Julija Sardelic holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Ljubljana and MA in Nationalism Studies with Distinction from the Central European University. She has previously worked as a Research Fellow on a CITSEE Research Project (Europeanisation of Citizenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia, more info: www.citsee.eu) at the School of Law, University of Edinburgh and is also affiliated with the Max Weber Programme at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Her research interests encompass broader topics of citizenship and migration, but she is particularly focusing on the position of post-Yugoslav Roma as citizens and migrants. In addition to her academic endeavors, she has more then a decade of experience in working as a civil society activist in different Romani communities in the post-Yugoslav space. As a CAS SEE Fellow, Julija will conduct a research on Romani activists engaging in different protests and movements with their co-citizens in the post-Yugoslav space.

Acts of Citizenship from the Margins:  Romani Minorities and Social Movements in Southeastern Europe

The main objective of the project is to map how Romani minorities were positioned in
the context of post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes’ transformations and to observe
possible trends throughout post-Yugoslav space regarding their positioning. The
project establishes that due to historical as well as contemporary hierarchical
inclusions, many individuals identified as belonging to Romani minorities faced
specific obstacles in access to citizenship in most Yugoslav states, where they de facto
resided. Consequently, it gives an illustration of citizenship constellations in which
many Romani individuals found themselves as non-citizens at their place of
residence and usually without the status of legal alien with permanent residence as
well as with ineffective citizenship of another post-Yugoslav state. Additionally, it
also examines the hierarchical positioning of Romani individuals, who are citizens at
their place of residence and, at least de iure, enjoy a certain scope of minority rights.
Borrowing terms from postcolonial theory and following the latest developments in
Romani studies, this paper argues that Romani minorities were caught in-between
different processes of post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes’ transformation, and
therefore cannot be considered as the ultimate Other, but as the post-Yugoslav
Subaltern.