Bosnian Organizations in Germany: Orientations and Activities in Transnational Social Spaces

Abstract

This paper explores how migrants from Bosnia-Herzegovina organize in Germany and the types of transnational activities oriented toward the settlement country and the origin country they pursue. It is particularly interested in activities that aim to contribute to recovery processes in post-war Bosnia. Although there has been an increased interest in migrant organizations in Germany and their transnational activities, as well as in Bosnian diaspora formation, the case of Bosnians and their organizations in Germany did not receive much attention so far. This is interesting because the Bosnian population in Germany still is one of the largest compared to Bosnians in other host countries. The empirical data are based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives of Bosnian organizations throughout Germany. The paper first introduces a transnational perspective on migrant organizations. Second, it deals with how the Bosnian population in Germany has been constituted through several migration waves. The third section discusses the institutional and structural conditions in Germany as the settlement country and how they may influence Bosnian organizations’ transnational activities. Following the forth section on the methods and main features of the sample, the remainder of the paper presents the findings of the empirical inquiry. It analyzes the main features of the landscape of Bosnian organizations in Germany, the way how they perceive the German context, and the transnational activities oriented toward the settlement country and the origin country. The findings show that today the Bosnian population in Germany is highly fragmented and disorganized. Their activities are rather oriented toward the settlement context and less toward transnational contributions to the recovery of post-war Bosnia, which may be explained by the discouraging effects of the structural contexts in both countries.