MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: HOW WOMEN IN KOSOVO USED AMPLIFICATION TO ENSURE REPRESENTATION IN A NEWLY CREATED DEMOCRACY
Darlene Johnston
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
May 2020
Committee:
Sue Carter Wood, Advisor
Danielle C. Kuhl Graduate Faculty Representative
Neil Baird
Lee Nickoson ii
ABSTRACT
Sue Carter Wood, Advisor
In 2008 Kosovo gained independence and began to transition into statehood. During that transition a new constitution was created providing an opportunity for new leadership roles for
Kosovar women. In 2017, Kosovar Ambassador Teuta Sahatqija gave a speech at Ohio Northern
University’s College of Law titled “The Leadership Roles of Women in Transitional States.” It was at this speech that she shared many stories and photos illustrating the ways in which
Kosovar women were breaking silences during this transition period. This dissertation applies the lens of the rhetoric of silence and feminist rhetoric to the rhetorical moves made by women in Kosovo that Ambassador Sahatqija described in her speech. Four discussion points of the
Ambassador’s speech (artifacts) were chosen for analysis. The artifacts chosen were a story she told about the parliament women protesting a diplomatic assignment list that was only comprised of men, Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the new Kosovo Constitution, and a memorial and an art installation both dedicated to the estimated 20,000 rape victims of the Kosovo war.
Heuristic analysis of these artifacts explored the ways in which these artifacts helped women overcome silences previously placed upon them, prevent future silencing, and amplified
Kosovar women’s voices. The analysis found that each artifact gave women in Kosovo agency and empowered them to make global changes and amplify the voices of women. It found that each of the artifacts utilized social circulation, globalization, critical imagination, and strategic contemplation in ways that allowed them to de-silence women. This dissertation concludes that the implications of these rhetorical moves to overcome silences and amplify marginalized voices iii can have impact on a larger more global scale. It also suggests ways that we can incorporate the same movements in our classrooms in order to continue to amplify previously silenced voices and help our students find their own voice.
iv
For Daphne and Bill
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is important for me to first acknowledge and thank all of the strong female voices that have guided me throughout my life. To my many teachers, mentors, family members, and friends. You have taught me strength, resilience, grit, and how to use my voice. Thanks to Mrs.
Denise Wiley who in third grade told me that my writing was important. Thank you to Dr. Mi
Yung Yoon, Dr. Kathy Barbour, and Dr. Dee Goertz who taught me about strong female figures in politics, literature, history, and theory, and that they can sometimes be the same person. Thank you to the late Dr. Beverly Hume who taught me to look for those who were not in the canon and find gems among pseudonyms and mad women in the attic.
I also want to thank my family. Thank you to my mother and father for instilling in me the love of learning and searching for answers by always answering any of my questions with
“go look it up.” To my amazing husband Bill and wonderful daughter Daphne, thank you for the encouragement and for cheering me on every step of the way. Your support made this possible.
Thank you also to Bill for the push to chase my dreams and forget my fears.
Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank all of my amazing professors and classmates at Bowling Green State University. To my classmates thank you for your advice, collaborations, listening ears, and supportive shoulders. To my professors and committee, you have taught me so much and I hope to represent you well. Thank you especially to Dr. Sue Carter
Wood for your guidance and patience with me through this process. You were a steady voice and helped me through frantic e-mails, tears, and imposter syndrome. Thank you for believing in me and steering to calm waters. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER I: KOSOVO A CROSS-SECTION OF DESILENCING WOMEN ...... 1
Introduction ...... 1
Purpose of this Project and Overview of Chapter I ...... 2
The History of Kosovo...... 2
Why Kosovo?...... 5
Research Questions ...... 6
Brief Method and Methodology...... 6
Literature Review...... 8
Rhetoric of Silence ...... 8
Monuments ...... 12
Amplification ...... 15
Summary of Chapters ...... 17
Limitations ...... 18
Significance and Possible Benefits of Project ...... 19
CHAPTER II: FEMINIST RHETORIC BASED HEURISTIC ANALYSIS ...... 22
Methodology ...... 55
Rhetoric of Silence ...... 22
Feminist Rhetorical Practices ...... 24
Amplification ...... 25
Research Questions ...... 27
Methods...... 27 vii
Heuristics ...... 28
The Speech and Artifacts ...... 22
The Memorial Heroinat...... 24
“Thinking of You” Art Installation ...... 36
Kosovo Constitution ...... 37
Article 7 [Values] ...... 37
Article 22 [Direct Applicability of International Agreements and
Instruments] ...... 37
Article 37 [Right to Marriage and Family] ...... 38
Parliament Women’s Protest...... 39
Conclusion ...... 42
CHAPTER III: THE SOCIAL CIRCULATION AND GLOBALIZATION OF THE
PARLIAMENT PROTEST AND THE KOSOVO CONSISTITUTION ...... 43
Introduction ...... 43
The Speech, Artifacts, and their Contexts ...... 45
Parliament Women’s Protest...... 46
Kosovo Constitution Articles 7, 22, and 37 ...... 48
Social Circulation...... 50
Globalization ...... 55
Discussion ...... 58
Conclusion ...... 59
viii
CHAPTER IV: THE STRATEGIC CONTEMPLATION AND CRITICAL IMAGINATION
OF THE HEROINAT MEMORIAL AND THINKING OF YOU ART INSTALLATION 61
Introduction ...... 61
Heroinat Memorial ...... 62
“Thinking of You” Art Installation ...... 64
Critical Imagination ...... 66
Strategic Contemplation...... 72
Discussion ...... 81
CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE AMPLIFICATION ...... 83
Introduction ...... 83
Summary of Findings ...... 83
Implications for Future Research ...... 93
Call to Scholars ...... 94
Using Heuristics Based on the Matrices ...... 95
Encouraging Students to Look for Silences ...... 95
Conclusion ...... 98
WORKS CITED ...... 100
APPENDIX A: TRANSCRIPT OF AMBASSADOR SAHATQIJA’S SPEECH ...... 104
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1.1 “War in Kosovo”...... 4
2.1 The Memorial Heroinat...... 35
2.2 “Thinking of You” Art Installation ...... 36
4.1 “Thinking of You” Memorial ...... 64
4.2 Woman Walking Among Skirts and Dresses...... 68
4.3 Memorial Side View ...... 68
4.4 Close up of Memorial ...... 69
4.5 The Face of the Memorial ...... 71
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
2.1 Research Question and Means of Analysis ...... 32
5.1 Research Question One and Data ...... 84
5.2 Social Circulation and Globalization Data ...... 85
5.3 Research Question Two and Data ...... 87
5.4 Critical Imagination and Strategic Contemplation Data ...... 89
1
CHAPTER I: KOSOVO A CROSS-SECTION OF DESILENCING WOMEN
Introduction
On March 13, 2017 I went to a formal dinner for work. The law school where I taught had a grant that sponsors a Legal Pedagogy Program for Kosovar lawyers who plan to teach law in their country. We were hosting the ambassador of Kosovo, Teuta Sahatqija. Ambassador
Sahatqija oversees the Kosovo Consulate in New York City and serves as a liaison with the
United Nations. As I sat at that table and listened to all of the amazing stories that this incredibly powerful woman was sharing, I immediately was reminded of my studies in the rhetoric of silence and Royster and Kirsch’s methodological understanding of feminist rhetoric. She spoke of moments of protest, of paying careful attention to the words in the new Constitution that she helped create, and did not once let any of the men at the table make unnecessary comments about women. She was strong and vocal and inspiring.
The next day she gave a speech to the law school where she shared some of the same stories and many others. The ways in which the women in her speech refused to be silenced perfectly illustrate those voices that carry history, memory, and cultural traditions that should be documented according to Royster and Kirsch. Ambassador Sahatqija’s speech gave examples of art, monuments, legislation, and a protest held by women in the parliament during the transition to independence. One of her main points both when I met with her and when she spoke was that if a new country is creating a new constitution, it is easier to stop gender inequality before it starts - with the initial drafting of the constitution- but women need to fill those leadership positions that give them the agency to do just that. She said it is important to put your voice into everything in the beginning before anyone has a chance to silence you. The ambassador was standing on a stage in a moot court room in a law school in a small town in Ohio and embodying 2 the theories I had been studying for two years as a graduate student. I immediately decided that her speech would be the epicenter of my dissertation.
Purpose of this Project and Overview of Chapter I
Using information from Ambassador Sahatqija’s speech, this dissertation will analyze rhetorical movements the women of Kosovo made during the transition to statehood. The speech was recorded and uploaded to You Tube. It will serve as the primary resource for this dissertation. This chapter will discuss the history of Kosovo and provide a review of literature that informs this project. My analysis is situated within the rhetoric of silence, feminist rhetoric, and memory. It is also reliant on the rhetorical strategy of amplification which I define for the purposes of this paper. I then provide an overview of upcoming chapters and explain the significance of this project as well as the limitations and benefits.
The History of Kosovo
In order to appreciate the rhetorical movements women in Kosovo both have made and are currently making, it is important to understand what they are trying to overcome. In the
1980s and early 1990s tensions between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians began to mount as the minority population of Albania began to grow. A decade earlier a shift in wealth and elite status began between Serbian clans who served the Ottoman Empire and minority Albanians benefitting from a new era in which minority rights were acknowledged. Political shifts in the region also increased the strain between populations as “the disintegration of federal Yugoslavia and the strengthening of all nationalist movements led to open conflicts and civil war in the territories of the former federation” (Vickers xiv). Serbia at this time tried to re-establish dominance over Kosovo while Albanian Kosovars sought to create an independent Republic of
Kosovo. Population swings and border changes resulted in Albanians making up 90% of 3
Kosovo’s population by 1991 and Yugoslavia’s population of Albanians grew from one third to nearly half of the entire Albanian nation (Vickers xv). During this time, the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) was formed.
As the 1990s continued, the KLA targeted Serbian police and politicians eventually leading to severe repercussions from Yugoslav armed forces. By 1998 Serbian officials and
Yugoslav forces began to systematically target ethnic Albanians. Villages were burned to the ground while its inhabitants were abducted, raped, and massacred. Ambassador Sahatqija lived through the war and was even exiled for a time. In her speech, she describes the experience.
After (President Josip Broz) Tito's death in 1980 all constitutive part of Yugoslavia fell
under one president and Kosovo fell under Yugoslavia in 86/87. In 1989 Kosovo’s
authority was suppressed, universities and secondary schools that primarily used the
Albanian language were closed. Albanian professionals and intellectuals were fired (mass
firing) Discriminatory laws allowed for Albanians to lose jobs, homes, etc.
The ambassador referred to it as an intellectual apartheid that led to an organized peaceful resistance where houses, churches, and mosques became schools and hospitals (“The Leadership
Roles of Women in Transitional States", 14:39-17:16). She goes on to explain that the world became aware of the grave human rights situation in Kosovo under Milochivek’s regime and credits women activists who had incredible impact in the peaceful resistance. Women served as organizers of the resistance. They led protests and spearheaded humanitarian work, focusing on education and health. Women during this time became aware of their power.
Sahatqija said this time “Transformed [the women] from those who care only about their family to the ones who takes care of our community, They became the leaders and active participants in public life and preparing themselves for taking their part in freedom and building 4 the state” (15:30-15:56). The ambassador also spoke of the time of exodus when one million
Albanians were thrown out of Kosovo. She was one of those Kosovars forced to leave her home and her country. She shared an image of a Time magazine cover. On it was a photo of a mother breastfeeding her baby while trekking through the mountains with her fellow refugees with a look of grave concern on her face.
Figure 1.1 “War in Kosovo”
Ambassador Sahatqija said that she specifically chose this image out of the many images of the
Kosovo war to show the strength and resilience of the women of Kosovo during this time.
Millions of Albanian Kosovars were displaced and fled the country for their lives. The world took notice and NATO responded with a controversial bombing campaign. What followed was long road of international collective action and treaties.
In 2008 Kosovo became an independent state. They celebrated their 10 year anniversary
February 17, 2018. As a new transitioning state, the women of Kosovo realized this was their 5 chance to bring about change at the inception of the country. In “(Re)gendering Memories of the
Kosovo Liberation Army: he silenced Guerilla of Women,” Virginia Stephens explores the silencing and lack of visibility of the female combatants that participated in the Kosovo War. She argues that the women of Kosovo need to defend their history and their time fighting in order to preserve their place in collective memory. Ambassador Sahatqija shares examples of the women of Kosovo defending their history and preserving their place in collective memory through acts of amplification in her speech. Her speech is the focal point of this dissertation, and the artifacts examined are those that the ambassador shared with lawyers and students from around the world; thus amplifying these acts to a large audience. This dissertation is going to explore the rhetorical moves made by some of the acts that she mentions.
Why Kosovo?
It is important to note that while this project explores the rhetorical moves made by the women of Kosovo, it is not arguing that Kosovo is a perfect example of women who have equal rights and are no longer silenced. There is much more that the women of Kosovo must fight to overcome including property rights. What Kosovo does give us is a snapshot of a bigger movement occurring in the world. Women are speaking up more and amplifying each other through social media, marches, art, and politics. What Ambassador Sahatqija highlights in her speech is that when a country is newly transitioning to statehood and creating a new constitution, that it is an opportune time to fix past wrongs and build in equal rights for those marginalized from the beginning. Her stories and examples reflect this swift action to create moments of noise after a period of silencing. The actions that she discusses in her speech have already created impact and ripple effects across the globe. I argue that it is worth watching Kosovo and how 6 these actions and rhetorical moves continue to impact not only the women of Kosovo, but also the much larger women’s movement that is occurring worldwide.
Research Questions
I was already inspired by Ambassador Sahatqija after the dinner, but her speech the following night made me think even more about overcoming silences placed upon women and amplifying women’s voices. Her speech was uploaded to YouTube making it available to even more people and allowing me to view it several times. Every time I listened to it, I found more examples of not only theories discussed in the rhetoric of silence, but also Royster and Kirsch’s four matrices and 3Rs. Using these as a lens, I decided I wanted to analyze her speech as an example of rhetorical moves made by women to overcome silencing for my dissertation and crafted my research questions.
The questions that this dissertation aim to answer are as follows:
1. In what ways can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech be seen as
attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing?
2. How can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech help us understand
how to amplify the voices of those who have been previously silenced?
Brief Method and Methodology
The aim of this study is to analyze the rhetorical movements made by women as Kosovo transitioned to statehood in the early 2000s. While her speech covers many rhetorical actions and the speech itself is its own action, I have limited this study to four moments which I will henceforth refer to as artifacts. The artifacts I have chosen are the Memorial Heroinat, a monument dedicated to the women in the Kosovo War; the Thinking of You art instillation, an outdoor art piece that was created in honor of the rape victims of the war; specific articles in the 7 new Kosovo constitution dedicated to equality for women and other marginalized groups; and a protest led by Ambassador Sahatqija to ensure diplomatic female representation. I have analyzed each of these artifacts utilizing heuristics. I chose heuristics as my mode of analysis because it allows for a consistent and deeper understanding of events and their far-reaching impact. Clark
Moustakas explains the value of heuristic research as follows:
In heuristic methodology one seeks to obtain qualitative depictions that are at the heart
and depths of a person’s experience-depictions of situations, events, conversations,
relationships, thoughts, values, and beliefs. A heuristics quest enables the investigator to
collect excerpts or entire passages from documents, correspondence, records, and case
histories...such qualitative methods enable the researcher to derive the raw material of
knowledge and experience from the empirical world. (38)
Therefore, I wanted to create heuristic questions to help better understand the significance of the rhetorical moves that the women of Kosovo were making during their transitions to statehood.
I decided to create my questions using Royster and Kirsch’s four matrices of methodological strategies in feminist rhetoric as a framework. I chose Royster and Kirsch’s four matrices because within them is a call to scholars to begin recording and redefining what rhetorical movements made by women are. They challenge scholars to look beyond the alphabetic text and to draw attention to rhetorical actions being made by women that may otherwise be overlooked. By applying the framework of the four matrices, I was able to analyze the artifacts through the lens of feminist rhetoric and identify the significance of each event. The analysis of the artifacts is divided into two areas: overcoming silence, and amplification. There will be a more in depth discussion of the methods used in this project in Chapter 2. 8
Literature Review
My guiding sources will be Royster and Kirsch’s Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Glenn and Ratcliffe’s Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts, and Glenn’s Unspoken: A Rhetoric of
Silence. These three texts will be the foundational sources that will inform my approach. Glenn and Ratcliffe provide the scholarship on both purposeful and enforced silence and how scholars can explore and analyze those silences. These main texts directly inform my study by creating a framework for engaging with the artifacts and identifying their rhetorical impact at a global level. This scholarship allows me to illustrate the ways in which the Ambassador and the artifacts she mentions in her speech invite the audience into a rhetorical space. I also explore the importance of monuments and public memory as the spaces in which these artifacts situate themselves in Kosovo.
Rhetoric of Silence
The systematic silencing of populations is a tactic that those in powers have utilized for centuries. From the burning of library of Alexandria to Jim Crow voting laws, silencing has often been connected to acts of political gain. With the recognition of the rhetoric of silence and the emergence of feminist rhetoric came the call to recover, restore, and reintroduce voices that were previously buried in archives, ignored, or hidden for preservation. The rhetorical canon is beginning to change with this movement and Eastern philosophers, people of color, and women are being represented on the pages giving scholars a richer knowledge base. However, a disparity still exists. In their text Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Jacqueline Royster and Gesa E. Kirsch challenge modern researchers and scholars to create a rhetorical space to give agency and visibility to women in the public sphere. They also emphasize that more than just written work should be recognized. “In other words, important rhetorical work in this organization is 9 occurring around the collecting of oral-history narratives, as a primary instrument for amplifying voices of the community in recognition that these voices carry history, memory, and cultural traditions and should be documented, heard, and accredited” (49). When history, memory, and politics are documented, it is important to recognize when those voices that had been silenced resist.
Cheryl Glenn makes the argument that the vocal Western culture links speech with authority and silence with passive agreement; yet she argues that silence could mean more.
Exploring the rhetoric of silence began with Max Picard’s book, The World of Silence in 1948.
He argues that knowledge and silence are inseparable, “Knowledge wasn’t torn out of silence; it was still in relationship with silence. It was as it were prepared with the ingredients of silence and therefore still belonged to silence” (75). When entire groups are silenced either in society or in the canon, there is a danger in losing valuable knowledge. In a 2009 Ted Talk, author
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses the danger of a single story. She begins her talk by sharing her experience growing up only knowing children’s books written by white Europeans and not seeing any stories of children like her who have never seen snow and who eat mangos instead of apples. She argues that there is a danger when only one population is represented in the written word. The rhetoric of silence explores this danger and how populations that have largely been ignored have used rhetoric to overcome being silenced.
