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

Abstract

This paper investigates the convergence of European Union enlargement strategies and queer politics in the production of Islamophobia in Kosovo. Through a reading of recent homophobic attacks in Kosovo, it examines how the incorporation of lgbti politics into the eu enlargement assemblages generate a representational praxis of queer communities in Kosovo under threat by Muslim extremists. This paper proposes that the Europeanization of lgbti rights depoliticizes queer communities and singles them out for protection as victims of Islamic fundamentalism by creating binary and exclusionary Queer/Islam divisions that prevent the emergence of intersectional solidarities and subjectivities such as queer and Muslim. In this context, European financed 'coming out' projects gain a new meaning in Kosovo, one where the promotion of visibility for certain queer subjects works simultaneously to expose Muslim 'extremists'. Queer acceptance in Islamophobic times, then, becomes the ultimate test of who can and cannot become European citizen.

‘When one doesn't even exist’: Europeanization, trans* subjectivities and agency in Cyprus

“…This approach does not annihilate local actors' agency either but, in treating it as a set of collective but internally heterogenous, divergent, and conflicting struggles for social change, it places more emphasis on its implication in the perpetuation of power differentials and the depoliticization of non-normative identities, than on its role in eliminating these differentials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 F o r P e e r R e v i e w and enabling multiple and complex identities and subjectivities (Bilić, 2016: 8;Brković, 2014;Butterfield, 2016;Rexhepi, 2016).…”

“…LGBTI identity struggle, in which the 'non-European/non-western' gender-and sexualitynonconforming other is articulated as a threat to the nation and its 'Europeanness' (Kamenou, 2011(Kamenou, , 2012(Kamenou, , 2016(Kamenou, , 2019Paternotte, 2018;Puar, 2007Puar, , 2013Rexhepi, 2016;Sadurní et al, 2017). Namely, some Cypriot LGBTIs reproduce nationalist and essentialist conceptions of gender and sexuality and exclusionary and imperialist conceptions of 'Europeanness' that render other LGBTIs as inferior (Kamenou 2012(Kamenou , 2019.…”

“…The effects of the Europeanization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* 1 and intersex (LGBTI) human rights discourses and activism paradigms on national LGBTI communities have been extensively discussed (e.g. Ayoub, 2013, 2015, 2016; Bilić, 2016; Brković, 2014; Rexhepi, 2016; Slootmaeckers and Touquet, 2016; Swimelar, 2016). 2 Nonetheless, these effects on trans* people and politics in the margins of ‘Europe’ have received less attention (e.g.…”

Promotion of LGBTI rights overseas: an overview of EU and US experiences

“…As case studies (e.g. Bilić 2016, Kalezić and Brković 2016, Rexhepi 2016, Vasilev 2016 show, those countries' elites undertake such measures primarily not because of their ideological predisposition in favour of LGBTI rights per se, but, rather, due to their identification with Europe as a modern and civilized entity and/or simply for instrumental reasons, in order to formally fulfil an EU requirement. Put theoretically, most of those states seem to have socialized, but not internalized LGBTI rights as a norm (Schimmelfennig, Engert and Knobel 2006: 3-5).…”

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“…Por esta razão, a maioria adotou regulamentos que asseguram os requisitos mínimos da UE em relação aos direitos LGBTI, a saber, descriminalização da homossexualidade, autorização de marchas de homossexuais, proibição de discriminação com base na orientação sexual e identidade de género, etc. Como mostram os estudos de caso (por exemplo, Bilić 2016, Kalezić e Brković 2016, Rexhepi 2016, Vasilev 2016, as elites desses países tomam essas medidas não devido a predisposição ideológica a favor dos direitos LGBTI propriamente ditos, mas principalmente porque se identificam com a Europa, uma entidade moderna e civilizada, e/ou simplesmente por razões instrumentais, a fim de cumprir formalmente um requisito da UE. Colocando a questão do ponto de vista teórico, a maioria desses estados parece ter socializado, mas não internalizado, os direitos LGBTI como uma norma (Schimmelfennig, Engert e Knobel 2006: 3-5).…”