CEU Press

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: A brief history of Bosnia Herzegovina (from its origins to the 1995 Dayton peace accords
Chapter 2: Definitions of violence in war and the experience of women: the research
Chapter 3: The method and the sample: a contribution to the feminist critique of methodology
Chapter 4: Sexual violence
Chapter 5: The Hague Tribunal and rape in the former Yugoslavia
Chapter 6: Physical abuse and homicide
Chapter 7: Psychological violence and fear in war, and their consequences for the psychological health of women
Chapter 8: Separation and dissolution of family
Chapter 9: Life in refuge – changes in socioeconomic and familiar status
Chapter 10: Social acceptance and the difficulties of adapting to a new environment
Chapter 11: Strategies of support and help
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Based on interviews with seventy women refugees, Women, Violence and War is a book about war as it is seen, lived and interpreted by women who were citizens of the former Yugoslavia.
Many of the accounts portray the horrific experiences the victims had to face and the book addresses issues of sexual, physical and psychological violence, as well as problems of confinement, upheaval and family separation. In a completely new insight the book dispels the myth that many of the women were peasants, and shows that in fact they were educated, middle-class women with independent careers. The study also depicts how some of the victims attempt to come to terms with the aftermath of wartime abuse.
This probing, accurate and unique investigation of victimization is an unparalleled volume that presents a completely new perspective maintaining that violence against women in war is not independent of peace-time victimization and the imbalance of power between sexes.
Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic is senior researcher at the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, and lecturer at the Center for Women’s Studies, Belgrade.