Silence is very closely tied to politics and the legal system. The Miranda Rights phrase
“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can be used against you in the court of law” is heard in every cop show in the United States. Similarly in every British police show you can hear the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act: "You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely 10 on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." Many constitutions and courts have a right to silence in order to avoid self-incrimination. All of these acts and rights are a way to use silence as protection. In “What Does Silence Signify? Investigating the Rhetoric of Silence in
Berghuis v. Thompkins,” Shelby Bell explores the communicative nature of silence and Grice’s maxims to understand in some situations the risks purposeful silence can hold. She argues that in this particular case, hours of purposeful silence held no power or weight against one ambiguous utterance. Furthermore, in “Silence: A Rhetorical Art for Resisting Discipline(s)” Cheryl Glenn argues that silence can be a specifically feminist rhetorical art, often one of resistance. I make such an argument despite the fact that our talkative western culture equates speech with civilization itself, gendering speaking as masculine and silence as feminine. That said, I don't see speech as always masculine or powerful, nor do I see silence as always feminist-let alone always successful.
Glenn argues that while it can be a tool of resistance, silence may not always be the best defense against systemic silencing. In Language and Woman’s Place, Robin Lakoff argues that there are actually two kinds of silencing. There is the silencing where women are not allowed to use the same words or phrases as men or their “ideas and intentions can’t be fully realized because they aren’t given the same kind of weight that men’s ideas and intentions are” (42).
Many women are using amplification as a strategy for overcoming silences and give their ideas the weight they deserve. Women who worked in the White House during President Obama’s administration found a way to make sure their words ideas were given equal weight. In The
Washington Post in 2016, Julie Eilperin discusses an off the record comment she heard about women working in the White House during President Obama’s administration coming up with a strategy to be heard during meetings, “they devised a strategy called “amplification” to hammer 11 across one another’s points during meetings. After one woman offered an idea, if it wasn’t acknowledged, another woman would repeat it and give her colleague credit for suggesting it.”
(How a White House women’s office strategy went viral). When she first wrote about this strategy, it took off and women replied with ways they have amplified their female coworkers’ voices as well... She follows up by saying,
During a recent office training session, Katzman referred to my report. ‘We made sure
they heard that story, and so they know what to do when they see someone try to do that
to a woman…the bank is enlisting men as well as women in addressing this issue. On the
one hand, we want to give voice to women. But on the other hand, we want to make sure
men have the skill to listen and to hear. And perhaps “amplification” will eventually
become yet another obsolete workplace tradition — just like mimeograph machines — in
the White House and everywhere else, for that matter.
Amplification is a way for populations being silenced to ensure they have a voice. This project explores the ways in which women in Kosovo have used amplification to make sure the voices of
Kosovar women past and present are heard.
“Language uses us as much as we use language.” Robin Tolmach Lakoff used these words to begin her book, Language and Woman’s Place. She goes on to explain that “Speakers use language to accomplish their goals, but they are not entirely in control of their expression…
Linguistic choices, based on speakers’ judgments of who they and their interlocutors are, where they are, what they want to accomplish, and what they are talking about, in turn create human self-perceptions “(104). But what happens when the linguistic choices are not made in the spoken word, but are preserved in written form? What happens when the interlocutors have changed? Do the self-perceptions then also change? In Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Jacqueline 12
Jones Royster and Gesa Kirsch express a need for change in the canon and a recasting of previous women writers and rhetors works.
While there have been many advances in equality, silencing the female voice continues to be an issue. Yet this doesn’t mean that there are just very few women rhetors; rather there is a tradition of leaving them out of the cannon, of silencing them. Unfortunately, this has led to great loss in the world of rhetoric. Glenn addresses this loss in Silence: a Rhetorical Art for
Resisting Disciplines, “Much of the past is irrevocably silenced: gestures, conversations, and original manuscripts can never be recaptured. Silence and silencing still greet us in every library, every archive, every text, every newscast-at every turn” (261). These thoughts are echoed by
Adrienne Rich, “The silences, the empty spaces, the language itself, with its excision of the female, the methods of discourse tell us as much as the content, once we learn to watch for what is left out, to listen for the unspoken, to study the patterns of established science and scholarship with an outsider's eye” (qtd in Silence: A Rhetorical Art 261). This is why I am using Glenn and
Ratcliffe’s discussion of silence and listening as my lens and Royster and Kirsch’s four strategies as my method of discourse and analysis. This project is meant to amplify the rhetorical movements of the women in Kosovo as well as fill in those voids created by a single, masculinized story.
Monuments
Our whole discipline, relies on memory (Quintilian 11.2.1).
In Places of Public Memory, Dickinson, Blair, and Ott argue that “within the contemporary moment rhetoric, memory, and place form complex and important relations…exploring the relations among rhetoric, memory, and place is of crucial importance to understanding contemporary public culture (1). Within this project, the monument and art 13 installation explored are snapshots of a moment in time when the women of Kosovo have decided to no longer be silent. There is a purposeful shift in the culture that wants to make sure women are included in the public memory and continue to be remembered in decades to come.
The artist who designed the Memorial Heroinat described his inspiration:
Despite their tremendous sacrifice, the contribution and pain of Kosovo women during
the war has, for the most part, remained anonymous and unacknowledged. While
hundreds of monuments and memorials were erected for Kosovar men, the architectural
landscape and the history books have neglected the contribution and sacrifice of women.
They remain the unacknowledged anonymous heroines of Kosovo’s
history.”(https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=33265)
His inspiration is mirrored in Dickinson, Blair and Ott’s list of assumptions that contemporary memory scholars make, that: Blair, Dickinson, and Ott further argue that:
(1) memory is activated by present concerns, issues, or anxieties; (2) memory narrates
shared identities, constructing senses of communal belonging; (3) memory is animated by
affect; (4) memory is partial, partisan, and thus often contested; (5) memory relies on
material and/or symbolic supports; (6) memory has a history. (pg. 6)
For a long time women have been left out of public memory. As the artist of the Memorial
Heroinat mentioned, there are few monuments dedicated to women who served roles in wars and battles. There are few dedications to the heroic actions of women or female innovators or female politicians. It doesn’t mean they did not exist. They were just not cemented in public memory as so many men have in memorials and monuments around the world.
There is a privilege and power dynamic attributed to public memory that guides the narrative and stories that are passed on. “The study of memory encompasses not just ideas of 14 memory at a particular historical moment, but entire regimes of memory, ways of privileging certain types of knowledge, certain values, certain ideas, beliefs, symbols—in short, an entire cultural ethnography coalesces around the apparently innocuous ability to remember the past.
Memory serves as the locus of personal history and individual identity” (Sloane). Monuments play an important role in preserving public memory.
Some scholars advocate what they deem to be the most crucial characteristics of public
memorials. While these traits may be grouped together in various ways, in this section I
condense what I have determined to be some of the most important consensual
assumptions together into three multifaceted propositions: (1) memorials are purposeful,
partisan, and partial; (2) memorials are part of larger physical and cognitive landscapes;
and (3) memorials respond to present circumstances by educating and building identity.
(Dickinson, Blair, and Ott, 7)
This argument that memorials build identity and educate is why I choose the artifacts that I did for this project. The art installation and the memorial were designed to participate in the creation of the new identity Kosovo was creating as a transitional state. In their article “Public memorializing in postmodernity: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial as prototype,” Blair,
Jeppeson, and Pucci point out, "Public commemorative monuments . . . select from history those events, individuals, places, and ideas that will be sacralized by a culture or a polity” (8). Here, the authors note the consciousness and partiality of commemorative artifacts. Jefferson Walker goes further in his book King Returns to Washington: Exploration of Memory, Rhetoric, and
Politics in the Martin Luther, Jr. National Monument, "there is no spontaneous memory," and
"we must deliberately create archives, maintain anniversaries, organize celebrations, pronounce eulogies [and construct other types of commemorative artifacts]” (9). Rhetors mindfully decide 15 on the who, what, and how of remembering. I argue that within these artifacts the artists and creators are making purposeful rhetorical moves to ensure the Kosovar women are heard and remembered. I argue that they are amplifying silenced voices.
Amplification
Rhetorical theory describes two types of amplification, horizontal and vertical. Vertical amplification serves as a qualitative way of elevating or magnifying a subject. Quintilian discussed the four strategies for achieving vertical amplification using various strategies. All of these strategies are ways in which to convince your audience that you are the most persuasive. It includes strategies such as comparisons, hyperbole, and repetition (Sloane). This is not the type of amplification that I am exploring in this project.
Horizontal amplification is the extension of a text by the multiplication and variation of its constituents in order to heighten the rhetorical effect. Rather than focusing on the repeating of words, it focuses on the repeating of ideas. This is closer to the type of amplification that I will be exploring. I will be taking this idea into the 21st century and looking at how a group of silenced people can amplify each other to ensure they are heard, much like the women in the
Obama White House. Royster and Kirsch’s matrix of strategies helps to amplify previously silenced women in a similar way. Within Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Royster and Kirsch discuss Terese Guinsatao Monberg’s essay about Dorothy Laigo Cordova, the director of the
Demonstration Project for Asian Americans as well as the founder and executive director of the
Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS). Through FANHS, Cordova collected stories and materials to preserve Filipino American history. Monberg “proposes a form of listening that takes into account the intersectional realities of gender, race, ethnicity, and postcoloniality and that uses, in particular listening strategies that are not yoked to as the lever 16 for insight” (48). They go on to explain that Cordova’s creation of a rhetorical space is an important way to give both agency and visibility to women in the public sphere. “In other words, important rhetorical work in this organization is occurring around the collecting of oral-history narratives, as a primary instrument for amplifying voices of the community in recognition that these voices carry history, memory, and cultural traditions and should be documented, heard, and accredited” (49). Through my analysis, I will be showing the ways in which the various artifacts are used to amplify women’s roles, history, and experience in Kosovo. I will be looking at the rhetorical strategies by which the various artifacts give agency to women beyond only alphabetic text.
Royster and Kirsch’s discuss using rhetorical assaying as a metaphor that emphasizes the necessity of constructing an evidence-rich descriptive base and linking it by multiple mechanisms within the complex global matrix of normative, and perhaps non-normative, rhetorical action. In effect, the symbolic move to name, describe, and assess more thoroughly what we observe and interrogate as rhetorical action encourages us to set aside our disbeliefs about who rhetors are and what constitutes, with meaning and consequence, rhetorical action.
(16) It is important to also discuss the 3Rs previously established by Royster and Kirsch within the analysis because it set the boundaries for the four matrices. They explain that “we move beyond notions of rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription to consider the specific edges that this work has formed in remaking the landscape” (43). With the matrices, they take the ideas set forth by the 3Rs and see what scholarly possibilities exist beyond them. The 3Rs are just as important in this analysis as the four matrices because they are part of the call to scholars to
(re)inscribe what counts as rhetorical moves and to make sure that women’s voices are not 17 ignored, but are highlighted and studied as much as the male voices that have been heard for centuries.
The four matrices are critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization. These aim to make feminist and rhetorical studies more global and democratic. It’s a call to help uncover and give voices to those previously silenced as well as provide a more diverse and in-depth look at the wealth of examples available for feminist rhetorical study. The matrices provide a connection to rhetorical work worldwide both past and present. Using these ideas, I created a heuristic based off of each category in their four matrices: critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization. This heuristic was designed to identify rhetorical actions made by women and for women in Kosovo after it became an independent state. I will be analyzing the ways in which the artifacts/rhetorical actions fulfill the four matrices set forth by Royster and Kirsch and how they are examples of amplification.
Summary of Chapters
Chapter 2 discusses my methodology and rationale behind using heuristics. It explains the rationale for the artifacts chosen, the literature that informs my analysis and the ways I am using the matrix of strategies and the rhetoric of silence to analyze each artifact. It details how the project is utilizing the ideas set forth by Royster and Kirsch as well as Glenn's rhetoric of silence. It explores the four matrices of critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization. In this chapter I also introduce the research questions driving this paper as well as heuristics with which I will be analyzing the artifacts and explain how they were created while showing the connection between the heuristics, the four matrices, and amplification. 18
Chapter 3 discusses the first two artifacts, the Parliament women’s protest as detailed by
Ambassador Sahatqija and Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the new Kosovo Constitution. This section uses the heuristic questions focused on social circulation and globalization to analyze the two artifacts because they are the questions that cover overcoming previously systemic silencing and preventing future silencing. This chapter then discusses the results of the analysis and how these results answer the overarching research questions.
Chapter 4 discusses the second pair of artifacts, the Heroinat Memorial and the “Thinking of You” art installation. This chapter uses heuristic questions based on critical imagination and strategic contemplation. These heuristics are used because they focus on questions of amplification and look toward the future implications of these rhetorical moves. After the analysis, this chapter moves on to discussing the results of the analysis and how these results answer the overarching research questions.
Chapter 5 then explores the implications of what we can learn from the rhetorical moves made by women in a transitioning state such as Kosovo. It discusses ways we can look at political artifacts created by women in order to amplify their voices in other parts of the world. In this section I also show how the heuristic I created utilizing the matrices can also be applied to other movements, speeches, sculptures, and protests happening in the world in 2018.
Limitations
I first come into this project fully acknowledging that I am an outsider. That my knowledge of Kosovo comes from my students, my colleagues who go there yearly to teach, books, and the Ambassadors speech. While I have read student papers on laws and human rights issues they’d like to address in the country, and have heard their stories of what it was like during the war, I recognize that there are many sides to what occurred in the Balkans during the 19
Nineties that as an outsider, I could not even begin to grasp. I also recognize that while I am writing about Kosovo as an example of women amplifying their voices, it is still a very patriarchal society. I saw this in how my male students responded to their female professors and in student papers in which they explored the struggle women had in their country with inheritance rights and land ownership. My goal is to approach this analysis with care and consideration for the culture and country I am discussing.
I also acknowledge that I am discussing physical artifacts such as the Heroinat Memorial and the “Thinking of You” art installation without physically seeing it in person. While I have been near the border in Albania, I have not traveled to Kosovo so there has been no field research. However, the fact that I am analyzing artifacts that I have experienced through another woman’s presentation, that I was exposed to these artifacts through her speech that focused on leadership roles of women in transition states illustrates much of what this project explores. It is social circulation and globalization as well as amplification. Her speech led me to hours upon hours of research, photos, interviews, and videos discussing each artifact which led me to want to share and circulate them as well. This project in itself represents the four matrices that it uses to analyze the artifacts from the speech.
Significance and Possible Benefits of Project
This project comes at a pivotal time in feminist movements. Women worldwide are becoming more vocal and not allowing themselves or others to be silenced. They are amplifying the voices of others and refusing to be quiet. In 2006, Tarana Burke founded the Me Too movement. She wanted to “help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of color from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing”
(https://metoomvmt.org/about/#history). This global conversation exploded in 2017 after the 20
Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations story broke and actress Alyssa Milano encouraged others to use #metoo on Twitter. “This global conversation exploded in 2017 after the Harvey
Weinstein sexual abuse allegations story broke and actress Alyssa Milano encouraged others to use #metoo on Twitter. The hashtag went viral and within a week”
(https://www.newsweek.com/how-metoo-has-spread-wildfire-around-world-749171). While
Milano wasn’t at first aware of Burke’s foundation, when she found out she quickly made sure to attribute the hashtag to Burke. Burke said that:
In less than six months, because of the viral #metoo hashtag, a vital conversation about
sexual violence has been thrust into the national dialogue. What started as local
grassroots work has expanded to reach a global community of survivors from all walks of
life and helped to de-stigmatize the act of surviving by highlighting the breadth and
impact of a sexual violence worldwide. (https://metoomvmt.org/about/#history)
A hashtag and celebrity scandal suddenly gave those who were previously silent courage to share their stories and worldwide, victims were lifting each other up and amplifying each other’s’ voices.
Earlier that year, women and men around the world united in Women’s Marches following the results of the 2016 United States Presidential Election. The Women’s march has turned into its own organization with mission statements and a board of representatives. Also during the election private Facebook groups such as Pantsuit Nation were established. Pantsuit
Nation’s mission statement includes “We believe in amplifying the voices of historically underrepresented communities, and using positions of privilege to dismantle systems of oppression. We believe intersectionality is fundamental to advancing an equitable democracy”
(https://www.pantsuitnation.org/mission.html). 21
This dissertation not only adds to the conversations currently occurring in politics, pop culture, and on social media, but it also provides a framework for how to rhetorically analyze these conversations and movements. New movements and voices are being lifted up on a daily basis. My hope is this project allows future rhetors to find ways to discuss the rhetorical significance of this time period. I also hope that by recognizing the rhetorical actions made by and for women in Kosovo, to provide a new appreciation for Kosovo. I think looking to countries that are new forming in the 21st century can help older countries find ways to modernize their own living documents and amplify the voices of their own previously silenced citizens. 22
CHAPTER II: FEMINIST RHETORIC BASED HEURISTIC ANALYSIS
This chapter focuses on the framework used to analyze the rhetorical moves made through the artifacts discussed in Ambassador Sahatqija’s speech. The call to action put forth by
Royster and Kirsch’s four matrices is a solution to silencing; therefore, it seems only natural that these artifacts be analyzed using the lenses of the rhetoric of silence and feminist rhetoric. This chapter introduces the methodology informing the analysis, the research questions this paper hopes to answer, the methods used to answer those questions, and the artifacts that were textually analyzed.
Methodology
As mentioned in chapter one, this project is heavily informed by the rhetoric of silence and feminist rhetoric. It is also influenced by the rhetoric of public memory and monuments and growing focus on amplification as a way to combat attempted silencing. Feminist Rhetorical
Practices by Royster and Kirsch provides a framework for the textual analysis of the artifacts discussed in the speech.
Rhetoric of Silence
As discussed in chapter one, the rhetoric of silence is the founding theory that drives this paper. When I listened to Ambassador Sahatqija’s speech, I was reminded of a specific quote by
Cheryl Glenn in Silence: A Rhetorical Art for Resisting Discipline(s),
I argue that silence can be a specifically feminist rhetorical art, often one of resistance. I
make such an argument despite the fact that our talkative western culture equates speech
with civilization itself, gendering speaking as masculine and silence as feminine. That 23
said, I don't see speech as always masculine or powerful, nor do I see silence as always
feminist-let alone always successful. (262)
Glenn’s work on the rhetoric of silence emphasizes that the rhetoric of silence can be found beyond the written text. Silence: A Rhetorical Art for Resisting Discipline(s), is focused on women who came out of and negotiated silence(ing) in politics and sets the framework for this analysis. Using the rhetoric of silence to understand the rhetorical moves made by the women of
Kosovo helps to illustrate the ways in which women around the world can overcome silencing through political actions and representation in art and public memory. In Silence: A Rhetorical
Art for Resisting Discipline(s), Glenn quotes Anita Hill,
It is as important today as it was in 1991 that I feel free to speak. If I let me fears silence
me now, I will have betrayed all those who supported me…and those who have come
forward since. More than anything else, the Hill-Thomas hearing of October 1991 was
about finding our voices and breaking the silence forever. (271)
In this analysis, I have looked for those ways that women in Kosovo are “finding their voices and breaking the silence forever.” I wanted to see what rhetorical actions have been taken since
Kosovo’s transition to statehood. The more illustrations we see of silence breaking by women in patriarchal societies around the world, the more examples we have to continue to give voices to those that have been silenced and continue to be silenced. That is why it was important to me to look for those examples and help shine a light on them for future generations. In addition to highlighting areas where silence is being broken, I have also felt drawn to answer a call set forth by Royster and Kirsch. 24
Feminist Rhetorical Practices
For this paper my framework of methodology consisted of two areas of rhetoric. I used the rhetoric of silence and the matrix of four methodological strategies of feminist rhetoric proposed by Royster and Kirsch as a lens. As mentioned in chapter one, my primary research method was textual analysis using a heuristic. The heuristic was created by employing Royster and Kirsch’s matrix of four methodological strategies of feminist rhetoric. The framework was used as a guide to analyze four artifacts that illustrated women overcoming silence placed upon them in Kosovo as it transitioned into a Democracy. In Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts,
Kennan Ferguson’s chapter “Silence: A Politics” posits that “Political conflicts, identities, and ideologies are negotiated linguistically, language being both the instrument by which humans interact and the means of constructing what it means to be human. That voice and speech are central to the construction of community and political action is practically a truism with political theory” (113). Furthermore, in Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence, Cheryl Glenn writes that
“Conversation remains our social glue, the coin of the realm, the way to win friends and influence people…Silence is rewarded only when signifying obedience or proper subordinations:
The sub-altern should not speak but feign rapt listening with their silence” (5). When Kosovo was established as a state by the United Nations, the women of Kosovo did not want to go back to a silent existence. The data I will collect and analyze will show the rhetorical moves women made in order to be heard. I will also be showing how women used the idea of amplification to lift up other women who had previously been silenced so that they would be seen and heard.
In Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Royster and Kirsch propose four matrices for inquiry, analysis and interpretation. Those matrices are critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization. They discuss using rhetorical assaying as a metaphor that 25 emphasizes the necessity of constructing an evidence-rich descriptive base and linking it by multiple mechanisms within the complex global matrix of normative, and perhaps non- normative, rhetorical action. In effect, the symbolic move to name, describe, and assess more thoroughly what we observe and interrogate as rhetorical action encourages us to set aside our disbeliefs about who rhetors are and what constitutes, with meaning and consequence, rhetorical action. (16) The four matrices aim to make feminist and rhetorical studies more global and democratic. It is a call to help uncover and give voices to those previously silenced as well as provide a more diverse and in-depth look at the wealth of examples available for feminist rhetorical study. The matrices provide a connection to rhetorical work worldwide both past and present. Using these ideas, I created a heuristic based off of each category in their four matrices: critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization. This heuristic was designed to identify rhetorical actions made by women and for women in Kosovo after it became an independent state. I used it to analyze the ways in which the artifacts/rhetorical actions fulfilled the four matrices and how they are examples of amplification.
Amplification
Rhetorical theory describes two types of amplification, horizontal and vertical. Vertical amplification serves as a qualitative way of elevating or magnifying a subject. The Quintilian discussed the four strategies for achieving vertical amplification. These strategies were: augmentation, comparison, reasoning and accumulation. All of these strategies are ways in which to convince your audience that you are the most persuasive. It includes employing methods such as comparisons, hyperbole, and repetition. The focus is on amplifying one’s own personal point not those of others. This is not the type of amplification that I explore in this project. 26
Horizontal amplification is the extension of a text by the multiplication and variation of its constituents in order to heighten the rhetorical effect. Rather than focusing on the repeating of words, it focuses on the repeating of ideas. This is closer to the type of amplification that I discuss in the upcoming chapters; however, I take this idea into the 21st century and look at how a group of silenced people can amplify each other to insure they are heard, much like the women in the Obama White House. Royster and Kirsch’s matrix of strategies helps to amplify previously silenced women in a similar way. Within Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Royster and
Kirsch discuss Terese Guinsatao Monberg’s essay about Dorothy Laigo Cordova. Within it,
Monberg “proposes a form of listening that takes into account the intersectional realities of gender, race, ethnicity, and postcoloniality and that uses, in particular listening strategies that are not yoked to sight as the lever for insight” (48). They go on to explain that Cordova’s creation of a rhetorical space is an important way to give both agency and visibility to women in the public sphere. “In other words, important rhetorical work in this organization is occurring around the collecting of oral-history narratives, as a primary instrument for amplifying voices of the community in recognition that these voices carry history, memory, and cultural traditions and should be documented, heard, and accredited” (49). Ambassador Sahatqija performs amplification herself as a representative of Kosovo. She gives speeches to students in universities around the world and is a founding member of the Women Cross-Party Caucus, the regional
Women’s Lobby, and the “Week of Women” with the National Democratic Institute. Each time she speaks and shares her stories like those at the dinner and speech at ONU, she amplifying the voices of the women of Kosovo and making sure to continue their memory and history. When she shared the story of the parliament women’s protest and the strategies for passing bills she was practicing the type of amplification I examine further in the coming chapters. Through my 27 analysis, I discuss the ways in which the various artifacts are used to amplify women’s roles, history, and experience in Kosovo. Furthermore, I examine the rhetorical strategies by which the various artifacts give agency to women beyond only alphabetic text.
Research Questions
1. In what ways can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech be seen as
attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing?
This research question allowed me to explore the ways in which Kosovars are reacting to current and past systematic attempts at silencing. Looking at these actions as attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing helped me analyze what rhetorical actions could possibly prevent the silencing of marginalized voices in other contexts. To answer this question I analyzed specific actions represented in the chosen artifacts using the heuristic questions that focus on silence.
2. How can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech help us understand
how to amplify the voices of those who have been previously silenced?
This question allowed me to collect data that showed patterns of Kosovar women amplifying marginalized voices to overcome silence. It also allowed me to illustrate ways in which amplification is being used to stop systemic silencing. This question enabled me to evaluate the effectiveness of the artifacts that used amplification by using the heuristic questions that focused on amplification.
Methods
In order to best explore the artifacts discussed in the ambassador’s speech, I chose to use textual analysis as my primary research method. For the purposes of this paper, I am defining text as multimodal. This paper is looking beyond just the alphabetic, printed text and also 28 looking at monuments, art installations, speeches, and moments of protest. Each of the artifacts are treated as a text for analysis as each one is rich with rhetorical actions to mine and examine.
The best way to textually analyze each of these artifacts is through a set of heuristics designed using Royster and Kirsch’s four matrices.
Heuristics
Aristotle presents heuristics as topoi or common topics and places to look for arguments.
“Aristotle's Topica expounds dialectical reasoning, which he contrasts to scientific reasoning…The Topica aims to furnish the philosopher (or the speaker—topical reasoning is a universal theory of what can be affirmed) with the method by which to discuss all probables
(endoxa)” (Sloane). In his text, Heuristic Research: Design, Methodology, and Applications,
Moustakas expands this idea by describing them as being dialogic in nature. He says that
“Within each researcher exists a topic, theme, problem, or question that represents a critical interest and area of search. The task of the initial engagement is to discover an intense interest, a passionate concern that calls out to the researcher, one that holds important social meanings and personal, compelling implications” (Moustakas, 27). It is for these reasons that I decided to use heuristics to explore the artifacts presented in Ambassador Sahatqija’s speech. Heuristics provided a means through which to explore the ways rhetoric of silence and amplification are being used by and through these artifacts. Moustakas goes on to say “The heuristic researcher is seeking to understand the wholeness and the unique patterns of experiences in a scientifically organized and disciplined way. Heuristics, like any other science is “a search for unity in hidden likenesses” (16) I aimed to find these patterns of rhetorical movements within the chosen artifacts and illustrate the hidden unity among them. My goal was to identify these artifacts as 29 rhetorical movements away from silencing and to see the ways in which they fit into a larger movement currently happening in patriarchal societies worldwide.
While Moustakas created heuristic methodology for the field of psychology, other fields have adopted heuristics as a method of research and qualitative exploration. “Research procedures are not linear but dialectical. We "ask" our material "questions" in a similar way one may ask a person, receiving "answers" and questioning again. We preferably use "open" questions. Reading a protocol will suggest which questions to ask. The text should be interrogated from as many different perspectives as possible and the answers analyzed as mentioned above. The dialogic procedure is a means to adjust the epistemic structure of the researcher to the structure of the phenomenon and brings it in line with itself” (Gerhard Kleining
& Harald Witt). When discussing genres and frameworks for research, Royster and Kirsch discuss Maureen Daly Goggin’s research on needle work samplers functioning as heuristics, as models of innovation and inspiration, illustrating the different effects of various stitches, patterns, threads and colors for other practitioners of the trade. They go on to say that Goggins’s approach “pushes the boundaries of what we might consider to be a part of the rhetorical studies; she challenges us to see, identify, and research new dimensions of different kinds of material practices” This project also looked at rhetorical movements made through non alphabetic text. It examined art installations, political documents, monuments, and acts of protest. Each of these items are significant in showing “unity in hidden likenesses.” Furthermore, each artifact illustrates rhetorical movements made by the women of Kosovo to ensure their voices are both heard and never again silenced.
Heuristic questions based on the four Matrices
I. Critical Imagination: 30
1. In what ways does this artifact allow for:
a. Rescue
b. Recovery
c.( Re)inscription?
2. In what ways is it honoring the women of Kosovo’s traditions?
3. In what ways is it representing the women in a meaningful way?
II. Strategic Contemplation
4. In what ways does it honor or do justice to those who no longer can speak back
to us?
5. In what ways do the past and present merge in this artifact to suggest new
possibilities for the future?
6. In what ways does the artifact speak to our minds, our hearts and our ethos?
7. What lingers at the margins that we might not see immediately?
8. In what ways does it amplify the women it represents?
III. Social Circulation
9. In what ways does this artifact create connections between the women of
Kosovo in the past, present, and future?
10. In what ways does it impact the narrative of women in Kosovo?
11. In what ways does it make women more visible in social spaces?
IV. Globalization
12. In what way does this artifact create connections between the women of
Kosovo and the rest of the world? 31
13. In what ways does this artifact highlight women’s participation and
leadership at a global level?
Questions that fall under globalization and social circulation were used to analyze the articles of the constitution and the parliament women’s protest because they focus on rhetorical actions used to stop silencing. They best fit the breaking and stopping of silencing as they look at representation and interaction with the rest of the world and women’s participation in global leadership. These questions are used to explore those actions that took place with in Kosovo politics.
Questions that fall under critical imagination and strategic contemplation were used to analyze the Memorial Heroinat and the “Thinking of You” art installation because they focus on patterns of amplification and the future of women in Kosovo. They look to the future and making sure that silence stays forever broken. These are actions that took place outside of parliament but still impact the country and the world through visual representation.
The table below summarizes my research questions and the artifacts I used for each research question: 32
Table 2.1 Research Question and Means of Analysis
Research Question Data Required to Answer Research Question Method of Data Collection and Analysis
In what ways can the Transcript of Teuta’s speech. Research of Textual analysis rhetorical actions artifacts discussed. Kosovar Articles of utilizing heuristic described in Teuta Constitution being explored. questions about Sahatqija’s speech be silencing. Establishing seen as attempts to stop patterns of rhetorical and prevent future actions that can prevent patterns of silencing? future silencing.
How can the rhetorical Research of each artifact including Textual analysis actions described in visual data of monuments and art utilizing heuristic Teuta Sahatqija’s installations. Transcript of President questions about speech help us Atifete Jahjaga’s dedication speech for amplification. understand how to the “thinking of you art installation. Establishing patterns amplify the voices of Transcript of Thinking of you Artist Ted that exemplify those who have been Talk. Heroinat Memorial Artist amplification and previously silenced? description of memorial. show efficacy of amplification. 33
The Speech and Artifacts
While Ambassador Sahatqija mentioned many things in her speech, I selected four things that I refer to as artifacts in this project. I chose the Memorial Heroinat because there are so few war memorials dedicated to women and the design and reason for it illustrate amplification of silenced women. I chose the “Thinking of You” art instillation because while it was temporary, the photos, discussions, and impact were global. It is significant to examine the rhetorical elements of monuments because they evoke public memory and function as a resource of cultural projection (Dickinson, Blair, and Ott, 88). When discussing “The Fist” a monument to Joe Louis,
Victoria J. Gallagher and Margaret R. LaWare quote Rosalyn Deusche, “Describing the city as a social form rather than as a collection and organization of neutral physical objects implicitly affirms the right of currently excluded groups to have access to the city— to make decisions about the spaces they use, to be attached to the places where they live, to refuse marginalization”
(88). While one is a more permanent structure than the other, the Memorial Heroinat and the
“Thinking of You” art installation both are attached to the country in a way that allows the women of Kosovo to be seen and heard. Both of these artifacts, while more visual, hold many rhetorical elements that amplify those that have been silenced in the past.
The next two artifacts are not visual. One is a living political document, the Constitution of Kosovo, and the other is a story told in a speech. The story that is being told can be transcribed, videos and photos can be found of the event, and the story has been transcribed. It is multimodal and contains many levels. Both of these artifacts show a snapshot of a particular moment in time. When Kosovo first transitioned to a new democracy after the war. It shows specific decisions and rhetorical moves made by the founders. The nature of a constitution is that it is living and could be amended and changed over time, but the articles I examined are 34 current and were chosen when the document was first developed. The members of parliament constantly change, but this story shows what women were doing in politics when the country of
Kosovo as it stood in 2016 stood for. Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the Kosovo Constitution are an example of women in action choosing words specifically to protect women and promote equality. The story that Ambassador Sahatqija shares regarding a protest by women in the parliament is an example of a group attempting to silence women and women fighting back.
The Memorial Heroinat
The Memorial Heroinat is made up of 20,000 medallions with a face of a woman to create a larger face of a woman. The artist who designed the memorial described his inspiration as follows:
Despite their tremendous sacrifice, the contribution and pain of Kosovo women during
the war has, for the most part, remained anonymous and unacknowledged. While
hundreds of monuments and memorials were erected for Kosovar men, the architectural
landscape and the history books have neglected the contribution and sacrifice of women.
They remain the unacknowledged anonymous heroines of Kosovo’s history. As such, I
wanted to honor each of these anonymous heroines, individually. I needed a huge number
to build up this representing heroic face, and I came across a study conducted by the
Human Rights Watch. They claimed that there were nearly 20,000 Kosovar women that
were raped during the Kosovo war of the late 1990s. Most of these war crimes remain
untried, and some of the victims still live with those horrifying memories and scars, every
day and to this day. I took this tragic number of victims, and transformed it into medals.
Medals dedicated to each and every woman’s contribution and sacrifice for this country,
no matter what age. (Ilir Blakçori) 35
Using the designer’s statement and the websites that discuss the memorial such as http://molosgroup.com/heroinat-memorial-2/, I will explore the design, inspiration, and history of women involved in the KLA. I will analyze the rhetorical moves made in the sculpture as well as the inspiration behind it. I will also use the four methodological strategies (critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization) proposed by Royster and Kirsch as a lens through which to analyze the rhetorical moves made by the artist. Texts such as (Re)Gendering Memories of the Kosovo Liberation Army: The Silenced Guerilla of
Women by Virginia Stephens will give me a more in depth understanding of the roles of women in the Kosovo war to whom the memorial pays homage. She states that “Breaking the silence of women combatants encourages an engagement with various gender frameworks that are absent from nation building narratives, an understanding of what women are cultural products of.” She goes on to say that her goal is to “draw particular attention to the role of women combatants in post-war nation-building projects, such as Kosovo, and the silencing of that role” (125).
Figure 2.1 The Memorial Heroinat (https://archello.com/project/heroinat) 36
“Thinking of You” Art Installation
The next artifact that I examined is “Thinking of You,” an art installation in a football (soccer) stadium in the Kosovo capital of Pristina. The stadium was filled with clothes lines. Women from all over the country donated over 5,000 dresses and skirts as a tribute to the survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Kosovo. Many notable women also donated dresses including Ambassador Sahatqija and Kosovo's first female president, Atifete Jahjaga.
Included with this artifact, I will be analyzing the speech given by President Jahijaga at the opening of the installation. I will also be using the TedX talk discussing the installation by the artist Alketa Xhafa Mripa. This artifact is a combination of written and non-written rhetoric that gives voice to a very large but silenced group. In the opening President Jahjaga says, “Today this football field, full with dresses, this view, is leaving me breathless. The first reason is the greatness of the issue which has been kept silent for so long. The second is the hope which arises from this solidarity, from all this support” (http://www.president- ksgov.net/?page=2,6,3916#.VYF2Ys2qqko). President Jahjaga discusses amplification in her speech. Each of these artifacts gives women their voices back.
Figure 2.2 “Thinking of You” Art Installation 37
Kosovo Constitution
The third artifact examined is the newly ratified constitution of Kosovo, namely Articles
7, 22, and 37 in which Ambassador Sahatqija specifically explains the importance of the word choice and the addition of these articles to their constitution.
Article 7 [Values]
1. The constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo is based on the principles of
freedom, peace, democracy, equality, respect for human rights and freedoms and the rule
of law, non-discrimination, the right to property, the protection of environment, social
justice, pluralism, separation of state powers, and a market economy.
2. The Republic of Kosovo ensures gender equality as a fundamental value for the
democratic development of the society, providing equal opportunities for both female and
male participation in the political, economic, social, cultural and other areas of societal
life.
Article 22 [Direct Applicability of International Agreements and Instruments]
Human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the following international agreements and instruments are guaranteed by this Constitution, are directly applicable in the
Republic of Kosovo and, in the case of conflict, have priority over provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions:
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms and its Protocols
3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Protocols 38
4. Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities
5. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
6. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
7. Convention on the Rights of the Child
8. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Article 37 [Right to Marriage and Family]
1. Based on free will, everyone enjoys the right to marry and the right to have a family as
provided by law.
2. Marriage and divorce are regulated by law and are based on the equality of spouses.
3. Family enjoys special protection by the state in a manner provided by law.
Ambassador Sahatqija discussed the importance of each of these articles in the new constitution as a way to prevent issues of inequality. She emphasized the word EVERYONE in “everyone enjoys the right to marry and have a family.” She pointed out in her speech that it does not say men and women, it says everyone. Then she smiled and said, I’m not sure everyone realized when it was ratified what that means. She also discusses the affirmative action quota through
Article 7 that ensured women had more political representation and high power positions available to them. As a result, just 9 years after ratification, Kosovo has the first female president of state in the Balkans, 33% of parliament is female, 30% of the staff at the municipal level are female, 30% of Kosovo’s Ambassadors are female, there is a female Mayor, and both the President of the Constitutional Court and the Chair of the Election Commission are female.
She discussed how it is very important when a country has a chance to start over, to make sure 39 equality is written into the laws from the beginning and that women run for political positions.
She herself was not in politics. She was a maintenance engineer and software programmer for a textile company, but she tells a story of a man coming to their house and telling her husband, we need representatives in parliament to help as they draft the new constitution. Her husband said, “I wouldn’t be any good, but do you know who would be perfect?” And with that she launched her career in politics. In, Giving Voice to Invisible Women in Developing Countries: Rhetorical
Criticism of “FIRE” as Model of a Successful Women Community Radio, Mary Gatua points out that “gender constructs are created and justified by a variety of institutions, including the family, the state, and the economy. Thus, gender constructs are transformed into a gender system in which men and masculinity are at the top of the hierarchy and women and femininity are at the bottom” (2). By having the constitution combat these constructs at the national level, the women of Kosovo have a better chance of fighting institutional sexism.
