Places of Reconciliation and Contestation: The Reconstruction and Protection of Serbian Orthodox Religious Sites in Kosovo

Abstract

This thesis seeks to contribute to a stronger engagement with the spatial dimension of peacebuilding and reconciliation. Providing a culturally-geographic approach to the placemaking activities in contemporary Kosovo, it analyses the reconstruction and physical as well as legal protection of Serbian Orthodox religious sites with regard to their limits and challenges in producing a reconciliatory sense of place. Telling the story of exemplary churches and monasteries, it addresses the influencing factors of scale and timing, accessibility, public awareness, history, demography and personal attitude. Eventually, the thesis advocates a people-centred and interactional approach to reconstruction and protection, suggesting that enlivenment and exchange may provide the missing link between physical and societal transformations.