Customer Reviews

Gender Politics in the Western Balkans: Women and Society in Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Successor States (Post-Communist Cultural Studies)

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For the most part, the contributions in this collection are very informative and useful studies of various aspects of gender issues in the former Yugoslavia. If nothing else, it's refreshing to see a book that covers such a chronically under-studied topic. The first article on the `traditional' Yugoslav family by anthropologist Andrei Simic, although first published in 1983, was a good choice to head this selection of studies. His observations of some typical aspects of family relations and the gender roles therein provide a good basis for understanding other gender-related issues. Most of the other articles deal with a specific region or former Yugoslav republic (i.e. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, etc.) Among the best is an article by Julie Mertus on women in Kosovo. She illustrates the many problems faced by Albanian women activists, particularly the deep and sometimes self-induced repression exercised by this extremely patriarchal society. The examples she cites from her fieldwork are very illuminating. Two articles by Gordana Crnkovic are particularly interesting, and too short in my opinion. Both deal with literature as this pertains to gender: the first covers mainly Serbian and Croatian women authors, while the second deals with the way women are portrayed in literature. The afterward by Branka Magaš is also helpful in that it ties together some of the common themes.