The Stuff from the Siege: Transitional Justice and the Power of Everyday Objects in Museums

ABSTRACT∞ This article explores the role of the affective power of everyday objects in commemorations of war and conflict. It seeks to understand the transformative power of the everyday as a memory node and investigates how and why everyday objects can become carriers of an inclusive rendering of the past. Through a phenomenologically grounded reading of two exhibitions on the 1992–1995 siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, the article theoretically advances the idea that everyday objects that are transformed into artefacts in museums expand our moral, mnemonic imagination and therefore potentially contribute to peace. A systematic analysis of the affective power of everyday objects is developed through three key conceptual lenses – authenticity, intimacy and vulnerability. The study thus contributes to research on the postwar museum as a site for transitional justice and peacebuilding, and the role of material things as carriers of emotions and meaning in the context of postwar memorialization.