Nomen est omen: stereotyping and war legacy

The acknowledgement of wrongdoings of an ingroup and suffering of an outgroup is deemed key to reconciliation between ethnic communities involved in a violent conflict. Yet, victims of war are often largely unrecognised. This paper analyses online and offline interactions of ordinary people in relation to the Yugoslav wars to understand what impedes the acknowledgement of war crimes committed by members of one’s own ethnic group. Scholars in social psychology have developed different theories and concepts to explain why people fail to acknowledge such crimes. However, social causes of non-recognition in this context have seldom been tackled. This paper investigates social triggers and argues non-recognition is not only triggered psychologically - by perceived threats to self-esteem, but also socially – by perceived threats to one’s social status at an international level and their symbolic implications. Insights of six focus groups interactions in Serbia and discourse analysis of over 300 tweets and Facebook posts in relation to Yugoslav wars suggest that a fear of stereotyping presents one of the major impediments to the acknowledgement of crimes committed by members of one's own ethnic group.