Mitja Velikonja

PhD Mitja Velikonja
Born	1965[3] Šempeter pri Gorici, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia[3]
Citizenship	Slovenia
Academic work
Discipline	social science
Institutions	University of Ljubljana[1]
Main interests	political ideologies in Central Europe and Balkans, subcultures and urban culture, collective memory and Yugo-nostalgia[2]
Notable works	Post-Socialist Political Graffiti in the Balkans and Central Europe

Mitja Velikonja (born 1965) is a Slovenian cultural studies academic and professor at the University of Ljubljana where he is head of the Center for Cultural and Religious Studies.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

His book "Post-Socialist Political Graffiti in the Balkans and Central Europe" (Routledge, 2020), translated into 6 languages, received the prize for one of the highest annual accomplishments of the University of Ljubljana in 2020.[9][10] His other books include "Masade duha - Razpotja sodobnih mitologij" (ZPS, Lj, 1996), "Mitografije sedanjosti" (Študentska založba, Lj, 2003), "Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina" (Texas A&M University Press, 2003), "Eurosis. A Critique of the New Eurocentrism" (Peace Institute, Lj, 2005), "Titostalgia - A Study of Nostalgia of Josip Broz" (Peace Institute, Lj, 2009) [11], "Rock'n'retro - New Yugoslavism in Contemporary Popular Music in Slovenia" (Sophia, Lj, 2013), "The Chosen Few - Aesthetics and Ideology in Football Fan Graffiti" (DoppelHouse Press, LA, 2021) and "Ukrajinske vinjete - Eseji o kulturi bližnje vojne" (Miš, Domžale, 2024).

Velikonja was a visiting professor at multiple institutions which include Jagiellonian University (2002 and 2003), Columbia University (2009 and 2014), University of Rijeka (2015), New York Institute in Saint Petersburg (2015 and 2016) and Yale University (2020).[12][13] He was a Fulbright visiting researcher in Rosemont College in Philadelphia (2004/2005), visiting researcher at Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (2012) and at the Remarque Institute (2018).[12] Among other topics his researches deal with ideological and cultural changes in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Yugonostalgia and collective memory, street cultures and subcultures.[14][15] He participated in a few Korčula after Party events, inspired by the Praxis School.[16] He was one of contributing authors to the Slovenian book about Alan Ford[17] and co-author and co-editor of books about the history of Yugoslavia (published by Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in 2017 and 2021). His book "Eurosis" got Erasmus EuroMedia Award by the European Society for Education and Communication (ESEC) Vienna in 2008, Ukrainian translation of "Titostalgia" award at Odesa Book Fair in 2024, "Ukrajinske vinjete" was nominated for the book of the year at the Slovenian Book Fair in 2024, while "The Chosen Few" was a finalist of the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (USA).

References

1. "Зборник радова о српско-хрватској сарадњи у политици". Radio Television of Vojvodina. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
2. "Mitja Velikonja". Contemporary Southeastern Europe. n.d. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
3. "Velikonja, M." Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study. n.d. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
4. "Mitja Velikonja Visiting Professor (Spring 2020)". Yale University. n.d. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
5. "Mitja Velikonja". Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories in Europe. n.d. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
6. "dr. Mitja Velikonja". Radiotelevizija Slovenija. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
7. "dr. Mitja Velikonja". Mladina. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
8. "FELJTON: Titostalgija – od žaljenja za 'Jugom' do subverzije sustava". Nacional (weekly). 3 June 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
9. "The Politics of Graffiti: Talk with Mitja Velikonja". Lumbardhi Foundation. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
10. "Onlajn diskusija: Šta nam poručuju "Politički grafiti"?". Danas. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
11. "Mitja Velikonja". Dereta. n.d. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
12. "Translating Memories Speaker Series: prof Mitja Velikonja". Tallinn University. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
13. Latinka Perović; Drago Roksandić; Mitja Velikonja; Wolfgang Hoepken; Florian Bieber, eds. (2017). Jugoslavija u istorijskoj perspektivi [Yugoslavia in Historical Perspective]. Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Serbia. p. 544. ISBN 978-86-7208-207-4.
14. "Robert Botteri: Za autokratske režime satira je najgora kritika". Radio Sarajevo. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
15. "La 40 de ani după Tito". Deutsche Welle. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
16. "Čeka li Europsku uniju sudbina Jugoslavije? Balkan predstavlja tragičnu avangardu Europe, njezinu tamnu istinu. Brexit bi mogao biti samo početak raspada zajednice koju na okupu drži samo novac..." Slobodna Dalmacija. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
17. "Alan Ford je živ! Živel, Alan Ford!". Delo. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2022.