Degree Name

BS

Department

Family Life

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Defense Date

2025-03-05

Publication Date

2025-03-18

First Faculty Advisor

Alyssa Banford Witting

Second Faculty Advisor

Alexander C Jensen

First Faculty Reader

Larry J Nelson

Honors Coordinator

Jason B Whiting

Keywords

mass trauma, genocide, social support, healing, Sarajevo

Abstract

The genocides, sieges, and brutal longevity of the Yugoslav Wars profoundly affected the lives of millions of people across the Balkans. Here, the theory of Conservation of Resources (COR) has been applied to contextualize the trauma and regrowth of survivors of these wars. COR theory suggests that people work to protect, maintain, and expand their resources, such as material assets, desirable personality traits, and religion. The threatening or actual loss of these resources induces stress. In environments that threaten or deplete many resources—such as war—other resources become essential for survival and healing. Applying this theory to the memoirs and oral histories of survivors of the Yugoslav Wars—many of which were gathered in Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina—offers an opportunity to examine this human phenomenon on a deeper level. This thesis aims to examine how the stories of survivors support or challenge COR theory and its application to mass scale trauma. Survivors' primary resources for survival and healing can be categorized into four areas: objects, status, characteristics, and energy. These findings demonstrate the ways people can survive crisis and opens further discussion for those people unable to recover from resource loss.

Download

Share

COinS