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Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Visiting Fellowship 2026/27

Francesca Rolandi, PhD

I am a social and cultural historian, with a specific focus on the post-Yugoslav and Upper Adriatic area. I held positions and fellowships at the University of Florence, the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the University of British Columbia Okanagan, the University of Rijeka, and the Institute for Historical Studies in Naples. My first book, titled Con ventiquattromila baci. L’influenza della cultura di massa italiana in Jugoslavia (1955-1965) [Con ventiquattromila baci. The Influence of the Italian pop culture on Yugoslavia (1955-1965)] [Bononia University Press, 2015], was translated into Serbian in 2022 by the publisher Geopoetika. I am currently working on a book project on humanitarianism in socialist Yugoslavia, which started as a sub-project of the ERC project Humanitarianism and Mediterranean Europe. A Transnational and Comparative History (1945-1990).

My articles have been published in established international journals such as The Journal of Modern History, Contemporary European History, the Journal of Migration History, Nationalities Papers, and Europe-Asia Studies.

Statement of interest:

Merging previous research strands, my ongoing project examines the role some Mediterranean countries played in migration routes throughout the 20th century. Drawing on the peculiar case of Yugoslavia, the only socialist country integrated into the refugee regime centered on the UNHCR, which acted as a springboard for Eastern European asylum seekers willing to reach Western locations, I aim to reflect on the overall meaning attached to the notion of ‘transit country’ and on how this label was co-constructed or deconstructed by international organizations, states, and people on the move. During my stay at INZ, I plan to explore the potential for further cooperation with the institute.

Selected List of Publications (up to 5 entries):

  •  “Between Blocs: Socialist Yugoslavia as a Pragmatic Player in the International Refugee Regime”, Europe-Asia Studies, 78, 5, 2026, 817-839.
  • “Places of Passage or Precarious Sanctuaries? The Negotiations between Refugees and State Authorities in an Upper Adriatic Borderland”, in Michal Frankl, Refugees and citizens in Twentieth-Century East Central Europe, CEU Press, 2006, 55-81.
  • “Yugoslavia Is (Not) a Refugee Country? Refugees Between Transit and Integration in an Ever-Changing Socialist State”, Nationalities Papers 53, no. 2 (2025): 468–88. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2025.6.
  • “Refugees in the Yugoslav Space: An Overview of the State of the Art” – coauthored with Pieter Troch, Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, 71, 4, 2022, 587-617.
  • “Redefining Citizenship After Empire: The Rights to Welfare, to Work and to Remain in a Post-Habsburg World”, coauthored with Dominique K. Reill and Ivan Jeličić, The Journal of Modern History, 94, 2, 2022, 326-362.