“We need to fight and have a battle every day!": queer perceptions of peacebuilding and activism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Date
2024-06-21
Authors
Yavuz, Mehmet
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Abstract
This research uses critical qualitative methods to discuss the untold stories of LGBTQIA+ Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) after the Bosnian war in 1995. The qualitative research aims to examine the impacts of the violent conflict on queer individuals, as well as explore their experiences of peace activism and coping with homophobia in a country where queer communities face a heightened risk of homophobia. The data were analyzed using a set of procedures including description, coding, and interpretation of transcripts and field notes.
Direct and indirect violence, along with discriminatory policies and practices, have led to a resurgence of conflict and violence against queer people in BiH. This study investigated queer people’s perceptions and experiences of peacebuilding in BiH and the political queer presence there after the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA). It also explored the activism strategies of queer Bosniaks/Serbs/Croats residing in BiH, which they employ as part of a collective movement to improve the conditions of community members’ conditions to help them cope with violence directed at queer people.
The research findings showed that there are interrelated everyday violent acts that disrupt queer people’s way of living. The current structural issues that impact them range from the constitution, Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), and Two Schools Under One Roof policy to intergenerational trauma that prevent people from reconciling and coexisting in an already dysfunctional system that was created by the DPA in post-accord BiH. The research findings also suggest that the political institutions supported by the international community have institutionalized ethnosectarian politics and divisions in BiH, which puts everyone, specifically queer people, in danger of everyday homophobia violence.
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Keywords
Bosnia & Herzegovina, LGBTQIA+, Queer Bosnia, Post-Accord Societies, Dayton Peace Agreement, Peacebuilding, LGBT Activism, Ethnic Conflict