Abstract
In Kosovo’s recent past, politics and society have gravitated toward one central project, that of attaining sovereignty and independence. I trace some of the conflicts, submissions, and struggles that have created a recent history of the nation in Kosovo and shaped its sensual understanding. It is an endeavor to show how this history has relied upon the mutual constitution of national and gendered identities, and a particular memorialization of recent events. I seek to understand a specific mobilization of national and gendered ideologies, and to assess broader concerns with cultural change.
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Notes
- 1.
Borrowing from Pierre Bourdieu, I use “habitus” to refer to both principles of continuity and regularity as well as transformations in how collective practices are produced (Bourdieu 1977, 82).
- 2.
- 3.
Interview with the author, 20 February 2005, Pristina.
- 4.
Although gender is not an analytical focus of these works.
- 5.
Besa is usually translated as the honor of the house, as hospitality, as the given word, guarantee of protection, or reconciliation and alliance.
- 6.
Interview with the author, 15 April 2004, Pristina.
- 7.
Translation by the author.
- 8.
I choose to call this an oath, not a pledge or vow, because the former carries meanings of a sacred and communal bond, as opposed to individual commitment. https://ademjashari.rks-gov.net/sq/betimi-i-ushtareve-te-uck-se. Accessed 8 May 2020. Translation by author.
- 9.
http://mksf-ks.org/repository/docs/Law%20on%20the%20KSF.pdf. Accessed 10 June 2013. Oath of the Kosova Security Forces, Law No. 03/L-046, Article 17 Oath. This oath was also amended in 2017.
- 10.
Interview with the author, 15 April 2004.
- 11.
Interview with author, 30 March 2007, Pejë.
- 12.
Interview with the author, 15 September 2007.
- 13.
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Luci, N. (2021). National Manhood: Martyrs, Freedom Fighters, and Statesmen in Kosovo’s State-Making. In: Ognjenovic, G., Jozelic, J. (eds) Nationalism and the Politicization of History in the Former Yugoslavia. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65832-8_10
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