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Miloš Đurović, M.A.

Miloš Đurović, M.A.

PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology

Contact

Universität Regensburg
Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies
Landshuter Straße 4
93047 Regensburg
Germany

Doctoral Project

Living polluted lives in an “ecological state”: Coping with air pollution in a coal-mining town on the periphery of Montenegro

Montenegro was the first country in the world to declare itself as an “ecological state”. Its national anthem, everyday discourses and international self-representations glorify and worship the country's natural environment. Even the name of the country refers to the natural landscape. However, different international reports, such as EPI, are showing that Montenegro performs rather poorly in the context of the “Western” and post-socialist European space when it comes to environmental performances, particularly those linked to urban environments – such as waste management and air quality. The country is actually home to one of the most (air) polluted inhabited places of the former Yugoslavia – the coal-mining town of Pljevlja with a coal-fired power plant and widespread household practice of coal burning – lying on the periphery of the country. 
My doctoral project explores experiences of long-lasting air pollution in this “town on the three borders” in the everyday lives of the local community – at the level of discourse and the level of practice, and the ways that people envision or imagine their environmental future – shaped by different narratives, experiences, and actors. 
Therefore, how is the agency articulated in this context of long-lasting pollution at the periphery of European semi-periphery? What kind of dispositions and affects do people deploy in coping with their hazardous environment? How are those dispositions and affects related to their visions of the future at the moment of EU discussion over energy transition and policies of decarbonisation? To answer these questions, I will conduct ethnographic fieldwork in the northernmost town of Montenegro, consisting of participant observation enriched by semi-structured interviews and archival work.
 

Curriculum Vitae

Miloš Đurović earned his BA and MA degree in Ethnology and Anthropology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Previously, he was primarily focused on the construction of religious, gender and national identity of Muslim women in the Sandžak/Raška region of Serbia through the practice of wearing the hijab, and political discussions created around the visibility of “covered” Muslim women across (mostly "Western”) Europe. He has worked as a university teaching associate in anthropological courses and as an interdisciplinary researcher of social policies in Montenegro. Since 2021, he has been a scholarship holder of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings. 

Publications

Journal articles

Hidžab kao fenomen konstruisanja i osporavanja identiteta: primjer savremenog Novog Pazara [The hijab as a Phenomenon of Constructing and Contesting Identity: The Example of Contemporary Novi Pazar], Etnoantropološki problemi 10 (4), 2015, pp. 821-838.

Book review

Kristofer Boem, Krvna osveta: regulisanje i upravljanje sukoba u Crnoj Gori i drugim plemenskim društvima [Blood Revenge: The Enactment and Management of Conflict in Montenegro and Other Tribal Societies], Podgorica: CID, 1998. Aquamarine Press, 2016.

Social policy reports

Thematic Report on Access to Essential Services for Low-income People - Montenegro, European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Brussels: European Commission, 2020. (co-author)

Thematic Report on National Strategies to Fight Homelessness and Housing Exclusion - Montenegro, European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Brussels: European Commission, 2019. (co-author)

Positions, Assignments and Membership

Member of the Study Group "Ethnographic Methods and Research Ethics"

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