iASK researcher Ivana Stepanović will give a lecture at the Centre for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe, University of Rijeka on Thursday 20th of October. The lecture is a part of the CAS SEE Seminar hosted by its fellow Zala Pavšič. The lecture titled “#Balkans: Online Communities and Silent Algorithmic Reconciliation in Former Yugoslavia” addresses the problem of failed reconciliation in former Yugoslavia that re-emerges in light of the war in Ukraine as new global geopolitical struggles bring new anxieties over frozen conflicts in Southeast Europe. More than thirty years after the wars broke out in the region and after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has closed its final case, it is still important to search for alternative (post)reconciliation and peacebuilding practices, even in not-so-obvious spaces such as social media. Algorithmic reconciliation practices juxtapose much more noticeable algorithmic aggregations of hate and enmity, showing how friendships, travelling adventures and mere consumption can bring about positive sentiments towards the ethnic other. This seminar focuses on illuminating the processes of forming and transforming online communities and examining their conscious and unconscious peacebuilding narratives through the algorithmic web of hashtags and geotags.
Ivana Stepanović is a research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg in Hungary since 2021. She has a PhD in Anthropology, MA in Human Rights and Democracy in Southeast Europe and BA in Philosophy. Her research interests include digital ethnography, AI and society, digital futures, algorithmic politics, social media, online privacy, and reconciliation in former Yugoslavia.