Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T00:07:47.927Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Women’s Activism in the Civil Resistance Movement in Kosovo (1989–1997): Characteristics, Development, Encounters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2020

Itziar Mujika Chao Open the ORCID record for Itziar Mujika Chao [Opens in a new window]
Itziar Mujika Chao*
Affiliation:
Department of International Public Law, International Relations and History of Law, and Hegoa Institute for International Cooperation and Development Studies, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. Email: itziar.mujika@ehu.eus
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article analyzes women’s socio-political participation and activism within the nonviolent civil resistance movement in prewar Kosovo between 1989 and 1997, as well as the movement’s gender dynamics. This Albanian-led resistance movement emerged during the early 1990s with the principal goal of building a parallel state, seeking independence from Serbia, and offering means of survival for the population. This project required the participation of all Albanian citizens, and although the participation of women was massive, this has gone largely unrecognized. This article will explore the principal features of women’s participation and activism within this movement, what kind of gendered dynamics were developed, and the principal forms of resistance they encountered against their full and active participation through an analysis of women’s activism both within the Women’s Forum of the Democratic League of Kosovo and within independent women’s organizations.

Keywords

Kosovocivil resistancenonviolencegenderwomen’s activism
Type
Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 48 , Issue 5 , September 2020 , pp. 843 - 860
Check for updates
Copyright
© Association for the Study of Nationalities 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Backer, Berit. 2003. Behind Stone Walls. Changing Household Organization among the Albanians of Kosovo. Peja: Dukagjini Publishing House.Google Scholar
Clark, Howard. 2000. Civil Resistance in Kosovo. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Clark, Howard. 2013. “Kosovo: Civil Resistance in Defense of the Nation, 1990s.” In Recovering Nonviolent History, Civil Resistance in Liberation Struggles, edited by Bartkowski, Maciej J., 279–296. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
Di Lellio, Anna. 2016. “Seeking Justice for Wartime Sexual Violence in Kosovo: Voices and Silence of Women.” East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 10 (20): 1–23.Google Scholar
ESI (European Stability Initiative). 2006. Cutting the Lifeline: Migration, Families and the Future of Kosovo. Berlin: ESI.Google Scholar
Hetemi, Atdhe. 2017. “Student Movements in Kosova (1981): Academic or Nationalist?” Nationalities Papers 46 (4): 685–703.10.1080/00905992.2017.1371683CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2000. Kosovo: Rape as a Weapon of “Ethnic Cleansing. ” New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Independent International Commission in Kosovo. 2002. The Kosovo Report: Conflict, International Response, Lessons Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Judah, Tim. 2008. Kosovo. What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kaser, Karl. 2008. Patriarchy after Patriarchy: Gender Relations in Turkey and in the Balkans, 1500–1950. Vienna: Lit Verlag.Google Scholar
Kaser, Karl, ed. 2012. Household and Family in the Balkans: Two Decades Of Historical Family Research at the University Of Graz. Vienna: Lit Verlag.Google Scholar
Kaser, Karl and Halpern, Joel Martin. 1997. “Contemporary Research on the Balkan Family, Anthropological and Historical Approaches.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 46: 63–72.Google Scholar
KGSC (Kosovar Gender Studies Center). 2008. History Is Herstory Too: The History of Women in Civil Society in Kosovo 1980–2004. Prishtina: KGSC.Google Scholar
Kostovicova, Denisa. 2005. Kosovo: The Politics of Identity and Space. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203087145CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasniqi, Eli. 2011. “Ilegalja: Women in the Albanian Underground Resistance Movement in Kosovo.” Profemina, Magazine for Women's Literature and Culture 2: 99–111.Google Scholar
KWI (Kosovar Women’s Initiative). 2002. Kosovar Women. A Collection of Images. Prishtina: Kosovo Women's Initiative and UNHCR.Google Scholar
Luci, Nita. 2014. “Seeking Independence: Making Nation, Memory, and Manhood in Kosovo.” PhD diss., University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Luci, Nita, and Gusia, Linda. 2014. “Our Men Will Not Have Amnesia: Civil Engagement, Emancipation, and Transformations of the Gendered Public in Kosovo.” In Civic And Uncivic Values in Kosovo: Value Transformation, Education, and Media, edited by Ramet, Sabrina P., Simkus, Albert, and Listhaug, Ola, 199–217. Budapest: Central European University.Google Scholar
Malcom, Noel. 1999. Kosovo. A Short History. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Maliqi, Shkëlzen. 1993. “The Kosovan Intifada.” In The Destruction of Yugoslavia: Tracking the Breakup 1980–92, edited by Magaš, Branka, 180–186. London: Verso Books.Google Scholar
Maliqi, Shkëlzen. 1998. Separate Worlds: Reflections And Analyses 1989–1998. Prishtina: Dukagjini&Mm.Google Scholar
Mertus, Julie A. 1999. “Women in Kosovo: Contested Terrains. The Role of National Identity in Shaping and Challenging Gender Identity.” In Gender Politics In The Western Balkans: Women And Society In Yugoslavia And The Yugoslav Successor States, edited by Ramet, Sabrina P., 171–186. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Mertus, Julie A. 2000. War’s Offensive On Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. Bloomfield, Connecticut: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Mlinarević, Gorana, Čaušević, Jasmina, Gashi, Ardiana, Hasečić, Dženita Hrelja, and Fetahagić, Sead S.. 2012. “The Contexts of BiH and Kosovo.” In Contesting Female, Feminist and Muslim Identities. Post-Socialist Contexts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, edited by Spahić-Šiljak, Zilka, 87–128. Sarajevo: Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies.Google Scholar
Pachuku, Mimoza. 2011. Guests or Sisters: Albanian Women’s Activism in the Three Neighboring Countries (Macedonia, Kosova and Albania). Budapest: Central European University Etd Collection.Google Scholar
Poulton, Hugh and Vickers, Miranda. 1997. “The Kosovo Albanians: Ethnic Confrontation with The State.” In Muslim Identity and The Balkan State, edited by Poulton, Hugh and Taji-Farouki, Suja, 139–169. London: Hurst & Company and The Islamic Council.Google Scholar
Pula, Besnik. 2004. “The Emergence of the Kosovo ‘Parallel State’, 1988–1992.” Nationalities Papers 32 (4): 797–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reineck, Janet S. 1991. The Past as Refuge: Gender, Migration, and Ideology among the Kosova Albanians. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie. 2013. “The Bequest of Illegalja: Contested Memories and Moralities in Contemporary Kosovo.” Nationalities Papers 41 (6): 953–970.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Termkolli, Melihate. 2008. Munument Gruas: Monografi FGLDK 1990–2009. Prishtina: Forumi i Gruas LDK.Google Scholar
UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). 2005. Gender-based Violence in Kosovo: A Case Study. Prishtina: UNFPA.Google Scholar
UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2008. Getting to Lisbon: Assessing Vocational Training Needs and Job Creation Opportunities for Rural Women. Prishtina: UNICEF.Google Scholar
Woodward, Susan L. 1985. “The Rights of Women: Ideology, Policy, and Social Change in Yugoslavia.” In Women, State, and Party in Eastern Europe, edited by Wolchik, Sharon L. and Meyer, Alfred G., 234–256. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, Susan L. 1995. Socialist Unemployment: The Political Economy of Yugoslavia, 1945–1995. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zagović, Stasa. 2006. Always Disobedient. Belgrade: Zene u Crnom Beograd.Google Scholar

