BEČ-WIEN Working Group in New Yugoslav Studies
Contact: Miranda Jakiša and Adrian Pelc at University of Vienna; Elissa Helms, Jasmina Lukić, and the CEU Yugo-Region Research group at CEU Vienna; Milorad Kapetanović at the Austrian Academy of Sciences; and the (Post-)Yugoslav Studies Student Network Vienna
The Vienna Working Group in New Yugoslav Studies brings together scholars and students from Austria and the neighbouring post-Yugoslav countries whose research focus is Yugoslavia. Vienna has a longstanding tradition as integrative South Slavic intellectual center. It was in Vienna that the Bečki književni dogovor was signed in 1850 and it was the University of Vienna that founded the first chair in Slavic Studies in 1849, first held by South Slavs.
The Vienna Working Group in New Yugoslav Studies strives to continue yet re-focus the study of Yugoslavia from Vienna, in exchanging the perspective of the imperial centre for a Yugo-Slav perspective from within. Currently, a quarter of a million South Slavs live in Vienna, transforming Beč into "the new capital city of Yugoslavia." With the move of the Central European University from Budapest to Vienna and with the strong Balkan-focus of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, today, Vienna is the densest hub of (New) Yugoslav studies in Europe.
The Viennese Working Group unites the New Yugoslav Research at the University of Vienna and at the CEU, the Yugo-Region Research Group YURG, the Post-Yugoslav Studies Student Network Vienna and the Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. We meet in the Annual Vienna Graduate Conference South Slavic Studies, in the workshops of the network (Post-)Yugoslav Studies, within the collaborative research network YURG and in colloquia and conferences.
Founded in 2024, the group’s members organize numerous guest lectures, lecture series, conferences, round tables, exhibitions and artist talks in collaboration with Austrian and international partners. Selection of events 2024:
The Vienna Working Group in New Yugoslav Studies brings together scholars and students from Austria and the neighbouring post-Yugoslav countries whose research focus is Yugoslavia. Vienna has a longstanding tradition as integrative South Slavic intellectual center. It was in Vienna that the Bečki književni dogovor was signed in 1850 and it was the University of Vienna that founded the first chair in Slavic Studies in 1849, first held by South Slavs.
The Vienna Working Group in New Yugoslav Studies strives to continue yet re-focus the study of Yugoslavia from Vienna, in exchanging the perspective of the imperial centre for a Yugo-Slav perspective from within. Currently, a quarter of a million South Slavs live in Vienna, transforming Beč into "the new capital city of Yugoslavia." With the move of the Central European University from Budapest to Vienna and with the strong Balkan-focus of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, today, Vienna is the densest hub of (New) Yugoslav studies in Europe.
The Viennese Working Group unites the New Yugoslav Research at the University of Vienna and at the CEU, the Yugo-Region Research Group YURG, the Post-Yugoslav Studies Student Network Vienna and the Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. We meet in the Annual Vienna Graduate Conference South Slavic Studies, in the workshops of the network (Post-)Yugoslav Studies, within the collaborative research network YURG and in colloquia and conferences.
