‘Partial returns:’ displacement, mobility, and translocal connections in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract This paper revisits the complexities of post-war returns in Bosnia and Herzegovina, exploring how returnees’ motivations, livelihood strategies, and personal circumstances intersect with the changing political, social, and material landscapes of displacement and return. Drawing on fieldwork data, it demonstrates how returnees sustain translocal connections through networks, commuting patterns, and socio-economic practices. By introducing the notion of partial return, this paper advances a critical framework for examining the dialectical tension between mobility and emplacement among internally displaced people who decided to return. Empirically, the study distinguishes between nominal and de facto modes of partial returns, highlighting how they arise as adaptive responses to the gap between international return policies specified in the Dayton Peace Agreement and intricate post-war realities. By situating partial returns as pragmatic responses to the difficulties, uncertainties, and insecurities shaping post-war environments and everyday local contexts, this study contributes to debates concerning migration, displacement, and transnational studies.