Our Bodies, Our Location: The Politics of Feminist Translation and Reproduction in Post-socialist Serbia by Anna Bogic A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate in Philosophy degree in Women’s Studies Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Anna Bogic, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iv Résumé ................................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Dedication ......................................................................................................................... viii Maps of Yugoslavia ............................................................................................................ ix Timeline of Selected Events ............................................................................................... xi Timeline of Feminist Movement in Yugoslavia and Serbia .......................................... xiii Cover of Our Bodies, Ourselves (1992) ............................................................................. xv Cover of Naša tela, mi (2001) ........................................................................................... xvi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Our Bodies, Our Location: Historical Context, Theoretical Framework, and Methodology ............................................................................................................ 13 Historical context: Our Bodies, Ourselves and its global trajectory ..................... 13 Theoretical framework .......................................................................................... 21 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 31 Terminology .......................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 2: The Belgrade Feminists and Naša tela, mi in Serbia of the 1990s ............. 66 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 66 Women in the context of transition in post-communist Eastern Europe .............. 69 The political context and the wars of the 1990s in Yugoslavia and Serbia .......... 72 Women in a new nation-state, citizenship regime, and gender regime ................ 77 The Autonomous Women’s Centre in Belgrade ................................................... 82 Another “good story:” Naša tela, mi..................................................................... 97 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 109 Chapter 3: The Politics of Reproduction and Naša tela, mi as an Oppositional Discourse .......................................................................................................................... 110 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 110 ii The rise of the politics of reproduction ............................................................... 112 Feminist theorizing on gender, nation, and reproduction ................................... 116 Factors shaping the politics of reproduction ....................................................... 118 Assessing NTM as oppositional discourse to the politics of reproduction.......... 135 Abortion and non-reproductive sexuality as a cultural taboo ............................. 143 NTM as oppositional discourse to cultural taboos around abortion .................... 147 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 150 Chapter 4: Naša tela, mi and Women’s Reproductive Health and Sexuality in Yugoslav Feminism ......................................................................................................... 151 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 151 Yugoslav feminism of the 1970s and 1980s ...................................................... 154 Early feminist writing on reproductive health and sexuality in Žena and Bazar ............................................................................................... 162 Women’s health and sexuality literature in the 1970s and the 1980s ................. 172 Naša tela, mi (2001) ............................................................................................ 181 Shame and the female body: Three key words in NTM ...................................... 189 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 198 Conclusion: Some Lessons on the Politics of Translation and Reproduction ............ 199 The politics of translation and reproduction and transnational feminism ........... 204 The “East-West divide” and feminist knowledge production ............................. 206 Choice of translations and the politics of donor funding .................................... 208 The role of English in feminist knowledge production in the 1990s .................. 210 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 215 Appendix A: Tables of Contents for Our Bodies, Ourselves (1992) and Naša tela, mi (2001) ................................................................................................................................ 245 Appendix B: Sample Interview Questions .................................................................... 250 Appendix C: Ethics Approval Certificate .................................................................... 251 iii Abstract The dissertation studies feminist knowledge production through translation in the context of post-communist Eastern Europe. It focuses on one case study, the Serbian translation of the American feminist health classic Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBOS) through the lens of the politics of translation and reproduction. The translation, Naša tela, mi (NTM), was published by a group of feminist activists from the Autonomous Women’s Centre (AWC) in Belgrade, Serbia in 2001. By focusing on this one case study, my dissertation offers an in-depth analysis of the political, social, linguistic, and feminist dimensions implicated in the transfer of a Western feminist project from one geopolitical location to another, to a post-socialist, post-conflict Eastern European country in the 1990s. Against the background of the Yugoslav wars and the influence of ethno-nationalism in the 1990s, I examine the development of domestic and transnational feminist networking, including the Belgrade feminists’ work with victims of domestic and sexual violence and refugees. I assess the extent to which NTM serves as oppositional discourse to the changing politics of reproduction and pronatalist discourses around abortion and fertility in Serbia in this period. Furthermore, I analyze NTM’s contribution to local feminist knowledge on women’s reproductive health, rights, and sexuality. I emphasize the importance of the local context, including the history of abortion access and traditional gender relations. Methodologically, the dissertation is based on interview data, archival documents, and comparative textual analysis. The dissertation draws attention to feminist knowledge production across uneven geopolitical borders, translation flows across the East-West divide, and the role of English in transnational feminist networking. The dissertation brings together the politics of translation and the politics of reproduction and calls for further studies into the role of translation in transnational feminist patterns of knowledge production. iv Résumé La thèse examine la production des savoirs féministes par le biais de la traduction dans le contexte de l’Europe de l’Est post-communiste. Elle vise une étude de cas en particulier, à savoir la traduction serbe du classique féministe américain en matière de santé – Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBOS) – dans l’optique de la politique de la traduction et de la reproduction. La traduction, Naša tela, mi (NTM), a été publiée en 2001 par un groupe de militantes féministes, membres du Centre autonome des femmes à Belgrade, en Serbie. À partir de cette étude de cas, la thèse offre une analyse détaillée des dimensions politiques, sociales, linguistiques et féministes impliquées dans le transfert d’un projet féministe occidental d’un espace géopolitique à celui d’un pays post- socialiste, dans Europe de l’Est post-conflit des années 1990. Située dans le contexte des guerres en ex-Yougoslavie et de l’influence de l’ethno-nationalisme des années 1990, cette étude porte sur le développement du réseautage féministe transnational et national, y compris le travail des féministes de Belgrade auprès des réfugiées et des victimes de la violence