Founded in 2024, the group’s members organize numerous guest lectures, lecture series, conferences, round tables, exhibitions and artist talks in collaboration with Austrian and international partners. Selection of events 2024:
2026
Jan 15 Reading and talk with Jehona Kicaj about her novel ë | Buchhandlung a.punkt bahoe
2025
Jan 21 Talk: Tanja Petrović, “Of Men, Feelings, and Forms: The Affective Afterlives of the Yugoslav People's Army” (U of Vienna)
Jan 21 Discussion: “The Road Ahead: The European Commission's Agenda for the Western Balkans and Beyond,” with Dr. Jovana Marović, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs of Montenegro (CEU, YURG)
Jan 28 Talk: Čarna Brković, “Socialist Modernist Worldmaking: Yugoslav Interventions in the International Humanitarian Debates in the 1970s” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Jan 30 Meeting of the New Yugoslav Studies Association Vienna Chapter (hosted by U of Vienna)
Mar 18 Talk: Aleksa Milanović, “The Movement Whose Time Has Come: Trans activism in the Post-Yugoslav Space” (U of Vienna)
Mar 20 Meeting of the New Yugoslav Studies Association Vienna Chapter (CEU, YURG)
Apr 4 Film screening with Introduction by Adrian Pelc: Nacionalna klasa by Goran Marković, 1978 (U of Vienna)
Apr 8 Talk: Martin Gramc, “Visibilising Intersex Persons in Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia” (U of Vienna)
Apr 10 Talk: Halide Velioğlu, “The Traffic in Repairmen and a Case of Gender Impropriety in Post-War Sarajevo” (YURG, online)
May 5 Discussion: “Revolutionary Potential of the Serbian Student Movement: Education, Democracy and Social Justice” with members of the student protests in Serbia (CEU and YURG)
May 6 Talk: Danijela Majstorović, “Peripheral Intersections: Rethinking Gender, Race, and Coloniality in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina” (U of Vienna)
May 8 Film screening with Introduction: Skupljači perja by Aleksandar Petrović, 1967 (U of Vienna)
May 27 Talk: YugoslaWomen+ Collective, “The Post-Yugoslav Space in IR and Collective (Un)learning” (U of Vienna)
Jun 4 Podium Discussion: “Gastarbajt in Arts in Vienna” (U of Vienna)
Jun 5 Film screening with introduction by Olja Alvir: Most by Hajrudin Krvavac, 1969 (U of Vienna)
Jun 10 Round table: Maja Pan and Clara Lhullier, “Thinking, Writing, Living Lesbian Activist Struggles” (U of Vienna)
Jun 17 Talk: Emina Zoletić, “Intergenerational Transmission of War and Migration Memories: The Case of Families in Bih” (CEU and YURG)
July 20 Exhibition of research literature on the Srebrenica Genocide, curated by Miranda Jakiša and Barbara Retschnig (U of Vienna, East European History and Slavonic Studies Library)
Oct 8 Book presentation: Shkëlzen Gashi, Norbert Mappes-Niediek, Robert Pichler and Milica Tomić, “Memory, Justice, and the Challenge of Acknowledgment: Confronting the Legacy of Mass Violence in Kosovo” (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Oct 17-18 International Colloquium: 7th Viennese South Slavic Graduate Conference (U of Vienna, CEU)
Nov 6 Film screening: Sjećaš li se Dolly Bell? (U of Vienna)
Nov 10 Talk: Anita Buhin, "The Eroticization of the Adriatic: Sex, Tourism, and Masculinities in Socialist Yugoslavia" (U of Vienna, CEU)
Nov 11 Book presentation: Women and Partisan Art: Aesthetics and Practices of Resistance in Yugoslavia and Carinthia, with Elena Messner and Miranda Jakiša (U of Vienna)
Jan 21 Discussion: “The Road Ahead: The European Commission's Agenda for the Western Balkans and Beyond,” with Dr. Jovana Marović, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs of Montenegro (CEU, YURG)
Jan 28 Talk: Čarna Brković, “Socialist Modernist Worldmaking: Yugoslav Interventions in the International Humanitarian Debates in the 1970s” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Jan 30 Meeting of the New Yugoslav Studies Association Vienna Chapter (hosted by U of Vienna)
Mar 18 Talk: Aleksa Milanović, “The Movement Whose Time Has Come: Trans activism in the Post-Yugoslav Space” (U of Vienna)
