Fieldwork in times of Pride (Belgrade)

June. Pride Month. I was very excited to attend the annual Pride in Sarajevo this year as part of my second field trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had the opportunity to exchange views with people about their opinions and experiences regarding the rising anti-gender discourses in BiH and to demonstrate together with my friends from BiH for LGBTIQ+ rights. During this trip, I also had the opportunity to speak with additional relevant experts, mainly representatives from governmental institutions, about policies concerning gender equality and related legal developments. These interviews have once again been very informative and will be useful for my goal of identifying anti-gender frames in policies and legislative measures, and interpreting these by drawing on further documents as well as parliamentary debates.

Also in June, I had the opportunity to present my project at the conference “New Divisions, Struggles and Solidarities in South East Europe”, organised by the Sociological Scientific Society of Serbia in Belgrade. However, during my time in Belgrade, my thoughts and those of my colleagues were often with the students who were protesting at that time for several days, around the clock, in front of the Government Building in Belgrade.