Studio Central and Eastern Europe

Heleen Touquet on the challenges to research sexual violence against men

In this podcast, Olivera Simic interviews Heleen Touquet, one of the few researchers studying sexual violence against men in armed conflicts. Touquet, an associate professor at the University of Antwerp and an affiliated researcher at KU Leuven, has focused her work on the Western Balkans. In the interview, she discusses the taboo surrounding sexual violence against men and why it is often more difficult for men to speak about it than for women. Simic explores the challenges of researching this sensitive topic and draws out Touquet's insights from her many years of investigation.

Antonio Chemotti and David Burn on the Joy of Medieval Music Research in Central Europe

In this episode of Studio FCEE, Paul Kolb of the Alamire Music Research Foundation interviews two of KU Leuven's top musicologists. David Burn, head of the Early Music Research Group at KU Leuven, and Assistant Professor Antonio Chemotti discuss their passion for medieval music in Central Europe. They share their excitement about studying music books, prints, and manuscripts that have long been considered marginal in Western academia due to their Central European origins. Highlighting how Central Europe had simultaneous access to both very modern and complex music from important European centers and its own fascinating traditions of simpler, yet mesmerizing polyphonic works, they challenge the belief in the peripheral status of these lands in this period of history. The conversation also touches on the need for better integration of research networks among scholars working in this region and the importance of cataloguing and reconsidering the position of Central European music.

Sabina Tanovic and Ilir Gashi on commemorations and post-war memories in the former Yugoslavia

In this podcast, Peter Vermeersch of KU Leuven talks with architect and scholar Sabina Tanović and awarded activist and storyteller Ilir Gashi how the painful memories of the 1990s Yugoslav wars are used in contemporary commemorations, what are their meanings and uses in today's Balkan societies.
Dr. Sabina Tanović is an architect and researcher specializing in memorial projects that address traumatic histories. She earned her degree from the University of Sarajevo and holds advanced degrees from Delft University of Technology, where she also teaches. Her research focuses on the creation of modern memorials using participatory methods, environmental psychology, and the processes of bereavement. Her book, Designing Memory: The Architecture of Commemoration in Europe, 1914 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2019), explores the development of memorial architecture since World War I.
 
Between 2014 and 2017, Ilir Gashi led the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, championing media freedom and journalist safety in Serbia. He launched initiatives like “Cenzolovka,” a portal on media freedom, and a School of Digital Journalism for young journalists. In 2017, he co-founded the Group for Freedom of Media, uniting NGOs, independent media, and activists against government media control. Now, Gashi supports journalists and community-based NGOs across the Balkans, helping them tell their stories more effectively. His frequent travels between Belgrade and Pristina have reignited his passion for writing, inspired by the people and stories he encounters. For his piece The alternative Balkan postal system, Ilir Gashi was shortlisted for the European Press Prize.

Anna Karpenko on how avant-garde artists who defied state borders are subjected to appropriation attempts

In this interview, KU Leuven history professor Martin Kohlrausch speaks with independent curator Anna Karpenko about the avant-garde movement between the East and the West. They discuss how avant-garde artists and architects endeavored to transcend borders and how their legacy is now subject to appropriation attempts, particularly in the post-Soviet context of the former USSR.
Anna Karpenko (b. 1985) is a curator and author. She studied philosophy at Belarusian State University (Minsk), visual studies at European Humanities University (Vilnius), and curatorial studies at the Academy of Fine Arts (Leipzig). Karpenko is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). As a curator, she has produced exhibitions and research projects with institutions such as Museum Sztuki (Lodz), Gallery Arsenal (Bialystok), Labirynth Gallery (Lublin), Badischer Kunstverein (Karlsruhe), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, GfZK (Leipzig).
As an author, her work has appeared in Springerin magazine, BLOCK magazine, Dwutygodnik, RTV magazine, Magazyn SZUM, and Kulturaustausch magazine. She also authored and edited the book When The Sun Is Low - The Shadows Are Long, published by Spector Books (Leipzig) in 2023. Though her heart belongs to Belarus (Minsk), she is currently based in Germany (Leipzig and Berlin).

Olivera Simic on the experience of interviewing war criminals and victims

Olivera Simic, an associate professor at Griffith University in Australia, discusses war criminals in the Balkans who escape justice and live undisturbed lives in neighboring countries. She also delves into her decision to write an entire book about Biljana Plavšić, the former President of Republika Srpska, who was later convicted of crimes against humanity. The interview is hosted by Heleen Toquet, a fellow at KU Leuven and a visiting professor at the University of Antwerp.

Amra Sabić-El-Rayess on the importance of storytelling and how war experience can help resilience to hatred

Can the experience of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina help prevent radicalization of schoolchildren as far as the United States? According to Amra Sabić-El-Rayess, a writer and associated professor at the Columbia university, it can. For it shows that the very origin of hatred and radicalization is not some inherent badness in people, but their perceived invisibility, sense of not belonging. 
This is an edited version of the lecture given by Amra Sabić-El-Rayess at the University of Antwerp on April 25, 2024.

Jan Grzymski on voting as an act of asserting identity in Poland, and on his strategic game How to Win Brexit

In this episode of Studio FCEE, Polish political scientist Jan Grzymski offers an insightful analysis of Poland's post-election landscape. Following the defeat of the United Right alliance, a coalition of three parties, led by Donald Tusk, assumed power. Grzymski suggests that the previous government's conservative reforms polarized the electorate, turning the elections into a battleground of identities and explaining the significant turnover in October 2023. Interviewed by political scientist Peter Vermeersch at KU Leuven, Grzymski delves into the ethical quandaries inherited by the new government. In this podcast, he also tells the story of his growingly popular strategic game How to win Brexit. 

Anna Matyska on the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland

Anthropologist Anna Matyska, a KU Leuven researcher who recently joined the team at Warsaw University, delves into her research on Ukrainian migrants in Poland. Her focus lies in understanding how war has reshaped the emotional and daily lives of long-term Ukrainian migrants in Poland and their ties to their homeland. Her work examines the emotional dimensions of their experiences, and in this interview she addresses the complexities of interviewing individuals who have endured recent emotional turmoil. She also speaks of the impact of the 1.2 million-strong Ukrainian migrant community on Polish society. Matyska discusses her work with Maryna Shevtsova, a senior researcher at KU Leuven's Faculty of Social Sciences.
 
 

Hear Our Voices: Tamara Martsenyuk on gender roles of men and alternative masculinity in Ukraine

Sociologist Tamara Martsenyuk speaks of how the war in Ukraine reshaped the gender roles of men. She dwells on the new forms of alternative masculinity, observed in the country. This study is featured in a chapter within the recently published edited volume "Feminist Perspectives on Russia's War in Ukraine: Hear Our Voices" (Lexington Books, 2024). Her presentation was recorded during the book's unveiling at the Forum on Central and Eastern Europe at KU Leuven on March 26, 2024.

Hear Our Voices: Katsiaryna Lozka on the female activism in support of Ukraine in Belarus

Katsiaryna Lozka, a PhD candidate in Political Science at Ghent University, presents her research on pro-Ukrainian female activism in Belarus. This study is featured in a chapter within the recently published edited volume "Feminist Perspectives on Russia's War in Ukraine: Hear Our Voices" (Lexington Books, 2024). Her presentation was recorded during the book's unveiling at the Forum on Central and Eastern Europe at KU Leuven on March 26, 2024.