Mar 20 Meeting of the New Yugoslav Studies Association Vienna Chapter (CEU, YURG)
Apr 4 Film screening with Introduction by Adrian Pelc: Nacionalna klasa by Goran Marković, 1978 (U of Vienna)
Apr 8 Talk: Martin Gramc, “Visibilising Intersex Persons in Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia” (U of Vienna)
Apr 10 Talk: Halide Velioğlu, “The Traffic in Repairmen and a Case of Gender Impropriety in Post-War Sarajevo” (YURG, online)
May 5 Discussion: “Revolutionary Potential of the Serbian Student Movement: Education, Democracy and Social Justice” with members of the student protests in Serbia (CEU and YURG)
May 6 Talk: Danijela Majstorović, “Peripheral Intersections: Rethinking Gender, Race, and Coloniality in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina” (U of Vienna)
May 8 Film screening with Introduction: Skupljači perja by Aleksandar Petrović, 1967 (U of Vienna)
May 27 Talk: YugoslaWomen+ Collective, “The Post-Yugoslav Space in IR and Collective (Un)learning” (U of Vienna)
Jun 4 Podium Discussion: “Gastarbajt in Arts in Vienna” (U of Vienna)
Jun 5 Film screening with introduction by Olja Alvir: Most by Hajrudin Krvavac, 1969 (U of Vienna)
Jun 10 Round table: Maja Pan and Clara Lhullier, “Thinking, Writing, Living Lesbian Activist Struggles” (U of Vienna)
Jun 17 Talk: Emina Zoletić, “Intergenerational Transmission of War and Migration Memories: The Case of Families in Bih” (CEU and YURG)
July 20 Exhibition of research literature on the Srebrenica Genocide, curated by Miranda Jakiša and Barbara Retschnig (U of Vienna, East European History and Slavonic Studies Library)
Oct 8 Book presentation: Shkëlzen Gashi, Norbert Mappes-Niediek, Robert Pichler and Milica Tomić, “Memory, Justice, and the Challenge of Acknowledgment: Confronting the Legacy of Mass Violence in Kosovo” (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Oct 17-18 International Colloquium: 7th Viennese South Slavic Graduate Conference (U of Vienna, CEU)
Nov 6 Film screening: Sjećaš li se Dolly Bell? (U of Vienna)
Nov 10 Talk: Anita Buhin, "The Eroticization of the Adriatic: Sex, Tourism, and Masculinities in Socialist Yugoslavia" (U of Vienna, CEU)
Nov 11 Book presentation: Women and Partisan Art: Aesthetics and Practices of Resistance in Yugoslavia and Carinthia, with Elena Messner and Miranda Jakiša (U of Vienna)
2024
Mar 15 Book talk: Hard Currency Concrete: A Cultural History of Mass Housing Construction in Socialist Yugoslavia, with Lea Horvat, Ivana Mihaela Žimbrek, and Aleksandar Ranković (CEU Vienna, YURG)
Apr 24 Film screening: What’s to Be Done? by Goran Dević (YURG)
May 7 Talk: Rexhep Ismajli, “Albanian Studies in Yugoslavia 1920-1989” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
May 21 Talk: Milana Čergić, “A City Full of Supermarkets: Analyzing ‘Economic Success’ in Tuzla” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Jun 4 Reading and talk with author Barbi Marković (U of Vienna)
Jun 13-4 Workshop: “Visions of Discipline on the (Post)Yugoslav Screen,” with Dina Iordanova, Dijana Jelača, Nikica Gilić, and others (U of Vienna)
Jun 20 Reading and talk with author Alem Grabovac (U of Vienna)
Oct 18-9 International Colloquium: 6th Viennese South Slavic Graduate Conference (U of Vienna)
Apr 24 Film screening: What’s to Be Done? by Goran Dević (YURG)
May 7 Talk: Rexhep Ismajli, “Albanian Studies in Yugoslavia 1920-1989” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
May 21 Talk: Milana Čergić, “A City Full of Supermarkets: Analyzing ‘Economic Success’ in Tuzla” (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Jun 4 Reading and talk with author Barbi Marković (U of Vienna)
Jun 13-4 Workshop: “Visions of Discipline on the (Post)Yugoslav Screen,” with Dina Iordanova, Dijana Jelača, Nikica Gilić, and others (U of Vienna)
Jun 20 Reading and talk with author Alem Grabovac (U of Vienna)
Oct 18-9 International Colloquium: 6th Viennese South Slavic Graduate Conference (U of Vienna)