As everyone knows who has spent any length of time living out of country, there are, as Pierre Bourdieu might put it, many habits, rhythms, and “structures” that “go without saying” when you are within your habitus, but which, when you are out of country, loom large. Perhaps not surprisingly, since we are material beings, meals and meal time habits form a large part of those things that “go without saying.” Euro-Americans are likely to already feel somewhat alienated by a British or French or German breakfast. I know I do. But then as we move east, that feeling grows. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, it is almost impossible to find a cafe that serves both coffee and a pastry. It is difficult to find a cafe that serves both coffee and Burek, the customary meat-filled pastry consumed by Bosnians and Herzegovinians between 9 am and 11 am. And it is impossible to find Bacon and Waffles; or Bacon and Maple Syrup. This is not because Muslims make up roughly eighty percent of the population; there are, after all, roughly 10 percent each of Catholics and Orthodox. And there are plenty of pork butchers; 3 within 5 minutes walking from our home. Rather do I think that it is a matter of habitus; but, what is that?
As many of you know, over the past few months I have been criss-crossing Bosnia and Herzegovina holding seminars on economic history in departments of economics. One of the topics we have found ourselves talking about during these seminars is the macroeconomic preconditions to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) joining the global economic community. In brief, macroeconomic theory holds that local customs, laws, institutions, traditions count as impediments to “normal” market behavior. That is to say, in order for BiH to join the global economic community, they will have to replace their habits, the practices peculiar to BiH that “go without saying,” with practices more in line with the habitus of Austria, Germany, France, England, Japan, and the US.
If BiH really wants to join the global economic community, it is high time for breakfast joints to litter old town Tuzla serving up bacon, waffles, and maple syrup to a steady stream of international consumers, buyers, and sellers.
Is that how it works? No, not exactly. A good part of the twenty-four fold difference in wages and the fifty-fold difference in employment between BiH and the EU owes itself to corruption, cronyism, and the lack of the rule of law. (And, no; sprinkling friends in police uniforms around the country is not the same as the rule of law.) At the same time, there should be no doubt but that international capital could perform far better in BiH were there no “here” there; i.e., were BiH indistinguishable from any place else in Europe or the globe. Keep the funny hats, shoes, dances, and songs to entertain the tourists. But in all other respects adopt “universal” culture.
This places my bacon, waffles, and maple syrup in an entirely different light — the light of empire. Do I really want Bosnia and Herzegovina to disappear? Do I want its particularities to melt away? Do I want it to adopt “universal” culture? Or is that simply my habitus — global capitalism — talking?