Paper short abstract:

This paper compares narratives of exclusion of Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs in order to explore the intersections of rhetoric, space, identity, exclusion and state practices. It argues that doing so is necessary as part of the effort to understand 'states of exception' in contemporary Europe.

Paper long abstract:

I argue that narratives of exclusion from Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs, while differing in time and place, are similar in that they have been profoundly influenced by state practices, rhetoric, spatialisation and dislocation. In response to their exclusion, Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs have adapted and resisted in various means such as establishing new spaces for political organising, protesting and displaying nationalist imagery.

In Kosovo from 1990 to the beginning of the war in 1998, the Kosovo Albanian population experienced exclusion through its expulsion from public institutions, removal from public spaces such as universities, and branding as the 'enemy within' through arguments portraying it as threatening to the Kosovo Serb population. In response, Kosovo Albanians organised resistance from cafes and domestic spaces. After the war's end in 1999, Kosovo Serbs were forced into enclaves such as Kosovska Mitrovica (Mitrovica North), beginning a process of exclusion which continued through rhetoric painting the enclaves as dangerous and lawless. Utilising case studies from fieldwork undertaken in Kosovo from June 2014 to July 2015, this paper explores processes of, and responses to, exclusion and 'states of exception'. Interviews gathered from the majority-Kosovo Albanian capital city, Pristina, and Kosovska Mitrovica will be analysed and compared in order to depict the experiences of those who have experienced exclusion and to illustrate responses and adaptations.

The paper demonstrates the necessity of addressing the intersections of rhetoric, space, exclusion, identity and state practices as part of the effort to understand 'states of exception' in contemporary Europe.