Gendered Visions of the Bosnian Future: Women’S Activism and Representation in Post-War Bosnia-Herzegovina
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GENDERED VISIONS OF THE BOSNIAN FUTURE: WOMEN’S ACTIVISM AND REPRESENTATION IN POST-WAR BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA by Elissa Lynelle Helms BA, Bucknell University, 1991 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 1998 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2003 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Elissa L. Helms It was defended on August 1, 2003 and approved by Nicole Constable Joseph Alter Kathleen Blee Dennison Rusinow Robert M. Hayden Dissertation Director ii To the memory of my grandmothers Julia Moore Helms 1906 - 1994 and Ruth Zimmerman Schliebe 1912 - 1998 iii GENDERED VISIONS OF THE BOSNIAN FUTURE: WOMEN’S ACTIVISM AND REPRESENTATION IN POST-WAR BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA Elissa L. Helms, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2003 This is an ethnographic study of women’s activism in Bosniac (Muslim) areas of post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. I examine the activities and representational strategies of activists in women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and political parties as they engage local nationalist and religious discourses, established notions of gender, and the discourses and policies of foreign donors and international bodies. The work is based on over two years (1999-2000) of ethnographic research among women activists, who take a range of approaches to gender and ethno-national/religious identity. I show how women’s attempts to influence the direction of post-war reconstruction often rely on what I term, following Richard G. Fox, “affirmative essentialisms”– over-simplified but positive characterizations of women. These attempts are embedded in a moral universe in which gendered wartime experiences shape much of the possibilities and obstacles to public action. As women attempt to forge new identities, then, they do so within morally coded hierarchies of gender and ethnicity established during the war. I show that while affirmative essentialisms in a sense constrain women from becoming actors of consequence in political processes, in the context of Bosnia they are an effective strategy for overcoming resistence to women’s political participation. I also examine the relationship between women’s activism and foreign intervention, showing how donors both enable and limit women as significant political actors through a similar use of affirmative essentialisms of women. Donor policies influence the direction of feminist and women- centered discourses through their emphasis on multi-ethnic state building and on liberal feminism. Debates over difference with men and among women thus form the core of women activists’ discourses on gender roles and relations. I relate this analysis to theories of gender and ethno-national identities; strategies of women’s activism in relation to essentialisms of gender and cultural systems (Orientalism, Occidentalism, and iv “balkanism”). In contrast to social science literature on nationalism that sees women as symbols of nation, and in further contrast to images of Bosnian women as passive victims of war and nationalist politics, I argue for and provide a case study of women’s active gendered roles in post-war nation building. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is humbling to realize how many people contributed to the long process of completing this study. Firstly, it literally would not have been possible without the time and energy patiently offered me by countless people in Bosnia. Thanks to the women of the NGOs I discuss in this text, particularly Medica, Naš Most, Liga Žene Glasa a, Bosanka, Žene Ženama, Udružene Žene, Unija ŽAR, Srcem do Mira, Žene s Podrinja, and the many other organizers and participants of women’s initiatives who tolerated my presence and questions at their meetings. Outside of Zenica, Emsuda and Zejneba were particularly welcoming, going above and beyond the call of duty in feeding and housing me, all the while answering my questions and explaining their work. I was honored to know Zejneba Saralji, whose untimely death in 2002 robbed her community and family of a spirited, brave, and determined fighter for justice in the aftermath of violence and tragedy. In Zenica, I owe deep thanks to the women of Infoteka and Medica as a whole for (ongoing) friendship, conversation, and invaluable logistical support as my local “base.” Šida and her colleagues also facilitated my work in many ways, not least of them ensuring I was well supplied with coffee, sweets, and news. Safija was a willing informant and fountain of colorful language and new phrases. My research and everyday life in Zenica were greatly enriched, both intellectually