Nataša Rogelja Caf holds a PhD in social anthropology. She works as a researcher at the Slovene Migration Institute at ZRC SAZU and as an assistant professor in ethnology at the ZRC SAZU Postgraduate School. Within her research projects and publications, she engages with lifestyle migration, the anthropology of tourism, maritime anthropology, the anthropology of the Mediterranean, women labor migrations in Istria in the first half of the 20th century, critical heritage studies, mobility studies, and mobile ethnography. In recent years, her work has also turned toward the anthropology and writing and experimental ethnographic writing. Her research is primarily focused on Istria and the northern Adriatic, as well as the broader Mediterranean region. She is a researcher in the “Heritage on the Margins” programme group, where she serves as editor of two publications: Heriskop, the professional bulletin of the research group Heritage on the Margins, and the essay collection Footnotes, conceived as a hybrid space between science and art, with a focus on themes within the humanities and social sciences.
Education:
- University degree in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology and Sociology of Culture (University of Ljubljana, 1998);
- PhD in Social Anthropology (ISH – Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, 2005).
Fieldwork:
- Istria and the wider Northern Adriatic hinterland (1994–1998);
- Trieste Bay, Northern Adriatic Sea and the Istrian coast (1998–2004);
- The Mediterranean (Ionian and Aegean Greece, coastal areas of Southern Turkey) (2006–2013);
- Northern Adriatic area (2014–2017; 2019–2022; 2023–2025).
Research interests:
- Lifestyle migrations
- Anthropology of tourism
- Maritime anthropology
- Critical heritage studies
- Anthropology and writing
- Qualitative research methods
- Mobile ethnography
Visiting positions:
- Student researcher, Proteus Programme (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, May 2002);
- Visiting researcher and lecturer, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, October 2023;
- Visiting researcher and lecturer, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, October 2025.
- Editor-in-Chief and member of the Editorial Board (2025–). Collection of Essays. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Založba ZRC. https://footnotes.zrc-sazu.si/
- Editor and member of the Editorial Board (2020–). Heriskop: discussions on heritage-making at the margins. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Založba ZRC. https://dediscina.zrc-sazu.si/sl/home/
- Member of the Editorial Board (2015–). Slovenika: journal for culture, science and education. Belgrade: National Council of the Slovene National Minority. http://slovenci.rs/slovenika/
- Member of the Editorial Board (2001–2004). Monitor ZSA: journal for historical, social and other anthropologies. Ljubljana: TROPOS – Association for Historical, Social and Other Anthropologies and Cultural Activities.
- Member of the Editorial Board (2001–2004). Monitor ISH: journal for humanities and social sciences. Ljubljana: Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis – Faculty of Postgraduate Humanities Studies.
- Guest editor of a thematic issue (2025). Traditiones: proceedings of the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/traditiones
- Guest editor (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019). Two Homelands: migration studies. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
- Exhibition curator (with Ajda Schmidt) (2025). Off the Rails. Atrij ZRC, 10. 11. 2025.
- Exhibition curator (with Martina Bofulin) (2021). Coastal transformations: online exhibition. https://fishercoast.si/
- Exhibition curator (with Špela Ledinek Lozej) (2015). Trade routes of Šavrinkas: women’s labour migrations in the first half of the 20th century in Istria and the popularization of Šavrinkas today. Zadar: University of Zadar, 5–7 June 2015.
Editor and curator:
BOOKS
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša in LEDINEK LOZEJ, Špela (2023). Hodopisi: zbirka etnografskih esejev z metodološkimi premisleki o hoji in pisanju. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba/catalog/book/2056
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2018). Trinajsti mesec: portreti morskih nomadov. Preserje: Aktivni mediji.
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša in JANKO SPREIZER, Alenka (2017). Fish on the move: fishing between discourses and borders in the Northern Adriatic. Cham: Springer MARE publication series.
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2017). Blue horizons: anthropological reflections on maritime lifestyle migrations in the Mediterranean. Založba ZRC. https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba/catalog/book/1149
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2006). Ribiči pripovedujejo: etnografija ribištva med Savudrijskim in Miljskim polotokom. Koper: Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče, Založba Annales.
LEDINEK LOZEJ, Špela in ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2000). Potepanja po poteh Šavrinke Marije. Ljubljana: Slovensko etnološko društvo.
ARTICLES / CHAPTERS
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša. (2026, forthcoming). On the Essay’s Place in Scientific Writing. Toward a Disobedient Epistemology. Traditiones 55(3).