Interviews

Interview with international activist in the civil resistance movement, June 20, 2012. Madrid.Google Scholar
Interview with activist since the civil resistance movement, July 28, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance, July 30, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with academic and women’s rights activist since the last war, August 1, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, August 6, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, August 7, 2013, and December 27, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with researcher and women’s rights activist after the last war, August 7, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with activist in the civil resistance movement, women’s rights activist since the last war, August 9, 2013, and February 26, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with researcher and women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, February 21, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the last war, belonging to a minority ethnic community. February 27, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the last war, March 2, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with politician (LDK) since the civil resistance movement, March 17, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, March 12, 2014, March 28, 2014, and December 19, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with politician (LDK) since the civil resistance movement, March 18, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, March 18, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with politician (LDK) since the civil resistance movement, March 19, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with activist in the civil resistance movement, politician after the last war, March 26, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement by author and Kosovar researcher and academic, December 19, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement by the author and Kosovar researcher and academic, December 19, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement by the author and Kosovar researcher and academic, December 29, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with politician (LDK) in the civil resistance movement and early years after the last war by Kosovar researcher and academic, May 13, 2015. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with politician before the civil resistance movement by Kosovar researcher and academic, April 22, 2015. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with activist since the civil resistance movement, March 17, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement, March 19, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with activist in the civil resistance movement, December 15, 2015. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the last war, February 26, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist in the civil resistance movement, May 8, 2015.Google Scholar
Interview with activist since the civil resistance movement, February 27, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the civil resistance movement and researcher and academic since the last war, June 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the last war, August 12, 2013. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with activist since the civil resistance movement, March 14, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar
Interview with women’s rights activist since the last war, February 25, 2014. Prishtina.Google Scholar