How are archives developed for the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 when memories are contested, diverge, or remain politically charged? What is the responsibility of the archive when working with survivors’ testimony and objects? How has the War Childhood Museum approached archiving the war differently from other institutions?
Join us online for a presentation by Dr. Ajnura Akbaš (War Childhood Museum) and discussion moderated by Dr. Matt Huculak (University of Victoria) and MA candidate Olivia Kozlovic (University of Victoria) as they discuss community-engaged approaches to documenting and archiving the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
Speaker Bios
Dr. Ajnura Akbaš is a Research Coordinator at the War Childhood Museum, where she leads research and documentation projects focused on the lived experiences of individuals whose childhoods are affected by armed conflict. She is also a PhD graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specialising in Gender studies. Her research examines women’s military service during the Bosnian war, with a focus on gender, militarisation, and post-war memory. Ajnura’s work is grounded in creative, trauma-sensitive and survivor-centred methodologies, including collage-making, body mapping, and collaborative documentary practices. She also supports the SCVN Yugoslav Wars Research Cluster as community liaison and primary contact with the War Childhood Museum, as well as developing an Archiving Toolkit specific to the Bosnian War.
Dr. Matt Huculak is Director of the Kula: Library Futures Academy at the University of Victoria Libraries. A Library Journal “Mover and Shaker,” he was recognized for his work as a digital scholarship innovator during his tenure as Head of Advanced Research Services at UVic Libraries, where he led initiatives in digital asset management, grant-supported scholarship, and digital exhibitions connecting faculty, students, and communities. His research and leadership focus on transdisciplinary knowledge creation, positioning libraries as incubators for emerging technologies and collaborative inquiry across disciplines. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Tulsa and an MLIS from San Jose State University, with graduate study at McGill University and UC Davis — a formation that reflects his grounding in both the humanities and information science. He also serves as Data Director for the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives (SCVN) project, overseeing the development of the project’s archival infrastructure.
Olivia Kozlovic is an MA student in the Holocaust Studies stream in the University of Victoria’s Germanic and Slavic Studies department. Her research examines the entangled memories of the Holocaust and the Yugoslav Wars in the Balkans, focusing on sites of memory as physical manifestations of this entangled memory in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Her aim is to understand how the memories of these two events impact one another in the public memory landscape of the Yugoslav successor states. She is supporting the SCVN project as a research assistant archiving the artistic materials, beginning with the Holocaust and Yugoslav Wars Research Clusters.
Wednesday April 22nd, 2026
10:00am
Registration Required.
Register Here
