UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 7th Annual International Postgraduate Conference
Inclusion Exclusion
Saturday 18 February 2:30 – 4:00: Panel
K3: Sexualities The demise of Yugoslavia and the intensification of nationalist
trends, together with the economic crisis, have triggered in the last
two decades a re-traditionalisation process in Serbian culture and
society. Such phenomenon has invested with particular intensity the
sphere of family and gender relations, with re-patriarchalisation and
nationalist revivals acting coherently as factors of rigid codification
of gender roles. The emphasis on a patriarchal model of community and national
homogeneity is potentially threatened by homosexuality: the homosexual
person does not fit in the gender role rhetoric of a nation made by
Soldiers and Mothers. Furthermore, the homosexual couple testifies, by
its very existence, the presence of otherness and the plurality of
interpersonal and social relational models. Its social relevance lies
in the fact that, by questioning the codification of gender roles and
the hierarchic dichotomy male/female, it threatens the entire set of
hierarchies constructing the model of national community. On the other hand, globalisation and increasing access to mass-media
(and, of course, the Internet) have been fostering action and
communication by and between homosexual individuals and groups.
Enhanced visibility implies more opportunities, but also a stronger
reaction by the more conservative strata of society. The aim of the
present research is to analyse the emergence of a queer culture in
Serbia and its strategies to cope with the conflicting factors of re-traditionalisation
and globalisation.Irene Dioli
(University of Bologna): ‘LGBT movements and queer culture in
Serbia:between re-traditionalisation and globalisation'