Parliament Women’s Protest
The fourth and final artifact that I analyzed is a story that Ambassador Sahatqija told. I was lucky enough to hear her tell it twice, once at the dinner, and then during the question and answer section of her speech. I’m very glad she told it again because this story became the impetus for this project. As I listened to her discuss attempted silencing and making women’s voices heard, I knew that I had to amplify her story and her voice in this paper. The transcription of the entire speech can be found in Appendix 1, but the following is a paraphrase of what happened.
The ambassador was provided with a list of those chosen to be diplomats in other countries. The list had not been released yet, but the person who saw it, noticed only men were on the list and immediately brought it to her. She said this is not okay and immediately went 40 from office to office at the parliament building and rounded up all of the women to stand on the steps and protest. A news station who was covering the story, thought it would be funny to air a video of the women being interviewed about why they were protesting, but instead of playing the audio of them speaking, mute their voices and play the traditional wedding song over the video of the women. So they spoke out against the news station. The news station attempted to silence them again. So they spoke directly to the office that gave the media their licenses and the station was not only fined for their actions, but threatened that they would lose their license if they ever did anything like that again. These women used their power and their positions of power to stop those that were trying to both silence them and place them in their traditional gender roles. The women worked together to amplify each other’s voices and a new diplomacy list was released that included both men and women. The transcription from the speech of her telling the story is as follows:
And I will tell a little bit about some of the pictures.
You can see a picture with a camera up there. It was a very interesting story that this
picture shows. Uh three or four years ago, we had a list of ambassadors came to the
parliament and on that list was 0 women. They were all men. And one woman who was
in a committee for foreign affairs, came to me as the president of the women caucus and
tell me “Teuta, we cannot make this… the names public but just for your information,
there are no women there what should we do?”
And then we needed only 5 minutes and we gathered 40 women in the parliament and we
went out boycotted the parliament, called all media, had a conference for media, we were
very angry and dispersed all over the media in one television in another television and 41
another and we said “this list will not pass we will not allow it… this list to pass…if there
are no women on it. It became a very big issue. Most of the media transmitted that.
There was one media that started to mock us. And they were putting a video of us talking
and in the background was the song of a wedding. We were even more angry and said
this is a message. This is articulation that you women if you dare to talk about diplomacy
or about high politics or about issues that are not your women issues, we will mock you.
And we took that challenge and then organized a conference about portratization of
women in media and we made it an even bigger deal. And the same media again they
tried to mock us and they put that song and saying don’t you like this song? And then the
association, the group of civil society organizations, they they were furious and they said,
“This needs to stop. Don’t do that anymore. We are not happy, you are telling young girls
never go to politics because we will mock you.” And then they were a little bit shaky but
they continued again for the third time and in the third time we sent a letter to the
committee that give out licenses to television and in the meantime neither president none
of parliamentarians or ministers or important players of civil society, none of them went
to that television again. (Sahatqija, “The Leadership Roles of Women in Transitional
States”)
She finishes the story saying that they apologized and that this story is now taught in Universities as an example when teaching about gender and production. Within this story, the rhetorical act of amplification and attempted silencing is shown multiple times.
I chose each of these artifacts specifically because I believe that they allow me to answer
Royster and Kirsch’s call. These are not necessarily alphabetic texts, but they do represent a rhetorical movement and when looked at through the lens of critical imagination, strategic 42 contemplation, social circulation, and globalization they illustrate amplification and exemplify the identity building, credibility, and shifting values and expectations of the field that they are looking for (25).
Conclusion
Through the use of heuristics, I believe that I was able to more thoroughly examine the rhetorical moves made by women in Kosovo to overcome and prevent future silencing. Kosovo provides a unique viewpoint into creating new laws and a new government in modern society.
The women were able to approach this transition with the knowledge of their foremothers and made strategic moves to break patterns of silencing that had existed for millennia. In the next two chapters, I analyze and discuss the artifacts using the heuristics and the research questions. I also use the speech and dinner with the ambassador as a major primary source to provide background information and context for the artifacts. 43
CHAPTER III: THE SOCIAL CIRCULATION AND GLOBALIZATION OF THE PARLIAMENT PROTEST AND THE KOSOVO CONSTITUTION Introduction In this chapter I examined the women’s parliament protest and three articles of the Kosovo Constitution to explore the ways in which the women of Kosovo embody social circulation and globalization. Using heuristics as “an organized and systematic form for investigating human experience” I analyzed the ways in which these experiences represent a stand against silencing (Moustakas 9). In order to analyze the rhetorical moves made by the women of Kosovo to avoid future systemic silencing, this chapter will focus on Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the new Kosovo Constitution and Ambassador Sahatqija’s story of the parliament women’s protest. These artifacts have been chosen because they illustrate deliberate and strategic responses to past systemic silencing of women in Kosovo that have produced immediate and long-lasting outcomes. Moustakas described heuristic research as “an organized and systematic form for investigating human experience.” (9) Analyzing these artifacts using heuristic questions allows a deeper understanding of the human experience reflected in the rhetorical moves being made at this time. The articles of the constitution and parliament women’s protest were analyzed using the heuristic questions that fall under globalization and social circulation. These questions specifically focus on connections between past, present, and future, and connections to the rest of the world.
Both of these artifacts are paired together because not only do they exhibit moves to prevent future silencing, but they are closely tied to one another and interact with each other in a number of ways which are discussed during analysis. The protest and the articles of the 44 constitution are both living artifacts in that they continue to have an effect after the initial moment in which they came to being. They are both discussed in the public sphere, used as examples in universities and court cases, and show potential to influence future movements preventing silencing. The heuristic questions used for these artifacts are crafted using the matrices of globalization and social circulation.
Social circulation and globalization are used to analyze the protest and the constitution, because unlike the artifacts that will be explored in chapter 4, these artifacts are more global and involve more interactive processes of social circulation. The artifacts explored in chapter 4 focus on the women of Kosovo during the Kosovo War. The artifacts in this chapter are more global in that the drafting of the constitution involved consulting with other countries and examining documents from other countries and the protest centered around representation in other countries.
In their chapter explaining social circulation, Royster and Kirsch explain that social circulation allows “room for seeing and understanding women’s eloquence from a different standpoint, that is, the standpoint of their eloquent lives” (99). With these two artifacts we are seeing the women of Kosovo be authors of their own lives and then sharing and globalizing that authorship allowing others to see their eloquence. Furthermore, analyzing the protest and the articles of the
Constitution that were artfully crafted by women in a country that is not normally represented in rhetorical studies helps to further the call for globalization within rhetorical scholarship made by
Royster and Kirsch. They contend that,
currently, interests in rhetorical studies, feminist studies, and global studies are indeed
converging persistently in RCL and showing evidence of growing commitment to shift
rhetorical studies away from traditional, imperialist perspectives of rhetorical
performance and knowledge to a more democratic and more inclusive one that recognizes 45
transnational constructions of rhetorical enterprises, not just western ones. This resetting
of scholarly vision and priorities is keyed by a dynamic expansion of local knowledge…
amid global knowledge... which with the convergence of rhetorical studies, feminist
studies, and global studies has in turn generated a clearer potential to magnify and
amplify our understanding of women’s participation within an integrated view of
rhetorical processes. (111)
After the artifacts are analyzed using the heuristic questions based on social circulation and globalization, this chapter then discusses how this rhetorical analysis answers the research questions driving this dissertation. Furthermore, it makes connections to larger issues and rhetorical moves being made by women worldwide at this time.
The Speech, Artifacts, and their Contexts
On April 13, 2017, Ambassador Teuta Sahatqija was a guest speaker at Ohio Northern
University. She was there as a guest of the LL.M. program in Democratic Governance and Rule of Law. The program often brought in speakers who were experts in various areas of legal human rights. Ambassador Sahatqija is head of the Diplomatic Mission of the Republic of
Kosovo in New York City, where she is in charge of the Kosovo Consulate and serves as a liaison with the United Nations. The title of her speech that evening was "The Leadership Roles of Women in Transitional States.” As mentioned in Chapter 1, that evening Ambassador
Sahatqija discussed a multitude of ways that women have been taking leadership in Kosovo since its independence in 2008. Two artifacts that she discussed illustrate rhetorical moves to overcome past silencing that occurred in the country. 46
Parliament Women’s Protest
I heard Ambassador Sahatqija tell the story of the parliament women’s protest twice. The first time she told the story at a private dinner that I was invited to. Then she told the story again in her speech. She also discussed the outcomes of the protest. While she didn’t give an exact date of the protest she said it happened “three or four years ago,” which would have been either 2013 or 2014, just five or six years into the new government. To paraphrase the story, a list of diplomatic appointments was released featuring only male members of parliament. Ambassador
Sahatqija gathered up all of the female members of parliament and held a protests on the steps of the assembly building. A news station that covered the story mocked the women by muting their voices and playing a Kosovar wedding song overtop of the footage. The female parliamentarians responded to the news station and they did the same thing. Once again the women responded and once again the news station tried to mock them. The women gained support and the news station faced a threat of losing their license if they did not stop mocking the female parliamentarians.
The women won their battle against the news station who issued an apology. The transcript of the Ambassador Sahatqija’s story of the protest can be found in chapter 2 and the full speech can be found in Appendix 1.
What is also important to understand is how clear it was during that dinner that
Ambassador Sahatqija does not allow others to silence or demean women. She told us about participating in a UN panel and a male ambassador from a country requiring women to cover their faces and bodies was criticizing how women in New York dress. He told her that it is for their protection because men cannot control themselves. She said that she told him she felt bad for him that he was so weak of character, then she pointed at a sports car they could see from the window. She said, “Isn’t that a beautiful car? It looks very expensive.” He said, “Yes. I like that 47 car very much.” She said, “Then go steal it.” He was confused and shocked that she would suggest such a thing. She then asked him, “Why are you shocked? Isn’t the owner asking you to steal that car because it is so beautiful? Or do you actually have self-control? You cannot hide behind the excuse of not being able to control yourself. You know right from wrong.” The men at the table of the dinner chuckled at this story and then one man made the joke, “but have you seen how some women dress these days? He had a point.” The ambassador looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You are an educated man with many years of experience working in the field of law, do I really need to tell you that a woman could be walking down the street naked, but you never have the right to touch her against her will. No woman is responsible for your ability to control yourself.” She was so quick to make sure that not only did her first lesson come across, but also the men at the table could not turn the discussion into a joke. Understanding the conviction and resolve of the Ambassador explains why the first thing her colleague did when she saw the all-male list of diplomats was go straight to Sahatqija. I also felt empowered by the ambassador as I watched her shut down some of the men that I had worked with for years, instead of uncomfortably laughing when they say something inappropriate for fear of seeming rude as so many women, myself included, have been trained to do. I realized at that moment that she was breaking through the language disparity that Robin Lakoff discusses in “Language and a
Woman’s Place:”
The marginality and powerlessness of women is reflected in both the ways women are
expected to speak, and the ways in which women are spoken of. In appropriate women's
speech, strong expression of feeling is avoided, expression of uncertainty is favored, and
means of expression in regard to subject-matter deemed 'trivial' to the 'real' world are
elaborated. Speech about women implies an object, whose sexual nature requires 48
euphemism, and whose social roles are derivative and dependent in relation to men. The
personal identity of women thus is linguistically submerged; the language works against
treatment of women, as serious persons with individual views. (45)
The story of the parliament women’s protest is an example of the women in Kosovo, led by
Ambassador Sahatqija not allowing the nation to forget that they are serious people with individual views.
Kosovo Constitution Articles 7, 22, and 37
The Constitution of Kosovo was ratified April 9, 2008. As discussed in Chapter 2, the articles in particular that she discussed are as Article 7, 22, and 37. Article 7 carries the subtitle
“values.” It focuses on human rights and anti-discriminatory laws. It led to a quota to ensure female representation in the political sphere and made sure there was both male and female participation in the workforce as well as equal opportunities for all Kosovars. When introducing
Article 7, Ambassador Sahatqija explained that
[The] Women of Kosovo civil society politics, took an active part in preparation for
independence. Gender equality issue that needed to be cherished and respected and
protected by the constitution and law. So article 7 of our very modern constitution
elaborates on the values of the country whereby gender equality is stated as a basic value
of the country. Not easy to achieve. I know how much work. How much fight was put in
that...This article was used by us very much. It helped in making the laws, in advocation
of gender equality wherever we can. (21:48)
Article 22 includes the subtitle “direct applicability of international agreements and instruments.” It takes international covenants, agreements, and conventions that focus on human rights, rights of minorities, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and rights of children 49 and agrees to uphold the standards that have been set worldwide. These standards are being upheld even though not every member of the United Nations or the world recognize Kosovo as a country.
Article 37 includes the subheading “right to marriage and family.” As mentioned in chapter 2, this article gives everyone the right to marriage putting marriage equality in the constitution instead of later trying to fight for it through the court system. It also provides equal rights to both spouses in the event of a divorce. As previously discussed, Ambassador Sahatqija specifically pointed out when discussing this Article that “It does not say men and women it says everyone enjoys the right to marry. I’m not sure that when it was drafted everyone knew what it means but it’s good” (23:50). While the audience chuckled at this comment, she was very serious, and at dinner the previous night told a story of how those that wanted this Article be accepted with this specific language utilized silence in order for it to be accepted.
At the dinner, Ambassador Sahatqija also discussed the process of creating the constitution. She told one story about passing a particular bill in which the women of the parliament had carefully crafted the language to make it more inclusive. Male members of the parliament were not paying attention and in a hurry to finish the session passing the bill with no issues. Several of the women cheered as the bill was passed. Startled by the women celebrating and immediately suspicious, the men stopped the process and announced that they were going to revisit the bill and spend more time discussing it. The women then quickly learned to remain quiet with each vote, bill, and proposed article. They used purposeful silence in order to ensure equal rights in their country. Much like Nancy Myer’s discussion of Christine de Pizan’s
Treasure of the City of Ladies, the female parliamentarians in Kosovo developed strategies for rhetorical agency through “purposeful silence” and “perceptive listening” giving them influence 50
(65). So when it came time to discuss Article 37, supporters knew they had to remain silent so the word “everyone” went unnoticed.
Social Circulation
Royster and Kirsch define the term social circulation as “leverage for understanding complex rhetorical interaction across space and time” (98). They quote Paula Mathieu and Diana
George’s “Not Going it Alone,” describing successful circulation of public writing as “networks of relationships, in alliances between those in power and those without, through moments of serendipity” (98). These artifacts are examples of complex rhetorical interactions that involve alliances between those in power and those not in power during a moment of serendipity in which a new democratic state is in formation. The heuristic questions created to analyze the ways in which these artifacts exhibit social circulation are as follows:
1. In what ways does this artifact create connections between the women of Kosovo in the past, present, and future?
2. In what ways does it impact the narrative of women in Kosovo?
3. In what ways does it make women more visible in social spaces?
I will first analyze how these two artifacts fall under Royster and Kirsch’s definition of social circulation using the heuristic questions I created.
In what ways does this artifact create connections between the women of Kosovo in the
past, present, and future?
In the context of social circulation, Royster and Kirsch define rhetorical processes as
“culturally informed social actions that participate recursively in the circuit of culture, especially as we take into account how identities and ideas form and become rhetorical” (102). The parliament women’s protest signifies a shift in female leadership in Kosovo. Not only did the 51 women immediately take a stand before the list of all male diplomats was released and improved, but they garnered the support of government officials.
And the same media again they tried to mock us and they put that song and saying don’t
you like this song? And then the association, the group of civil society organizations, they
they were furious and they said, “This needs to stop. Don’t do that anymore. We are not
happy, you are telling young girls never go to politics because we will mock you. And
then they were a little bit shaky but they continued again for the third time and in the
third time we sent a letter to the committee that give out licenses to television and in the
meantime neither president none of parliamentarians or ministers or important players of
civil society, none of them went to that television again. (36:20)
As the ambassador later mentioned, the women set an example that is now taught in universities in Kosovo. News outlets see it as a warning to take women in politics seriously. They gained power and support the more they spoke against the television station that continually attempted to mock them. This is a literal example of attempted silencing. The newscasters create a video in which the women discussing their protest on the parliament steps were muted and a popular wedding song was played over top of their silent moving mouths (35:16). This is an example of actually removing women’s voices and attempting to tell them that their place is not in politics, or the government, but at home as silent married women. In the chapter “Silence: A Politics” in
Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts, Kennan Ferguson explains Jurgen Habermas’s approach to social power and equality in relation to silence. He says “Habermas later began to champion speech as the formulation for democratic practice. Beginning with a rather simplified
“ideal speech situation” and moving to a more complex conceptions of discursive social space,
Habermas’s solution to the dilemmas of difference and inequality is resolutely verbal” (117). 52
What allowed the women of the parliament to be verbal and garner support to continue to be verbal is tied to Article 7.
Article 7 gave the women the agency to protest women missing from the list of ambassadors. Sahatqija said
We have also the laws that help… that are based in that Article 7. The laws of
parliamentary election, the law on municipal election, the law on gender equality, and the
agency for gender equality are some of affirmative action and the laws that help this
gender equality become a reality. Again I know how much fight, how much work, how
much emotion, how much energy was put in that by women in civil society but women in
parliament and men. (24:27)
One of those laws is a 30% quota for women in parliament. She was once asked, “Do you think the 30% quota will hurt the quality of parliament?” She replied, “Do you think 70% of men represent the quality of a parliament” (28:40)? With every interview, she refuses to allow the women in power to be mocked or silenced. She goes on to show what this requirement has led to:
We had the first Woman President of State in the Balkans
● 33% women in Parliament
● 30% at Municipality level
● 30% of Ambassadors including DC, NY, Rome, Brussels, Bern
● 1 female Mayor
● A President of the Constitutional Court
● A Chair of Election Commission 53
Unfortunately, we only have one female mayor so at the municipal level we have to work
much much more (24:37)
Drafting Article 7 and fighting for it to ensure, “equal opportunities for both female and male participation in the political, economic, social, cultural and other areas of societal life” not only gave the female members of the parliament constitutional backing for their protest, it also garnered support from other facets of Kosovo society. In her telling of the protest, even though the television station attempted multiple times to silence them, support for the women grew until the television network was at risk of losing their license. Article 7 empowered the women currently in holding official positions and set a precedent for future women. It safeguarded their place in the government and guaranteed women would be included on future diplomatic assignment lists. The story of the protest suggests a testing of the new constitution. In America’s own history there was always a testing of new laws. When the decision of Brown v Board of
Education used the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to strike down segregation in public schools, the governor of Arkansas tried to ignore it. It is possible that the list had only men as a test to see if the quotas created based off of Article 7 would be expected to be fulfilled. It is also possible that women had been excluded for so long that they were simply forgotten. Regardless of what happened, the women of the parliament and Article 7 allowed for the women in
Kosovo’s present to fight for the women in Kosovo’s future and overcome silence placed upon women in Kosovo’s past.
In what ways does the artifact impact the narrative of women in Kosovo?
