On Thursday, May 30th, 2024 at 12:00 PM (CET), we are hosting the CAS SEE Seminar with Aida Kapetanović on “The River Guardians: Local Environmental Struggles in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia” in conversation with the RECAS Fellow Josef Djordjevski.
Anton Shekhovtsov
Aida Kapetanović is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Sociology at Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence, Italy) and a member of COSMOS, the Centre on Social Movement Studies of Florence. Her doctoral research investigates the recent environmental struggles in defense of the rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Her focus is on the cultural and symbolic dimensions of collective action. She holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Research and Studies on Eastern Europe (MIREES) from the University of Bologna. Her research interests include social movements, environmental activism, cultural and symbolic dimensions of mobilization, nationalism and identity building in Southeastern European contexts.
About the seminar
Neoliberal responses to the global climate crisis have spurred a wave of investments in small hydropower plants across the Western Balkans. Spanning hundreds of pristine rivers and streams, these projects faced opposition from inhabitants in peripheral rural areas, gaining support from environmental activists, NGOs, and experts. Exploring the cultural repertoires of the mobilizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, this research aims at understanding the evolution of localized struggles into broader environmental movements. It argues that collective action was triggered by place-based collective identities mediated by locals’ attachment to the rivers. However, in challenging ideas of exclusive local belonging, the River Guardians embraced all those who felt deprived of their rivers, identities, and sovereignty. The rivers emerged as a unifying force propelling a collective struggle for environmental justice.
Join Zoom meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88989643663?pwd=VnZTOWRmdnl0WEZIdTczc1paZWtkdz09
Meeting ID: 889 8964 3663
Passcode: 328897
RECAS Fellowships
RECAS Fellowships
Fellowships are supported by OSF Western Balkans, ERSTE Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.