Media Discourse on Women Human Right Defenders in Serbia

The paper analyzes the inter-relations of gender and national identities, through the analysis of media discourse on women human right defenders engaged in the process of dealing with the past in Serbia. It answers the question how media depict women who resist dominant politics and criticize a position of power and what kind of women’s political activism is socially acceptable i.e. whether and how the media affects the participation of women in political processes. Discourse analysis explains "meanings created (…) in specific context", and reveals who created them and why. Because of abundance of data, sample includes articles on prominent activists, published in online editions of newspapers and political magazines between 2008 and 2014, focusing on several important episodes. The research argues that nationalism had influence on created images, that depended on different ways their actors negotiated their place within the nation, stating that such discursive acts are part of broad and by no means accidental official strategy of Serbian political elites. Discourse patterns, which “demonstrate how attitudes towards integration into a collective identity can determine boundaries between "us" and "others”, survived. Division into patriots and traitors resides. When traitors are women, the discourse of patriarchy is used in defense of the supreme nationalistic values; selected mechanisms of disqualification and hate speech become gender specific. The media coverage supports national ideology, and preserves a uniform discourse, showing the supremacy of state nationalism, despite new rhetoric. Media images have tangible consequences, therefore must be examined, in order to understand their role in the constitution of "others", through various narrative forms and strategies. The topic complements the panel “Political participation" since it offers social contextualization, the analysis of contemporary political practices that significantly aggravate women's participation in political life.