećuju i kojem smatraju homogenosti i neospornog nacionalnog identiteta”
(Wehler, 2005., 30, 33 prema Markešić, 2010:531).

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Melisa Zukić

Osim toga, nacionalizam je morao raspolagati a što je na poseban način istaknuto u vjerskim
određenom količinom ideja, vrijednosti, značenja, spisima. Zbog mogućnosti služenja simboličkim
mitova i simbola, kojima se u izdašno i služio. zalihama religije i istovremenom posvjetovljenju
Prema Wehleru judeo-kršćanska tradicija određuje religijskih tradicija, nacionalizam je najbliži religiji,
zapadnoeuropska društva, a u kriznim vremenima jer obećava prevazilaženje neizvjesnosti, tumači
je najlakše posegnuti za njenim skladištem simbola. smisao postojanja, nudi opravdanje za patnju,
Wehler predstavlja četiri starozavjetne ideje koje je upozorava na norme i vrijednosti, nudi integraciju
nacionalizam uspio sekularizirati i usaditi u domaće grupe iznutra, potičući članove zajednice na
tradicije, kako u zapadnoevropskim društvima, tako sudjelovanje u obredima kako bi osnažili osjećaj
i u bosansko-hercegovačkom društvu. Radi se: grupnog pripadanja i stekli osjećaj različitosti od
drugih. Religija ističe značenje transcendentnosti,
• adaptiranoj predodžbi o “izabranom sugerirajući isplativost žrtvovanja za naciju (Wehler,
narodu”, 2005:40 prema Markešić, 2010:532).
• “obećanoj”, “svetoj zemlji”,
• smrtnom neprijateljstvu protivnika koji bi Nastanak nacije u
mogli spriječiti “izabrani narod” da uđe u muslimanskim društvima
obećanu zemlju,
• povijesnoj misiji koju “izabrani narod”, ili S obzirom da s svjetske religije, a time i islam
njegov vođa, trebaju ispuniti “na svetom tlu zauzele svoje mjesto mnogo stoljeća ranije od nacije,
buduće nacionalne države”(Wehler, 2005: odnos muslimana prema naciji kao modernoj
34-35 prema Markešić, 2010:531). tvorevini je obilježen specifičnim razumijevanje
ummeta (Abazović, 2006:42). Termin Ummet u
Smatrati sebe izabranim narodom po općem značenju predstavlja zajednicu, a povezan
Wehlerovu mišljenju, podrazumijeva: je i sa terminom umm – majka. Iako je korišten u
predislamsko periodu, Kur’an dosljedno definiše
• Umjesto saveza Jahve i Izraelaca, uspostavlja prirodu koncepta ummeta u okviru mekkanskih
se savez “Providnosti”, “Svjetskog Duha”, ajeta, dok se za nas posebno značajna historijska
“Povijesti” i dotične nacije; uloga Muhammedovog ummeta objašnjava u
• Time se uspostavlja distanca prema drugim medinskim ajetima. Terminološka objašnjenja
i drukčijim kreirajući unutarnja homogenost počinju sa terminom musliman u historijskom1 i
i jačajući vanjske granice prema “zakletim u misijskom kontekstu2, određujući pritom fizički
neprijateljima”; identitet muslimana okretanjem prema Kabi i
• Kreira se mit o porijeklu, stabilizirajući praksom hadža3 (Al-Ahsan, 2004:25-27).
