My Blog

The personal (knitting) is political

When I started knitting a year ago, little did I know just how political that would be. Here I was, just looking for a nice, quiet hobby for after all my mind-wrecking thinking about the state of the world. I was wrong (and frankly, I should have known better, because, uh, everything is about politics). And just as I am, I don’t ignore politics when they come up.

My Blog

Thinking inside the box: the Balkans as construction

“I can’t stand it anymore”, I hear a friend complain, “This constant need to label us as the Balkans , whatever that’s supposed to mean.” And she is right to grumble, because somehow everyone is talking about it and at the same time nobody: The Balkans. The term brings back memories of the Balkan Wars and not often it …

Publications and Projects

What’s in a name? February 2019 Update from (North) Macedonia

A few weeks ago I arrived to the Republic of Macedonia, “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” in international documents, and in just a few days I will be leaving from the Republic of North Macedonia. Have I changed countries? No, of course not. But the country has changed its name. It all started last year …

About me,Publications and Projects,travels

Back in Skopje or: the continuing astonishment about my free choice to live in “the East”

Oops, I did it again – I am back. For five short weeks I live – again – in Skopje, capital of Macedonia (the Republic of North Macedonia as of most recent). This time the country is not neck deep in state capture and national crises (read more on my blog about the deadlock in …

My Blog

The female body as a public good or: the battle for women’s rights in Poland

In Poland, women‘s organisation have – once more – called for a general strike. On Friday 23rd thousands are expected to take the streets in Warsaw to scream out their anger against the restriction of the abortion law and with it the restriction of women’s rights in Poland. The protest is labelled “czarny piątek”, Black …