Utjecaj digitalnih tehnologija na iskustvo avanture među zaljubljenicima u outdoor aktivnosti u Hrvatskoj

This article investigates the influence of digital technologies on the experience of adventure in outdoor activities at a time when outdoor activities are becoming increasingly popular in Croatia. Based on ethnographic research conducted among outdoor enthusiasts and new adventurers, adventure tour guides, and adventure sports practitioners in Croatia, this paper aims to show some of the ways in which the widespread use of digital media and technologies, from social networks to smart watches, affects us and the perception, concepts, and practices of adventure in Croatia.Ovaj članak istražuje utjecaj digitalnih tehnologija na iskustvo avanture u aktivnostima na otvorenom u vrijeme porasta popularizacije outdoor aktivnosti u Hrvatskoj. Na temelju etnografskog istraživanja provedenog među ljubiteljima outdoora i novopečenim avanturistima, pustolovnim turističkim vodičima i praktičarima avanturističkih sportova u Hrvatskoj, ovaj rad ima za cilj prikazati neke od načina na koje raširena uporaba digitalnih medija i tehnologija, od društvenih mreža do pametnih satova, utječe na nas i na percepciju, koncepcije i prakse avanture u Hrvatskoj

Poststructuralist discourse theory through discussion on the introduction of the concept of ‘marriage’ in the Croatian Constitution

Poststrukturalistička teorija diskursa kao koncept i metodologija, na mala vrata, sramežljivo i još uvijek nailazeći na odbijanje, ulazi u humanističke i društvene znanstvenoistraživačke krugove u Hrvatskoj. Nakon pregleda razvoja teorije diskursa, ovim će se radom kroz opis primjera diskurzivne borbe oko uvođenja definicije braka u hrvatski Ustav 2013. godine čitatelju nastojati približiti osnovne ideje poststrukturalističke teorije diskursa te njezine slabe točke. U članku ćemo uputiti i na to da je uz diskurzivnu borbu u slučaju uvođenja definicije braka u Ustav riječ i o pokušaju pritiska na biopolitiku države i o opasnoj biopolitičkoj borbi usmjerenoj protiv gay osoba.The discourse theory still occupies a rather marginal position and faces considerable scepticism in the Croatian academic community. By examining the core arguments of the discourse theory, this paper aims to transform the present attitude. The discourse theory assumes that every linguistic and non-linguistic production (including speeches, reports, manifestos, historical events, ideas, interviews, archives, policies, documents, organizations and institutions, narratives in museums, motion pictures, etc.) represents discursive forms which constitute a ‘discourse’ and its ‘reality’. Based on Foucault’s theoretical legacy, and by elaborating the concept of discourse as defined in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s Hegemony and social strategy, the discourse theory uses discursive forms to “describe, understand, and explain how and why particular discursive formations were constructed, stabilized and transformed“ (Torfing 2005:19). Recent discussion on the definition of marriage in Croatia and its introduction in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia serves as a particular and specific example which has allowed the examination of the main aspects of the concept in this paper

Politics of sexuality: response to phantasm of endangered nation or something more? (Summary)

Analizom dominantnog diskursa o seksualnosti u radu se opisuje politika seksualnosti u Hrvatskoj od 1990. godine do danas uobličena u natalitetnu politiku države i Crkve. Tom se politikom nastoji upravljati populacijom i upućuje se na ambivalentnost tog procesa.The principal aim of the article is to examine politics of the body and sexuality in contemporary Croatia. Croatia, like many other East European countries, is often described as a country in transition, undergoing many changes.   Among these changes, I would like to examine the changes of the politics of sexuality in dominant discourses after the foundation of the new Croatian state and to show how these discourses form a new social reality using demographic politics or, in Foucault’s words, bio-power to save the nation from extinction

Public Politics as Commons. Investigating the Possibilities of Political Emancipation in the Conditions of Narrowed Civil Liberties in Croatia

U suvremenim teorijama društva sve se češće može naići na tvrdnje da u neoliberalnim uređenjima javni politički prostor nestaje ili se sve više sužava te da se nastoji izgraditi političnost građana utemeljena na patriotizmu i nekritičkom stavu prema radu vlasti. Biopolitičke strukture neoliberalnih režima stvaraju i koriste se nepovoljnim društveno-ekonomskim uvjetima, općom prekarnošću, nestabilnim uvjetima rada i života te komodifikacijom roba i usluga kako bi disciplinirale građane, učinile ih poslušnima i nekritičnima, kako bi upravljale njima. Procesi sužavanja političkih sloboda vidljivi su u brojnim zemljama danas, pa tako i u Hrvatskoj, i to posebno na području reproduktivnih prava i sloboda seksualnih i rodnih manjina. S druge strane, javljaju se novi oblici organiziranja građanstva kojima se pokušava spriječiti sužavanje stečenih građanskih sloboda. U ovom radu autorica se pita može li se nacionalnim politikama seksualnosti pristupiti kao zajedničkom dobru (commons) kojim upravljaju građani. Može li se time postići ono čemu teže queer politike, a to je da se sferu intimnog i seksualnog života građana učini slobodnom od državne i institucionalne kontrole, a da se istovremeno građanstvu vrati političnost?In contemporary social theory, there are often claims that in neoliberal regimes, the public political space is disappearing or is becoming increasingly narrow, and a politically engaged citizenry is being replaced by patriotism and an uncritical stance regarding how governments operate. The biopolitical structures of neoliberal regimes are creating and using unfavourable socio-economic conditions, general precariousness, unstable working and living conditions, and the commodification of goods and services to discipline citizens and make them obedient and uncritical. These processes are visible in many countries today, including Croatia, and particularly in the areas of reproductive rights and freedoms for sexual and gender minorities. However, there are new forms of civic organization that have become a barrier to this narrowing of civil liberties. This paper poses the question of whether we can approach national politics of sexuality as a form of commons that are created and managed by citizens. Can this approach contribute to what queer politics entail? Specifically, can it widen a sphere of sexual and intimate life that is freed from state and institutional control and return political engagement to the citizenry

