"Salt Over Gold": food as a tool of power and a weapon of war during the siege of Srebrenica (1992-1995)

• Authors: Markéta Slavková
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Food security has been one of the most pressing issues since time immemorial. Food production and provisioning have always been demanding task, especially in times of war. An armed conflict often leads to disruption of the prevailing social order and it transforms social and economic patterns of everyday life. Moreover, wars also generally result in shortages of food, water and medical supplies, which further generates undernourishment as well as chronic hunger and famine. This article discusses the role of food in armed conflicts with an increased focus on situations when starvation is intentionally imposed on targeted populations. As Collinson and Macbeth (2014) emphasise, such intentional restriction of food by either of the sides of a conflict is a "weapon of war". These complex processes are going to be illustrated primarily on the example of the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nevertheless, selected events and circumstances are going to be additionally compared with historical use and social significance of salt with an emphasis on warfare. The main research focus is aimed at the former UN "Safe" Area Srebrenica and theoverall scarcity of salt in the besieged enclave during the 1990s war. Not only that during the Bosnian War, salt was purchased for precious metal items but also for those on the verge of life and death, the small amount of salt sometimes became worth more than gold.

Keywords

EN

salt; anthropology of food; salt and iodine deficiency; Bosnian war in 1990s; Srebrenica

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Czech Ethnological Society
• Journal: Národopisný věstník
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 37_(79)
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 71-86
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Markéta Slavková

• Česká národopisná společnost, z. s., Národní třída 3, 117 20 Praha 1, Czech Republic