On October, 5, 2013 ACBH Board Members and Executive Director attended the "Being Bosnian: Identities After the War" event organized by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS) at the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Washington, D.C. The panel discussion included Dr. Esad Boskailo, co-author of Wounded I am More Awake: Finding Meaning After Terror, Dr. Amila Buturovic, author of Stone Speakers: Medieval Tombs, Landscape, and Nationhood in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar and Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Book of My Lives, The Lazarus Project, and other books. The event was moderated by Patrick McCarthy, author of After the Fall: Srebrenica Survivors in St. Louis.
The event focused on the role that trauma from the Bosnian war played on the identities of the older generation of Bosnians and the level of assimilation of younger Bosnians to their new homeland. In her keynote address, BiH Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Jadranka Negodic spoke about the importance of preserving the Bosnian language and rich culture abroad. And while many ideas were discussed, all agreed that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country with a rich and long history of interethnic peace and that we all must work hard to preserve BiH's multi-ethnic fabric.