Queer Activism and the Transformation of the City: How the LGBTIQ Community is Fighting for Its Space in the City of Zagreb

U knjizi Arhitektura i disjunkcija Bernard Tschumi (2004) upozorio je na važnu ulogu koju arhitektura i organizacija prostora imaju u stvaranju i ograničavanju osobne i političke slobode građana, a koju on nazva nasiljem arhitekture. Naime, prostor i događaji koji se zbivaju u nekom prostoru međusobno utječu jedni na druge. Opisujući javni prostor kao produkt društvenih sila i kao mjesto koje ima “aktivnu ulogu u stvaranju i reproduciranju društvenih identiteta, kao što i društveni identiteti, značenja i odnosi stvaraju materijalna i simbolička mjesta”, Gill Valentine (2002) razlikuje tri razine prostora: materijalnu, regulatornu i performativnu. U ovom radu propitivat ćemo kako te tri razine prostora korespondiraju s queer zajednicom u gradu Zagrebu. Propitivat ćemo kako se LGBTIQ udruge organiziraju u materijalnom prostoru i koliko ih Grad Zagreb u tome podržava, a kako se bore za svoja prava i slobode u areni regulativnog prostora odnosno javnih politika. Istražit ćemo i kako queer aktivizam mobilizira performativni potencijal prostora kako bi transformirao grad Zagreb iz heteroseksualnog prostora u prostor kulturne različitosti, odnosno prostor koji uključuje nehetero ili queer seksualne identitete.According to architect Bernand Tschumi, architecture and the organization of space play a significant role in the creation and limitation of personal and political freedom. Tschumi refers to this power of architecture over citizens as ‘violence of architecture’. Space and events which happen in a particular space influence each other. Gill Valentine describes public spaces as the product of social forces. Just like place has an active role in the creation and reproduction of social identities, social identities, meanings and relations create material and symbolic spaces, notices Valentine. Further, Gill Valentine distinguishes three levels of space: material, regulatory and performative. In this paper I will try to demonstrate how these three levels of space correspond to the queer community in the city of Zagreb. First, I describe how queer groups organize in material spaces of the city and how the city authorities support their organization on the material space level. Then, I present how queer groups use regulatory space, i.e. public policies, to accomplish rights and freedoms that straight citizens already have and take for granted. And finally, I describe how queer activism is mobilizing the performative level of space in order to transform the city of Zagreb from a straight heterosexual space to a space of cultural differences, i.e. a space which includes non-hetero or queer sexual identities

“Highlander Adventure of a Lifetime”. Adventure in a Time of Commodification of Outdoor Activities

Planinarenje i alpinizam su aktivnosti odavno prisutne u Hrvatskoj. Prije desetak godina pojavio se novi trend koji na temelju neoliberalne ekonomske politike popularizira planinarske aktivnosti izvan postojećih planinarskih klubova, Hrvatskog planinarskog saveza i časopisa Hrvatski planinar, što se pokazalo korisnim za turizam i cjelokupni poslovni sektor. Na temelju etnografskog istraživanja provedenog među entuzijastima outdoora, pustolovnim turističkim vodičima i praktičarima pustolovnih sportova u Hrvatskoj, te analize online sadržaja vezanih uz outdoor aktivnosti i planine, ovaj rad ispituje kakav avanturistički narativ stvaraju komercijalni pustolovni programi u Hrvatskoj te kako ti programi utječu na redefiniranje značenja avanture u vremenu komodifikacije aktivnosti na otvorenom.Hiking and mountaineering have long been present in Croatia. However, a decade ago, a new trend emerged. Based on a business mindset and neoliberal economy, this trend popularizes mountaineering activities outside and beyond long-existing mountaineering clubs, the Croatian Mountaineering Association, and the magazine Hrvatski planinar and has proved beneficial to the tourism sector and the business sector as a whole. Based on ethnographic research conducted among outdoor enthusiasts, adventure tour guides, and practitioners of adventure sports in Croatia and analysis of online content related to the outdoors and mountains, this paper examines what kind of adventure narrative is created by the commercial adventure programs in Croatia, and how these programs affect the redefinition of adventure in a time of commodification of outdoor activities