Dr Elena Stavrevska
PhD, MA, LLB
Expertise
I am a feminist peace scholar, focused on questions of intersectionality and political economy in conflict-affected societies, with specific interest in the post-Yugoslav space and Colombia
Current positions
Lecturer in International Relations
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Contact
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Biography
I hold a PhD in Political Science and an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University (CEU). During my doctoral studies, I worked as a work-package coordinator and researcher on the EU-funded project Cultures of Governance and Conflict Resolution in Europe and India, a co-lecturer, and a teaching assistant. I was also a visiting doctoral fellow at the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice at the University of Toronto (2013) and a Study Programme on European Security fellow (2009-2010), coordinated by the Institut für Europäische Politik in Berlin and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
Beyond my academic work, I have been working closely with different civil society organisations and think tanks in the Balkans. As of 2017, I am a co-founder of Stella, which initiated the first mentorship programme for women and girls in higher education in Macedonia, aiming to build solidarity networks while taking into consideration concerns of first generation and minority female students in particular. I am also the initiator of the #WomenAlsoKnowBalkans list, in an effort to facilitate the inclusion of women in policy and media discussions in and about the region.
Research interests
I am a feminist peace scholar whose work examines issues of intersectionality and political economy in conflict-affected societies, feminist and decolonial approaches to peace, as well as coloniality of knowledge in relation to the post-Yugoslav space. I am a lecturer in International Relations at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol and a member of the YugoslaWomen+ Collective.
My research over the years has largely focused on peace processes and the necessary conditions for sustainable and just peace in an interconnected world. The overall question leading my research endeavours has been— how do different global dynamics, discourses, and power relations affect peace processes and how they shape and are shaped by local struggles rooted in people’s everyday lives? Informed by an intersectional and critical political economy approach, my work engages with the conflict-affected realities shaped by gender, race/ethnicity, colonialism, and class and the ways in which they affect and are affected by macro and micro peace processes. Relatedly, I am also interested in conceptualisations of peace, as well as understandings of who can know peace (and violence) and what forms of knowledge are seen as 'legitimate'.
Publications
Recent publications
30/04/2023Of Love and Frustration as Post-Yugoslav Women Scholars
International Political Sociology
Intersectionality and peace
The Palgrave encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies
‘Peace’ across spaces: Discussing feminist (and) decolonial visions of peace
Feminist conversations on peace
A different Women, Peace and Security is possible? Intersectionality in Women, Peace and Security resolutions and national action plans
European Journal of Politics and Gender
Avatars of colonial and liberal violences: the revelatory character of COVID-19 governance in Colombia
Third World Quarterly