Europeanization, lgbt Activism, and Non-Heteronormativity in the Post-Yugoslav Space: An Introduction

Abstract

This chapter sets the stage for the volume by introducing the most relevant conceptual instruments for “unpacking” the increasingly potent symbolic nexus that has developed between non-heterosexual sexualities, LGBT activism(s), and Europeanisation(s) in all of the post-Yugoslav states. The volume problematises the trope of “Europeanisation” as linear and approaches it as a complex, dynamic, and troubled “translation” process which reproduces asymmetrical power relations, equating Europe with progress and civilisation, and hence, intolerance to gays as a form of non-European primitivist Other. Along with summarising the ensuing chapters, I claim that binaries between modernity and retraditionalisation become inscribed not only between the European Union and the post-Yugoslav space, but also within the post-Yugoslav space itself.