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“LGBT Rights in Southeast Europe: Competing Narratives of Europeanization and Nationalism”
October 7, 2016 @ 12:20 pm - 1:45 pm
Countries in Southeast Europe that are either recent European Union members (Croatia since 2013), candidates (Serbia since 2011), or potential candidates (Bosnia) have been at the forefront of LGBT rights debates and LGBT politics within Europe. Specifically, scholars are examining the processes and challenges of LGBT rights adoption across Europe. In this talk, Professor Swimelar looks at two identity-related factors in the LGBT rights debate in Southeast Europe: the state’s relationship toward Europe and Europeanization on the one hand and nationalism and national identity on the other. She will address: What is the relationship between nationalism, gender, and LGBT rights? How do concepts of societal (in)security and political homophobia help us understand the similarities and differences in these cases? How has the discourse of Europe been constructed to either promote or resist LGBT rights, and is this changing?
This event is part of the CES 2016 Fall Friday Lecture Series.
Safia Swimelar is an associate professor of political science and policy studies at Elon University in North Carolina and the coordinator of the International and Global Studies program. She teaches courses in international relations, international human rights, European politics, international law, and peace and conflict studies. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina where she investigated post-war human rights and nationalism. She also researches and publishes on the role of images in the teaching and understanding of human rights. In addition to edited volumes, her work has appeared in International Journal of Human Rights, Ethnopolitics, and International Studies Quarterly. Her current research analyzing and comparing LGBT rights, politics, and activism in the Balkans appears in The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics (Routledge, 2016) and is forthcoming in Human Rights Quarterly.
Acknowledgement of Support: This event has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of The UNC Center for European Studies and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.