Papers by Paula Petricevic
This chapter looks at KvirA, a recently established non-heterosexual women’s group, to examine th... more This chapter looks at KvirA, a recently established non-heterosexual women’s group, to examine the extent to which lesbian voices are audible and lesbian women visible in Montenegro. We engage with the reasons for KvirA’s creation and discuss the key challenges its foundresses and activists face in their struggle for women’s sexual emancipation in a still highly patriarchal context. For the time being, none of our respondents feels ready to take the helm of the country’s nascent lesbian movement that still does not recognise the potential of feminism to help weaken rigid and deeply entrenched heteronormative regime. Our chapter draws attention to the ambivalences inbuilt in KvirA’s appropriation of the concept of “queer”, which serves the purpose of spreading its membership and protecting its activist from homophobic violence.
Comparative Southeast European studies, Apr 16, 2021
The author explores the socialist emancipation of women in Montenegro during World War II and its... more The author explores the socialist emancipation of women in Montenegro during World War II and its aftermath, using the example of the 8 March celebrations. The social life of this 'holiday of the struggle of all the women in the world' speaks powerfully of the strength and fortitude involved in the mobilization of women during the war and during the postwar building of socialist Yugoslavia, as well as the sudden modernization and unprecedented political subjectivation of women. The emancipatory potential of these processes turned out to be limited in the later period of stabilization of Yugoslav state socialism and largely forgotten in the postsocialist period. The author argues that the political subjectivation of women needs to be thought anew, as a process that does not take place in a vacuum or outside of a certain ideological matrix, whether socialist or liberal.
Comparative Southeast European Studies, 2021
Comp. Southeast Europ. Stud. 2021; 69(1): 19–43, 2021
The author explores the socialist emancipation of women in Montenegro during World War II and its... more The author explores the socialist emancipation of women in Montenegro during World War II and its aftermath, using the example of the 8 March celebrations. The social life of this 'holiday of the struggle of all the women in the world' speaks powerfully of the strength and fortitude involved in the mobilization of women during the war and during the postwar building of socialist Yugoslavia, as well as the sudden modernization and unprecedented political subjectivation of women. The emancipatory potential of these processes turned out to be limited in the later period of stabilization of Yugoslav state socialism and largely forgotten in the postsocialist period. The author argues that the political subjectivation of women needs to be thought anew, as a process that does not take place in a vacuum or outside of a certain ideological matrix, whether socialist or liberal.
Forthcoming Volume by Paula Petricevic
Sisterhood and Unity intertwines academic and activist voices to engage with more than three deca... more Sisterhood and Unity intertwines academic and activist voices to engage with more than three decades of lesbian activism in the Yugoslav space. Empirically rich contributions uncover a range of lesbian initiatives and the fundamental, but rarely acknowledged, role that lesbian alliances have played in articulating a feminist response to the upsurge of nationalism, widespread violence against women, and high levels of lesbophobia and homophobia in all of the post-Yugoslav states. By offering a distinctly intergenerational and transnational perspective, this collection does not only shed new light on a severely marginalised group of people, but constitutes a pioneering effort in accounting for the intricacies – solidarities, joys, and tensions – of lesbian activist organising in a post-conflict and post-socialist environment. With a plethora of authorial standpoints and innovative methodological approaches, the volume challenges the systematic absence of (post-)Yugoslav lesbian activist enterprises from recent social science scholarship.
Contemporary women's history and global queer studies are both the richer for this exceptional example of lesbian-led activism and scholarship. Bilić, Radoman and their contributors are equally driven by a resolve for lesbians' courage and friendship in the face of patriarchal nationalism not to be forgotten, and an urge to resist their struggles being co-opted by neoliberal and conservative forces. Thinking transnationally and acting locally, their activist-academic insight and their collective ways of writing and knowing resonate well beyond, yet always also address, the (post-)Yugoslav semi-periphery from which they speak.
Catherine Baker, University of Hull, UK
An exciting volume that fills a significant gap in the literature, which all too often fails to examine the important role of lesbians and lesbian activism in the political culture of the region.
Janice Irvine, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
This book is an invaluable repository of reflections on lesbian activist movements and initiatives, documenting them on their own terms and in their own words. Skillfully negotiating between academic and activist practices, temporalities, styles and concerns, its intellectual, activist and – for some – therapeutic interventions will shape this field over the coming years.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz-Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Germany
EDITED VOLUMES (SERBO-CROATIAN) by Paula Petricevic
Zbornik Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo prepliće akademske i aktivističke glasove kako bi osvetlio više o... more Zbornik Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo prepliće akademske i aktivističke glasove kako bi osvetlio više od tri decenije lezbejskog aktivizma na (post)jugoslovenskom prostoru. Prilozi bogati empirijskom građom ukazuju na niz lezbejskih inicijativa i važnu – ali retko prepoznatu – ulogu koju su lezbejske aktivistkinje igrale u artikulaciji feminističkog odgovora na uspon nacionalizma, rasprostranjeno nasilje nad ženama, i lezbo/homofobiju u svim postjugoslovenskim državama. Nudeći međugeneracijsku i transnacionalnu perspektivu, ova knjiga ne samo što stavlja u fokus jedan izrazito marginalizovani deo društva, već predstavlja i pionirski napor u dokumentovanju lezbejskog aktivističkog angažmana u (posle)ratnom i (post)socijalističkom okruženju. Kroz mnoštvo autorskih stanovišta, Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo počinje da popunjava prazninu o lezbejskim aktivističkim poduhvatima i lezbejskim životima u literaturi posvećenoj Jugoslaviji i njenom tragičnom raspadu.
