*CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS**Post-Yugoslav Feminist Activism in the 21**st** Century*
*Editors of the collective volume:* Zorica Sirocic (University of Graz) and Libora Oates-Indruchová (University of Graz)
The development of an explicitly feminist positioning already in the 1970s and the existence of initiatives alternative to the agenda of the state women’s organizations is what distinguishes the former Yugoslavia from
other countries of the former Eastern bloc with respect to women’s activism. This activism received a powerful impetus in the 1990s from the violent transition of the successor countries of federal Yugoslavia. It was
the latter rather than the legacy of the Yugoslav women’s movement that influenced the direction of feminist theory as well as activism in the 1990s. They both focused primarily on the interconnections between patriarchy, nationalism and war. Many feminist activists and academics of the 1990s positioned themselves against the nationalist politics of the successor states’ governments and, as such, were in the spotlight of the international academic and political attention. Consequently, this attention produced a wealth of feminist research and theory.
By contrast, the period since 2000 has received far less research attention. Yet, the change of political climate in the post-Yugoslav territory has been accompanied by several important transformations within feminist activism in this time. These include, for example, the full or partial re-establishment of state feminist mechanisms, while a number of the non-governmental and grassroots groups founded in the 1990s also continued their work. Further, new forms of feminist activism appeared, identifying ‘with’ and ‘against’ both their predecessors and international trends. Last, but not least, traditional opponents to feminist politics
formed alliances with new counter-movements (‘anti-gender’ mobilizations) in challenging women’s reproductive rights and the rights of LGBT population.
The collection *Post-Yugoslav Feminist Activism in the 21**st** Century *aims to fill this gap in research attention by focussing on the variety of feminist activism since 2000 in the post-Yugoslav territory. By feminist
activism, we mean individual and group actors that use disruptive and conventional tactics to contest gender-based arrangements of domination and subordination in society. Topics of interest include, but are not limited
to, the following:
- Continuities and discontinuities in the organisational, ideological and tactical repertoires of feminist activism in the post-Yugoslav territory since 2000;
- Generational, organisational and ideological dynamics within the movement, such as, strategies of exclusion and inclusion or narratives of loss/progress;
- The reach and target audience of the activist initiatives (local, regional, national, international), and the campaigns of contemporary feminists;
- Understanding, representation and mobilisation of central feminist and intersectional concepts, such as, gender, sex, sexuality, ethnicity, class and age in these feminist events and campaigns;
- Manifestations of different feminist traditions (radical, liberal, socialist, Marxist, cyber, queer and others);
- Cooperation of feminist groups with state feminist actors, political parties and unions;
- Linkages between the art scene and academia;
- Alliances and divergences between feminist activists, women’s movements; movements challenging hegemonic norms of gender and sexuality (LGBTQIA) and other social movements;
- Interactions of counter-movements (‘anti-gender’ mobilizations) with feminist activism.
We welcome original contributions from social sciences, cultural studies, history or related disciplines that bring together gender analysis and the analysis of social mobilizations. We are looking forward to receiving
comparative, trans-national or case studies that draw on qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods research, as well as theoretical reflections.
We invite 300-word abstracts for book chapters of around 8,000 words on the topic of contemporary post-Yugoslav feminist practice. We will be submitting a proposal for the collective volume to a reputable
international academic publisher, aiming at publication in late 2018.
Please send abstracts to: z.sirocic@uni-graz.at
and libora.oates-indruchova@uni-graz.at
by *March 1, 2017*.
*Key dates and deadlines:*
Abstract submission March 1, 2017
Notification on acceptance of abstracts April 1, 2017
Full versions of book chapters due September 1, 2017
Editors’ feedback October 31, 2017
Final versions due
January 31, 2018
*About the editors: **Libora Oates-Indruchová * is Professor of Sociology of Gender at the Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria. *Zorica Sirocic *is a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria. In her dissertation project she studies feminist festivals as a strategic research site for contemporary post-Yugoslav feminist activism.