It was clear in Ambassador Sahatqija’s breakdown of women holding government positions that the narrative of women in Kosovo is rapidly changing. As women hold more high- ranking jobs, they are changing the landscape of what women can do and how they are seen in 54 society. As a new democracy, Kosovo’s third president, was a woman. In fact, Kosovo had the first female president in the Balkans. While many developed countries have had a female leader, the United States has yet to achieve this benchmark. There are other ways in which these two artifacts have changed the narrative of women in Kosovo. Ambassador Sahatqija said the next step was to help change the narrative in schools. She said the women will no longer tolerate children being taught that the mother cooks while the father works. She said the father can cook and the mother can work. Ambassador Sahatqija stated “women in Kosovo are active players in changing their lives and the lives of others” (29:55). Article 7 empowered women to change their narrative and the narrative of other women. It gave them equal opportunities to jobs and as illustrated in the parliament women’s protest they took advantage of those opportunities and fought hard to ensure the promises made by laws and quotas were kept.
In what ways does the artifact make women more visible in social spaces?
In spring of 2018, I taught the LL.M. students in my International Legal Research and
Writing class. The class worked in tandem with their final seminar in which they wrote the equivalent of their thesis. My class population was mostly Kosovar and Afghani. What became apparent as they chose their topics and worked on their research was how visible these changes were. All of my Kosovar students were young lawyers in their country and they discussed how women’s rights and new legal forays into equality were directly impacted by the new constitution. One student was passionate about women’s right to inherit property. He said many women find themselves without a home after their husband dies. It was difficult for him to find research or past cases to set a precedent because laws were so new, it hadn’t been argued yet.
The lawyers in the new Kosovo have the task of finding the cases and setting precedents in their new state and women’s equality is at the forefront. Women are becoming visible in the law, in 55 the government, and in many social spaces. Royster and Kirsch define social circulation as “a term of engagement” (105). Article 7 of the constitution allowed for more engagement in the social and political sphere. The recursive nature of the protest not only made the women of the parliament visible, but it continues to as the protest is taught in universities. Furthermore, the interconnected nature of both artifacts allows for increased visibility in the future. Social circulation starts with where an event originates, travels, and connects communities, generations, and locations (Royster and Kirsch 105). This is a modern example of that allows us to see the origins of the event and track where it travels and watch the connections that form. “The declaration of independence set up our diplomacy and enabled women to represent Kosovo all over the world as ambassadors” (Sahatqija, 30:42). The parliament protest is the reason there are women in diplomatic positions all over the world. Their protest allowed for increased visibility worldwide. Which leads to the next matrix, globalization.
Globalization
A key aspect of globalization, according to Royster and Kirsch, is historical positioning in the social, political, and cultural spheres. (111) They also encourage rhetoricians to look outside of Western traditions and “seek out and consistently enact an agenda that expects and acknowledges a multidimensional sense of diversity as a core value and that does so with both local and global curiosity and respect” (112). These two artifacts very closely tie into social, political, and cultural spheres. The heuristic questions that were created to analyze the globalization of these artifacts are:
1. In what way does this artifact create connections between the women of Kosovo and the rest of the world? 56
2. In what ways does this artifact highlight women’s participation and leadership at a global level?
In what way does this artifact create connections between the women of Kosovo and the rest of the world?
While I discussed Article 7 at great length in the social circulation section, Articles 22 and 37 help bring Kosovo closer to the rest of the word. Article 22 specifically aligns Kosovo with important conventions and declarations from multinational NGOs such as the United
Nations. While the United States still to this day is the only member state that refuses to ratify to the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, Kosovo has it written into their constitution that they will follow the laws set forth by it. Article 22 directly states that “international agreements and instruments guaranteed by this Constitution are directly applicable in the Republic of
Kosovo and, in the case of conflict, have priority over provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions.” This means that regardless of the agenda of those in power, they have to follow the specified list of international agreements. Constitutions are living documents, other agreements may be added, but what is important at this particular moment in time is to recognize the conventions that were included; in particular the Convention on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against
Women, and European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms and its Protocols. The Constitution was set up to make certain that laws that include discrimination and inequality would be overruled by the Direct Applicability of International
Agreements and Instruments. What is further interesting about this is that of the 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations only 102 recognize Kosovo as a country. Russia and China’s support of Serbia’s claim on Kosovo as well as increasing tensions between Serbia 57 and Kosovo prevented it from becoming a member of the United Nation in fall of 2018
(https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1032251). Even so, protecting those that had previously been silenced was important enough to include these conventions in the constitution.
While the United Nations may not fully recognize Kosovo, there are several organizations of which the women of Kosovo are a part. Ambassador Sahatqija spoke of the
Women’s Global Summit in 2012 that was organized by Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga.
Participants included powerful women from all over the world including representatives of the
European Union, Hillary Clinton, and female American Ambassadors, as well as the Chair of
USAID. Women of Kosovo initiated global participation, something that would not have been possible without Article 7. Of the summit, Teuta Sahatqija says “There were a lot of strong women at the same place at the same time” (26:16).
In what ways does this artifact highlight women’s participation and leadership at the global level?
As previously mentioned, with Article 7 came a legislative quota. Ambassador Sahatqija said, “[the] Legislative quota automatically improved the presence of women in parliament and municipality council. It created the critical mass needed to start the process of women empowerment and gender equality” (28:22). That critical mass led to the parliament women’s protest. It led to the first female president of state in the Balkans. Article 22 tied Kosovo’s laws to the rest of world. Each of these artifacts helped give Kosovo’s women power, agency, and voice. It gave them the ability to overcome future attempts at silencing and sent them around the world so that their voices could be heard in other countries as well. 58
Discussion
The reason I chose Kosovo for this project is because it is a small and current microcosm that allows us to see immediate and direct impact when those that were silenced work to prevent future silencing. In a short amount of time, women in Kosovo have made an immediate impact.
Research question 1 of this thesis asks “in what ways can the rhetorical actions described in
Teuta Sahatqija’s speech be seen as attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing?” It is clear after using the heuristics created based off of social circulation and globalization that these artifacts gave women in Kosovo a voice that will be heard around the world. Global connections have been created politically and socially through positions of power and agency given to the women by these artifacts. The protest created a more equal list that sent women around the world as representatives of Kosovo. The protest is taught at universities to prevent future television networks from trying to silence or mock women in politics. The ambassador has shared that story as a guest speaker at many events, amplifying the voices of those women. That protest was also the impetus for creating the Week of Women through the National Democratic
Institute and the Women’s Cross Party Caucus in Kosovo where women in all parties, ethnicities, and religions meet and discuss political issues in Kosovo.
Articles 7, 22, and 37 provided agency and laws created from the constitution provided jobs in the government for the women of Kosovo. These jobs provided even more voice to female MPs and they used their voice to prevent silencing and ensuring there were females on the list of diplomats. The repeated protesting and refusal to be silenced by a television network lead to more support and agency. The Articles also made sure to include freedoms and protections for all populations. Women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ populations are protected 59 under the rights set forth in the constitution allowing everyone the right to marry, adopt, inherit land, and have basic human rights as set forth by the United Nations protected.
Studying these artifacts in Kosovo gives a glimpse of the beginning of the ripple effect of overcoming silence and preventing future silencing. It serves as an example for others who may also want to create their own ripples. Many of the students in the large Moot court room on campus when she was speaking were female lawyers from developing democracies such as
Georgia, Malawi, and Afghanistan, there were also female students from the United States and
Iceland. Each of these women were given inspiration by these artifacts.
Conclusion
Both of these artifacts exhibit attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing and can be used as an example for other communities when creating new laws and using those laws to build momentum and gain strength. The laws set forth in the new constitution led to a law mandating a quota of female representation in the parliament. That quote gave the women legal backing to protest the original list of diplomats that contained only men. Their protest and legal support led to full parliament support and allowed them to win their battle against the television station that was attempting to silence them and shame them back to their offices. Not only is this an event that universities in Kosovo now study, but it’s been shared with Ohio
Northern University’s law school, the speech discussing it is available on YouTube and the
Ambassador has given this speech to other universities including Seton Hall’s School of
Diplomacy and International Relations.
The next chapter moves from stopping silencing and preventing future patterns of silencing to examples of how to amplify previously silenced voices. While these artifacts were written documents and stories, the next two are visual artifacts. One is a monument and the other 60 is an art installation. Both are dedicated to the 20,000 women who were victims of sexual assault during the war in Kosovo. These artifacts are analyzed using heuristic questions developed using strategic contemplation and critical imagination. 61
CHAPTER IV: THE STRATEGIC CONTEMPLATION AND CRITICAL IMAGINATION OF
THE HEROINAT MEMORIAL AND THINKING OF YOU ART INSTALLATION
Introduction
In the previous chapter I examined artifacts using heuristics designed using social circulation and globalization. In this chapter I examined the Heroinat Memorial and the
“Thinking of You” art installation using heuristics based off of strategic contemplation and critical imagination. In their book Feminist Rhetorical Practices, Royster and Kirsch describe strategic contemplation as a:
process of paying attention, of being mindful, of attending to the subtle intuitive, not-so-
obvious parts of research has the capacity to yield rich rewards. It allows scholars to
observe and notice, to listen to and hear voices often neglected or silenced, and to notice
more overtly their own responses to what they are seeing, reading, reflecting on, and
encountering during their research processes. (85)
I argue after analyzing the following artifacts that strategic contemplation not only allows scholars to listen to and hear voices often neglected or silenced, but also amplify them for other scholars and researchers. Spending time researching those that are neglected or silencing and sharing the results of that research provides a platform for scholars to continue that work, thus amplifying those voices. Furthermore, the goal of critical imagination is to
look beyond typically anointed assumptions in the field in anticipation of the possibility
of seeing something not previously noticed or considered. We look at people at whom we
have not looked before (e.g., women, people from underrepresented minority groups) in
places at which we have not looked seriously or methodically before (e.g., women’s
organizations), at practices and conditions at which we have not looked closely enough 62
(e.g., in literary clubs, garden clubs, or church auxiliaries), and at genres that we have not
considered carefully enough (e.g., women’s organizational records, artifacts from digital
culture, and artifacts from visual culture), and we think again about what women’s
patterns of action seem to suggest about rhetoric, writing, leadership, activism, and
rhetorical expertise. (72)
Critical Imagination further amplifies voices by recasting what scholars see as valuable to study and uncovering those people, places, and things that have been previously ignored and giving them a voice. While the previous chapter focused on overcoming and preventing future silencing, this chapter focuses on amplification and making voices heard. Both of these artifacts are examples of amplifying the voices of women who were raped during the war in Kosovo.
Both the memorial and the art installation step outside the traditional alphabetic text as “artifacts from visual culture” in order to illuminate other rhetorical practices. Examining these artifacts helps articulate ways in which critical imagination and strategic contemplation can be used as useful analytical tools. It also shows ways in which visual rhetorical moves can be made to make oppression and silencing visible. It can keep ideas, histories, and voices circulating in public memory allowing them to spread and amplify.
The Speech, Artifacts, and their Contexts
Heroinat Memorial
During the Kosovo/Serbia war, 13,500 individuals were killed, 20,000 women were sexually abused, thousands of houses, libraries, and monuments were burned and 1,664 people are still missing (Sahatqija 17:16). Ambassador Sahatqija stressed that “during the war, women and children were not the ones who were safe from the atrocities. They were the most targeted victims” (18:22). The Heroinat Memorial was unveiled on June 12, 2015. It is dedicated to the 63
20,000 women who were sexually assaulted during the war. It is the face of a woman made up of 20,000 medals with the face of the same woman on them. The artist explains his design:
This memorial, honors the sacrifice and contribution of all ethnic Albanian women
during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. As we were researching for inspiration, we came
across a Human Rights Watch article which states that there are nearly 20,000 Kosovar
women that were raped during the Kosovo war of the late 1990s. Most of these war
crimes remain untried, and some of the victims still live with those horrifying memories
and scars, every day and to this day. We took this tragic number of victims, and
transformed it into medals. Medals dedicated to each and every woman’s contribution
and sacrifice for this country, no matter what age or occupation. And by these 20,000
medals, the face of the heroine of Kosovo is formed. The portrait reflects values of
dignity, dedication, education, care, courage and endurance.
(http://molosgroup.com/heroinat-memorial-2/)
In her speech Ambassador Sahatqija notes that on International Women’s day, this monument is visited by high government officials. She said that this monument was first proposed by women parliamentarians and voted for by all MPs. The idea was proposed because there was a need to recognize the women heroes of the Kosovo war (19:33). The monument is located in a park in
Pristina, the capital of Kosovo right next to the Newborn monument dedicated to Kosovo’s independence. 64
“Thinking of You” Art Installation
Figure 4.1 “Thinking of You” Memorial (https://www.preshevajone.com/20000-women-raped-
during-kosovo-war-mental-trauma-of-kosovo-rape-victims-difficult-to-treat/
The “Thinking of You” art installation is the work of Kosovo artist Alketa Xhafa-Mripa.
Xhafa-Mripa filled the Pristina soccer stadium with thousands of dresses hung on washing lines as a tribute to survivors of sexual violence during the Kosovo war. She said “the idea for her installation came as she listened to interviews given by survivors of sexual violence who said their voices were rarely heard” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual- violence-survivors-art-dresses). On March 31, 2017, in a Ted Talk discussing the inspiration for her art installation, Xhafa-Mripa spoke of growing up with artist parents and seeing that art allowed her parents through art to speak words they didn’t feel they could say out loud. She then describes watching a documentary in which a woman whose identity was covered for her protection described the horrific sexual violence that she experienced during the war and the shame and stigma placed upon her afterwards: 65
I was watching the documentary. I was wondering why are these women being treated
this way? Why were they being silenced and stigmatized and where were the institutions
that were supposed to protect them and support them? After watching the documentary, I
knew that I needed to do something about it and I knew… I had a feeling that I had to
push this woman to break the silence. I wanted to fight the stigma and I wanted to know
that I am thinking of you we are all thinking of them and they are not alone I wanted to
do something that would involve the whole of society, the institution, the government. I
wanted the woman to feel the solidarity of nation coming together to help and to give
something that left a mark on my childhood. As I said before my art practice centers on
identity, memory, and history,. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5qMUM8cr7A
6:09)
Ambassador Sahatqija discussed the importance of having both the art installation and the
Memorial Heroinat. She said
Usually the inability to talk about these crimes and the stigma attached allowed criminals to get away with these crimes, but thanks to the long-term powerful work of civil society, women parliamentarians and especially the engagement of the former president (Atifete Jahjaga), this issue is no longer taboo. After many years of work and debate, parliament passed a law that recognized victims of sexual abuse during the war as war crimes and the victims are entitled to compensation just like other victims of war. It was very difficult to achieve. It was very difficult for most people. Especially men to admit that it existed.” (19:22). The art installation as well as discussion of the inspiration, news articles and interviews about the installation and the dedication given by former President Atifete Jahjaga were analyzed for this artifact. 66
Even these short sketches of the memorial and art installation reveal the need for a more systematic analysis using critical imagination and strategic contemplation. In the analysis to follow it will also be clear that these artifacts illustrate how these artifacts continue to amplify the voices of the rape victims of the Kosovo war and extend out to amplifying voices of other rape victims who have been shamed into silence.
Critical Imagination
Royster and Kirsch argues that using critical imagination “functions as one of several inquiry tools available for developing a critical stance in order to engage more intentionally and intensely in various intellectual processes” (71). Applying critical imagination to these artifacts allows for a more in depth look at the rhetorical movements made by monuments and art installations. As the artist of “Thinking of You” said, art allows her to “express myself. Art is my language of choice my voice that travels without me having to utter a word. Art has no barrier; it is universal; it is a way of expressing the unsaid or unsayable” (Xhafa Mripa, 3:35). For these reasons, I have chosen heuristics based off of critical imagination as one of the analytical tools for exploring the rhetorical moves made by these artifacts.
In what ways does this artifact allow for: Rescue, Recovery, and Re-inscription?
First, as mentioned in Chapter 2, the 3Rs (Rescue, Recovery, and Re-inscription) introduced by Royster and Kirsch is meant to “engage...in order to enable a more dialogic relationship between past and present” (14). They go on to argue that by pursuing the three Rs in our scholarship, we are challenged to “account for the impact and consequences of both the navigational tools and strategies that the women used to negotiate their lives, as well as the ones that we ourselves use to negotiate academic tasks in studying interpreting, and teaching about these women” (15). Feminist scholars have used the 3Rs in order to share previously unknown 67 voices by rescuing them, previously silenced and buried voices by recovering them, or even re- inscribing what is counted as rhetorical moves or holding rhetorical value. However, while the
3Rs are what Royster and Kirsch describe as the major goals of feminist rhetoric thus far, they argue that scholars need to expand their scope beyond them. They reason that these goals have often neglected international, transnational, and global contexts. They argue that it is important to go beyond the 3Rs:
If we were to stop with rescue, recover, and (re)inscription, in effect we would be placing
historical women’s lives mainly in service to our lives and work, our curiosities,
imperatives, and agendas, rather than placing them in symbiotic partnership with women
over time and across our variable standpoints and perspectives, in re-creating and
honoring a more fully textured view of involvement, participation, rhetorical prowess,
and indeed leadership. (75)
By both using and going beyond the 3Rs scholars are able to amplify the voices through the
“symbiotic partnership” allowing a multitude of voices share and tell their stories. Therefore, the
Monument Heroinat and the “Thinking of You” art installation are starting points in looking at the ways that the women of Kosovo are negotiating their voices and the voices of others in their lives. It is important not to overlook these movements because they illustrate a significant shift in women overcoming silences and amplifying the voices of others. 68
Figure 4.2 Woman Walking Among Skirts and Dresses
(https://mashable.com/2015/06/13/kosovo-sexual-violence-art-installation/
Figure 4.3 Memorial Side View (http://molosgroup.com/heroinat-memorial-2/) 69
Figure 4.4 Close up of Memorial (http://molosgroup.com/heroinat-memorial-2/)
Both the Memorial Heroinat and the “Thinking of You” art installation were created to amplify the voices of victim of sexual assault as well as to destigmatize victims of rape. They serve to recast the ways in which these women are viewed and force legislatures to recognize that these atrocities happened to 20,000 members of Kosovo society. The Monument Heroinat illustrates that number with every single medallion. It signifies all of Kosovo by creating a woman’s face, an identity that can no longer be hidden in the dark. The 3 Rs of rescue, recovery and re-inscription are meant to help feminist scholars “enrich, honor, and support the lives of those we study, whether in the past or present” (Royster and Kirsch, In Search of Excellence,
643). The rape victims of the war were not only ignored, but made to feel shame and hide. These visual dedications to them helps rescue them from that silencing and shame. It helps them recover in another sense. Not in the sense of recovering a text to share with the world, but to help 70 them heal and recover from their pain. It also (re)inscribes them to not be ashamed and victims but strong and important members of Kosovo society. They are being honored and supported in both the memorial and the art installation. Recognizing the rhetorical moves made by creating a visual story that illustrates the massive number of women, all of whom were shamed into silence, that were victims of sexual assault during the war also rescues, recovers, and re-inscribes the women. Those who petitioned for the monument and the artist who created “Thinking of You” were doing so to make sure these women were heard, lifting up their voices and amplifying them.
In what ways is it representing the women in a meaningful way?
As Alketa Xhafa-Mripa mentioned her art focuses on identity memory. Her art installation is intended to create a memory for women who otherwise would be forgotten. She said, “I started questioning the silence, how we could not hear their voices during and after the war and thought about how to portray the women in contemporary art”
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual-violence-survivors-art-dresses).
