ABSTRACT
This introduction summarises key theories, methodology, limitations, research results, and contributions presented in the subsequent chapters of this book. This political ethnography is concerned with women politicians in Serbia and Kosovo/a. It examines how female members of parliament (MPs) in Serbia and Kosovo/a understood and navigated their gender and national identity as active participants in processes of democratisation. Data was collected through ethnographic research (participant observation, multi-sited “deep hanging out”, and interviews) with women politicians in Belgrade, Pristina, Prizren, and North Mitrovica or Kosovska Mitrovica between March 2017 and April 2018. The principal methodology used in this research was ethnography for its adaptability to both “politically sensitive research environments” such as Serbia and Kosovo/a, and to a complex set of research questions around gender and national identity. This research contributes to, and communicates with, various theoretical approaches of ethnie/nation, gender and the process of democratisation. Serbia and Kosovo/a both stand to offer unique insights into the role of women in ethnic and national projects, because of the earlier ethnic conflict and the current political context. They also provide fruitful ground for academic enquiry on the interrelations of gender and ethnic-nationalism and women’s active participation in nation-building.
