Anti-Gender Mobilizations in the Post-Yugoslav Space: Hidden Connection (Global Queer Politics)

The open access book sheds light on the diverse forms of anti-gender mobilization in the post-Yugoslav space by exploring its historical trajectories, cultural variances, and different religious frames. It offers a meticulous comparative analysis of seven post-socialist countries that shared a common history, which collapsed through wars and through their different paths to “Europeanisation.” Gender scholars and activists have never ceased to build and rebuild ties across the new borders, fighting for freedom of speech, human rights and against their local nationalisms. Today, however, it is precisely the ultraconservative forces that speak the same language of rights but with diametrically opposing illiberal goals. The fiercest opponents in all other respects, the post-Yugoslav ultraconservatives agree that the major threat lies in the specter of “gender.” This volume tells a story about gender as a post-Yugoslav “symbolic glue.” It advances knowledge in the area of anti-gender mobilizations and offers helpful insights for academics, researchers, and policymakers alike. 

Roman Kuhar is Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Adriana Zaharijević is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, Serbia.