3 Forgiving, listening, waiting: Ethics of solidarity in Kosova’s movement of civil resistance in the1990’s

Authors

  • Arbër Jashari Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62303/e4b7es91

Keywords:

Kosova, 1990's, civil resistance, morality, solidarity, tradition

Abstract

As the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early years of the 1990’s turned violent and pitted constituent republics against one-another, an overwhelming majority of ordinary people in Kosova embraced a societal-wide movement of civil resistance to the oppressive policies adopted by the state of Serbia. Kosova's non-violent movement, which ran for almost a decade,
emerged upon strong moral foundations stemming from tradition and was characterized by the invocation of an ethics of solidarity. In this paper, I elaborate on three concrete ethical and affective practices in which ordinary people were invested during this period – forgiving, listening, and waiting. I argue that a heightened degree of ethical comportment was central to the
conception, as well as to the life of, the non-violent movement.

Author Biography

  • Arbër Jashari

    Arbër Jashari is a researcher and ethnographer from Kosova. In the past, Arbër made a few short
    films and was a recipient of fellowships by such institutions as the Flaherty Film Seminar (2014).
    In 2019 he earned an MA degree in Anthropology from Southern Illinois University (SIU) where
    he studied through a Fulbright fellowship. His thesis, on Kosova’s movement of civil 
    resistance in the 1990’s, was recognized with the Arshi Pipa Award by the Society for Albanian
    Studies (SAS). Arber’s short-term plans include academic studies related to cultural practices of
    mourning in Kosova as well as the publication of a biographical book motivated by his mother’s
    struggle for inheriting her parents’ property.

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Published

29-12-2023 — Updated on 29-12-2023

Issue

Section

RESEARCH ARTICLES