Retlami-See Project

🎓 From capacity building to knowledge production: RETLAMI-SEE researchers from Fakultet političkih nauka Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci concluded the third study visit to Vienna

The third RETLAMI-SEE study visit to RECET - Research Center for the History of Transformations, University of Vienna marked an important milestone in the project's second phase. Building on the knowledge, skills, and partnerships developed over the past year, researchers are now working intensively on the project's core research outputs—joint publications, research infrastructure, and international scientific collaboration.

One of the key activities focused on the development of the project's interactive map, where the research team refined the database structure and variables that will underpin the visualization of findings from the exploratory research on migration from Bosnia and Herzegovina after 2013. Led by Mirjana Damjenić Bratić, the session represented an important step towards completing the project's research database and upcoming deliverables.

📝 A particularly inspiring part of the visit was the series of tandem writing sessions, where researchers from partner institutions worked in small teams on co-authored articles emerging from the project's exploratory research. Connected by shared interests and
complementary expertise, they developed paper concepts, discussed theoretical frameworks, identified suitable journals, and drafted publication strategies. The sessions truly became a laboratory of ideas, where new collaborations evolved into concrete publication plans.

The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss the project's broader publication strategy, including plans for a collective monograph and the Special Issue linked to the upcoming "Exit,
Voice, Labour" , which will be hosted by the Universität Wien this . Members of the Conference Organising Committee further developed the conference programme, panel structure, and publication roadmap.

📚 The visit concluded with an open discussion on future collaborative funding opportunities. Participants reflected on the challenges of developing joint research proposals across institutions with different administrative procedures and contractual arrangements. Among the ideas considered was the possibility of developing a future proposal, which will be explored further.

A sincere thank you to our colleagues at RECET – University of Vienna for hosting another productive and inspiring study visit and for fostering an environment where collaboration
naturally grows into joint research.


EU Science & Innovation

🇦🇹 The third RETLAMI-SEE study visit to Vienna has officially begun!

Researchers from the Fakultet političkih nauka Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci University of Banja Luka Dr Bojana Vukojević, Dr Dalibor Savić and Mirjana Damjenić Bratić, MA, began the first day of joint research activities hosted by our partner RECET - Research Center for the History of Transformations Universität Wien. During the visit, the team was joined by Dr Nejra Nuna Čengić (ZRC SAZU), further strengthening the collaborative dimension of the project and bringing together colleagues from partner institutions to advance interdisciplinary perspectives and jointly develop the project's exploratory research.

The day opened with a research team meeting before participants took part in a two-part workshop, "Globalizing East European Labour History", led by Dr Goran Musić and Dr Rory Archer. Rather than treating labour history as an isolated field, the workshop invited participants to rethink Eastern European labour history within broader global processes and to reconsider how work, migration, and class have been studied over time.

Discussions traced the changing place of labour history—from its central role in socialist historiography, through the decline of class as a dominant analytical category after 1989, to its renewed relevance within Global Labour History. Participants reflected on transformations of workers' identities, migration during and after the Cold War, socialist internationalism, labour mobility beyond Europe, and new ways of understanding work that extend beyond paid employment. The workshop also explored how these perspectives can enrich the RETLAMI-SEE research by connecting interview themes with wider historical and global contexts.

The first day set an inspiring tone for the visit, reaffirming the value of collaborative learning, interdisciplinary dialogue, and international cooperation.

EU Science & Innovation

🎓✨ As we begin a new week, we look back on Friday’s closing day of the RETLAMI-SEE Summer School "Labour Regimes on the Fringes of Europe", which brought a fitting conclusion to an inspiring week of learning, discussion, and intellectual exchange in Ljubljana.

Throughout the week, participants explored labour regimes from a remarkable range of perspectives—migration, care work, platform labour, global production networks, ethnography, history, social reproduction, and research impact—gaining new methodological tools and analytical approaches for understanding the changing worlds of work. The summer school was designed to equip early-career researchers with innovative ways of studying labour, migration, and social transformation across disciplines and contexts.

The final academic day opened with a conversation with Wolt couriers in Slovenia, moderated by Ana Hofman, offering first-hand insights into the realities of platform work, algorithmic management, labour precarity, and the often invisible ways in which digital labour reshapes everyday life.

📸 Participants then joined Jošt Franko Die Angewandte (University of Applied Arts Vienna) for a thought-provoking session on documentary photography as a collective practice and a tool for social transformation, reflecting on the power of images to create alternative narratives and amplify marginalized voices.

⛏️ In the afternoon, Tanja Petrović (Inštitut za kulturne in spominske študije ZRC SAZU) explored the entangled histories of mining and violence in the former Yugoslav space, showing how labour, risk, solidarity, and community have been historically interconnected in mining regions.

🎬 The programme concluded with a screening of Rudarke/Female Miners and a conversation with director Natasa Jankovic, bringing together many of the themes discussed throughout the week: labour, gender, dignity, inequality, and social change.

As participants reflected on the week during the final Summer School meeting, one theme stood out: the value of bringing together researchers from different countries, disciplines, and career stages to think collectively about labour and migration. New collaborations were initiated, ideas exchanged, and professional networks strengthened.

🌍 We leave with new knowledge, new perspectives, new friendships, and renewed motivation for research. The RETLAMI-SEE Summer School has been much more than a series of lectures—it has been a space for intellectual growth, methodological experimentation, and building the next generation of researchers studying labour, migration, and transformation.

Our sincere thanks to ZRC SAZU, especially the organizers and lecturers, for creating such a stimulating and welcoming environment throughout the week. 👏

EU Science & Innovation

📚 The RETLAMI-SEE Summer School in Ljubljana continued with two days of rich discussions on workers’ rights, migration, cultural labour, gender, and historical perspectives on work across Southeast Europe.

