Mart Bax

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Marten miles Gerrit Bax (* 1937 in Zutphen ) is a Dutch emeritus professor of political anthropology at the Free University of Amsterdam . Its main subjects are anthropological methods and the development of theories. He applied these fields predominantly to topics dealing with the intertwining of secular and ecclesiastical power and their mutual pursuit of control over the local population. He later went into the social mechanisms of feuds and blood revenge .

In his scientific career, Bax worked on four subject areas: Ireland (1968–1978), Brabant (1973–1989) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1985–1999, with previous field research in Serbia in 1964). Serious scientific misconduct with intent to commit fraud was proven.

Investigations into the pilgrimage site of Medjugorje

In a book from 1995 and in numerous articles that appeared in the journal Ethnologia Europaea , among others , Bax deals with the development of the pilgrimage site Međugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1980s and 1990s.

In his book from 1995, Bax describes, among other things, a "small war" that is said to have taken place in Međugorje in 1991/1992 parallel to the beginning of the Bosnian War . Three large families are said to have fought a bloody feud over the pilgrimage business, in which over 140 people were killed and 600 are said to have fled the town. The credibility of this section of his book was questioned in the Croatian and German press in August 2008 and the assumption was made that this report was an invention or based on false information.

Fraud and counterfeiting

After Mart Bax retired, allegations were raised against him that his scientific work was based in part on targeted forgery and fraud. The science journalist Frank van Kolfschooten made this accusation for the first time in his book Ontspoorde wetenschap (“Derailed Science”) , published in 2012 . The Dutch daily de Volkskrant published two articles on April 13, 2013, in which Bax was specifically accused of falsifications and inaccuracies.

In October 2012, the Free University of Amsterdam announced an imminent investigation into fraud allegations against Bax. The commission published its report on September 9, 2013, in which it concluded that Bax was guilty of serious scientific misconduct with fraudulent intent.

The investigation revealed in detail that Bax has systematically published its own publications repeatedly under different headings, sometimes without and sometimes with minimal revisions. As a result of this self-plagiarism, he presented an extensive list of publications. The commission concluded that Bax had actually written around 16 texts. Bax had listed 161 publications in various official résumés, work reports and the database of his university. Of these, 92 could be proven, the rest had never been published. In addition, Bax had invented membership in scientific societies and incorrectly claimed that he had been an advisor to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia . In reports, he also stated significantly more doctoral students than his work can be proven.

Even his work on the history of Brabant is rated as questionable in the final report of the study. According to his information, essential parts are based on a document and an "informant". He could not or did not want to make both sources available for review. In addition, contrary to all scientific practices, he never made it clear that he was only based on unverified and unverifiable statements, i.e. the events described were in no way confirmed by him or others.

According to the judgment of the test reports, his publications on Medjugorje suffer from the fact that Bax did not react to the allegations raised against his work within the scientific framework. Only with regard to the number of victims would he have admitted long after the criticism and his retirement in 2012 that he had relied on incorrect information and that the numbers were much lower. He had this knowledge shortly after the 1995 publications, but never corrected or withdrawn his scientific publications. The examiners judge this as "shameful and immoral behavior in science".

Publications (selection)

  • Figurational Analysis: A Better Perspective for Networkers. With an Illustration from Ireland. In: Anthropological Quarterly. Volume 51, No. 4, 1978.
  • Religieuze regimes en staatsontwikkeling. Notities voor een figuratie-benadering. In: Amsterdams Sociorien Tijdschrift. Vol. 12, No. 1, 1985, pp. 22-48.
  • Medjugorjes little oorlog. Barbarisering in a Bosnian bedevaartplaats. In: Amsterdams Sociorien Tijdschrift. Volume 20, No. 1, Amsterdam 1993, pp. 3-25.
  • Medjugorje: Religion, Politics, and Violence in Rural Bosnia (= Anthropological studies VU. Volume 16). Vrij Universiteit Uitgeverij, Amsterdam 1995, ISBN 90-5383-384-6 .
  • Civilization and decivilization in Bosnia. In: Ethnologia Europaea. Volume 27: 2, 1997.
  • Holy Mary and Medjugorje's Rocketeers. In: Ethnologia Europaea. Volume 30: 1, 2000.
  • Warlords, Priests and the Politics of Ethnic Cleansing: a Case-Study from Rural Bosnia Hercegovina. In: Ethnic and Racial Studies. Volume 23, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 16–36 ( dspace.ubvu.vu.nl [PDF; 194 kB]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ivo Zanic: War and Peace in Hercegovina. Review of Mart Bax: Medjugorje - Religion, Politics, and Violence in Rural Bosnia. Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij, 1995. Zagreb 1998.
  2. ↑ a b Circumventing Reality, p. 26.
  3. ↑ Medjugorje: Religion, Politics, and Violence in Rural Bosnia (= Anthropological studies VU. Volume 16). Vrij Universiteit Uitgeverij, Amsterdam 1995.
  4. ↑ Civilization and decivilization in Bosnia. In: Ethnologia Europaea. Volume 27: 2, 1997; Holy Mary and Medjugorje's Rocketeers. In: Ethnologia Europaea. Volume 30: 1, 2000.
  5. ^ Norbert Mappes-Niediek : War in Bosnia. The dead who did not exist ( Memento from September 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Frankfurter Rundschau . August 27, 2008.
  6. ↑ Ivica Radoš: Fikcija, a ne povijest ( Memento from August 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Jutarnji list . August 10, 2008.
  7. ^ Richard de Boer: Het kaartenhuis van hoogleraar Bax. de Volkskrant, April 13, 2013, archived from the original on December 14, 2013 ; Retrieved on September 24, 2013 (Dutch, "The house of cards des Hochschullehrers Bax").
  8. ↑ Richard de Boer and Maarten Keulemans: Veldstudie VU-anthropoloog Bax zit vol onwaarheden. de Volkskrant, April 13, 2013, accessed on September 24, 2013 (Dutch, “VU anthropologist Bax's field study is full of untruths”).
  9. ↑ Academici frauderen vaker dan institutes meldden - VU onderzoekt mogelijke fraude. In: NRC Handelsblad . October 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ Michiel Baud, Susan Legêne, Peter Pels: Draaien om de werkelijkheid: Report over het anthropological work of prof. em. MMG Bax. Amsterdam, September 9, 2013 ( vu.nl ( Memento from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 1.3 MB, accessed on September 19, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Circumventing Reality: Report on the Anthropological Work of Professor Emeritus MMG Bax by Michiel Baud, Susan Legêne, and Peter Pels, Amsterdam, September 9, 2013, commissioned by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , official English language version of the final report.
  12. ^ Andreas Ernst: The fairy tale of Medjugorje. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . 20th December 2013.
  13. ↑ Circumventing Reality, p. 34.
  14. ↑ Circumventing Reality, pp. 38–41.
  15. ↑ Circumventing Reality, pp. 37-38.
  16. ↑ disgraceful and unethical scientific conduct according to the official English version, Circumventing Reality, p. 38.
personal data
SURNAME Bax, Mart
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bax, Mart MG
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch anthropologist, professor of political anthropology
DATE OF BIRTH 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Zutphen