Situated cultural development among youth separated by war

Families migrating out of a war zone are often perceived as the lucky ones because they escape at least some of the devastating consequences of war. Nevertheless, we know little about the relative developmental effects of war for refugees and domestic survivors. This inquiry addresses that gap by focusing on how two groups of young people sharing a traditional culture used narrating as a tool to make sense of the circumstances of their post-war environments. The analysis presented in this paper draws on narratives by 64 young people whose experiences with war began when they were babies and children in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH), 38 youth whose families remained in BiH and 26 who migrated to the United States. Analyses based cultural–historical activity theory reveal major differences in how these Bosnian Muslim youth growing up in diverse post-war circumstances narrated conflicts. The pattern of results indicates, for example, that the U.S. participants focused on how things work in society and an orientation to other people more than themselves, while BiH participants focused critically on adults in their society and on their own personal identity clarifications. Such uses of narrating to mediate self-society relations differ from those expected in research assuming universal orientations, such as an adolescent emphasis on identity, or assuming that traditional cultural mores organize experience. The study underscores the need for ongoing research to examine the context-sensitive nature of development. Implications for future research in normative and problematic situations are discussed.

Research highlights▶ Youth separated by war perceive and interpret conflicts in terms of the present circumstances where they live. ▶ Bosnian youth separated by war (some living in Sarajevo and some the United States) perceive and interpret conflict differently in spite of their shared ethnic and religious origins. ▶ This study offers evidence for defining culture in terms of present situations as much as past affiliations or histories. ▶ The design and analysis of this study offer insights for future inquiry into within-group diversity.