Can we fight together?

Contentions of gender-queer scholarship and activism in Southeast Europe

Abstract

This is a polyvocal paper exploring some of the debates, struggles, and points of contention that have shaped gender-queer scholarship and activism in Southeast Europe (SEE). One point of contention has been differential distribution of claims to progress, civilization, or Europeanness within the region, as evidenced in orientalising attitudes of various (post)Yugoslav feminists towards those from Kosovo. Another point of contention is the question of whether it is possible to articulate a joint struggle for social justice that would bring together the concern for the problems caused by unjust economic redistribution with those caused by unjust patterns of cultural recognition. With its regional focus on SEE, this paper also raises a question of what gender-queer scholars and activists in SEE reveal about progressive politics beyond the area-studies framework.