— Ned Kennedy —

Ned is an undergraduate student at Brown University, where he is currently pursuing a dual Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Modern Culture and Media. While Ned’s interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina was spurred towards the beginning of his undergraduate studies, his interest in the intersection of media and conflict studies began at the age of 16 while on academic exchange in Kigali, Rwanda. Ned is broadly interested in both the function of state-sponsored media in times of conflict and art’s central importance to peace-building processes. Ned is currently working on a senior thesis which critically examines the presence of on-screen violence in the post-conflict cinema of Southeastern Europe.

Memorializing Omarska: Denial, Dehumanization, and Obstacles to Peacebuilding

From May 28th to August 21st, 1992, over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats were confined, tortured and killed at the Omarska camp in entity of Republika Srpska. Despite the extent of the atrocities committed at Omarska, the former camp pointedly lacks any form of memorialization as a result of entity of Republika Srpska’s enduring war crimes denial. This marks a symbolic continuation of genocide, perpetuating survivor’s trauma and impeding efforts towards reconciliation.