etničku zajednicu i narodno bratstvo čineći
pripadnike braćom i sestrama (Markešić, Univerzalnost poruke islama upućene
2010:532). Tako obećana zemlja postaje ljudima svih rasa i jezika kreira svjetsku zajednicu
Domovina, a nacionalizam određuje tačne muslimana tj. ummet. Pripadanje ummetu prema
granice zemlje pradjedova, natopljene Karčić, (2012) ne potire ostale identitete4, koji kao
krvlju predaka, kao mjesta gdje se činjenica odražavaju raznolikost i bogatstvo Božijih
razvijala narodna kultura i jezik. Zacrtane stvorenja a presudnu ulogu pri vrednovanju među
granice obećane zemlje koju bi trebao njima ima “pobožnost”. Historijska perspektiva
baštiniti izabrani narod nikada se ne smiju ukazuje na multietnički karakter muslimanskih
zaboraviti. A to će moći samo osoba država - od Medine pa do Osmanskog carstva za
mesijanskih kvaliteta. Mesijanizam je time koje je glavni kriterij klasifkacije stanovništva bio
nudio eshatološku nadu u skoro izbavljenje vjerski tj. na muslimane i ehlu-z-zime kao zaštićene
iz “ropstva” te ulazak u “novi Jeruzalem” pripadnike objavljenih religija a islamske institucije
(Markešić, 2010:532). su se organizovale uvijek na teritorijalnom principu,
a ne na etničkom (Karčić, 2012). Nacionalne države
Posebno značenje za etabliranje u muslimanskom svijetu se pojavljuju tek u 20. vijeku
nacionalizma je proklamiranje sveopćega bratstva, nakon rušenja multietničke Osmanske države,

1   (2:128)
2  (2:143)
3  (3:97-98)
4  O ljudi! Mi smo vas od muškarca i žene stvorili i pleminima i narodima vas učinili, da biste se upoznavali! Od vas je kod
Allaha najplemenitiji onaj koji se Njega najviše boji! Allah sve zna i obaviješten je (49, El-Hudžurat: 13).

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da bi vremenom postale historijska činjenica i početak svjetske ili „globalne kulture“ kao
politički okvir muslimana. pacifikacijskog faktora što bi omogućilo nesputan
razvoj individualnih identiteta (Cvetković, 2002:
Početno europska ideja o nacionalnosti 57). S obzirom da globalizacija svoju osnovnu
kao lojalnosti naciji, suprotstavljala sa konceptu svrhu nalazi upravo u domenu ekonomije i logike
ummeta do početka 20.vijeka, kada se pojavom „slobodnog kretanja robe, ljudi i kapitala“, ona služi
muslimanskih nacionalnih država, pojavljuje i i odgovarajućem ideološkom dizajniranju stalne
dilema primarne lojalnost: „ummetu ili nacionalnoj ljudske potrebe za dominacijom i eksploatacijom,
državi“ (Al-Ahsan, 2004:45). Stoga, razvoj uz šta pripada i težnja za „globalnom kulturom“
nacija u muslimanskim zemljama ide najprije sposobnom da masovnim medijma neutrališe i
sekularizacijom tradicionalnih vrijednosti, koje su za odstrani partikularne etničke i nacionalne kulturne
raziku od nacija u evropskom okruženju još uvijek identitete. Pri tom se ipak, previđa površnost
imale vjersku težinu. Kako piše Hans Kohn prema Al- kosmopolitske kulture, oslobođene historijskog
Ahsan, (2004:47), o razvoju nacionalnog identiteta pamćenja, osjećanja i (samo)poštovanja, i
u muslimanskim zemljama: „... Nacionalni simboli su prvenstveno upućene na autoironizaciju i potrošnju.
zadobili vjerski autoritet i svetu nepovredivost. Istina Kao bezvremena i univerzalna, globalna kultura
koju će ljudi braniti svojim životima nije više samo predstavlja tehničko poopštavanje logike vrijednosti
vjerska, ponekad uopće nije vjerska, nego prilično kapitala, pri čemu provocira novo samodefinisanje
nacionalna“, da bi postala zapravo „muslimanska lokalnih kulturnih identiteta i novo isticanje narodne
nacionalnost“, kako primjećuje Smith prema al- suverenosti. Pritome, globalizacija počiva na tezi o
Ahsan (2004:48). Posljedice navedenog objašnjava „svjetskoj državi“, neostvarenoj želji i utopista i tirana,
Rosenthal: „Mi smo danas svjedoci kako ranjivi Islam obuhvatajući i ujedinjujući cjelokupno čovječanstvo,
postepeno ustupa mjesto sekularnoj nacionalnosti... nalazi svoje mjesto kao regulativna ideja za praksu
Klasični koncept vjerskog i političkog islama je „međunarodnih odnosa“ (Cvetković, 2002: 57).
