Post-Yugoslav Historical and Contemporary Reflections on Amateurism

The workshop aims to contribute to the ongoing debates about the "professionalized reality" that dominates contemporary social, economic, political, and academic lives (Merrifield 2018). It does so from the perspectives transcending the Western-Anglophone understanding of amateurism.

We believe that the focus on the experience of the Yugoslav socialist project, where amateurism was essential in building new productive and sociopolitical relations based on social ownership and self-management, can bring a fresh perspective on understanding the political potential of amateurism today. 

While fully taking into account that amateurism is an unstable category that denotes various practices and cultural productions associated with non-professional or anti-professional artistic activities, the participants from more than 10 universities and research centres will discuss the discourses and practices of amateurism in the sphere of cultural production, its dynamic and diverse applications during Yugoslav socialism and its contemporary implications.

Workshop programme

eYU Amateurism abstracts