UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 7th Annual International Postgraduate Conference

The demise of Yugoslavia and the intensification of nationalist trends, together with the economic crisis, have triggered in the last two decades a re-traditionalisation process in Serbian culture and society. Such phenomenon has invested with particular intensity the sphere of family and gender relations, with re-patriarchalisation and nationalist revivals acting coherently as factors of rigid codification of gender roles.

The emphasis on a patriarchal model of community and national homogeneity is potentially threatened by homosexuality: the homosexual person does not fit in the gender role rhetoric of a nation made by Soldiers and Mothers. Furthermore, the homosexual couple testifies, by its very existence, the presence of otherness and the plurality of interpersonal and social relational models. Its social relevance lies in the fact that, by questioning the codification of gender roles and the hierarchic dichotomy male/female, it threatens the entire set of hierarchies constructing the model of national community.

On the other hand, globalisation and increasing access to mass-media (and, of course, the Internet) have been fostering action and communication by and between homosexual individuals and groups. Enhanced visibility implies more opportunities, but also a stronger reaction by the more conservative strata of society. The aim of the present research is to analyse the emergence of a queer culture in Serbia and its strategies to cope with the conflicting factors of re-traditionalisation and globalisation.