“The event was organized by BZK Preporod, the City Committee of Konjic, whose president, Sabina Ćukle, emphasized at the beginning that the promotion was held as part of the celebration of Konjic City Day.”

“Promoter Prof. Dr. Amer Osmić stated that the book ‘Semiotics of Bosnia’ is the author’s attempt to deconstruct everything imposed from the outside, particularly elements that are anti-Bosnian and that undermine the integral identity of the Bosnian individual.”

“As a society, we need to turn toward aspects related to identity and begin to understand identity as something that can be multilayered. In other words, we can possess multiple identities, yet our national identity — which may be administrative or political — is constantly being challenged. In this book, Professor Lavić, through semiotics as an auxiliary academic discipline, deconstructs the false narratives that have been imposed for centuries on the Bosnian space, undermining what truly constitutes the Bosnian domain of knowledge,” stated Prof. Osmić.

“While promoting the book ‘Semiotics of Bosnia’, Assistant Professor Dr. Abdel Alibegović stated that this is a unique work which aims to delve deeper into the analysis of our Bosnian-Herzegovinian society.”

“Professor Lavić aims to highlight all those elements that represent a denial of Bosnia — a denial of everything that is truly Bosnian — and to emphasize that it is time to speak of a concept in which Bosnian people understand themselves, rather than having others define who they should be. ‘Semiotics of Bosnia’ is a bold step forward, an attempt to analyze the current situation and to explore what should be offered to Bosnian-Herzegovinian society as progress — as something that leads us toward a peaceful and stable Bosnia and Herzegovina,” emphasized Prof. Alibegović.

“Speaking about his book, Prof. Dr. Senadin Lavić said that his intention was to gather, in one volume, knowledge about what has been happening to Bosnia since at least the year 1800 — that is, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.”

“It is an attempt to falsify and distort Bosnia’s structure, its content, its historical existence, and its identity being, turning it into something else. You could then hear in history books that Bosnia is Serbian land, that it is old Croatian land, or the land of someone else and something else — but you never heard that Bosnia is Bosnian. So, my motto, which I introduced in my previous book, was an effort to show people that Bosnia is primarily and above all Bosnian. When we deal with semiotics, that is, with the process of semiosis and signs, it is very important to utilize the capacities of contemporary science and modern authors,” said Professor Lavić.

“When you bring some old ideas from the 19th and 20th centuries into the light and confront them with contemporary knowledge, those 19th-century ideas appear ridiculous, untrue, incorrect, and falsified. And working on exposing such ideas, such concepts, such content — which were actually ideologically motivated — is even a pleasure now. Unfortunately, we haven’t had enough intellectual and state power to oppose them. We still haven’t reached the concept of the nation as a state and civic identity, but there are already many people in academia who clearly and loudly support that concept, and if science supports it, it will enter into citizenship and everyday life,” stated the author Lavić, expressing his gratitude to BZK Preporod and Mayor Osman Ćatić for promoting the book tonight in his hometown of Konjic.

The book “Semiotics of Bosnia” by Prof. Dr. Senadin Lavić has been promoted in several cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in Germany. The evening’s promotion was also attended by the president of BZK Preporod BiH, Prof. Dr. Sanjin Kodrić. Attendees also enjoyed a performance by members of the Accordion Orchestra from Jablanica.

Source of text and photos: Radio Konjic–https://radiokonjic.ba/u-konjicu-promovisana-knjiga-prof-dr-senadina-lavica-semiotika-bosne/