Labels

Labels in the Balkans are kind of a funny thing. Take Kosovo, for example. The people who live there identify the territory that they’re on as Kosovo and will staunchly defend that fact. But when you ask a lot of people what they are, most of the time you’ll get one of two answers: Kosovo-Albanian and Kosovo-Serb. To them, it seems very important to identify yourself not only as a way to describe who you are, but more importantly, in order to distinguish yourself from others. I really think that this is a crucial distinction.

As an American, I’m used to people identifying themselves under this label of “American.” That label essentially comes before all else. There are people in the US who identify as African-American or Asian-American, but they do this in order to define who they are in terms of being proud of both identities together. Generally, they hold the two identities together in celebration as compliments to each other. It’s not like they make this distinction of identity to establish who the “real” Americans are. Asian-Americans believe that they are just as American as Mexican-Americans and vise versa. 

In Kosovo and the Balkans in general, you get the feeling that there is this distinction because these groups don’t think the “other” is the “real” identity. They cannot imagine being grouped into the same category as other identities. You could very easily start a violent altercation if you mix up the identities with the wrong person. God forbid you ever call a Bosnian-Serb a Bosniak. 

It’s probably the American in me, but I simply cannot understand how a country like Bosnia or Kosovo can move on when it’s population at large can’t even fly the same flag. I saw more Serbian flags than BiH flags when I was in the Republika Srpska in BiH. I saw more Albanian flags than Kosovo flags when I was in Kosovo. I would even go as far to say that there are more American flags than Kosovo flags flying in the country. As much as I wish they weren’t, labels are important. They describe what you are, who you are, what you believe in, what religion you practice. To a lot of people here, they’re simply everything to them. 

People can be proud of their heritage and their ethnicity. I would never tell someone that they couldn’t be (unless, of course, it rose to something like white nationalism). But until the population in Balkan countries can start seeing Kosovars and Bosnians as one label that can fit the entire population, I don’t see how problems that affect everyone can be fully addressed. The battle of labels and what they represent is just too powerful.