sada doveden u opasnost idejom, proizašlom iz
posljedica Francuske revolucije, odvajanju religije Za razliku od Weberovog očekivanja da će sa
i politike“ (Al-Ahsan, 2004:93). Koncept konfesije razvojem procesa modernizacije doći do slabljenja
je blizak konceptu nacionalnog zajedništva, jer nacionalne svijesti, svjedoci smo činjenice da jača
kako navodi Anderson prema Majić, (2012:156), snaga nacionalnog identiteta i nacionalističkih
izostanak „svetih jezika“ ne ukida nužno religiozni pokreta krajem XX vijeka (Golubović, 1999).
osjećaj, već on ostaje u podlozi nacionalizma. To Globalizacija dovodi u pitanje osjećaj kontinuiteta,
uspješno objašnjava odnos prema jeziku, i pravilo brišući zajedničku prošlost i sjećanje kao važne
neprevođenja Kur’ana na druge jezike, jer „je bit odrednice identiteta. Pošto nacija nudi rješenja,
islama u arabizaciji, u uvlačenju naroda u jednu postaje privlačan obrazac identiteta javljajući
svjetsku zajednicu jezika i vlade. (...) Islam ne se kao personifikovani kolektivitet suprotstavljen
konstruira nacije, već ih dekonstruira“ (Hastings, bespomoćnosti i depersonalizaciji individua. U
2003: 175-176). takvim okolnostima etnička/nacionalna obilježja
postaju iznova historijski relevantna. Može se
Hastings (2003) takođe ukazuje da nastanak zaključiti da etnička/nacionalna mobilizacija
nacije koji je smješten u doba srednjovjekovnog oživljava danas kao rezultat:
društva kada etniciteti prerastaju u nacije
predstavlja karakteristično kršćanske stvari, koje • reakcije na modernizaciju koja vodi krizi
ako su se i pojavili drugdje, do toga je došlo u okviru identiteta;
procesa vesternizacije i imitacije kršćanskog svijeta. • kidanja veza sa primarnom grupom u
modernom društvu, vodeći usamljenosti
Nacionalni identitet i globalizacija i izgubljenosti zbog prekida veza izmedu
individua i društva;
Mogućnost „prevladavanja nacije“, a time • osjećanja ugroženosti i potrebe da se zaštiti
i međunacionalnih sukoba, predstavlja predmet grupni mentalitet;
savremenih filozofskih, sociološko-političkih i • zbrke zbog pluraliteta vrijednosti.
ekonomskih studija. Karakteriše ih tendencija ka
„svjetskom miru“ ili „globalnom poretku“ lišenom Claus Offe prema Golubović, (1999:83) ističe
glavnog generatora modernih ratova nacije/a, pri da obnova nacionalnih identiteta u istočnoj Evropi
čemu aktuelni tokovi globalizacije predstavljaju posebno, dolazi gubljenjem osjećaja pripadnosti

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diskreditovanoj državi obraćajući se naciji kao mogla pružiti ni jedna druga ideologija, on je na
„referentnoj tački za identifikaciju i lojalnost“. prijelazu iz agrarnih društava u industrijska vodio
Moderne države su većinom multinacionalne, a krvavim sukobima i nasilju. Krize koje nacionalizam
država se ne podudara sa nacijom. Pretpostavka proizvodio prevladane su sekulariziranim idejama,
je da će važnost nacionalnog identiteta rasti i u vrijednostima, mitovima i simbolimaa iz judeo-
XXI vijeku, budući da nisu riješena fundamentalna kršćanske tradicije za kojim je u kriznim vremenima
pitanja koja izaziva proces modernizacije i zapadnoeuropskim društvima najlakše posegnuti.
globalizacije: Nacionalne države u muslimanskom svijetu se
pojavljuju tek u 20. vijeku nakon rušenja multietničke
• suprotnost globalizujućih procesa i Osmanske države, da bi uz proces sekularizacije
partikularne samosvojnosti naroda, postale politički okvir muslimanskih država.
