Lesbian Activism in the (Post-)Yugoslav Space Bojan Bilić · Marija Radoman Editors Lesbian Activism in the (Post-)Yugoslav Space Sisterhood and Unity Editors Bojan Bilić Marija Radoman University of Lisbon University of Lisbon, Portugal Belgrade,

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Tis Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature Te registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgements

A lot of care and support streamed through our electronic correspond- ence as we devised and completed this volume. We are grateful to our authors-friends for engaging with us in this endeavour and to Paul Stubbs for consistently strengthening our belief that issues of gender and sexuality must be kept high on our political agendas. Our Palgrave editor Amelia Derkatsch once again accompanied us gently, making sure that our cooperation always stayed smooth and pleasant. We would like to dedicate this volume to Lepa Mlađenović, who is on so many of its pages, and other lesbian/feminist/queer activists that have inspired us over the years … their courage, support and solidarity have made our work and our desires possible.

v Contents

Introduction: Recovering/Rethinking (Post-)Yugoslav Lesbian Activisms 1 Bojan Bilić

Yearning for Space, Pleasure, and Knowledge: Autonomous Lesbian and Queer Feminist Organising in 27 Teja Oblak and Maja Pan

Cartographies of Fear and Freedom: Lesbian Activists in the First Belgrade and Pride Parades 61 Sanja Kajinić

Sisterhood Beyond Borders: Transnational Aspects of Post-Yugoslav Lesbian Activism 87 Irene Dioli

Breaking the Silence: Lesbian Activism in Macedonia 109 Irena Cvetkovic

vii viii Contents

Searching for a Lesbian Voice: Non-Heterosexual Women’s Activism in Montenegro 133 Marina Vuković and Paula Petričević

(In)Visible Presences: PitchWise Festival as a Space of Lesbian Belonging in Bosnia and Herzegovina 163 Adelita Selmić and Bojan Bilić

Conclusion: Discovering the Lesbian in Us—On Our Ongoing, Never-Ending Struggles 189 Marija Radoman

Epilogue: Collecting Fragments—Towards (Post-)Yugoslav Activist Archives 215 Bojan Bilić

Index 235 Notes on Contributors

Bojan Bilić is FCT Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, and Adjunct Professor of Gender and Social Movements in South East Europe at the School of Political Sciences, University of Bologna, Forlì Campus. Irena Cvetkovic holds a Ph.D. in Gender Studies and works as execu- tive director of the Coalition Margins in , Macedonia. Irene Dioli works as a researcher and translator for Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa, Rovereto, Italy. Sanja Kajinić is MIREES academic tutor and Gender Studies lecturer at the School of Political Sciences, University of Bologna, Forlì Campus. Teja Oblak collaborates with Lesbian Feminist University at Metelkova City and the Anarcho-Queer-Feminist Collective Rog, both in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is a co-editor of the Radio Študent feminist radio show Sektor Ž. Maja Pan is a feminist philosopher and non-formal educator with a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Ljubljana. She has been involved in regional and transnational activism since 1997. ix x Notes on Contributors

Paula Petričević is a philosopher, feminist, columnist, human rights and peace activist. She has worked at the Centre for Civic Education in Podgorica, at the Centre for Women and Peace Education in Kotor as well as a high-school philosophy teacher. Marija Radoman is a researcher and teaching assistant in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. Adelita Selmić studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Zagreb and holds an M.A. in Human Rights and Democracy in South East Europe from the University of Bologna/University of . She is interested in LGBT and human rights activism in the post-Yugoslav space. Marina Vuković holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Montenegro and an LLM in International Human Rights Law and Practice (LLM) from the University of York. She has worked in the areas of corporate social responsibility and human rights.