E-grāmata: "e;I am Jugoslovenka!"e;: Feminist performance politics during and after Yugoslav Socialism

'Taking the figure of Jugoslovenka as a focal point is a unique and interesting approach, since the figure symbolizes many different aspects only applicable to Yugoslavia, including its distinctive position between East and West. The way this publication researches and brings together high and low culture without hierarchy, and focuses on minorities such as queer artists as well as Roma artists, makes it truly special. Tumbas makes unknown or untold stories visible, sometimes literally... I am Jugoslovenka! is a much-needed addition to existing research, in which Tumbas looks critically at socialism from a feminist perspective, and at the significance of Yugoslav feminist performance politics.' Dorothé Orczyk, ARTMargins



'This book is the first of its kind to engage visual arts in addressing the questions of gender in Yugoslavia and after. If gender has been a neglected field of inquiry in Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav studies, then a study of gender from the perspective of art history is even more marginalized. I am Jugoslovenka is, because of this, a deeply political book: a historical study embedded with questions about the future of feminist cultural practices in the region.' Dragana Obradovic, Slavic Review

'Examining both well-known and heretofore neglected artists, this book provides a nuanced discussion of gender, feminism and identity politics in the region. It also serves to widen the discussion about feminist performance practices and strategies beyond the canonical west.' Amy Bryzgel, Professor of Film and Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen

'"I am Jugoslovenka!" is an essential, nuanced feminist intervention into Yugoslav studies. In discussing Yugoslav feminist performance politics, the book places artists and performers as divergent as Marina Abramovic, Lepa Brena and Esma Redepova side by side. Tumbas effectively dismantles elitist hierarchies about "high" and "low" cultural production and feminist praxis during and after Yugoslavia.' Dijana Jelaca, Brooklyn College

'Jasmina Tumbass book surveys the cultural landscape of late socialist Yugoslavia to reveal the figure of Jugoslovenka as an innovative theoretical construct that captures the simultaneity of emancipatory opportunities and entrenched patriarchy. Imaginative and original, it provides a much-needed extension of the ongoing feminist reassessment of state socialism to the field of art history.' Vladimir Kulic, Associate Professor of Architectural History, Iowa State University

'Tumbas's sensitive awareness of historical context is made in the deft interweaving of visual cultural analysis with the author's story as a refugee from Vojvodina in Germany in the early 1990s...' Art Monthly

'I am Jugoslovenka!" presents a supremely compact overview of performance politics during and after Yugoslav socialism, providing elaborated examples and visual analysis of numerous performances, events or figures that were seen as agents of female emancipation and empowerment. As Jasmina Tumbas not only expertly chooses and compiles the existing research material, but also engages in producing novel approaches and theoretical concepts that will, hopefully, initiate future interest and interpretations.' Dr. Jana Dolecki

'An enormously fascinating read through all five chapters, this book presents a captivating and hitherto unique overview of feminist performance politics in Yugoslavia. The range of figures alone (photos, artworks, paintings, posters, video stills) illustrates the dimensions of the vast territory Tumbas has mapped, showcasing feminist works spanning several decades. In demonstrating how much we can learn about Yugoslavia and Yugoslav feminism from visual history, the book shifts Western notions about the region significantly. Tumbas guides the Balkan imaginary away from grim warlords in camouflage suits facing trial in The Hague to a much brighter image: (post-)Yugoslavias female artists.' Dr. Miranda Jakia, Comparative Southeast European Studies

'Tumbas also provides the reader the context of her own family background with a working-class Yugoslav mother and grandmother, neither of whom identified with feminism but taught her more about emancipatory resistance than much of [ her] higher education, or many of the feminist text[ s] she has read since then. It is this combination of the archival and the personal, which cannot be overlooked when discussing feminist art practices, that makes Tumbass such a rich study ... Tumbass book provides the type of diverse and expansive examination the field of art history has recently come to expect, one that includes a discussion of a range of individuals from diverse backgrounds, including the contributions not just of women artists but also Roma and queer women.' Art Journal

'It is not too often an art historical monograph achieves a comprehensive and engaging marriage of social, political, and cultural contexts. Jasmina Tumbass book I am Jugoslovenka!, achieves not only this, but also successfully incorporates the intersections of gender and the LGBTQ community....I am Jugoslovenka! is a cohesive and original work which accomplishes a championing of Jugoslovenka feminist legacy, a legacy and a history of work which has at times been overlooked and erased. Tumbass work is well-written and accessible to readers, chronicling the rise and fall of nationalism and its socialist impacts and ideologies in Yugoslavia' Erin Walter, University of Glasgow

'It is this recognition and working within the messy contradictions of history that makes Tumbass text and its methodology a unique and truly paradigm-shifting contribution...Tumbass mapping of the histories of socialism, activism, feminist politics, art, and popular culture in, and after Yugoslavia, illuminates not just the otherwise highly understudied and unacknowledged contributions of Yugoslav artists and cultural producers within the history of art but poses a productively disruptive challenge to the disciplines organizational logics. The interdependent developments of socialism, patriarchy, nationalism, feminist resistance, and avant-gardism that are articulated in the text put into practice a queer anticolonial methodology, the structure of which compliments the politics of the performances described therein.' CAA reviews

".... a daring, well-researched, theoretically grounded, and beautifully written book....boldly refreshing. The content analysis of discrete cultural happeningssuch as performances, exhibitions, specific artwork, or the praxis of arts collectivesbrings to life the unique and dynamic arts and performance culture in Yugoslavia from the 1970s to the 1990s. At the same time, strongly grounded in theory, Tumbas analysis helps deconstruct monolithic understandings of feminism by analyzing its diverse political and cultural manifestations. The book not only offers a new interpretation of the Yugoslav cultural scene but also calls for scholars to reconceptualize categories of feminism and ideas of socialist emancipation." 2023 Barbara Jelavich Book Prize Committee -- .