Vasiljević Jelena
Jelena Vasiljević is a Senior Research Associate and Coordinator of the Laboratory for Philanthropy, Solidarity, and Care Studies at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, where she also serves as Vice-Chair of the Governing Board. She holds a PhD in Ethnology and Anthropology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. She was a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz.
With a background in political anthropology and citizenship studies, she has developed interdisciplinary expertise on citizenship (particularly its transformations in post-Yugoslav states), memory politics, identity narratives, as well as civic engagement and social movements in the Balkans. More recently, her research has concentrated on theories and practices of solidarity, as well as local civic engagement, with a particular focus on environmental mobilisation.
She is the author and co-author of three monographs, has published extensively in academic and professional outlets, and has worked as a consultant and researcher in numerous international projects and collaborations with civil society organisations. She is an expert member of The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and a member of the Transnational Board of Trustees of the European Alternatives.
Latest publications
- (2026) with I. Fiket and G. Pudar Draško, Navigating institutional (dis)trust: perspectives of democratic social movements and effects on cooperation with institutions, In: Lahusen, Christian. (ed.), Political Trust and Distrust in Governance: A Comparative Analysis in Times of Crisis. London and New York: Routledge.
- (2025) with I. Rajković, Ghosts, Rewilded: Environmental Reverberations in the Balkans, East European Politics and Societies 39(4): 921-938
- (2025) with I. Fiket, A. Đorđević and L. Štěpánková, The Role of Bureaucratic Procedures and ‘Caring Professionals’ in Fostering User Trust: Evidence from Serbia and the Czech Republic, Social Policy and Society
- (2025) with B. Radovanović and S. Nikolić, Izazovi u izgradnji baze podrške među organizacijama građanskog društva Srbije: nalazi kvalitativnog istraživanja [Challenges in building constituency among civil society organizations in Serbia: findings from qualitative research], Sociologija67(2): 213-238
- (2025) with B. Baća, Being or Becoming Political? Performative Citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe, In: Kolleck, Nina and Karolewski, Ireneusz Pawel (eds.), Rethinking Citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe. Insights from Education and Political Research, Bristol University Press, 158-179.
- (2024) with Igor Štiks, How we (used to) remember the Partisans. Culture of memory and art form during and after Yugoslavia. Canadian Slavonic Papers, 66(1–2), 49–65
- (2023) A Crisis of Political Solidarity in the European Union and the Western Balkans: Reactive vs. Institutional Solidarity, Southeastern Europe. L’Europe du Sud-Est(46)3: 225-247.