and socially, by the hospitality and friendship of many friends and acquaintances in Zenica and other towns, particularly Sefke, Ada, Mirha, Abi, and especially Aras. Dženi was the most supportive and entertaining housemate I could have asked for; our landlady and her family (including the ancient rooster) also deserve many thanks. In Sarajevo, I benefitted from the help of numerous women activists: Selma, Jadranka, Radmila, Milica, Rada, Nada, Mevlida, Adisa, Sadika, and others. The Institut za Istoriju under the direction of Ibrahim Karabegovi provided me with institutional sponsorship and practical help, while historians Sonja Dujmovi, Seka Brklja a, Senija Miliši, Vera Kac, and Husnija Kamberovi were helpful and friendly colleagues with whom it has always been a pleasure to visit. I also appreciate the time which many “internationals” and “locals” working for foreign aid agencies and international bodies took out of their busy schedules to meet with me. Special thanks go to Paula Pickering, Drew Gilbert, Jennifer Erickson, Holly Peele, Paul Stubbs, Michael Szporluk, Peter Lippman, and Cynthia Cockburn for their friendship as fellow foreigners pursuing similar research vi and activist projects in Bosnia. Tobi Vogel and Milena Mari are a category in themselves but no less appreciated, especially for forwarding all the Mujo jokes. I am very grateful to Zlata, Sanija, and their husbands who sold me a wonderful old car and then helped me navigate the daunting bureaucracy necessary to make it all legal. And to Armin Alagi and Marina Bowder (and Naja), eternal thanks for being my Sarajevan family and for being there for me over the years in more ways than I could ever recount. I also thank my ex-refugee friends, some back in their homes in Bosnia and others now scattered across Europe, North America, and the world: Esma, Husein, Atif, Fadila, Alma, Edisa, Minka, ama, Senada, Senad, Jasmin, Haris, Sabina, Salko, Saida and her sisters and mother “Kraljica” Mina, their families and children, and countless others. Besides acting as a sort of extended surrogate family to me, these friends were responsible for my initial interest in Bosnia and contributed immensely to my understanding of their society and the changes it has undergone in their lifetimes. Although I was the “aid worker,” I feel that they have given me far more than I ever could have given them. The research for this project would also have been impossible without financial support of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), the Institute for the Study of World Politics, and a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. Summer grants from the Council for European Studies and the University of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Postrednik Nationality Room allowed me to conduct invaluable pre-dissertation research. The writing was supported by dissertation fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the University of Pittsburgh Provost’s Development Fund, and teaching fellowships through the Department of Anthropology. Extra thanks go to the Anthropology Department and the Center for Russian and East European Studies at Pitt for various kinds of support and travel grants throughout my graduate career. Of all the people who have inspired and guided this project along the way, my greatest debt is to my professors and mentors at the University of Pittsburgh. Robert Hayden has offered unfailing support and guidance as my advisor since the day I called him up and spoke to him in my “rural” dialect of Bosnian. I thank him for taking me on at the last minute, for wading through endless dissertation text to help me form something coherent, and for tolerating my views on Bosnia when they clashed with his own. Nicole Constable was an unofficial second advisor, working with me to vii develop proposals, introducing me to crucial areas of theory, and challenging me to produce rigorous and balanced ethnography. Dennison Rusinow kept me historically grounded and was a constant source of instructive and humanizing observations of Eastern Europe and what was Yugoslavia. My other committee members, Joseph Alter and Kathleen Blee, offered insightful suggestions and excellent graduate training, as did other teachers and mentors, especially Harry Sanabria and Janine Wedel. Xavier Bougarel, who would have been a member of my committee during his stay at Pitt had I finished on time, nevertheless read through the text and offered characteristically insightful comments and helpful corrections. I also owe thanks to Milica Baki-Hayden for trying to fix my imperfectly-learned grammar in the former language of Serbo-Croatian. I could not have completed this project without the friendship and collegial support of my fellow graduate students at Pitt: I especially thank Abby Margolis, Pat Wilson, Rada Drezgi, Nevena Dimova, Robert Haslam, Nieka Appel,