Ambiguous loss and incomplete abduction narratives in Kosovo.

What is it about?

The article looks at the issue of grief for those who have lost their loved ones. We interviewed ten mothers of men and boys who were abducted and listed as missing during the war in Kosovo. Although the missing are presumed dead by the authorities, the mothers continue to live in a state of emotional ambiguity. Left in a situation of not knowing what happened to their loved ones, for them the search for information becomes all consuming.

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Why is it important?

Wars are usually seen in terms of those who have died and those who have survived. The relatives of the missing form a third, all too often ignored group for whom the horrors of war do not end with a ceasefire. Unresolved grief affects thousands of people in every war, efforts to find the missing continue for decades after cessation of hostilities, yet we rarely hear about these struggles, the consequences and devastation of war on the civilian population.