• postojanje tenzija izmedu personalnog i Nacionalnost koja očekuje nedvojbenu odanosti
kolektivnih identiteta, naciji suprostavila se razumijevanju ummeta
• širenje transnacionalnog prostora u kojem iz prethodnog perioda. Upravo iz tog razloga,
se gubi jasan obrazac grupnog identiteta, sekularizacija tradicionalnih vrijednosti je početna
• sve veći pluralitet obrazaca identiteta koji tačka za razvoj nacija u muslimanskim društvima,
stvara konfuziju, razumijevajući da je religioznost kao koncept
• miješanje kultura, bliska nacionalnom zajedništvu. Religiozni osjećaj
• tendencija ka asimilaciji nacionaliteta u ostaje u podlozi nacionalizma u muslimanskim
predstavi globalnog sela. društvima. Pitanje savremenog prevladavanja
nacija i međunacionalnih sukoba postavlja
Zaključak temelje globalnoj pacifikacijskoj kulturi koja potiče
samodefinisanje lokalnih kulturnih identiteta i novo
Bez obzira da li je riječ o modernističkom isticanje narodne suverenosti. Iako se očekivalo
ili tradicionalističkom razumijevanju kreiranja da će modernizacija oslabiti nacionalnu svijest,
nacije i nacionalnog identiteta oba se slažu oko krajem 20. vijeka jača snaga nacionalnih identiteta
činjenice da su borba oko teritorija i uticaja, razvoj i nacionalističkih pokreta jer globalizacija narušava
države kroz birokratski aparat i kolektivno iskustvo osjećaj kontinuiteta zajedničke prošlosti koje su
zajednice temeljni uslovi nastanka nacionalnog važne odrednice identiteta.
identiteta uz industrijalizaciju i demokratiju. Pored
toga što nacionalni identitet obezbjeđuje prostor Literatura
za egzistiranje pripadnika nacije on istovremeno
osigurava socijalizaciju i saradnju različitih Abazović, D. (2006). „Za naciju i Boga“ -
slojeva društva putem prihvatanja zajedničkih Sociološko određenje religijskog nacionalizma,
vrijednosti i tradicija ujednačenih kolektivnim Magistrat: Sarajevo i Centar za interdisciplinirane
samodefinisanjem. Francuska teorija državu smatra postdiplomske studije Univerziteta u Sarajevu.
zajednicom ljudi na određenom prostoru, domovinu
skladištem historijskih sjećanja, a patriu zajednicom Abazović, D. (2008). Bosanskohercegovački
zakona i institucija jedinstvene političke volje, uz muslimani na početku novog milenija: Sociološki
pravnu jednakosti među građanima. Njemačka pogledi. U zborniku radova: Rasprave o nacionalnom
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rođenja i rodne kulture, a narod kao nadporodicu istoriju.
predaka, jezik, običaje i vjeru. Uz navedeno teorija o
historijskoj volji za zajedničkim životom naglašava Abazović, D. (2012). Bosanskohercegovački
zajedničku povijesnu sudbinu ljudi koji žive u jednoj Muslimani između sekularizacije i desekularizacije.
zemlji, stvarajući tako zajednički identitet koji ima Zagreb: Synopsis.
nadrasno značenje. Pored navedenog naciju
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produkt sa kolektivnim temeljem u državi u okviru identiteta u savremenom muslimanskom društvu,
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snagu za kreiranje većih država koju do tada nije

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