Activist Citizenship and the LGBT Movement in Serbia

Robert Rhodes-Kubiak completed his PhD in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, UK in 2013. Combining research into human rights discourses and activism, particularly in post-conflict environments, with a professional career as an activist and community development specialist throughout the world, his research has increasingly focused on the interfaces between citizenship and social movements, and attempts to build bridges between activism and academia.

• 1. Introduction 2. Understanding Movements: Social Movement Theory and the Links with Citizenship 3. From Status and Participation to Engagement and Transformation: Understanding "Activist Citizenship" 4. LGBT Activist Movements in Post-Communist Europe: Localized Strategies of Visibility, Rights and Europeanness 5. The Inception of an LGBT Movement in Serbia: Contests of Citizenship 6. The Development of the LGBT Activist Movement in Serbia in the 2000s 7. Roots and Roofs: Understanding the Strategies, Tactics and Targets of the Movement 8. "This Is Our Country Too": Activist Citizenship and the LGBT Activist Movement in Serbia 9. Conclusions

"Drawing on original research with LGBT people in Serbia, Rhodes-Kubiak develops the notion of 'activist citizenship' to explore the particular history and political demands of a Serbian LGBT movement. Empirically grounded and theoretically rich, the book offers a significant and very timely contribution to sexuality studies and to sociological studies of social movements." - Sally Hines, Associate Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies and Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, UK"Rhodes-Kubiak has produced an innovative analysis of LGBT social movement protest and citizenship in Serbia. The world of LGBT politics in the former Yugoslavia is generally overlooked in studies of social movements in the region. Rhodes-Kubiak's work combines new data and insights on the origins, mobilization, and consequences of LGBT activism in repressive and conflict ridden circumstances with significant theoretical developments on the relationship between citizenship and activism. Based on meticulous fieldwork in Serbia the work is a major contribution to social movement studies, LGBT studies and the understanding of politics in the former Yugoslavia." - Paul Bagguley, Reader in Sociology, University of Leeds, UK"Rhodes-Kubiak has given us the first in-depth academic analysis of the LGBT movement in Serbia, extending queer scholarship into one of the most challenging of European territories. This is essential reading for those concerned with LGBT politics in south-east Europe. There is a distinctive and useful focus on how the activism of individuals can commence prior to collective social movements developing, even in a context shaped by authoritarian nationalism." - Matthew Waites, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow, UK