Bernard Melvin

PhD student at EHESS, Paris, France.
Assistant lecturer and researcher (ATER) at University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3, Lyon, France.

Visiting Fellowship 2025/26 (May 17, 2026 – June 1, 2026)

A former student of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Melvin Bernard earned a Master’s degree in History from the EHESS and a Bachelor’s degree in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian from INALCO. Since September 2022, he has been a PhD student in the “History and Civilizations” program at EHESS, within the CETOBaC (Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asia Studies), under the supervision of Xavier Bougarel. Starting in September 2025, he will also be an Assistant Lecturer and Researcher (ATER) at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University. His research interests focus on the social history of Yugoslavia, and in particular on the history of self-management practices.

Statement of interest

My PhD dissertation, entitled “Self-Management in Practice: Access to Housing in Late Socialist Yugoslavia (1974–1991)” examines the consequences of the Yugoslav mid-1970s self-management reforms on social policy. In particular, I focus on the role of companies in the distribution of housing. By drawing on archival material from major Yugoslav factories in medium-sized cities, I analyse decision-making processes and relate them to broader notions of Yugoslav socialism, such as “democratic socialism”, “withering away of the state”, or “workers’ self-management”.

During my stay, I would be glad to share my research with colleagues in Ljubljana interested in themes such as urban history, labour, socio-political organisations, self-management, or democracy in socialist Yugoslavia. I am also keen to strengthen ties between my home institution and the Institute of Contemporary History, and I hope to foster further collaboration on projects related to Yugoslav socialism.

 Selected publications

• « Devenir réfugié yougoslave en France. La procédure d’asile en temps de Guerre froide (1952–1990) » [Becoming a Yugoslav Refugee in France: The Asylum Process during the Cold War], 20&21. Revue d’histoire, July–September 2024, pp. 121–134.
• “Renewing the Role of the State in Housing Provision: Self-Management and Access to Domestic Space in Late Socialist Yugoslavia (1974–1990)”, European Review of History / Revue européenne d’histoire, forthcoming.