From Orientalism to Homonationalism: Queer Politics, Islamophobia, and Europeanisation in Kosovo

Rexhepi, Piro

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-57261-5_7

From Orientalism to Homonationalism: Queer Politics, Islamophobia, and Europeanisation in Kosovo

Piro Rexhepi²

Chapter
First Online: 01 July 2016

604 Accesses
3 Citations

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology ((PSEPS))

Abstract

This chapter examines how queer social formations in Kosovo are incorporated in the Europeanisation discourse. I argue that through Orientalist representations of Kosovo as the space of ambiguous particularity, neither East nor West, queer identities are depoliticised and constructed as vulnerable victims of the “transition” who can only be liberated either by going West or bringing the West home. In both instances, they are represented as outsiders to their immediate geographies. Their representation renders them “already modern and European” in contrast to the rest of their communities who are depicted as traditional, backward, and religious. Queers in Kosovo then come to emblematise Europe in the Balkans under siege that must be liberated.

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Notes

1.
For the purpose of this chapter, I am using the term queer as an umbrella to include all non-heterosexual and gender-variant people.
2.
See, for instance, the latest guidelines issued by the Council of the European Union (2013).
3.
For more on this, see Rexhepi (forthcoming).
4.
See, for instance, El-Tayeb (2011); Haritaworn (2010), and Buruma (2006).
5.
For more on this, see Massad (2004) and Éwanjé-Épée and Magliani-Belkacem (2013).
6.
For an extensive discussion on the nature of Kosovo’s sovereignty, see Bolton and Visoka (2010).
7.
See, for instance, Fowler (2014).
8.
For a detailed account of these issues, see Zuin and Apostolidis (2008).
Protection against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation was also incorporated into Kosovo’s anti-discrimination law. For more, see Fauchier (2013).
9.
See Tekin (2005); Kuus (2004) and Kovacevic (2008).
10.
For instance, in 2009, the Young Federalist European Movement accused the EU of creating Muslim ghettos with its visa policies when the EU approved new visa regimes that allow Macedonian, Montenegrin, and Serbian citizens to travel into the EU but not Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and Turkey—all majority Muslim countries. For a detailed account, see Birca (2009).
11.
For a detailed discussion on EU conditions for Kosovo, see Ker-Lindsay and Economides (2012).
12.
See, for instance, Richmond (2009a, 2009b, 2011).
13.
See, for instance, Heiland, Comet, and Reintke (2013).
14.
Original in Albanian. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are mine.
15.
For further information see www.eulex-kosovo.eu and http://www.euforbih.org.
16.
The Stabilization and Association Agreement and Process can be retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/glossary/terms/saa_en.htm.
17.
See, for instance, Global Detention Project (2014).
18.
See Rao (2012).
19.
See also Žižek (2008).

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Center for Global Affairs, New York University, New York, UK
Piro Rexhepi

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Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam AISSR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bojan Bilić

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Rexhepi, P. (2016). From Orientalism to Homonationalism: Queer Politics, Islamophobia, and Europeanisation in Kosovo. In: Bilić, B. (eds) LGBT Activism and Europeanisation in the Post-Yugoslav Space. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57261-5_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57261-5_7
Published: 01 July 2016
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-57260-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-57261-5
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