Bosna'da Cinsiyete Dayalı Şiddet: Bir İnceleme Çalışması

This review article aims to investigate gender-based violence in Bosnia during and after the war. While the previous literature exclusively focuses on the relationship between gender and nationalism, this article attracts attention to the lacking social psychology and political economy perspectives. By adopting a continuum approach, this study uncovers how different forms of violence interact with each other in the case of Bosnian women from conflict to post-conflict settings. In analyzing the accounts of female war victims from secondary sources, this study points out the overlapping processes of gender-based violence from past to present. It is argued that sexual violence during the war has led to symbolic and material violence toward women in the post-war context. Sexual violence during the war constituted the basis of multiple forms of violence towards women in the post-war period, some of which are sequential traumatization, stigmatization, and domestic violence. The displacement and dispossession processes due to the war triggered a spiral of violence in the lives of women. In experiencing a transition from a war economy to a neoliberal economy, the Bosnian state has not been able to provide social protection to women. The economic vulnerability of women has been aggrandized by their unemployment and undereducation in the last decades.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Bosnia, gender, violence, social psychology, political economy

Gender-Based Violence in Bosnia From Conflict to The Post-Conflict Setting

This review article aims to investigate gender-based violence in wartime and post-war Bosnia. While the existing literature exclusively focuses on the relationship between gender and nationalism, this article rather addresses the psychological and economic violence against women in Bosnia. By adopting a continuum approach, this study uncovers how different forms of violence against women interact with each other from the conflict to the post-conflict contexts. Through a literature survey, this study depicts how gender-based violence has been reproduced from past to present in the case of Bosnia. In discussing gender-based violence, it dwells upon the intersections between mass rapes, forced pregnancy and traumatization. As the main argument, this article contends that sexual violence during the war triggered the spiral of violence and further led to stigmatization and marginalization of these women in the post-war context. It is especially argued that the persistent public stigma is the most blatant manifestation of psychological violence against female rape victims. In addition, it is shown that the overlapping processes of conflict, patriarchy and neoliberalization have led to a series of economic injustices, such as, in the form of the dispossession, poverty and exclusion of women in Bosnia. This article overall suggests establishing linkages between sexual, psychological and economic violence against women during the conflict and post-conflict processes.

Keywords:

Bosnia, gender, violence, social psychology, political economy,

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