Being an Activist:Feminist Citizenship Through Transformations of Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Citizenship Regimes

The Yugoslav wars of succession have had a great impact on how feminism in the region has been researched and written about. A lot of significant research has addressed relation of feminism to (anti-) nationalism and peace-building processes, whereas the transformations of citizenship, caused by the multiple changes of the former Yugoslav citizenship regimes, were mainly out of focus. This paper will attempt to connect relevant investigations in feminist citizenship, its meaning and scope, with the alterations of citizenship regimes in the former Yugoslavia and its successor states. The assumption is that one could differentiate between three different citizenship regimes – the first framed by the socialist self-management state, the second by the nation-building processes and violent disintegration of the former state, and the last one by post-socialist, post-conflict transitional circumstances – which had also a strong impact on the uneven development of gender regimes in Yugoslavia and its successor states. Feminist citizenship is understood as a paradigm of activist citizenship which contests and challenges the meanings of citizenship itself. It will be argued that feminist citizenship has to be seen as both an effect of deep changes in citizenship regimes, but also as a constant challenge to their sedimentation. The paper will thus seek to offer an alternative reading of history of feminism in Yugoslavia and its successor states, relying mainly on the concepts of activist citizenship and citizenship regimes. It will also show that with the changes in citizenship regime the frames of interpretation change as well, changing the meaning of feminism as a political force

Judith Butler and Politics

Presents Judith Butler's interest in plurality of bodily lives and her search for a social transformation conducive to a more livable world Offers a novel understanding of Butler’ work as a call for an insurrection at the level of the real Provides a framework based on an intersection of four main pillar-concepts, performativity, agency, livable life and non-violence Reads Butler’s philosophy as centred on bodies Reads Butler’s work as a convincing counter-argument against liberal versions of ontology This book is the only monograph-length study of the work of Judith Butler to focus on the entire scope of her work, including the last decade of her writing. In light of these texts, it presents a fresh interpretation of Butler’s political thought, oriented by the idea of an insurrection at the level of the real. Chapters on ontology, performativity, agency and precariousness, a liveable life and non-violence explain how Butler’s thought has always been focused on embodied performances. Instead of seeing Butler as simply a thinker of the subversive performance of cultural scripts, the book frames her work for the twenty-first century as an ambitious and coherent egalitarian alternative to liberal political philosophy. Each chapter introduces a Butlerian concept, clarifying this in the context of critical debates, while explaining its contribution to a new social ontology whose key normative principle is a liveable life. The book explores the potential of this conceptual framework not just in relation to the politics of gender, but also to questions of social inequality, structural violence and the experience of precarity. Designed for both researchers and students, it provides a comprehensive way of accessing what is radically original about this crucial political theorist

What does the reform do? How dungeon became prison

Tekst preispituje značenje pojma reforme. Da li je reforma čin ili proces; šta je objekt reforme i kako se ona izvodi; da li je domet njenog delo- vanja ograničen ili zahvata dublje društvene strukture? Pojmu reforme se prilazi genealoški, posredstvom analize ustanovljenja institucije zatvora u Velikoj Britaniji u XVIII i XIX veku. Premda se analizira specifično razdoblje i podneblje, iz ovog mikrouzorka se izvode zaključci koji nadilaze istorijski uslovljenu analizu. Cilj teksta je da se pokaže da se reforma mora razumeti kao izraz i učinak duboke transformacije političkog, i kao obuhvatan, multi- lateralan i disperzivan proces koji prodire i na temeljen način menja postojeće društvene odnose