Mladen Zobec; Visiting Fellowship 2022/23
I am a doctoral student at the University of Graz and a researcher at the Centre for Southeast European Studies (University of Graz) working on the project “To the Northwest! Intra-Yugoslav Albanian migration (1953-1989)” supported by the Austrian Science fund (FWF) and led by Dr. Rory Archer. Within the framework of the project I am working on a dissertation that deals with the social history of Albanian migrants from Kosovo and Macedonia in socialist Slovenia. Informed by my background in sociology, special focus is given to migrant craftsmen and businessmen and to the question of why Albanian migrants' life trajectories differed from those of other migrants within Yugoslavia. Methodologically, the doctoral research combines archival sources from the municipal level with oral history interviews.
My research interests more broadly are centred on the social and political history of the Socialist Yugoslavia, sociological and anthropological inquiries into the Balkan family structures from a historical perspective, and the conceptions of race and postcolonial theory in the Yugoslav context.
Previously, I worked as a teaching assistant for Sociology at the University of Ljubljana (2019-2020). In January and February 2022, I was a visiting researcher at the University of Leipzig (ARQUS Alliance research grant). Since November 2020, I have been the moderator of the Balkan Academic News mailing list. A contributor since 2016, I am also a regular author of broadcasts at Radio Študent, specialising in topics related to South-Eastern Europe.
Visiting Fellowship June-August 2022
In June 2021, at the invitation of Ana Kladnik, a member of the Institute, Rory Archer and I presented our project on Intra-Yugoslav Albanian migration within the INZ lecture-series “History on the Edge”. Collaboration with Ana Kladnik was further deepened in the context of a shared research interest in Albanian migration to socialist Slovenia. As a visiting fellow at INZ, I am working on my dissertation research. Visiting fellowship at the Institute allows me to conduct archival research at the Ljubljana Historical Archives focusing on documents related to private crafts from the early socialist period (craft licence applications, complaints, inspection reports and the like). Additionally, being a guest at the INZ provides a practical starting point for conducting oral history interviews with Albanian migrants in Ljubljana and in the surrounding area. A welcoming and stimulating academic environment at INZ has so far proven beneficial for the development of my research, and I look forward to further comments and referrals relevant for my topic.
Articles and other research project-related information is accessible on the website: https://tothenorthwest.archerrory.net/
