Dissertation 

"Personal Cross-Ethnic Networks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel: Structure, Meaning, and Relational Orientation"

[successfully defended May 2026]

This dissertation examines how ordinary people sustain cross-ethnic relationships in ethnically divided societies with a history of intergroup violence through a mixed-methods personal network study of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel. Combining 100 in-depth qualitative interviews with anonymous surveys of 406 respondents collected through randomized stratified sampling across both countries, the study shifts focus away from elite and group-level ethnic

relations to the individual level, examining the cross-ethnic personal networks, ties, and relationship orientations through which ordinary people navigate ethnic division in everyday life.

The findings document a dual architecture of separation constraining cross-ethnic relationships, comprising both the institutional segregation that organizes daily life and the felt order of ethnic division that persists in individual experience even where mixing is possible. Within these constraints, the dissertation identifies a structure-preference asymmetry: country structure shapes whether cross-ethnic ties form at all, while individual characteristics shape tie strength and meaning. Cross-ethnic ties and networks are built on shared life stages and institutional context rather than ideological alignment and are sustained through the strategic avoidance of contentious topics as a protective relational practice.

The dissertation also develops Cross-Ethnic Relationship Orientation (CERO), a mid-range typological theory that examines how an individual's structural position as a member of an ethnic majority or minority interacts with their preference for ingroup, diverse, or outgroup ties to produce five ideal types: Traditionalists, Hopefuls, Drifters, Outcasts, and Connectors. The typology is tested both qualitatively through paradigmatic case analysis and quantitatively through the survey sample, providing empirical support for the existence of all five types across the two populations. The types are unevenly distributed, with Traditionalists predominating, Outcasts emerging as unique to Israel, and Connectors standing out for having the largest and most diverse cross-ethnic networks and the strongest cross-ethnic ties. By treating cross-ethnic ties as constitutive acts of everyday peace, the dissertation reframes intergroup contact within a relational account of how divided societies sustain themselves and offers empirically grounded pathways for relational peacebuilding.

Method:   mixed multilevel design combining formal and ethnographic analysis of personal networks with typological theory building and testing. 

Publications

"Slow Peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Deploying memory to shift out of postwar liminality"

[Southeastern Europe]

Coauthored with Dr. Véronique Labonté and Emina Zoletić

This article examines how memory contributes to slow peacebuilding in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and in-depth interviews with memory activists, individuals maintaining cross-ethnic relationships, and multiple generations within families, we identify three pathways through which accumulated memories challenge entrenched ethnonational narratives: activist strategies that reframe the past, everyday cross-ethnic interactions that prioritize relationships over "correct" memory, and intergenerational transmission that selectively preserves or omits wartime experiences. We show that silence, restraint, and the slow accumulation of knowledge are not merely obstacles but can serve as subtle forms of resistance to divisive narratives, extending peacebuilding beyond immediate contexts through cross-ethnic and transnational solidarities.

Method:  interdisciplinary, ethnography, thematic analysis

Work in Progress

"When Memory Becomes Official: Memory Institutionalization and Social Division in Bosnia and Herzegovina"

[in preparation]

Coauthored with Ajla Henić-Sarajlić

Post-conflict societies often feature contested mnemonic spaces, where competing groups seek to control narratives of the past. This paper examines the effects of memory institutionalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina through a longitudinal case study with a counterfactual comparison. Drawing on typological theory, case study analysis, and process tracing, we develop a framework organized along the dimensions of goal, level, scope, truth, and remembrance that traces how memory transitions from raw to mobilized to institutionalized forms. The paper contributes to the broader study of memory politics and post-conflict social dynamics in divided societies.

Method:  typological theory, case study analysis, process tracing