... uzbudljiva knjiga koja kroz lezbejske i feminističke priče upotpunjuje i široko polje kulture sjećanja, pokazujući nam kako naše sestre žive, pamte i tumače šta nam se desilo...
Jasmina Čaušević, Sarajevski otvoreni centar
Savremena ženska istorija i globalne kvir studije bogatije su za ovaj izuzetan primer lezbejskog aktivizma i lezbejske sociologije.
Catherine Baker, Univerzitet u Hallu, Velika Britanija
Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo je dragocena riznica promišljanja lezbejskih aktivističkih inicijativa koje dokumentuje pod njihovim uslovima i njihovim sopstvenim rečima. Vešto meandrirajući između akademskih i aktivističkih praksi, temporalnosti, stilova i pitanja, intelektualne, aktivističke, pa i terapeutske intervencije sadržane u ovom zborniku oblikovaće polje lezbejskih studija u godinama koje dolaze.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz institut za studije istočne i jugoistočne Evrope, Regensburg, Nemačka
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Papers by Paula Petricevic
Forthcoming Volume by Paula Petricevic
Contemporary women's history and global queer studies are both the richer for this exceptional example of lesbian-led activism and scholarship. Bilić, Radoman and their contributors are equally driven by a resolve for lesbians' courage and friendship in the face of patriarchal nationalism not to be forgotten, and an urge to resist their struggles being co-opted by neoliberal and conservative forces. Thinking transnationally and acting locally, their activist-academic insight and their collective ways of writing and knowing resonate well beyond, yet always also address, the (post-)Yugoslav semi-periphery from which they speak.
Catherine Baker, University of Hull, UK
An exciting volume that fills a significant gap in the literature, which all too often fails to examine the important role of lesbians and lesbian activism in the political culture of the region.
Janice Irvine, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
This book is an invaluable repository of reflections on lesbian activist movements and initiatives, documenting them on their own terms and in their own words. Skillfully negotiating between academic and activist practices, temporalities, styles and concerns, its intellectual, activist and – for some – therapeutic interventions will shape this field over the coming years.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz-Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Germany
EDITED VOLUMES (SERBO-CROATIAN) by Paula Petricevic
... uzbudljiva knjiga koja kroz lezbejske i feminističke priče upotpunjuje i široko polje kulture sjećanja, pokazujući nam kako naše sestre žive, pamte i tumače šta nam se desilo...
Jasmina Čaušević, Sarajevski otvoreni centar
Savremena ženska istorija i globalne kvir studije bogatije su za ovaj izuzetan primer lezbejskog aktivizma i lezbejske sociologije.
Catherine Baker, Univerzitet u Hallu, Velika Britanija
Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo je dragocena riznica promišljanja lezbejskih aktivističkih inicijativa koje dokumentuje pod njihovim uslovima i njihovim sopstvenim rečima. Vešto meandrirajući između akademskih i aktivističkih praksi, temporalnosti, stilova i pitanja, intelektualne, aktivističke, pa i terapeutske intervencije sadržane u ovom zborniku oblikovaće polje lezbejskih studija u godinama koje dolaze.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz institut za studije istočne i jugoistočne Evrope, Regensburg, Nemačka
Contemporary women's history and global queer studies are both the richer for this exceptional example of lesbian-led activism and scholarship. Bilić, Radoman and their contributors are equally driven by a resolve for lesbians' courage and friendship in the face of patriarchal nationalism not to be forgotten, and an urge to resist their struggles being co-opted by neoliberal and conservative forces. Thinking transnationally and acting locally, their activist-academic insight and their collective ways of writing and knowing resonate well beyond, yet always also address, the (post-)Yugoslav semi-periphery from which they speak.
Catherine Baker, University of Hull, UK
An exciting volume that fills a significant gap in the literature, which all too often fails to examine the important role of lesbians and lesbian activism in the political culture of the region.
Janice Irvine, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
This book is an invaluable repository of reflections on lesbian activist movements and initiatives, documenting them on their own terms and in their own words. Skillfully negotiating between academic and activist practices, temporalities, styles and concerns, its intellectual, activist and – for some – therapeutic interventions will shape this field over the coming years.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz-Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Germany
... uzbudljiva knjiga koja kroz lezbejske i feminističke priče upotpunjuje i široko polje kulture sjećanja, pokazujući nam kako naše sestre žive, pamte i tumače šta nam se desilo...
Jasmina Čaušević, Sarajevski otvoreni centar
Savremena ženska istorija i globalne kvir studije bogatije su za ovaj izuzetan primer lezbejskog aktivizma i lezbejske sociologije.
Catherine Baker, Univerzitet u Hallu, Velika Britanija
Sestrinstvo i jedinstvo je dragocena riznica promišljanja lezbejskih aktivističkih inicijativa koje dokumentuje pod njihovim uslovima i njihovim sopstvenim rečima. Vešto meandrirajući između akademskih i aktivističkih praksi, temporalnosti, stilova i pitanja, intelektualne, aktivističke, pa i terapeutske intervencije sadržane u ovom zborniku oblikovaće polje lezbejskih studija u godinama koje dolaze.
Andrew Hodges, Leibniz institut za studije istočne i jugoistočne Evrope, Regensburg, Nemačka