GRACANICA, Kosovo — On highway signs in areas of Kosovo dominated by ethnic Albanians, the Serbian names of towns are ominously blacked out.

Monuments to long-dead soldiers — Serb or ethnic Albanian, depending on where you are — line the roadways, often adorned with fresh flowers. It is rare to see the flag of Kosovo but common to see the colors of Serbia and Albania flying proudly.

All along the roads in this small, bitterly contested land, drivers encounter reminders of how divided, and entangled, Kosovo’s ethnic groups remain, 10 years after the territory declared its independence from Serbia, its neighbor to the north.

Now there is growing talk of making those divisions formal and partitioning Kosovo, essentially along ethnic lines. It is an idea the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia hope will settle lingering animosities 20 years after the two sides fought a war — and will be a step toward both of them joining the European Union.