In Places of Public Memory, when discussing memory places and techné, Dickinson, Blair, and
Ott argue that within memory places there is a collective identity that signifies a “significant memory of and for a collective” (25). The “Thinking of You” art installation and the Memorial
Heroinat make sure that these women are remembered; that the rape of 20,000 women in a country with the population of 1.7 million isn’t a silenced and stigmatized event that fades out of public consciousness.
Survivors of sexual violence are still stigmatized and denied recognition, said Atifete
Jahjaga, Kosovo’s first female president and a sponsor of the exhibition. With this artistic
installation, we show that society supports them, that there is no ‘us and them’. The 71
language of this installation is universal and goes beyond Kosovo. We dedicate it to
women and men all over the world who are subjected to sexual violence, a crime against
humanity. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual-violence-
survivors-art-dresses)
The president sponsoring the art exhibit and the parliament voting for the memorial represent the new government of Kosovo and female politicians taking a stance, acknowledging these women, and destigmatizing their experience. The designers of the Memorial Heroinat stated that
While hundreds of monuments and memorials were erected for Kosovar men, the
architectural landscape and the history books have neglected the contribution and
sacrifice of women. They remained the unacknowledged anonymous heroines of
Kosovo’s history. But not anymore. With this memorial, symbolically, each of these
anonymous heroines, is honored individually” (https://archello.com/project/heroinat).
Through this memorial the women are being remembered in a meaningful way. The face on the coins and the face they create looks proud and strong, not downtrodden or ashamed. It is a hopeful face with open eyes.
Figure 4.5 The Face of the Memorial (https://archello.com/project/heroinat) 72
The women are remembered through visual rhetoric, through places of memory, and recognized for their experiences and suffering during the war.
Critical Imagination is a tool to engage with women who can “no longer speak on their own behalf” (Royster and Kirsch 71). The Memorial Heroinat and the “Thinking of You” art installation spoke up for the women who did not feel as though they could speak on their own behalf. Even the woman in the documentary that inspired Xhafa-Mripa was shrouded in darkness with her voice distorted so as to hide her identity. Rhetorical moves made by these artifacts helped lift that need to hide and gave these women a face and a voice. Furthermore, critical imagination encourages scholars to consider genres that aren’t often considered. Monuments and art dedicated to women’s roles in war are rare. Both of these examples show significant movement towards giving women a voice and representing the women of Kosovo. Focusing on and acknowledging “what women’s patterns of action seems to suggest about rhetoric, writing, leadership, activism, and rhetorical expertise” is another purpose of critical imagination (72).
These artifacts and the support from the government of Kosovo tell of a pattern of action towards giving women voices and overcoming silencing place on them either through force or shame.
These artifacts rescue, recover, and (re)inscribe the 20,000 victims of wartime rape in Kosovo by honoring them without forcing them to identify themselves. These artifacts use techné (art) to reveal identity and memorialize a collective memory in honor of the women of Kosovo.
Strategic Contemplation
Strategic contemplation is another analytical tool that allows the researcher to “map the text by asking questions” (Royster and Kirsch 82). Strategic contemplation works best for these artifacts because it situates the women it represents in the past, present, and future as well as amplifies their voices. These heuristic questions serve as a guide for understanding the 73 connection between these artifacts and the women of Kosovo as well as future possibilities for overcoming silencing.
In what ways does it honor or do justice to those who no longer can speak back to us?
The impetus for creating the art installation was to find justice and honor for the rape victims of
Kosovo. In an interview Xhafa-Mripa said, “Finally the time came for them [the victims] to get some recognition and some help that they deserve. What we’re doing is bringing the whole society as one, where it’s not them and us. All these skirts represent us as women”
(https://universe.byu.edu/2015/06/12/kosovo-art-installation-of-dresses-supports-war-rape- victims/). The art installation was backed by Atifete Jahjaga, Kosovo’s first woman president.
Jahjaga said the one-month long campaign was “a call to break the silence, to fight the stigma, a call to act, a call to awareness raising and a call for acceptance. We got together to remember their pain,” she said, “to recognize their sacrifice. And to tell them that they are not alone”
(https://www.alketaxhafamripa.com/thinking-of-you). It has been twenty years since the Kosovo war and there are still over 1600 people missing. There are voiceless victims who remain a mystery. The number 20,000 is just an estimate because there are so many who felt ashamed and felt as though they had to keep what happened to them a secret. These artifacts help speak up for some of those victims. In the interview that inspired Xahfa-Mripa, the woman discussed the shame imposed by society and her family:
She told her story of sexual brutality. I listened to her speak about how the trauma did not
just end with this horrific and brutal act as she was not only sexually violated but she was
then stigmatized by the society in which she grew up in and loved. She had to live with
the fear of embarrassing her family. She was viewed as a woman without honour. I
couldn’t believe that on top of the reality of her horrific ordeal, she was forced to carry 74
around crushing feelings of guilt and shame, bearing a lifelong burden without having
ever even committed a crime. I knew she was not alone, that there were many in the dark,
hidden, that remained silent. Many women were encouraged by their families not to
speak about the sexual violence they experienced during the war. Sexual violence still
continues to be used as an instrument of war and its victims remain unrecognized and
silenced globally. (https://www.alketaxhafamripa.com/thinking-of-you)
Xahfa-Mripa, with support from the president of Kosovo, found a way to encourage these women and families of these women to bring forward skirts and dresses to fill the stadium. The president was the very first person to donate a dress to the project. Ambassador Sahatqija also donated a dress as well as one of Kosovo’s most famous stars in pop culture, Rita Ora. Women were also able to donate dresses anonymously; an option that gave women a chance to speak up while still being silent. Much like the #Metoo movement, the more women and men who donated skirts and dresses, the more people began to talk about it and families stopped asking victims to keep what happened to them a secret. In an interview with Xahfa-Mripa, she said that
“with great media coverage and institutional support, “Thinking of you” has become some sort of collective healing...Men and women are talking about this issue and saying it’s okay, it’s not their fault and this is important because they [the survivors] feel that it’s their fault”
(https://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/thinking-of-you-a-collective-healing-among-skirts/. As the donations of dresses picked up momentum, Xahfa-Mripa found that more and more men begin to donate dresses of wives, mothers, and other women in their lives. Not only does the art exhibit speak up for the women who can no longer speak for themselves or who were afraid to speak before, but it also has given them agency. “One of the survivors from Drenas came to me and said: “All the girls are so happy, everyone is saying: ‘You see? It’s not their fault!’ Everyone is 75 getting a little bit empowered” (https://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/thinking-of-you-a-collective- healing-among-skirts/).
The Memorial Heroinat helps further the empowerment by bringing attention to something that was ignored. As mentioned earlier, Ambassador Sahatqija said that this is an issue that is difficult for people to acknowledge happened, especially for men. The designer for the Memorial said that one unique property of the memorial is the subject matter itself “In an area that is constantly dealing with multiple scars of its past, leaving the plight of women during the war unaddressed can be convenient but is unfair...Focusing on this unrecognized aspect of the Kosovo war, I deeply believe that it also highlights the sacrifice of all women during the war.” (https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=33265). The Memorial was designed to represent the women of Kosovo. It speaks for them. It is many women combined to create one voice for those who felt afraid to speak alone. Even in the design, of the woman on the coin, the artist looked for the best way to represent the women of Kosovo, “The research was mainly focused on creating a unique yet representative face of Kosovar women. I conducted mostly photographic research, focusing especially on documentary photographs from the Kosovo war. I combined different portraits, and took out the most common features of a Kosovo woman, mixed them together, and created the representative portrait”
(https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=33265).
In what ways does the artifact speak to our minds, our hearts and our ethos?
Much like an Aristotelian argument, these artifacts utilize symbolic visuals that play on the viewer’s minds, hearts, and ethos. The Memorial Heroinat is made up of war medals. It is not just the face of a woman made up of many women, but women who are being honored for bravery and sacrifice just as any soldier in the war. It is a memorial of strength and honor instead 76 of pity and shame. It makes the women heroes and is even referred to as the memorial for the heroines of Kosovo. They are heroes not victims. “With this memorial, symbolically, each of these anonymous heroines, is honored individually” (https://archello.com/project/heroinat). The size of the memorial makes it impossible to miss, standing at over 18 feet tall and almost 15 feet wide. Each medal that honors a woman is one and a half inches in diameter so you can see each medal clearly but you can also see how immense the number that makes up all of the women is.
There is immediate visual impact. Combining the visual impact with the symbolism of the monument and the story that it tells creates a strong argument against wartime rape and in support of the women it represents. The support surrounding the monument also adds to the logos, ethos, and pathos. As previously discussed, once a year on International Women’s Day, the highest government officials visit the monument. This tradition and the presence of government officials creates ethos for the monument and reinforces the importance of the monument and the support and new laws that give these women agency instead of shame.
Xhafa-Mripa discussed how watching her father as an artist helped her to understand she could say through art what may not be allowed to be said out loud. She found that it is something that can reach a wider audience and in some cases make a stronger argument than words. She said, “That’s what makes Art work worthwhile: having access to masses, making a work under the skyline that is accessible to everyone not only to a few... And this is why I refer to the power of Art... and what Art can achieve when it is visually represented in front of you, regardless of language, faith or nationality”(https://www.alketaxhafamripa.com/thinking-of- you). She chose clothes lines and skirts and dresses because these are symbolic of many things.
First, the idea of “not airing out your dirty laundry,” something many women were told to do. 77
Keep it quiet. Do not bring shame upon your family. Xhafa-Mripa then took that idea and flipped it around:
Xhafa-Mripa chose the dress or skirt to symbolize fragility and purity, and by hanging
out 5,000 dresses on washing lines, she has given a new spin to a familiar expression.
“‘Air dirty laundry in public is a way of saying ‘Talk about your private issues in public’,
but in this case the laundry is washed, clean, like the women survivors who are clean,
pure – they carry no stain (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-
sexual-violence-survivors-art-dresses).
She not only was encouraging people to talk about their issues in public, but also reiterating the idea that the survivors were not tainted or dirty or soiled. They were clean. They were innocent in what happened to them. They should not be ashamed. Xhafa-Mripa was making as strong argument that utilized logos, ethos, and pathos through her art. She said, “I want those thousands of dresses to hit you with the reality of what happened and I want people to talk about it. The installation can be grasped by anyone, no matter what language they speak”
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual-violence-survivors-art-dresses).
She wanted to create a piece with a strong visual presence that encouraged thought and discussion.
Just as the ethos of the Memorial Heroinat is strengthened by the strong government support it receives, so has the “Thinking of You” art installation.
Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, also made a donation, as did
Lady Anelay, the UK’s new special representative on preventing sexual violence in
conflict, who will carry on the work begun by William Hague, the former foreign
secretary. “Let’s contribute together and dedicate this to the survivors of rape during the 78
war,” said Xhafa-Mripa. “The beauty of this artwork is that everyone is so willing to be
involved. They want to be part of it – that’s my biggest achievement.”
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual-violence-survivors-art-
dresses)
Through her art installation Xhafa-Mripa was able to recruit important people throughout Europe and show the women she wanted to reach out to that they are fully supported and not alone and that they don’t need to hide in the shadows anymore. She made a strong argument for and to these women that they have nothing to be ashamed of and should no longer feel as though they need to be silent.
What lingers at the margins that we might not see immediately?
It is not possible at this point to fully see the widespread impact of these artifacts. As
Xhafa-Mripa noted, “Despite having its roots in Kosovo the art installation 'Thinking Of you' installed in 2015, is dedicated to all the survivors of sexual violence all over the World. It has a universal language of its own, that can be understood and felt by everyone”
(https://www.alketaxhafamripa.com/thinking-of-you). She argues that art is a universal language.
It can be felt by all. The creators of the memorial also point out that there are so few memorials in honor of women. Representation has widespread impact in empowerment and desilencing. In the discussion on the Joe Louis monument “The Fist,” Gallagher and LaWare pointed out that it
“is connected to a larger social discourse involving the struggle over defining and representing public memory in the form of local and national histories, particularly ones that evoke painful memories of racism, marginalization, and injustice” (90). Monuments and art exhibits dedicated to the marginalized not only allow for the subject matter to be seen, but as Xahfa-Mripa noticed, spark a conversation that emboldens others who were afraid to speak to also join the 79 conversation. Through Ted Talks, news stories, and documentaries, the art installation is able to continue to be shared globally. The representation of victims of rape allows for others to also feel empowered even if they have not physically experienced the art installation in the soccer stadium or stood in front of the memorial. Breathtaking photos and media circulation of the memorial can be accessed online further creating a global presence.
Location choice can also serve as a rhetorical move. Where the monument and art installation are located hold significance that may not at first be recognized. When asked why her exhibit took place in the capital’s soccer stadium Xhafa-Mripa replied “It’s a macho territory.
It’s a man’s world; it’s also a place for the sweat, the whistling, the adrenaline rushing...Here the survivors, women, can stand and reaffirm their existence, and that we are all one”
(https://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/thinking-of-you-a-collective-healing-among-skirts/). She purposefully chose a place that was male dominated to emphasize the massive number of women in their lives who were assaulted during the war. It was also chosen as a way to unify everyone against such acts in the future. Similarly, the location of the Memorial Heroinat was chosen so that the women who were previously hidden would be seen by as many people as possible. “The memorial will be placed in a park in downtown Pristina, in one of Pristina’s most central and frequented areas” (https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=33265). Neither of these artifacts were tucked away in a corner of the city where you’d have to search for it. They were out for everyone to see increasing visibility and discussion.
Since I started researching these artifacts, a documentary has been made about the making of the “Thinking of you” art exhibit and presented at NYU film school. At the film screening of the documentary, Both former President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga and Ambassador
Teuta Sahatqija were special guests at the film screening of the documentary and held a question 80 and answer session at the end of the film. While the art exhibit itself wasn’t permanent, the TED
Talk, interviews, and documentary keep it a living artifact.
In what ways does it amplify the women it represents?
As mentioned in Chapter I, a movement we are currently witnessing worldwide is the amplification of voices that have previously been silenced. Royster and Kirsch through their three Rs and four matrices are essentially calling for the amplification of previously silenced voices; to uncover and illuminate the rhetoric of those who were ignored or silenced because of gender, ethnicity, class, etc. These artifacts are a clear example of the women of Kosovo coming together and amplifying the voices of the 20,000 women who were sexually assaulted during the war. The Heroinat Memorial was proposed by women in the Parliament, voted for, and created.
It is regularly visited, it was discussed by Ambassador Sahatqija in her speech and it even won the A-Design Award and Competition in 2014. The size and location of the memorial makes it impossible to be ignored when walking through Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. It loudly honors the women heroines of Kosovo and continues the discussion of what happened to them as well as other feats and sacrifices made by women during the war.
The “Thinking of You” art installation started as a call for dresses and skirts and grew exponentially. The power of the art installation didn’t stop when it was over. It continued to capture international attention. The participation of powerful men and women around the world helped increase its popularity. The TED talk and documentary also helped keep the discussion going. It even reached film students in New York City. One dark and shrouded interview by a woman brave enough to discuss what happened to her in the war inspired an artist to want to encourage all women to speak up and not be afraid to be seen. One voice was amplified through
5,000 dresses in a soccer stadium, a place that is loud and echoes voices making them stronger. 81
Both of these artifacts together not only allowed Kosovo and the world discuss the issue of rape, but it changed laws. It gave women the right to claim compensation and it removed the stigma. It gave women more protection from rape under the laws, and made it easier to talk about. Their voices were lifted up and made louder by both of these artifacts and the women were given back a piece of themselves.
Discussion
After analyzing the artifacts using the heuristic questions, it is necessary to look at the ways in which help address the overall research questions of this dissertation. First, “in what ways can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech be seen as attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing?” It is clear after the analysis that these artifacts were created to make sure the estimated 20,000 women who were sexually assaulted during the war were never silenced again. The art installation and monument gave these victims a voice, and amplified their voices. The artifacts demanded participation and support from Kosovo’s citizens as well as citizens around the world providing visibility while still allowing victims to remain anonymous. It is an issue that is being discussed worldwide and hopefully giving voice to those in other countries who are also victims of sexual assault. They are also living artifacts that will continue to be seen and discussed. The monument will continue to be visited and seen in a very public place that will help prevent future silencing and give victims of sexual assault agency in their rights and protections under the law. The art installation lives on in photos, videos, and speeches made by the president of Kosovo. It also showed the women of Kosovo that they have support in other countries as well.
Second, “How can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech help us understand how to amplify the voices of those who have been previously silenced?” These 82 artifacts serve as case studies in how to take those that have been silenced and amplify their voices, to garner support from around the world, and use visual rhetoric to make sure the arguments made are universally understood. These artifacts did not just appear on their own.
There were many discussions and rhetorical moves to make them happen. There were arguments made at the parliament. There were calls for donations made by an artist as well as permission sought to use the stadium, and to put the monument in the location it is in. There was much behind the scenes moves made by women to make sure that other women in their country were seen and heard. They women were representative of women in Kosovo but they were also love letters to other women and victims of sexual assault around the world. These are important artifacts to explore to understand how women everywhere can work to amplify voices that are currently being silenced.
What is important next then, is to explore the implications of what scholars can learn from the rhetorical moves made by women in a transitioning state such as Kosovo. The next chapter discusses these implications as well as ways scholars can look at political artifacts created by women in order to amplify their voices in other parts of the world. It will also show how the heuristic I created utilizing the matrices can also be applied to other movements, speeches, sculptures, and protests currently happening in the world. 83
CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE AMPLIFICATION
It is the soul that preserves the silent images of things. The soul does not, like the mind, express itself about things through the medium of words, but rather through the images of things. Things have a dual existence in man; first in the soul through images, then in the mind through words.
~Max Picard “The World of Silence”
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings from the analysis of Ambassador Teuta Sahatqija’s story of a Kosovo women’s parliament protest, Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the Kosovo
Constitution, the Memorial Heroinat, and the “Thinking of You” Art Installation all shared by the Ambassador in her speech at Ohio Northern University on April 13, 207. This chapter discusses the implications of what scholars can learn from the rhetorical moves made by women in a transitioning state such as Kosovo. It then discusses the ways in which scholars can analyze political artifacts created by and for women to amplify their voices throughout the world. I then discuss how the heuristics based on the matrices can be applied to other movements, speeches, sculptures and protests currently happening in the world.
Summary of Findings
This study aimed to take the ideas surrounding the rhetoric of silence set forth by Glenn and the call to action the three Rs, rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription and the four matrices, critical imagination, strategic contemplation, social circulation, and globalization, of feminist rhetorical studies introduced by Royster and Kirsch and identify ways in which the women of
Kosovo were in fact making rhetorical moves to overcome those silences. Further, this study focused on the concept of amplification in order to analyze the strategies Kosovar women employed as they transitioned into a new state. 84
In chapter two I shared a table summarizing the research questions and artifacts analyzed in the study. Below I complete the table with a summary of findings based on heuristic analysis.
Each table is divided by the research questions. Table 5.1 shows the first question, the data used to answer the research question, and the method for data collection and textual analysis.
