Exhibition: Spaces of Peripheralization: Extractivism, Pollution and Environmental Future in Southeastern Europe

Abstract:

The event Spaces of Peripheralization tackles the pressing ecological issues in the region of Southeastern Europe that despite often remaining “under radar” of the international public mobilized various local efforts to counter both environmental degradation and the re-production of the region’s image as a European (semi)periphery. While the keynote by Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings (Regensburg) will employ a comparative approach and showcase some examples of ecological/waste colonialism throughout the region, the photography exhibition by Miloš Đurović (Regensburg) will zoom into the context of the north Montenegrin mining border town of Pljevlja, illuminating the exctractivist practices and the issue of air pollution. These aspects marked both the socialist past and the capitalist present of the town, producing often visible marks on Pljevlja’s environmental “palm print” - marks that stand in contrast to Montenegro’s status as the first legally ecological country (Turnock 2001).[1] The event thus encourages approaching Southeastern Europe through ecological justice and artistic lenses, rarely considered in academia to date. Such an approach contributes to positioning concerns of local populations at the heart of the discussion, directly addressing the call from heritage scholars to shift focus in an effort to decolonize knowledge production about the region (Horvat and Ranković 2022)[2].

The event is preceded by a doctoral workshop, targeting the GCSC and JLU community of young scholars, with a focus on visual methods (in particular photography) in critical sustainability studies. The workshop is given by Miloš Đurović, and takes place 14h-16h in the GCSC premises in Otto-Behaghel-Str. 12, in the seminar room 126, on the first floor.

Speakers’ Biographies

Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings is a full Professor of Social Anthropology (with regional focus on Southeastern and Eastern Europe) at the University of Regensburg. Before his appointment in Regensburg since 2014, he was a Director of the Center for Southeast European Studies at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London (1996-2014) and an appointed court expert for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2002-2004). He has a profound fieldwork experience throughout Southeastern Europe, particularly in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Romania. Since 2014, he has been the Co-Editor of the quarterly “Comparative Southeast European Studies”, published by De Gruyter. His work has been published or translated in twelve countries and in nine languages (Dutch, English, German, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian and Polish). Some of his latest publications include: (2023) If Cars Could Walk: Postsocialist Streets in Transformation (Edited with Tauri Tuvikene). Oxford & New York: Berghahn. (2022) Working at Night: The Temporal Organisation of Labour across Political and Economic Regimes (Edited with Lucie Dušková). Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg (Open Access). (2021) Engaging with Historical Traumas: Experiential Learning and Pedagogies of Resilience (Edited with Nena Močnik, Hanna Meretoja, and Bonface Njeresa Beti). Abingdon: Routledge. His area of expertise includes ethnographic methods and socially engaged contemporary art forms, particularly performance art and video techniques. In his engaged transdisciplinary work, he fosters collaboration between social scientists, humanities scholars, and artists.

Miloš Đurović is a Doctoral Candidate in Social Anthropology at the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies at the University of Regensburg. His PhD project, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings, explores the long-standing issue of air pollution in the coal-mining town of Pljevlja at the periphery of Montenegro – which constitutionally is an ecological state and an EU candidate member committed to transition policies of “decarbonisation”. Miloš holds BA and MA degrees in Ethnology and Anthropology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. He has worked as a university teaching associate in anthropological courses in Montenegro, as an interdisciplinary researcher of social policies in Montenegro, and as a Political Ecology researcher in France. He co-authored a chapter on anthropocentrism and greenwashing in business education for the Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society (2025). His academic-artistic interventions include the authorship of the photo exhibition "Ekstraktivizam, zagađenje i budućnost: Pljevlja u fotografiji" [Extractivism, Pollution, and the Future: Pljevlja in Photography], in the Regional Museum Pljevlja, Montenegro, September 26-October 25 2024.

[1] Turnock, David. 2001. “Environmental Problems and Policies in East Central Europe: A Changing Agenda.” GeoJournal 55 (2/4): 485-505.

[2] Horvat, Lea, and Aleksandar Ranković. 2022. “Galeb i golub. Heritage Scholars, Power, and Knowledge Production in (Post-)Yugoslav Studies.” Südost-Forschungen 81 (1): 95-117.

PLEASE NOTE: this event is taking place from 8-10 pm.