Situated within the framework of the “pictorial turn” of contemporary culture and theory and its centeredness on the realm of the visual, Karl Kaser, the late renowned scholar of family and kinship studies in southeast Europe and beyond, explores an extensive and thick mapping of gendered interactions, femininity, and masculinity in today's digital world. He focuses on two regions, geographically set apart, yet assigned into one “cognitive umbrella”: the Balkans and South Caucasus, termed “Eurasia Minor.” Femininities and Masculinities in the Digital Age encompasses fifteen countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. The Eurasia Minor societies studied in this book are diverse in terms of ethnicity, language, and religion and shaped by the legacy of the Ottoman and Soviet empires, post-socialist transition, liberal democracy, European Union membership aspirations and prospects, and discourses on human rights. Kaser masterfully weaves a mosaic of gender dynamics and representations of femininity and masculinity, highlighting the connecting threads across the social and cultural divide of the societies observed in the book.
Applying a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) and taking advantage of bibliometric analysis, Kaser embarks on the gargantuan task of mapping, tracing, and decoding gender transformations in Eurasia Minor societies since the 2010s. The book is composed of six chapters and a conclusion. While all of the chapters converse with one another, they can be read as stand-alone chapters. The introduction lays out the theoretical framework for studying gender transformations through the entanglements of realia and utopia. Kaser argues that visual representations of femininity and masculinity are contingent upon, and an effect of, two interrelated levels of gendered interaction: the realia that concerns gender relations in practice and utopia that signifies imagined desirables and dreams of women and men (5, italics in original). The second chapter provides an overview of the regional context, presenting demographic, social, economic, and political changes over the past three decades and the impact on gender and identity constructions in Eurasia Minor societies. Subsequently, the third chapter focuses on the realia of gender and family relations, patriarchy, and discourses compared to west European demographic patterns. Indeed, this is where Kaser applies his extensive scholarship on family and kinship, and his experience as a chronicler of the transformations of patriarchy over time in the Balkans. The fourth chapter analyzes how realia and utopia interact in time and space by scrutinizing the structure of the media and transmitters of visualizations of femininities and masculinities. Chapter 5 focuses on Turkey and “veiling chic culture and the newly emerging Muslim femininities in the context of the globalizing fashion industry” (17). Finally, Chapter 6 looks at countries in the Balkans and South Caucasus with pronounced “top-down return of religion” (18).
Kaser argues that religion has not only served well the logic of capitalism but also intensified the interaction between realia and utopia, leaving undisturbed the circulation of sexualized visual representations of femininity and masculinity (18). In the concluding chapter, Kaser reaffirms that representation is inherently hierarchical. He rejects a clear-cut separation of the dimensions of representation and the intrinsic hierarchy between them. Kaser contends that realia as a persisting force and utopia as a dynamic force are mutually constitutive. Hence, to understand gender transformations, one needs to take a closer look at the interplay between the two (231).
The book conveys an optimistic view of the prospects of gender equality for Eurasia Minor societies. Kaser posits that gender developments remain ambiguous. Yet he argues that utopian femininities and masculinities will continuously challenge the realia of re-traditionalized gender relations (18). Without any doubt, the book advances discussion on gender and politics of representation in Eurasia Minor societies, opening new avenues for understanding the continuum and change of gender relations of power and sexuality. The book's greatest contribution is its breadth of coverage, in-depth analysis, and the critical hope it carries for gender equality. Kaser's work shows the importance of comparative analysis that places gender at the heart of the interdisciplinary conversations on equality and diversity. This is an invaluable book and a must-read for everyone interested in gender politics and constructions of femininity and masculinity in the Balkans and South Caucasus.