Table 5.1 Research Question One and Data
Research Question 1 Data Required to Answer Method of Data Collection and Research Question Textual Analysis
In what ways can the Transcript of the Parliament Textual analysis utilizing rhetorical actions Women’s protest, Kosovar heuristic questions about described in Teuta Articles of Constitution silencing. Establishing patterns Sahatqija’s speech be mentioned in speech. of rhetorical actions that can seen as attempts to stop prevent future silencing. and prevent future patterns of silencing?
Table 5.2 addresses the first research question, “In what ways can the rhetorical actions described in Teuta Sahatqija’s speech be seen as attempts to stop and prevent future patterns of silencing?” To answer this question, I used heuristics based on social circulation and globalization to textually analyze the story of the Parliament Women’s protest that Ambassador
Sahatqija told both in the speech and at dinner and the Articles 7, 22, and 37 of the new Kosovo
Constitution. The analysis is summarized in the table below: 85
Table 5.2 Social Circulation and Globalization Data
Social Circulation Parliament Women’s Articles of Constitution Protest
In what ways does this artifact The parliament women’s Article 7 gave the women the create connections between the protest signifies a shift in agency to protest through women of Kosovo in the past, female leadership in constitutional backing. present, and future? Kosovo.
They set an example that is Article 7 empowered the now taught in universities women currently in holding official positions and set a News outlets see it as a precedent for future women. It warning to take women in safeguarded their place in the politics seriously. government and guaranteed women would be included on The women in the future diplomatic assignment parliament gained agency lists. as well as diplomatic positions.
In what ways does it impact the As illustrated in the Article 7 empowered women parliament women’s to change their narrative and narrative of women in Kosovo? protest they took the narrative of other women. advantage of those It gave them more employment opportunities and fought opportunities. hard to ensure the promises made by laws As women hold more high- and quotas were kept. ranking jobs, they are changing the landscape of what women can do and how they are seen in society.
In what ways does it make The story is being told in Women are becoming visible multiple situations which in the law, in the government, women more visible in social increases visibility and in many social spaces. spaces? The interconnected nature of both artifacts allows for increased visibility in the future
Globalization 86
In what way does this artifact The parliament protest is Articles 22 and 37 help bring create connections between the the reason there are Kosovo closer to the rest of the women of Kosovo and the rest of women in diplomatic word. Article 22 specifically the world? positions all over the aligns Kosovo with important world. Their protest conventions and declarations allowed for increased from multinational NGOs such visibility worldwide. as the United Nations.
The Constitution was set up to make certain that laws that include discrimination and inequality would be overruled by the Direct Applicability of International Agreements and Instruments. Meaning, protecting those that had previously been silenced was important enough to include these conventions in the constitution
In what ways does this artifact Each of these artifacts Article 7 came a legislative highlight women’s participation helped give Kosovo’s quota creating a critical mass and leadership at a global level? women power, agency, needed to start the process of and voice. It gave them the women empowerment and ability to overcome future gender equality. attempts at silencing and sent them around the That critical mass led to the world so that their voices parliament women’s protest. It could be heard in other led to the first female president countries as well. of state in the Balkans. 87
Table 5.2 helps illustrate the moves the women of Kosovo made to overcome silencing and prevent future attempts at silencing. The analysis shows strategic moves made within the government as Kosovo transitioned to statehood. It also shows the ways in which women took advantage of the transition to create more equality and ensure women would have a voice in the government moving forward. Table 5.2 also demonstrates the ways in which these rhetorical moves were amplified through social circulation and globalization. As there are more female representatives of Kosovo serving in diplomatic positons, as Ambassador Sahatqija continues to share the story of the women’s parliament protest, and as law schools and governments around the world discuss the constitution of Kosovo, these moves will be amplified and discussed globally.
Table 5.3 then shows the second question, the data used to answer the research question, and the method for data collection and textual analysis:
Table 5.3 Research Question Two and Data
Research Question Data Required to Answer Method of Data Collection Research Question and Analysis
How can the rhetorical Research of each artifact Textual analysis utilizing actions described in Teuta including visual data of heuristic questions about Sahatqija’s speech help us monuments and art amplification. Establishing understand how to amplify installations. Transcript of patterns that exemplify the voices of those who have President Atifete Jahjaga’s amplification and show been previously silenced? dedication speech for the efficacy of amplification. “Thinking of You” art installation. Transcript of Thinking of you Artist Ted Talk. Heroinat Memorial Artist description of memorial. 88
Table 5.4 addresses the second research question, “How can the rhetorical actions described in
Teuta Sahatqija’s speech help us understand how to amplify the voices of those who have been previously silenced?” To answer this question, I used heuristics based on critical imagination and strategic contemplation to textually analyze the Memorial Heroinat and “Thinking of You” art installation. The analysis is summarized in the table below: 89
Table 5.4 Critical Imagination and Strategic Contemplation Data
Critical Imagination Heroinat Memorial “Thinking of You” Art Exhibit
In what ways does this Creates a visual story to Creates a visual story to artifact allow for: Rescue, illustrate the massive number illustrate the massive number Recovery, and Re- of women who were raped of women who were raped inscription? during the Kosovo war. during the Kosovo war.
Helps rescue the victims who Helps rescue the victims who have been silenced by shame have been silenced by shame and recognizes and honors and recognizes and honors them. them.
(Re)inscribes them to not be (Re)inscribes them to not be ashamed and allows them to ashamed and allows them to tell their stories if they want tell their stories if they want to. to.
In what ways is it Ensure that these women are Her art focuses on identity representing the women in a remembered and that the memory and is intended to meaningful way? population of 20,000 who create a memory for women were raped during the war do who otherwise would be not fade out of public forgotten. consciousness. The president sponsored the Parliament vote for the art event showing country memorial represents taking a support. stance, acknowledging these women, and destigmatizing Represented by all ages, their experience experiences, shapes, and sizes through clothes donated. Represented by a strong face with open eyes
Strategic Contemplation
In what ways does it honor or It has been twenty years since The impetus for creating the do justice to those who no the Kosovo war and there are art installation was to find longer can speak back to us? still over 1600 people justice and honor for the rape missing. There are voiceless victims of Kosovo. victims who remain a 90
mystery. The number 20,000 It has been twenty years since is just an estimate because the Kosovo war and there are there are so many who felt still over 1600 people ashamed and felt as though missing. There are voiceless they had to keep what victims who remain a happened to them a secret. mystery. The number 20,000 These artifacts help speak up is just an estimate because for some of those victims. there are so many who felt ashamed and felt as though The Memorial Heroinat helps they had to keep what further the empowerment by happened to them a secret. bringing attention to These artifacts help speak up something that was ignored. for some of those victims.
The monument was created to Empowered women and gave speak for the women of them agency to speak. Kosovo and the face was designed through Government support and the photographic research to be as mass quantity of donated representative as possible of clothing removed victim Kosovar women. blaming.
In what ways does the artifact Memorial of strength and The artist chose clothes lines speak to our minds, our honor, not pity and shame. and skirts and dresses because hearts, and our ethos? these are symbolic of “airing There is immediate visual dirty laundry” as well as a impact. Combining the visual representation of cleanliness, impact with the symbolism of showing that the survivors are the monument and the story not tainted or dirty. that it tells creates a strong argument against wartime Through her art installation rape and in support of the Xhafa-Mripa was able to women it represents recruit important people throughout Europe and show The tradition and the presence the women she wanted to of government officials reach out to that they are fully creates ethos for the supported and not alone and monument and reinforces the that they don’t need to hide in importance of the monument the shadows anymore adding and the support and new laws ethos. that give these women agency instead of shame 91
What lingers at the margins Visual rhetoric makes it easier Visual rhetoric makes it easier that we might not see be embraced and understood be embraced and understood immediately? by people all over the world, by people all over the world, not just Kosovo not just Kosovo
There are few monuments to Monuments and art exhibits women, this adds one to help dedicated to the marginalized increase representation. not only allow for the subject matter to be seen, but as The representation of victims Xahfa-Mripa noticed, spark a of rape allows for others to conversation that emboldens also feel empowered even if others who were afraid to they have not physically speak to also join the experienced the art conversation. installation in the soccer stadium or stood in front of The representation of victims the memorial. of rape allows for others to also feel empowered even if Location choice can also they have not physically serve as a rhetorical move. experienced the art installation in the soccer stadium or stood in front of the memorial.
Location choice can also serve as a rhetorical move.
In what ways does it amplify The Heroinat Memorial was The “Thinking of You” art the women it represents? proposed by women in the installation started as a call Parliament, voted for, and for dresses and skirts and created. It is regularly visited, grew exponentially. The it was discussed by power of the art installation Ambassador Sahatqija in her didn’t stop when it was over. speech and it even won the A- It continued to capture Design Award and international attention. The Competition in 2014. The participation of powerful men size and location of the and women around the world memorial makes it impossible helped increase its popularity. to be ignored when walking The TED talk and through Pristina, the capital of documentary also helped keep Kosovo. It loudly honors the the discussion going. It even women heroines of Kosovo reached film students in New and continues the discussion York City. of what happened to them as well as other feats and Both of these artifacts sacrifices made by women together not only allowed 92 during the war. Kosovo and the world discuss Both of these artifacts the issue of rape, but it together not only allowed changed laws. It gave women Kosovo and the world discuss the right to claim the issue of rape, but it compensation and it removed changed laws. It gave women the stigma. It gave women the right to claim more protection from rape compensation and it removed under the laws, and made it the stigma. It gave women easier to talk about. more protection from rape under the laws, and made it easier to talk about. 93
Table 5.4 illustrates the ways in which both the Memorial Heroinat and the “Thinking of You” art installation helped recover the voices of those that had been previously silenced. This results show the importance of looking beyond the alphabetic text and utilizing strategic contemplation and critical imagination to find rhetorical moves made by women and for women. It further exemplifies the ways in which amplification can help populations who have previously been silenced and cannot or are afraid to speak for themselves. Amplification through strategic contemplation and critical imagination provides agency to those who have been marginalized through imposed silences.
It is clear after analysis that each of these artifacts represent strategic rhetorical moves away from silencing and towards social circulation, globalization, critical imagination, and strategic contemplation. By analyzing these artifacts through the lenses of the rhetoric of silence and feminist rhetoric, I was able to identify ways in which the women of Kosovo were recovered, rescued, and (re)inscripted, as well as given their voices and ensuring the future women of Kosovo also had a voice.
Implications for Future Research
Recognizing the rhetorical moves made to remove silences placed on populations and sharing those moves through scholarly works will only strengthen our knowledge and enrich the cannon of rhetoric and composition. Therefore, it is important that scholars continue the work that has been set by rhetors such as Cheryl Glenn, Jacqueline Royster, and Gesa Kirsch. By continuing to look for areas of un-silencing, rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription, and amplification, the breadth and depth of our knowledge of the history of rhetors will be enriched and expanded. 94
Call to Scholars
In Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity Through the Renaissance,
Cheryl Glenn discusses a remapping of our rhetorical traditions. She discusses tracing “the routes to those settlements and to resurvey the territory to locate and position women rhetoricians on the map”(4). She discusses looking for angles and places of irregularity, most notably silences, or what she refers to as smoothing over by the “flat surface of received knowledge” (5). After analyzing the artifacts, I am suggesting also looking for moments of noise, moments in which structures literally and figuratively are erected in order to amplify the voices of previously silenced populations. It is important to notice when there are specific rhetorical moves made to remove the gaps in representation, discuss those moves, and amplify them. On November 19,
2019, an article from NPR revealed that only 4% of the collection owned by the Baltimore
Museum of Art is art created by women. In order to rectify this situation, the museum has announced that it will only purchase works made by female artists in 2020 (Wamsley). On
October 16, 2019 it was announced that in Washington D.C., “local artist Charles Bergen retrofitted each call box with a cast-iron sculpture of a notable woman and a plaque that tells her story, then repainted the structures in bright colors. Some of the call boxes also have metal sculptures on top that symbolize the subject's accomplishments” (Lefrack). The artist received a commission for this project because, “"In D.C., while there are lots of sculptures of men and allegorical sculptures of women, there are not many sculptures of actual, real women that you can put a name to.” These are stories that scholars should pay attention to. Rhetorical movements of finding those gaps and places that have been smoothed over and ensuring voices are heard. These are stories that should be amplified so that these rhetorical movements continue to happen. 95
Using Heuristics Based on the Matrices
Looking for stories, monuments, art, and other non-alphabetic rhetoric widens the field of research. They hold rhetorical value and help create a collective memory that is more representative and presents a richer picture of our rhetorical history. Finding examples of amplification and amplifying them will help continue the answer to the challenge set forth by
Royster and Kirsch in their four matrices. Analyzing these movements using heuristics based on the matrices allows scholars to “The heuristic researcher is seeking to understand the wholeness and the unique patterns of experiences in a scientifically organized and disciplined way”
(Moustakas 16). In Unspoken, Cheryl Glenn states that “women’s silence or the silence of any traditionally disenfranchised group often goes unremarked upon if noticed at all”(11). Using heuristics based on the four matrices not only notices and remarks upon those silences, but it also gives it a voice. It shows value and reveals patterns that will lead to a better understanding of our history. It allows scholars to find the “unity in hidden likenesses” that Moustakas argues is the value of heuristic research.
Encouraging Students to Look for Silences
Many of us are both scholars and teachers. It is important as scholars to fill in these gaps and reveal areas that have been smoothed over, but these ideas can also move into the classroom.
Jodi Kantor is a Pulitzer prize winning American journalist who helped break the story of
Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual abuse. She has dedicated her career to giving women voices.
On December 14, 2017 she tweeted a photo of the white board in her daughter’s classroom and wrote “Excellent questions from the wall of my daughter’s classroom.” The photo was of a white board with the following questions, “Who writes the stories? Who benefits from the stories? Who is missing from the stories?” Most of this dissertation has focused on what we can 96 do as scholars to rescue and recover those who have been silenced as well as amplify their voices. However, I also argue that as educators, we need to find ways to help our students do the same things. We need to teach them how to find those silences and uncover what is missing. We need to teach them that there is rhetorical value beyond the alphabetical texts and to look for those movements of visibility and amplification.
There are tiny moments and movements everywhere that add up to big sounds. For example, when 10 year old Anna Weise visited the state capitol building in Boise, Idaho, she noticed that there was a plaque commemorating the first female legislators of Idaho. “That's when she and her mom found a plaque, way off the beaten path, dedicated to Idaho's first female legislators. Nancy says Anna was drawn to the women's stories but wasn't happy that the exhibit was stuffed in a stairwell far from the rotunda area where most of Idaho's legislative history is on display” (Dawson). She noticed a gap in the story. She noticed the “flat surface of received knowledge” and took it upon herself to write to her state senator requesting the plaque be moved. She wrote, “"I personally believe that this important framed document should be placed in the main hall where several other important historical documents are hung ... I would like to see this changed for it sends a message that men and women are not treated equally.” What she had realized was who was missing from the stories. In reporting her story James Dawson writes,
“Anna, like all fourth-graders in the state, took a whole year of Idaho history lessons but never learned about the first women to hold state office.” Her letter worked and the Idaho State
Historical Society moved it to the rotunda where it will as Dawson puts it “get many more eyes.”
She found a gap, used her voice, and gave a group of influential women who were physically silenced through the act of hiding their plaque a voice. By making them more visible and reporting the story, these women’s important historical role in our country were then amplified. 97
Anna Weise said, “I thought it was very, very sad because that could be out here with all the men and it shows that women can make a change in the world.” She recognized the power of representation and fought for change herself.
If we teach our students to look for these moments, these gaps, and teach them to recover and amplify the voices of representation that have been silenced, we can begin to see a more comprehensive picture of the rich history of rhetoric that has so long been ignored. We also must make sure that the work we share, that the readings we choose are representative. We should make sure that what we expose our students to are not smoothed over. It is important to select readings, texts, visual rhetoric, and stories that uncover silence and create a more representative scholarship for our students. We should provide examples that amplify voices they may not have heard before. We should create assignments that amplify our own students’ voices instead of making them feel unheard, unseen, and/or silenced.
As an example, I often work with both ESL students and first generation students from diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses. It is important that they feel comfortable in the classroom. I often begin the class with assignments that help them feel heard and seen in the classroom before delving into the more difficult assignments. An example of such an assignment is the multimodal narrative. I start by introducing them to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED
Talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” We follow her talk by discussing the ways in which we have either had situations where people only had a single story of us or we of other people and discuss the examples Adichie gives in her speech. Next the students are assigned a multimodal narrative in which they share a story about themselves and their homes or family that they would like their classmates and me to know. I also share one of my own as a model. This modeling first not only gives them an example of what is expected of them, it also gives them a chance to 98 know me better. Within the multimodal narrative assignment, they have to choose photos, videos, a song, and text to create either a video or PowerPoint to share with their classmates.
They can use both their L2 and L1 if they are ESL speakers and the first generation students are not bound by Standard Academic English (SAE); they can use whatever song they think enhances and strengthens their story regardless of language. Removing the many limits of most academic papers for their first assignment and allowing them to tell their story their way not only allows the students to feel heard, but it also breaks down many of the barriers they have created after years of being told their English was incorrect or where they were from was strange or different. In addition to the multimodal assignment, I always make sure to choose readings, sample texts, and TED Talks by authors from a variety of backgrounds, genders, abilities, and ethnicities. Providing students with as much representation as possible is important. I actively look for gaps in the readings I assign my class to ensure I am providing as many rich rhetorical examples as possible in the sixteen weeks that I have them.
Conclusion
The past four years have been politically tumultuous worldwide. There have been protests, movements, and a polarization of ideologies. There has also been moments of noise and strength, and un-silencing. There have been moments of amplification from the world wide
Women’s March, to the Global Climate March, to the #metoo movement, we have been witnesses to a shifting out from smoothed over areas. Analyzing a microcosm of change such as the moves made by the women in Kosovo, helps to understand how to analyze these bigger worldwide movements. It allows us to see the bigger connections through globalization, social circulation, strategic contemplation, and critical imagination. My hope is that this dissertation adds to the current conversations and provides a framework for how to rhetorically analyze these 99 conversations and movements. I also hope that by recognizing the rhetorical actions made by and for women in Kosovo, that I have provided a new appreciation for Kosovo and that analyzing countries that are forming in the 21st century can help already established countries to find ways to modernize their own living documents and amplify the voices of their own previously silenced citizens. I further hope that it will allow other scholars to find ways to discuss the significance of this time period and lift up and amplify the important voices of the movements so that this time and the people involved can become a part of collective memory and not silenced and forgotten. 100
WORKS CITED
“About” https://metoomvmt.org/about/#history. Accessed 9 Apr. 2019
Blair, C., Ms Jeppeson, and E. Pucci. "public Memorializing in Postmodernity - the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial as Prototype." Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 77, no. 3, 1991, pp.
263-288.
Blakçori, Ilir. “Heroinat Memorial”
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=33265 accessed 14 Jan.
2018
Dawson, James. “Idaho's 1st Female Lawmakers Properly Honored Thanks To 11-Year-Old
Student.” NPR. 15 Nov. 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/15/778926107/first-idaho-
women-lawmakers-properly-honored-thanks-to-11-year-old-
student?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=fa
cebook.com&fbclid=IwAR1RHmLmkaKjsqTLSbxAfSmlROteK60d77k8WFihSFIu-
WHeDyPQ0rxKLDI.
