Head of the Institute, PhD in Linguistics, Principal Research Associate, Professor
+386 40 641 702
+386 1 47 06 415
+386 1 42 55 253
tanja.petrovic@zrc-sazu.si
Tanja Petrović is a linguist and an anthropologist. She studied language and literature at the University of Belgrade and obtained a PhD from the Ljubljana Postgraduate School in Humanities (ISH) in 2005. Her dissertation was about language and identity strategies of a small Serbian-speaking community in Southern Slovenia and the relationship between the choice of language resources and broader social and political frames that were relevant for this community's positioning.
Dr Petrović is interested in uses and meanings of socialist and Yugoslav legacies in post-Yugoslav societies, as well as in cultural, linguistic, political, and social procesess that shape reality of these societies. She explores a plethora of issues, encompassing the role of language in forming ideologies, memory and identity, labor and gender histories in post-Yugoslav spaces, the relationship between memory, heritage, and historiographic narratives on Yugoslav socialism. She published numerous articles and monographs in the fields of anthropology of post-socialism, memory studies, masculinity, gender history, heritage studies, linguistic anthropology, and labor history.
Dr Petrović is a head of the Institute of Culture and Memory Studies ZRC SAZU and a professor at the ZRC SAZU Postgraduate school. She was a fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Sofia (2005-06), the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2010-11), and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (2013-14). She is also an Honorary research associate of The Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, the University of Regensburg.
Utopia of the uniform : affective afterlives of the Yugoslav People's Army, London : Duke University Press, 2024
Fish canning industry and the rhythm of social life in the Northeastern Adriatic. Narodna umjetnost : hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku. 2020, vol. 57, no. 1, str. 33-49. ISSN 0547-2504 [COBISS.SI-ID 21719811]
O herojima, od ranog do poznog socijalizma, i dalje : izgradnja prvog i drugog koloseka pruge Šamac-Sarajevo dobrovoljnim akcijaškim radom. V: THOMPSON, Edward Palmer (ur.), MATOŠEVIĆ, Andrea (ur.), PETROVIĆ, Tanja (ur.). Pruga : avantura izgradnje : zbornik radova o knjizi E. P. Thompsona. Beograd: Fabrika knjiga, 2020. Str. 147-165, ilustr. Edicija Reč, knj. 109. ISBN 978-86-7718-198-7. [COBISS.SI-ID 44350723]
Fotografija in čas: arhiv fotografij s Kube Toneta Stojka = Photography and time : the Cuban archive of Tone Stojko. V: HODA, Julija (ur.), et al. Na drugi strani : slovenska fotoreportaža. 2, Identiteta = On the other side : Slovenian photo reportage. No. 2, Identity. Ljubljana: Muzej in galerije mesta Ljubljane: = Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, 2021. Str. 31-43, ilustr. ISBN 978-961-95193-2-5, ISBN 978-961-95193-7-0. [COBISS.SI-ID 61170179]
Political parody and the politics of ambivalence. Annual review of anthropology, ISSN 0084-6570, 2018, vol. 47, str. 201-216, [COBISS.SI-ID 43425069]
Towards an affective history of Yugoslavia. Filozofija i društvo, ISSN 0353-5738. [Štampano izd.], 2016, [God.] 27, [br.] 3, str. 502-520, fotogr., doi: 10.2298/FID1603504P. [COBISS.SI-ID 40456493]
Industrijsko delo v socializmu : od izkušnje do dediščine. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva, ISSN 0351-2908, 2016, [Letn.] 56, št. 3-4, str. 31-40. [COBISS.SI-ID 40762157]
Serbia in the mirror: parodying political and media discourses. Slavic review, ISSN 0037-6779. [Print ed.], summer 2015, vol. 74, no. 2, str. 288-310, ilustr. , doi: 10.5612/slavicreview.74.2.288. [COBISS.SI-ID 38482989]
Yuropa: das jugoslawische Vermächtnis und Zukunftsstrategien in postjugoslawischen Gesellschaften. Erste Aufl. Berlin: Verbrecher, cop. 2015. 255 str., ilustr. ISBN 978-3-95732-018-6. [COBISS.SI-ID 38477613]
Sites of memory, sites of barrier: memory and identity in the Italoslovene borderlands in the long 20th century (fundamental research project • July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2017)
Multicultural heritage and nation state: cases of Prekmurje, Bela krajina and Primorska (fundamental research project • July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2014)
(Re)construction of memory of Turning Points in Slovenian History of the 20th Century (fundamental research project • May 1, 2010 - March 15, 2014)
Heritage in action: Participatory methods and digital learning sources for inclusion of youth in heritage practices and education (target research project • November 1, 2019 - October 31, 2021)
Trans-making – Art / culture / economy to democratize society. Research in placemaking for alternative narratives (international research project • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2020)
Communities of Practice for Accelerating Gender Equality and Institutional Change in Research and Innovation across Europe - ACT (framework program • May 1, 2018 - October 31, 2021)
Pilot experiences for improving gender equality in research organisations’ — R&I PEERS (framework program • May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2022)
Consequences of Deindustrialization of the Eastern Adriatic Coast: (Dis)Entangling People, Landscape and the Sea (bilateral project • January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019)
Music and politics in the post-Yugoslav space: toward a new paradigm of politics of music in the 21st century (July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2021)
Historical interpretations of the 20th century (research programme • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2027)
Current post
Research advisor at Institute of Cultural and Memory Studies, Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Head of the Institute of Culture and Memory Studies, Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana
Education
PhD, 2005, Ljubljana Postgraduate School of Humanities Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis Thesis Title “The Serbs of Bela Krajina and their Language Ideology in the Process of Language Shift”
MA, 2002, Philological Faculty, University of Belgrade Thesis Title: “The Ritual Toast of Balkan Slavs”
BA, 1998, Philological Faculty, University of Belgrade
Languages
Serbo-Croatian (mother tongue), English (fluent), Slovenian (fluent), Russian (very good), Bulgarian (very good), Polish (very good), German (good)
Teaching experience
Assistant Professor (2006-2011); Associate Professor (2011-) University of Nova Gorica;
Professor (2016-) ZRC SAZU Postgraduate School
Political laughter: towards an anthropology of humour
Language and identity in transnational context
Remembering socialism in Central and South-Eastern Europe
International scholarships
Centre for Women's Studies, School of School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, February 2017
Graduiertenschule für Ost- und Südosteuropastudien, Univerza v Regensburgu, October / November 2016
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Wassenaar, September 2013 / January 2014
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, October 2010 / July 2011
University of Osaka, Centre for World Languages, October 2008
L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, June 2008
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dunaj, July 2006
Center for Advanced Studies Sofia, 2005 / 2006
Polish Academy of Sciences and Arts, Warsaw, December 2003
CEEPUS, Department of History of Southeastern Europe, Univeristy of Graz, January 2000
Research interests
memory, post-socialism, Yugoslav and socialist legacies in post-Yugoslav societies; discourses and language ideologies; political humour; language of minorities, language and cultural contacts; multicultural patterns in Central and Southeastern Europe