Skip to content

Visiting Scholars Seminar: New Research on Europe

Memory, Nationalist Politics and Male Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina


April 25, 2018
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
April 25, 2018
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall

While the conflict in the former Yugoslavia is widely known for the strategic rapes of thousands of women, men were also victims of sexual violence, mainly in detention camps across the territory. This presentation analyzes the limited visibility of male victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina post-conflict, paying particular attention to service provision, court cases and publications on conflict-related sexual violence. It notes that the male survivors' conspicuous absence is linked to prevailing gender and masculinity norms. It also discusses two contemporary documentary films made by local memory entrepreneurs in 2015, which gave voice to male survivors for the first time. While these films seem to constitute a break from the norm of silence on male victims, the analysis shows that they present male victimhood within the framework of the prevailing patriarchal and ethno-nationalist gender norms.

Sponsors

Close