TRANSLATION IN (POST-)YUGOSLAV GYNOCENTRIC PERIODICALS

Drawing on the theoretical foundations of Literary Sociology, Translation Studies, Periodical Studies, South Slavic and Gender Studies, the project aims to contribute to the heated debates about concepts of World Literatures by focusing on the (post) Yugoslav literary context through the feminist and decolonial lens. The study will examine important periods of the (ex-)Yugoslav literary tradition by focusing on the political contexts of feminist strategies of canonization and translation in turbulent times: in one century the south Slavic region experienced four wars (Balkan wars, First World War, Second World War, and the post-Yugoslav wars at the end of the 20th century, that led to the dissolution of the SFRJ) as well as various state ideologies and different forms of government: Capitalism in the frame of Monarchism (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 19181929 / Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1929 1941), Communism within the Socialist Republic (SFR Yugoslavia, 19451991/1995/1999), and transitional Capitalism (various post-Yugoslav states since 1991/1995). The historical period in the focus of the study is marked not only by two centennial transitions but also by the creation and dissolution of the Yugoslav state. The guiding questions of the study are (1) to what extent did gynocentric periodicals uphold or reflect the broader geopolitical power structures, and (2) to what extent did they reproduce, disrupt, or reconfigure traditional, patriarchal or western resp. First World notions of female authorship and literary production. (3) The study of Yugoslav feminist cultural activism in a global context will also allow for the (re) positioning of the Yugoslav political field, which itself went through many ideological breaks.