TRI FUNKCIJE BALKANSKE MUŠKOSTI

Abstract

The study “Three Functions of the Balkan Masculinity” by Jasna Koteska investigates the notorious concept of the Balkan masculinity and its status in the post-war 21st century Balkans. The study offers a reading of the intersection between the concepts of Balkanism, masculinity and their media representations, via a detailed readings of the Serbian film “Parade” (2011) and of the Macedonian film “Punk is Not Dead” (2011) in their multiple textual, gender, national and cultural dimensions.

The text distillates three main characteristics of the concept of the Balkan masculinity as represented in the art products from the 21st century post-war Balkans: (1) avoiding the social responsibility, (2) censorship of homosexuality, and (3) a tight idea of a brotherhood. All of the three detected elements are elaborated with different examples from art practices: film, literature, and media. The text is using an interdisciplinary approach in interpreting the phenomena of the Balkan masculinity with methods from several related disciplines: film studies, literary criticism, gender studies, nationalism studies, theoretical psychoanalysis, and philosophy.