Research Assistant, Young Researcher
+386 1 47 06 529
vita.zalar@zrc-sazu.si
Vita Zalar is a research assistant at the Institute of Cultural History, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and a PhD candidate in history at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana, Slovenia). She is a 2022 Doctoral Fellow at the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) in Mainz, Germany. Her research focuses on the history of Roma in the Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states. In terms of sources and languages, she is particularly at home in Habsburg and post-Habsburg Central and Eastern Europe from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Turning away from the linguistic and cultural turn prevalent in contemporary historiography, she strives for a materialist interpretation of historical phenomena. She combines the approaches of social and cultural history, intellectual history, conceptual history, history of imperialism and colonialism, and history of science. She is currently working on her dissertation project “Conceptual History of Gypsiness: Habsburg and Post-Habsburg Perspectives, 1860-1940” under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Ari Joskowicz (Vanderbilt University) and Prof. Oto Luthar at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU.
In collaboration with Renata Berkyová (Prague Forum for Romani Histories) and Théophile Leroy (EHESS), she organises the Romani History Workshop, a monthly online workshop on Romani history hosted by the Prague Forum for Romani Histories, Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences.
She is collaborating on the encyclopaedic project Encyclopaedia of the Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe at Heidelberg University.
She has received short-term research fellowships at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2018 & 2019) and the University of Graz (2019).
ZALAR, Vita. “Essentialism and Constructivism in Romani Studies: Symptoms of Conflicting Time Regimes.” In: Methodenvielfalt in der Geschichtswissenschaft: Tagungsband zur 8. Doktorandentagung der Andrássy Universität Budapest, edited by Tomaž Mesarič, Arlene Peukert, Răzvan Roșu, and András Wekler. Wien: new academic press, 2022.
KUHAR, Lea, PETREVSKI, Dragan, ZALAR, Vita, eds. Platforma 3: Zbornik študentk in študentov Podiplomske šole ZRC SAZU. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2022.
KUHAR, Lea, ZALAR, Vita, eds. Platforma 2: Zbornik študentk in študentov Podiplomske šole ZRC SAZU. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2020.
KUHAR, Lea, ZALAR, Vita, eds. Platforma 1: Zbornik študentk in študentov Podiplomske šole ZRC SAZU. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2019.
ZALAR, Vita. “(Dis)continuities in State Policies towards ‘Gypsies’: The Case of Austria-Hungary and its Successor States.” In: Europe a century after the end of the first world war (1918–2018), edited by Ioan Horga, and Alina Stoica, 249–266. București: Editura Academiei Române, 2018.
Historical interpretations of the 20th century (research programme • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2027)
Schools and Imperial, National, and Transnational Identifications: Habsburg Empire, Yugoslavia, and Slovenia (fundamental project • September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2023)
* July 2022–
“Managing Heterogeneity: The Case of the Habsburg Empire and the United States.” Bilateral grant for scientific research cooperation between the Republic of Slovenia and the United States. Funded by: Slovenian Research Agency. Project team: Dominique K. Reill, Rok Stergar, Vita Zalar.
* April–September 2022
Doctoral Fellow at the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz, Germany.
* January 2021–
Participation in the research project “School and Imperial, National, and Transnational Identifications: Habsburg Empire, Yugoslavia, and Slovenia.” Funded by: Slovenian Research Agency. Principal investigator: Rok Stergar (University of Ljubljana). Project team: Karin Almasy, Jan Bernot, Neja Blaj Hribar, Jernej Kosi, Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc, Tamara Pavasović Trošt, Marko Zajc, Vita Zalar.
* November 2019–January 2021
Participation in the research project “Dislocations and resistances: Persecutions and genocidal violences of Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Western Europe, 1939-1946.” Funded by: Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR). Principal investigator: Ilsen About (EHESS). Project team: Ilsen About, Lise Foisneau, Monique Heddebaut, Théophile Leroy Laurence Schram, Paola Trevisan, Danijel Vojak, Vita Zalar.
* October 2017–
Research assistant and young researcher at the Institute of Cultural History, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Member of the research programmes “Biographies, mentalities, epochs” and “Historical interpretations of the 20th century.”
* October 2017–
Doctoral programme Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures, module Cultural History, at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU. Supervised by: Prof. Oto Luthar (ZRC SAZU) and Assoc. Prof. Ari Joskowicz (Vanderbilt University).
* 2015–2017
Master’s Degree in History at the second-cycle Master’s programme in History at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. M. A. thesis supervisor: Prof. Marta Verginella.
* 2011–2015
Bachelor’s Degree in History at the first-cycle Bachelor’s programme in History at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. B. A. thesis supervisor: Prof. Marta Verginella.