On Wednesday, participants visited the Workers’ Advocacy Office (Delavska svetovalnica), where Goran Lukić presented the organisation’s work in advocating for workers and other vulnerable groups. The programme also included the opening of the exhibition "Refugee Women – Personal Stories of Displacement, Human Rights and Making a Home in a New Country" at the EU House, creating space for reflection on displacement, belonging, solidarity, and human rights. Later, Ivan Mitrevski and Goran Lukić joined a conversation on comics and workers’ rights, moderated by Tanja Petrović (Inštitut za kulturne in spominske študije ZRC SAZU), while the day concluded with a screening of Srđan Kovačević’s film "The Thing to Be Done" and a discussion with the author.

Thursday focused on changing forms of labour and the experiences of working women. Emilia Barna (Budapest University of Technology and Economics), moderated by Ana Hofman (ZRC SAZU), explored platformisation and entrepreneurial labour in the cultural industries of Eastern Europe. Participants then joined a workshop led by Iva Kosmos (University of Zagreb), examining memories of women’s labour in the fish-canning industry of the north-eastern Adriatic. The day concluded with a guided tour of the exhibition "Women and Work Between Tradition and Modernisation: The Period of Early Socialism" at the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, led by Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc, offering valuable insights into women’s work, migration, and everyday life during the socialist period.

As the Summer School enters its final day, participants continue to exchange ideas, build new connections, and explore the many ways labour, mobility, and social change shape our societies.

✨ More conversations, reflections, and inspiring encounters are still ahead—stay tuned for the final chapter of this year's Summer School!

EU Science & Innovation

📚The second day of the RETLAMI-SEE Summer School hosted by ZRC SAZU in Ljubljana continued interdisciplinary discussions on labour mobility, migration, care work, and global production networks.

The programme began with a lecture by Rutvica Andrijašević (University of Bristol), moderated by Tanja Petrović, which examined the role of firms in shaping transnational labour migration and introduced the concept of “just-in-time labour” as a framework for understanding contemporary labour mobility.

Participants then engaged with Nejra Nuna Čengić’s research on circular female care workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, exploring how care labour, mobility, and social reproduction intersect in the experiences of women working across European borders.

In the afternoon, Martina Bofulin (ZRC SAZU) and Igor Rogelja (University College London (UCL)) led a workshop on Chinese labour regimes and the globalization of workplace practices, providing new analytical tools for studying labour relations and economic transformation in transnational contexts.

The day concluded with a collective reflection session, where participants discussed key insights from the programme and identified themes for further exploration throughout the week.

By combining empirical research, methodological reflection, and comparative perspectives, the summer school continues to provide a valuable space for learning and exchange among early-career researchers working on labour, migration, and social transformation.

EU Science & Innovation

Greetings from the 6th ELHN Conference in Barcelona! 🇪🇸
The RETLAMI-SEE project is out in full force at the Universitat de Barcelona this week, sharing new insights into the history of labour and migration in Southeastern Europe.
We are proud to highlight two significant contributions from our team and partners:

👥 Bojana Vukojević presented research: "Same Story, New Frames? Media Discourses on Labour Migration from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1960-1989 vs. 2013-2025." co-authored with Dalibor Savić and Anđela Pepić from University of Banja Luka. The paper was presented within the panel “Comparative Perspectives on Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Labour Migration” and examined how media narratives in both the socialist and post-socialist eras have shaped the way we understand leaving, belonging, and the "myth of return."

🌍 Within the panel "The politics of labour migration: migrants and state actors in regional, European and global perspectives," Rory Archer presented a paper co-authored with Goran Musić RECET - Research Center for the History of Transformations Universität Wien: "East-South Labour migration: Yugoslav workers in the Non-aligned Developing World." Their work sheds light on the often-overlooked mobility of Yugoslav workers towards the Global South - specifically, Zambia - during the socialist period.

International collaboration is at the heart of our mission. Bringing these diverse perspectives to the European Labour History Network helps us build a more comprehensive picture of migration history!

EU Science & Innovation

🎓 The RETLAMI-SEE Summer School "Labour Regimes on the Fringes of Europe" officially began today in Ljubljana!

Hosted by our partner ZRC SAZU – Inštitut za kulturne in spominske študije ZRC SAZU, the summer school brings together early-career researchers, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral researchers from across Europe to explore labour, migration, and social transformation through interdisciplinary perspectives.

Following a warm welcome and introductions, participants joined the opening lecture by Mojca Vah and Sanja Cukut Krilić (ZRC SAZU), moderated by Ana Hofman, which examined the changing landscape of labour migration to Slovenia. The discussion highlighted how demographic shifts, labour shortages, and evolving migration policies are transforming migration patterns—from long-established migration from the Western Balkans to increasingly diverse forms of labour mobility involving workers from South and Southeast Asia.

In the afternoon, Rutvica Andrijašević (University of Bristol) led the workshop "Research for Social Change", sharing experiences from research on migrant workers and discussing how researchers can engage stakeholders, influence public debates, and create meaningful social impact beyond academia.

The day concluded with a screening of "Home" by director Metod Pevec, followed by a conversation with the author moderated by Nejra Nuna Čengić. Through the stories of migrant workers and other marginalized residents sharing a former workers’ home, the film opened an important discussion on precarity, belonging, housing, and the human dimensions of labour and migration.

A warm-up reception rounded off a stimulating first day of exchange, learning, and new connections. We look forward to the conversations and collaborations that the rest of the week will bring.

EU Science & Innovation