Postgraduate course

May 23–29, 2004

IUC- Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Course co-directors and co-organizers:

Daša Duhaèek - Centre for Women’s Studies – Belgrade

 Željka Jelaviæ - Centre for Women’s Studies – Zagreb

Joanna Regulska - Rutgers University – New Jersey.

This year’s course major concerns was on politics of identity, feminism and politics of boundaries. The course also explored the gendered dimensions of boundary-making and feminist challenges to boundaries in order to understand in what ways have feminist scholars reconfigured borders in theory and practice.

The topic chosen for this year’s course was used as a point of departure for the proposition that all demarcation lines are of our own making and are, therefore, arbitrary and contingent. Questions that resulted from this exploration included: As feminist scholars how do we understand borders and boundaries that are at once geographic and theoretical, disciplinary and disciplining, national and gendered, sexual and juridical? How does feminist scholarship help shed light on changing political economies, nation-states and movements of people through immigration, displacement, and exile; on globalization, diaspora, hybrid identities and changing sexualities?

Transborder Translating -  Rada Ivekoviæ

Europe, Biopolitics, Incarnations - Marina Gržiniæ

Boundaries of Place/ing - Daša Duhaèek

 Taking Place of Love: Borderlines of Subjectivity -

Jelisaveta Blagojeviæ

“Cosmopolitan Phantasies and Multicultural Publics” - Gail Lewis

ACTING: Border-line between the “World of Culture” and the “World of Life”- Dubravka Crnojeviæ-Cariæ

Women’s Agency, Scale and New Political Spaces - Joanna Regulska   

Locating Citizenship: Transnational Organizing, Urban Spaces and Gendered Labour in the Garment Industry - Ethel Brooks

Relocating Global Feminism: Reading Islamic Feminism in Iran Through Transnational Feminist Practices - Catherine Z. Sameh

Lost in Translation: Soundings from the Borderlands - Harriet Davidson

Reading the Corporeal: The Poetics of Frida Kahlo’s Pain - Elizabeth Woodruff

student presentations:

Construction of female identity in operas Koštana by Petar Konjeviæ and Carmen by Georges Bizet - Ivana Stamatoviæ

Boundaries of International Criminal Law: Are Women Finally Within? - Ivana Radaèiæ

The image of women in television shows on fashion - Jelena Višnjiæ

Crossing the Body Boundaries: The Art of Marina Abramoviæ - Ivana Æirkoviæ

 The political in the performative theory of Judith Butler- Jasmina Omiæ

excerpts from evaluations:

 “Excellent philosophical framing of the major issues of the whole week.”

“Very well presented! ‘Guided tour’ through different understanding of concepts that invites opposites.”

“I thought Marina’s presentation was excellent in terms of new, challenging and thought-provoking notions and ways to understand and look at Europe, culture, technology, and globalization.”

“A very rich presentation on Hannah Arendt and a great way to look another border/boundary – time and space. Provoked a great deal of thought and reflection of my own “place” in time and space.”

“Fantastic! Bravo! We must theorize love more often.”

“Her exercise – the best example of the topic of the seminar in such an extraordinary way. An incredible experience!”

“Insightful on the limits and exclusions of protest and solidarity.”

“I like the way she reunited the body and soul, the way she integrated politics and corporeal.”