Dickinson, Greg (ed. and introd.), Blair, Carole (ed. and introd.), and Ott, Brian L. (ed. and
introd.). Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials, 2010.
Eilperin, Juliet “White House Women Want to be in the Room Where it Happens.” The
Washington Post. 13 Sep. 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/13/white-house-women-
are-now-in-the-room-where-it-happens/ accessed 12 Jan 2018.
Gatua, Mary W., Tracey O. Patton, and Michael R. Brown. "Giving Voice to Invisible Women:
"FIRE" as Model of a Successful Women's Community Radio in Africa." Howard
Journal of Communications, vol. 21, no. 2, 2010, pp. 164-181. 101
Jahjaga, Atifete. “President’s Speech at the Opening of the Installation “I Think of You””
http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,3916#.VYF2Ys2qqko. June 12, 2015.
Gerhard Kleining, and Harald Witt. “The Qualitative Heuristic Approach: A Methodology for
Discovery in Psychology and the Social Sciences. Rediscovering the Method of
Introspection as an Example.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research, no. 1, 2000.
Glenn, Cheryl and Krista Ratcliffe. Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press, 2011.
Glenn, Cheryl. "Silence: A Rhetorical Art for Resisting Discipline(s)." JAC, vol. 22, no. 2,
2002, pp. 261-291
---. . Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 2004,
Jodikantor. “Excellent questions from the wall of my daughter’s classroom.” Twitter, 14 Dec.
2017, 9:07 a.m., https://twitter.com/jodikantor/status/941308738606174209?lang=en.
Lakoff, Robin T., and Mary Bucholtz. Language and Woman's Place :Text and
Commentaries. Oxford University Press, New York, 2004.
Lefrak, Mikaela. “Historic Downtown Call Boxes Are Now Mini-Museums To Famous
Women.” NPR, 16 Oct. 2019,
https://www.npr.org/local/305/2019/10/16/770688172/historic-downtown-call-boxes-are-
now-mini-museums-to-famous-
women?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_ca
mpaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR1t6PhZkxuzv4RPyNSFHbSdgO-
QrrMiwcjU7mYCbidMCPwXygOIgkZwWow. 102
Moustakas, Clark E. Heuristic Research : Design, Methodology, and Applications. Sage
Publications, 1990.
Molosgroup. “Heroinat Memorial” Molos 2018, http://molosgroup.com/heroinat-memorial-2/.
“Our Mission” Pantsuit Nation https://www.pantsuitnation.org/mission.html accessed 9 Apr.
2019.
Picard, Max, 1888-1965. The World of Silence. Gateway, South Bend, Ind, 1952.
Powell, Catherine. “How #MeToo Has Spread Like Wildfire Around the World” 15 Dec. 2017.
https://www.newsweek.com/how-metoo-has-spread-wildfire-around-world-749171
accessed 9 Apr. 2019.
Royster, Jacqueline J., Gesa E. Kirsch, and Patricia (. Bizzell. Feminist Rhetorical Practices:
New Horizons for Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies. , 2012.
Sloane, Thomas O., and Oxford Digital Reference Shelf. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford
University Press, New York;Oxford;, 2001.
Tran, Mark. “Dresses on Washing Line Pay Tribute to Kosovo Survivors of Sexual Violence.”
The Guardian. 10 Jun 2015,
Vickers, Miranda. Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo. Columbia University
Press, New York, 1998. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/kosovo-sexual-
violence-survivors-art-dresses.
Walker, Jefferson, and Ohio Library and Information Network. King Returns to Washington:
Explorations of Memory, Rhetoric, and Politics in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National
Monument. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2016. 103
Wamsley, Laurel. “Baltimore Museum Of Art Will Only Buy Works By Women Next Year.”
NPR. 19, Nov. 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/19/780935457/baltimore-museum-of-
art-will-only-buy-works-by-women-next-year.
Xhafa Mripa, Alketa. “Thinking of You.” TEDx AUK, YouTube, 31 Mar. 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5qMUM8cr7A. 104
APPENDIX A: TRANSCRIPT OF AMBASSADOR SAHATQIJA’S SPEECH
So good evening. I am very happy and delighted to be today with you and to have the possibility to talk about our young country. So the theme of leadership role of women in transition state. Before that I want very much to thank the president Dan Dibiasio, to thank
Howard Fenton that he is responsible for this visit here. I want to use opportunity to congratulate our six students and professors who are here. And my hope that they are the best ambassadors of
Kosovo here and to thank them not only for their individual work but also what are they doing for their and our country.
I had this day a very good opportunity to see some of campus, to be in a lab art
Laboratories in the labs of engineering that reminded me of my time working with oscilloscope and multimeter among other things that I really missed.
So, today I would like to talk about Women leadership, about transition that my country past during this decade, but before talking about women, I will talk about history of my country... our country. So before that, I would like to start with some slides. So this is the flag, of
Kosova. The state of Kosova is nine year old and you can see the logo of celebration of nine year. It's beautiful I think. Kosovo is that golden center with six stars. In fact Kosovo has ninety percent of population are Albanian and there are five other communities in our flag. All communities have the same size of star.
In the 17th of February 2008, there was declared our independence and this is a monument of Independence. The first one nine years ago was golden but interesting thing is that every year that monument change colors. The colors and themes depend on what are we going through. You see that the second one is full of flags. They are flags of countries who recognize
Kosova. The other theme was here was clouds and wire. Kosova is still unfortunately, the only 105 country in European continent that still do not have the provisional visa and our artists wanted to show that we are seeing the sky, but we're not able to walk to go and meet you. This year, it was very interesting. Newborn was turned to No Walls. We have some incidents and we were sending the message that Kosovo is not a country that likes walls. We’re a country that like freedom and walls and freedom don't go together.
Some of numbers. Capital of Kosovo is Prishtina, total population of 1.7333 million. The territory is pretty small. So every reference in America and Kosovo are not working. So maybe we'll skip. Everything is bigger and different here. 90% are Alabania, 10 percent are Serbs,
Turks, Bosniacs, Roma,Ashkali, Gorani communities. We have a very modern Constitution. We will talk about that. We are secular State although the majority, the vast majority is Muslim, but we are secular State. We have open market economy and the official language is Albanian and
Serbian. And all members of parliament who are Turkish or Bosniac or Serb or other, they talk in their languages. In municipalities where there is at least 3% of the population and then they have official language. We are recognized by hundred and forty States and around 60 International
Organization. We are a member of World Bank of IMF and many other organizations.
So what do you know about Kosovo? I'm sure that you know this, you know Mother Teresa, her parents were from Kosovo and when she received the call from God, she received from a church within Kosovo. You probably heard about Rita Ora. Rita Ora is a very popular singer and here you can see her with a flag, singing the song especially for Kosova. Shine Your Light, I think was the song. Kosova participated in the Rio Olympics for the first time and the first time immediately our judoka Majlinda Kelmendi brought gold home, and after that she’s not missing golds. Four in a row in international sport competition she is always bringing gold. And many other boys and girls, excuse me more girls than boys are bringing medals to Kosovo. Dua Lipa 106 and Era Istrefi are also very popular world-class singers that are from Kosova and they proudly tell that.
Before that let’s see some geography. Where is Kosova? I saw that in America, sometimes I have difficulty to explain where it is. Is it to Europe? Or Russia? Or where? So it is in Southeastern Europe in western Balkans. Is that blue or yellow? I don't know how it is in the slide. That diamond shape is Kosova, so we are confined with Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and
Macedonia.
Kosovo for some, probably for law is important to know that once Kosovo was at the same time the constitutive part of Yugoslavia. As autonomous province and constitutive part.
After Tito's death in 1980, all constitutive parts have one president and Kosova had a president of Yugoslavia in 1986-87. That shows that it was a special case and at the same stage as other republics. So in 1989 Kosovo’s authority was suppressed and closed secondary school and
University programs in Albanian language. Massively fired Albanians intellectuals and professionals from the jobs, the discriminatory law made Kosovar social owned companies in
Serbia. Albanians were living in a factual apartheid heavily discriminated based on ethnicity. In the end of 1989 Democratic League of Kosovo was the first political party in the region that started the transition from one party system to pluralism.
The DLK became the movement that all of Albanians in Kosovo and abroad organized peaceful resistance. The time of peaceful resistance was the time when houses, churches, and mosques became schools and hospitals. It was the time when the world became aware of the grave. Human rights situation in Kosova under Milochevik’s regime. Women activists had incredible impact in the peaceful resistance as organizers of the resistance, protest organizers, humanitarian work, education, health and all other activities. Women during this time became 107 aware of their power transforming from those who care only for their family to the ones to who take care of our community. They became the leaders and active participants in public life and preparing themselves for taking their part in freedom and building the state.
This slide was very difficult to find. When I was typing in Google about war in Kosovo, very horrible pictures came out. And I didn't want that to the represent. So I choose only one. It was the time of exodus, it was a time when 1 million Albanians were pulled out of Kosovoa. And this picture in Time represents that exodus and a mother who is breastfeeding its baby and going through mountains. Myself, my family, and many other families, were refugees at that time.
Of course the war produced a lot of killing and a lot of bad emotions. Today we are still facing a lot of missing persons. You can see we've been very active in demanding where those missing persons are. In fact war in Kosova was the fourth and the last war of Serbia with the neighboring countries. After the short war with Slovenia, the bloody one with Croatia, genocidal long war with Bosnia, Serbia in 1999, finally attacked Kosova. This war added the process of dissolution of Yugoslavia.
During the war in 99 Milosevic led the military, paramilitary forces police expelled 1 million of people out of the borders of Kosova. Killing 13 thousand and five hundred individuals, sexually abused their own 20,000, mostly women, burned thousands of houses, libraries, monuments, 1664 persons are still missing. Some of this information can be found in a web page and documentary of humanitarian law Center in Belgrade. You can see also the film
Death Toll and general people reach the dealt a lot. During the war, women and children were not the ones who were saved from the atrocities. In contrary, they were the most targeted victims of torture, sexual abuse as the war weapon of the long-term physical and emotional destruction of individuals and families. 108
Usually the ability to talk about this crime and stigma made those criminals protected of their crimes. But thanks to long term powerful for work of Civil Society, women parliamentarians and especially engagement of former president Madam Atifete Jahjaga, this issue is not anymore the taboo issue. After many years of work and debate, parliament passed the law that recognized work sexual abuse individuals as war crimes that are entitled to compensation as every other victims of the war. It was very difficult to achieve. It was very difficult for most people, especially men, to admit that that existed.
Memorial called Heroinat. Heroinat means women heroes, has been proposed by a woman parliamentarian and voted by all MPs. This Memorial is regularly visited by highest government officials on Women’s Day. You can see here the proposal... the women who proposed...its me also and prime minister which paying respect to this one moment. The monument is made by 20,000 medallions, each of them has a picture of a woman, and it represent those 20,000 women victims of the war.
Installation of Alketa Xhafa Mripa with the title “Thinking of You” was a part of this big process of talking about these victims and telling them that they are victims and stigma does not have a place for that. So this installation gathered 5000 dresses. I gave one of my dress, a lot of women gave their dresses or skirts. And those was put in a football stadium, 5000 of them. It's a quarter of that number, to visualize the number of women victim of wars. The blue skirt, that you see there, I discovered at that time had a very painful story.
Woman of Kosova Civil Society politics took active part in preparation for
Independence. They made gender equality issue that need to be cherished and respected and protected by the Constitution and law. So Article 7 of our very modern constitution elaborates on the values of the country where by gender equality stated as a basic value of the country. Not 109 easy to achieve. I know how much work, how much fight was put in that, but it is not there. So
Article 7 has two paragraphs. It says, the Constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo is based on the principles of freedom, peace, democracy, equality, respect for Human Rights and freedom, and the rule of law, for non-discrimination, the right to property, the protection of environment, social justice, pluralism, separation of State powers, and a market economy.
The second part says Republic of Kosovo ensures gender equality as a fundamental value for the Democratic development of the society, providing equal opportunities for both female and male participation in the political, economic, social, cultural, and other areas of social life.
This article was used by us VERY much. It helped in making the laws, in advocating, in the advocation of gender equality wherever we can.
Article 22 says that convention, direct applicability of international agreement of instruments. So see the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women is above our Constitution.
We have a very interesting article also Article 37 about rights to marriage and family.
That article says based on free will EVERYONE enjoy the right to marry and the right to have a family as provided by law. It does not say men and women. It says everyone enjoys the right to marry. I'm not sure that when it was drafted everyone knew what it means. But it’s good.
So, except this, we have also the laws. The laws that help, that are based in that Article 7, the law on parliamentary election, the law on municipal election, the law on gender equality, and the agency for gender equality, are some of affirmative action and the laws that help these gender equality to become a reality. Again, I know how much fight, how much work, how much emotion, how much energy was put in that by women in civil society, by women in Parliament and men. 110
So, let's see. What is the today situation? We had the first woman President of State in the
Balkans. 33 percent of women are in Parliament. In municipalities there are more than 30 percent of representation of women. We have 50% of ambassadors including D.C., New York, Rome,
Brussels, Bern and others. Unfortunately, we have only one mayor so you at the municipal level we have to work much, much, more. We have a president of the Constitutional Court and we have a President Chair of Election Commission that are woemen. In 2012, we had a very big women Global Summit organized by President and here you can see our president in the middle,
Hillary Clinton and Madam Ashton from European Union, two ministers that are the time and one of them is now Ambassador in Washington. The first row standing there are women from women cross party Caucus and in the back are women from Civil Society, from business and others. The American ambassador is the one on the right with a dark red dress and the USAID chair was also a woman at that time, in 2012. So there were a lot of strong women at the same place at the same time.
So let's go a little bit more. You can see here the women cross-party Caucus. Very important group of women. It is a group of 40 women. All women regardless political parties, regardless of nationality, regardless religion, they are all together, and I'm very happy that they do not have any political agenda. The only agenda is how to promote women and through women to promote economy of the country democratization of the country, and working together. So parliament today have 39 women, last Monday was one more, that represent around
33 percent of the total number of MPS. The same percentage is reflected in Municipal level. Due to obligatory quota election law. In other institutions that do not pass under the obligation of quota, the situation is improving but much slower. In government, out of 20 ministers, now there are five at the beginning there were only two. The minister for Dialogue with Serbia and the 111
Chief Negotiator, is woman after many many many work to have that. There is still no woman that became prime minister in this mandate, although in the last one there were two. Only one mayor is woman from 38. And as you saw the president of Constitutional Court and Chair of
Central election committee are women.
So legislative quota automatically improved women presence in the Parliament and
Municipality Council. It created the critical mass needed to start the process of women empowerment and gender equality, at the beginning when there was quota in every interview, the journalist were asking do you think that this 30% damage the quality of the parliament? And I was replying with a question. Do you think that least 70% of men represent the quality of
Parliament? They didn’t answer.
So what we need to do still. We have to work a lot more. I think that education and working in curricular is something that we really need to work. The women in Civil Society and men, and women parliamentarians, and women all over, are not tolerating any more when children in elementary school learn that mother is cooking and the father is coming with a bag from the job and he's tired. No, we don't want that anymore father can cook also, and mother can go to work. So these things were not easy to achieve but step by step, they are also changing.
Kosovo is a state that passed through a lot of transitions and none of them easy or short.
Women in Kosovo were active players and changed their and the life of others. Former refugees that fled Kosovoa during the war, became today top singers as Rita Ora and Dua Lipa. The top sport is European football for our Kosovar boys. The liberation of Kosova and presence of many
International organizations created the environment for women to get jobs and move to towns, get education have specializations enabling them to start businesses, buy properties, and be aware of their power and leadership skills. Declaration of Independence set up our diplomacy 112 and enable women to represent Kosovoa all over the world as ambassadors. Membership in international organizations enable our citizens to shine in sports like judoka Majlinda Kelmendi that opened the door for many other girls and boys. Many scholarships for Graduate Studies and professional certificates gathered hundreds of Kosovar students and gave the supreme education through scholarship in Europe and USA with Fulbright with Kosovo American Education Fund,, with transformational leadership program, with USAID programs, and many others. Scholarship were earlier inaccessible to Kosovar citizens.
So what we need to do next, we need to build. These are some of the work of Women
Caucus and I will stop in one of the slides. So we need to build alliances between women and maintain the old ones. We need to create group of women in Parliament, in municipalities, in judiciary, in police, and networking between those groups. We need to pass the law in political parties, that we still do not have, and to oblige them to obey laws on gender equality.
Unfortunately still the heads of political parties, presidencies have very few women. And when it comes to decide about who will be the minister; who will be the mayor; who will be the president of a parliament; are those men who are deciding for each other. So we need still more to work up to now we were unable to push but I’m sure that the time will be very soon to pass this law also. The projects that will empower women that we started in Kosovoa as a week of women. You can go to internet type of weekofwomen.org and you will find a lot of information about this very effective project that every year is empowering 100 women mostly out of the
Capital and bringing them supreme training and possibility to meet important people and we infect them with self-confidence and networking to go to continue their work in their environment. Another thing that we need is to have a gender responsive budgeting. So these are 113 the next steps to approach gender equality that help progress and economic development and statehood.
And I will tell you a little bit about some of the pictures. You can see a picture with the camera up there. It was a very interesting story that this picture shows. Three or four years ago.
We had a list of ambassadors came to the Parliament and that list was zero women. They were all men, and one woman who was in the Committee for Foreign Affairs came to me as the
President of the Women Caucus and tells me, “Teuta, we cannot make this the names public, but just for your information there are no women there. What shall we do?” And then we needed only 5 minutes and we gathered 40 women in Parliament and we went out boycotted the
Parliament, called all media, have a conference for media. They were very angry, then dispersed all over the media, in one television, in another television and another and we said “This list will not pass. We will not allow this list to pass if there are no women in that.”
And it became a very big issue. Most of the media transmitted that. But there was one media that started to mock us. And they were putting a video of us talking and in the background was a song of a wedding. We were even more angry and said this is a message. This is articulation that you women, if you dare to talk about diplomacy, or about high politics, or about issues that are not your women issues, we will mock you. And we took that challenge and then organized that conference about portraitization of women in media, and we made an even bigger deal. And the same media again they try to mock us, put the song and saying don’t you this song? And then the association the group of Civil Society organizations, they were furious. And they said “This need to stop don't do that anymore. We are not happy. You are telling young girls never go to politics because we will mock you.” And then they were a little bit shaky, but they continued again for the third time. The third time and in the third time we send a letter to the 114 committee that give licenses to television. And in the meantime neither President, none of parliamentarians or ministers or important players of civil society, none of them went to that television anymore. After some months of this playing with that they apologized and then we started to go to them, but that was now taken as example in universities and example with your teaching about gender and about production.
What else? Kosovo’s first female president, Her Excellency, Atifete Jahjaga. We have the police the Colonol Taibe Canolli, we have Teuta Bajgora in our security forces and in our security forces and Arelena Shala, the young girl is in West Point, she finished in West Point. So yes, there are women in the fields somebody wrongly called men’s fields. And this I found on the internet and I like it very much. There are three boys who are watching football and it says that equality doesn't mean justice. The first part says this is equality and the small one cannot watch. But justice is when you create affirmative measures, so everybody to have a just approach and to be able to contribute. So I prepared this and thank you very much.