“Durable Solutions,” Transnationalism, and Homemaking among Croatian and Bosnian Former Refugees

Abstract

This article proposes that the UNHCR-supported “durable solution” programs for former refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and from Croatia were at odds with the actual exilic experiences of former refugees. It introduce homemaking as an essential aspect of a successful durable solution and proposes supplementing the usual ethno-politicized understandings of home in the specific context with analyses of the process of homemaking at different scales—house (dwelling), community (the wider space of settlement containing natural, cultural, social, and economic aspects) and nation. The article also argues that repatriation and local integration in the country of first asylum—two allegedly distinct and opposite solutions to refugee crises—should be viewed as intertwined processes within a broader transnational context. It is concluded that their combination brought a durable solution to refugee predicaments in the specific case.