Gender and The Politics of Peacekeeping in Kosovo
Gender and The Politics of Peacekeeping in Kosovo

Author(s): Vjollca Krasniqi
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Sociology of Politics
Published by: Centar za ženske studije & Centar za studije roda i politike, Fakultet političkih nauka, Beograd
Keywords: KOSOVA; GENDER; PEACEKEEPING; IMAGES; REPRESENTATIONS; PATRIARCHIES
Summary/Abstract: THE ARTICLE FOCUSES ON THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION IN KOSOVA SINCE THE UNITED NATIONS TOOK OVER “PEACE MANAGEMENT” IN 1999. WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF “NATION-BUILDING,” IT FOCUSES ON THE INTERACTION AND TENSIONS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL GENDER DISCOURSES AND ALBANIAN NATIONALIST NARRATIVES. IT USES INTERNATIONAL PROPAGANDA POSTERS AND LOCAL NATIONALIST POLITICAL ADVERTISING AS A WAY TO READ THE GENDERED DISCOURSES OF REPRESENTATION IN KOSOVA. IT SHOWS HOW GENDER HAS SERVED AS AN INSTRUMENT TO RATIONALIZE WESTERN POLICIES AND NORMS AND AS A LOCAL MECHANISM TO CONSOLIDATE MALE DOMINATION OF THE DOMESTIC/PRIVATE SPHERE. IT WILL ARGUE THAT THE CENTRAL PARADOX OF POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION IS KOSOVA IS THAT CONTRARY TO ITS STATED AIMS, THE MODERN NATION-BUILDING PROJECT HAS REINFORCED PATRIARCHAL RELATIONS OF POWER AND THE SUBJUGATION OF FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY. THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERMESHING OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE-KEEPING AND LOCAL NATIONALIST DISCOURSES, IT WILL SHOW HOW ONE MALE SUBJECTIVITY, CONSTRUCTED AND RECONFIGURED RELATIONALLY, HAS, SIMULTANEOUSLY, USED GENDER TO LEGITIMIZE THE PROLONGATION OF INTERNATIONAL POWER IN KOSOVO AND TO ENTER INTO POWER-SHARING ARRANGEMENTS WITH IT. ONE RESULT OF THIS SYMBOLIC COOPTATION, IT WILL BE ARGUED, HAS BEEN THE REINFORCEMENT OF THE ROLES OF WOMEN AS MOTHERS IN THE SERVICE OF TRANSNATIONAL/NATIONALISTIC PROJECTS.

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