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2024). Casting a sideways glance: walking-writing experiments with the river. ERNSTEN, Christian (ed.), SHEPHERD, Nick (ed.). Walking as embodied research: drift, pause, indirection. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
GOMBAČ, Jure, ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, KLUN, Lucija (2024). Counter-archive : reflections on the (im)possibility of migrant heritage. Heriskop: razprave o dediščinjenju na obrobju https://dediscina.zrc-sazu.si/en/2024/05/counter-archive-reflections-on-the-nonpossibility-of-migrant-heritage/#page-content.
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, BOFULIN, Martina, PIPAN, Primož (2023). Fish stories between past and future: competing and complementary heritage imaginaries in the Northeast Adriatic. Maritime studies 22(3). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40152-023-00327-z
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2023). I wonder how the story ends: the circular stillness of maritime lifestyle migrants. Mobility humanities 2(2).
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2022). Walking with the Rižana River: ethnographic experiments in the Anthropocene. Anthropological notebooks 28(3). https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/545
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, LEDINEK LOZEJ, Špela (2021). Footprints of the Camino in Slovenia: three ethnographic vignettes. TROTMAN, Tiffany Gagliardi (ed.). Walking the Camino de Santiago: essays on pilgrimage in the twenty-first century. Jefferson (North Carolina): McFarland & Co.
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, LEDINEK LOZEJ, Špela (2021). Hodim, pišem, raziskujem: refleksija hoje in pisanja v etnološkem in antropološkem raziskovanju. Etnolog: glasnik Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja 31 = 82. https://www.etno-muzej.si/en/etnolog/etnolog-31-2021/i-walk-i-write-i-research-a-reflection-on-walking-and-writing-in-ethnological-and-anthropological
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, JANKO SPREIZER, Alenka (2020). “Back to the future”: sprehod med ostanki ribiške industrije v Izoli. KOSMOS, Iva (ed.), PETROVIĆ, Tanja (ed.), POGAČAR, Martin (ed.). Zgodbe iz konzerve : zgodovine predelave in konzerviranja rib na severovzhodnem Jadranu. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, JANKO SPREIZER, Alenka, BOFULIN, Martina (2020). Morje mnogih rib: odbiranja preteklosti v severovzhodnem Jadranu. Traditiones: zbornik Inštituta za slovensko narodopisje 49(3). https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/traditiones/article/view/9427
ROGELJA CAF, Nataša (2019). A life in letters: an anthropological reflection on the correspondence of Slovene missionary sr. Conradina Resnik. Dve domovini: razprave o izseljenstvu http://twohomelands.zrc-sazu.si/en/articles/show/601/a-life-in-letters-an-anthropological-reflection-on-the-correspondence-of–slovene-missionary-sr-conradina-resnik
LEDINEK LOZEJ, Špela, ROGELJA CAF, Nataša, KANJIR, Urška (2018). Walks through the multi-layered landscape of Šavrinkas’ Istria: eggs, books, backpacks and stony paths. Landscape research 43 (5). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01426397.2017.1336207
- Migrants'emplacement at the micro-level: Restaurants as the contact zones (January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2027)
- Population Medicine and Sustainable Development: European Opportunities in collaborating with China to improving global health (international research project • January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2026)
- Route biographies: walking and writing as methods for researching border regions (fundamental research project • October 1, 2022 - December 31, 2025)
- FISHERCOAST: Coastal transformations and fisher wellbeing – synthesized perspectives from India and Europe (international project • January 1, 2019 - June 30, 2022)
- Experiencing water environments and environmental changes: An anthropological study of water in Albania, Serbia and Slovenia (research project • July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2022)
- Heritage on the margins: new perspectives on heritage and identity within and beyond national (research programme • January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2027)
- Consequences of Deindustrialization of the Eastern Adriatic Coast: (Dis)Entangling People, Landscape and the Sea (bilateral project • January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019)
- Trans-making – Art / culture / economy to democratize society. Research in placemaking for alternative narratives (international research project • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2020)
- Slovene Women Missionaries in India: A Forgotten Chapter in Intercultural Relations (research project • May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2021)
- DRIM (Danube Region Information Platform for Economic Integration of Migrants) (international project • January 1, 2017 - June 30, 2019)
- Ethnographies of Land and Water Routes: A Comparative Approach to (Im)mobility (research project • July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2017)
- The work Fish on the Move: Fishing between Discourses and Borders in the Northern Adriatic was selected by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) as one of the “Excellent in Science 2018” achievements.