Jelena Vasiljević, PhD

Dr. Jelena Vasiljević is a senior research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, and associate professor at the Faculty of Media and Communications, University Singidunum, Belgrade. Her academic background is in political anthropology and citizenship studies. She was a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, working on a European Research Council-funded project on citizenship transformations in the former Yugoslav states (CITSEE), and a research fellow at the Centre for South East European Studies, University of Graz. She is currently a national coordinator in a Horizon 2020 (European Commission) project Enlightened trust: An examination of trust and distrust in governance – conditions, effects, and remedies (EnTrust).

Courses Taught

Foundations: Social Movements, Civic Engagement, and Social Justice Advocacy

Select Publications

Vasiljević, J. (2020). Solidarity reasoning and citizenship agendas: from socialist Yugoslavia to neoliberal Serbia, East European Politics & Societies and Cultures. DOI 10.1177/0888325420923023.  

Vasiljević, J., G. Pudar Draško and I. Fiket, (2020). Big Dreams and Small Steps: Comparative Perspectives on the Social Movement Struggle for Democracy in Serbia and North Macedonia, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 20 (1): 199-219. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2019.1654317 

Vasiljević, J. I. Fiket, M. Ivković and G. Pudar Draško. (2019). The discourse of anti-instrumentalism: exploring a conceptual model through the case study of the We won’t let Belgrade d(r)own initiative, Partecipazione E Conflitto 12 (3): 898-918. DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v12i3p898.  

Vasiljević, J. (2019). Social Engagement and Personal Activism: Some Research Reflections and Fieldnotes from Conversations with Activists in Two Belgrade Protest Initiatives, in M. Ivković and S. Prodanović (eds.), Engaging (for) Social Change. Towards New Forms of Collective Action, Belgrade: IFDT: 304-317.   

Vasiljević, J. (2018). Contentious politics in the European (post-socialist) (semi-)periphery: Mapping rebellion and social protests in Southeast and Eastern Europe, Filozofija i Društvo 29 (4): 615–626. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1804615V.  

Vasiljević, J. (2018) .Citizenship as social object in the aftermath of the Yugoslav breakup. Nations and Nationalism 24 (4): 1142–1161, DOI: 10.1111/nana.12389. 

Vasiljević, J. (2016). Antropologija građanstva [Anthropology of Citizenship]. Novi Sad: Mediterran; Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju.  

Select Presentations

(2020) “Solidarity and Social Movements”, Lecture at Summer School of Social Engagement and Democracy, 21.09. (online) 

(2019) “Affective Engagement and Social Change: Are Personal Narratives Important for Democratic Innovations?“, The Serbian Political Science Association (SPSA) Annual Conference 2019: Conflict. Stability. Democracy?, 28-29 Sept, Belgrade.  

(2019) Solidarity as a Discursive Frame for Citizenship Agendas: A Glance at Citizenship Transformations from Socialist Yugoslavia to Neoliberal Serbia, 2019 ASEEES Summer Convention in Zagreb, Croatia, June 14-16.  

(2019) Performing reactive and political solidarity in neoliberal Serbia, Conference: Cultures of the Left in the Age of Right Wing Populism, Warwick University, Venice 15-17 April.  

(2019) Performing the Past, Envisioning the Future? The Politics of World War II Memory and Art in 1980s Yugoslavia and in Contemporary “Yugosphere”, World War II: History and Memory (international conference), Charles University, Prague, March 28-30.   

(2018) Lived experiences of citizenship and documentality after Yugoslavia, 9th InASEA (International Association for Southeast European Anthropology) Congress in Zadar: Emotions, Senses and Affects in the Context of Southeast Europe, University of Zadar, Sept 27-30. 

Research Interests

Citizenship transformations in post-Yugoslav states
Memory politics
Culture and rights
Active citizenship and social movements
Political solidarity
Theories of solidarity
Southeast Europe
Social engagement 


Education

  • PhD, Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Belgrade
  • M.Phil, Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Belgrade
  • BA, Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Belgrade
Jelena Vasiljević, PhD