Dr Ger Duijzings

Reader in the Anthropology of Eastern Europe

Email
g.duijzings@ssees.ucl.ac.uk

Phone Number
020 7679 8727

Fax
020 7679 8722

I was first appointed at SSEES in 1996 as Lecturer in Serbian and Croatian Studies. I studied anthropology in the Netherlands, where I specialized in the former Yugoslavia. I obtained my PhD from Amsterdam University, which was published as Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo (2000). My earlier research focused on pilgrimage, popular religion, ethno-religious conflict and nationalist violence in the former Yugoslavia, developing expertise that I employed outside academia as well. Between 1997 and 2002 I participated in the Srebrenica research project of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, an academic inquiry into the fall of the UN Safe Area of Srebrenica (July 1995). From 2002 until 2004, I worked as a consultant for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Between 2005 and 2009, I was Head of the Department of East European Languages and Culture. I am currently doing research on social inequality and the nouveaux riches in post-socialist cities, in particular in Bucharest (Romania).

Research Interests
1985-1989: Religious and political anthropology, popular religion, Islam, and Sufi orders in Kosovo and Albania (postgraduate research, University of Nijmegen)
1990-1999: Pilgrimage, ethnic and religious identity, ethnic conflict, violence, and nationalism in the former Yugoslavia (PhD research, University of Amsterdam)
1997-2007: Ethnic violence and war, history, memory and commemoration, and trauma and reconciliation in post-conflict Bosnia and Kosovo (postdoctoral research, Netherlands Institute for War Documentation - Amsterdam, SSEES - London, ICTY - The Hague)
Current interests: Urban anthropology, post-socialist cities, social inequality and the nouveaux riches in Bucharest (Romania), urban research methodologies, visual arts (SSEES - London, New Europe College - Bucharest)

Teaching and supervision

Cultural Anthropology of the Balkans (MA)
An anthropological introduction to the Balkans, organised around the key concept of identity. Because of the perspective 'from below', the focus is not only on ethnic lines of division, but on various other criteria of identification (such as kinship, gender, religion, and the urban-rural dichotomy) which are important in everyday life. The aim is to correct the dominant 'ethnic' approach to the region and re-direct attention to other cultural and social divisions.

History, Myth and Nation in South-Eastern Europe (MA)
Events in the former Yugoslavia have demonstrated the power of history and nationalist myths. The course looks with an anthropological lens at the ways in which nations represent the past, and how these representations help to cement the community. It analyses the processes by which old narratives are deconstructed and new ones are weaved from the experiences of violence and war.

Cities in Eastern Europe (MA)
After the end of Communism, many cities in Eastern Europe are undergoing rapid change, which has had major effects on the physical outlook of these cities. It also has affected the ways in which the inhabitants perceive post-socialist cities, and urban life in general. This course wants to investigate how city dwellers have defined and used this rapidly transforming urban space, as well as how they are trying to shape and appropriate it.

Culture in Eastern Europe: Anthropological Approaches (BA)
This course offers an introduction to culture in Eastern Europe from an anthropological perspective. The course's aim is to familiarise students with the cultural complexities of the region, within a broad comparative and area-studies framework. The course will also pay attention to the social construction and politics of cultural boundaries in Europe and link this to issues of inclusion and exclusion, which are salient in the light of current EU enlargement.

PhD supervision (as principal and joint supervisor)

Jakup Azemi
Aneliya Kuzmanova
Liz Mellish
Aaron Mo
Virginia Stephens
Ophelie Véron
Lyndsey West
Kalina Yordanova

Publications

This page last modified Friday 9 December 2011.