Ruins

Landmines and Colonialism in Kosovo

Abstract

With current demining efforts, it will take 1100 years to rid the earth of the landmines contaminating it. We have no choice but to live with them. This project aims to analyze the impact of landmines in Kosovo, planted by several outsider and insider military actors during the Kosovo War. Landmines mainly affect civilians, and in Kosovo they have been left primarily by invading forces, which essentially lead this project to view landmines as imperial ruins -- a product of a colonial empire meant to last in the bodies and landscapes of Kosovars even after its fall.