Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers

Professor Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers

  • Professor of Applied Anthropology
  • Bournemouth Gateway Building BG501, St Pauls Lane, Bournemouth, BH8 8GP
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Biography

I am a social anthropologist with a background in applied anthropology. I like to engage students in authentic assignments such as producing ‘expert reports’, ‘policy briefs’ or ‘anti-discrimination campaigns’ in cross-cultural comparison. These are modelled on my experience as practising anthropological consultant, responding to real world challenges.

Since BU’ supported a co-creative, interdisciplinary project (Fusion Fund) in 2015, which allowed me to take 16 cross-faculty students and colleagues from Bournemouth to Kosovo, where we collaborated with our colleagues at University of Prishtina and civil society partners, I have increasingly involve participatory arts-based methodologies in my research, teaching and practice activities. All my research projects since (including AHRC-GCRF; UK government; and development industry funding) explore how young people, both at home and abroad, can be encourage and empowered to make sense of, and critically explore, sensitive pasts and difficult presents (including during lock-down at home); as well as to envisage better futures, with help of creative and innovative methods and technologies...

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Favourites

Journal Articles

  • Cooke, P. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2024. Attempting an Ontology of Participatory Film. Academic Quarter, 28, 65-74.
  • Luci, N. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2020. Epistemic justice and everyday nationalism: An auto-ethnography of transnational student encounters in a post-war memory and reconciliation project in Kosovo. Nations and Nationalism, 26 (2), 477-493.
  • Collantes-Celador, G. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2019. Police Reform and Human Rights in the Western Balkans: introduction to special section. International Journal of Human Rights.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Klinkner, M., 2019. Longing for lost normalcy: Social memory, transitional justice, and the ‘house museum’ to missing persons in Kosovo. Nationalities Papers, 47 (2), 232-247.
  • Collantes-Celador, G. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2019. Introduction to special section on 'police reform and human rights in the Western Balkans'. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 23 (4), 447-453.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2013. Erratum to The bequest of Ilegalja: Contested memories and moralities in contemporary Kosovo, (Nationalities Papers, (2013), doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2013.767792). Nationalities Papers, 41 (6), 1147.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2013. The Bequest of Ilegalja: Contested Memories and Moralities in Contemporary Kosovo. Nationalities Papers, 41 (6), 953-970.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Ströhle, I., 2012. An Ethnography of 'Political Will': Towards a Thick Description of Internal Scripts in Post-War Kosovo’. Südosteuropa, 60 (4), 497-513.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2012. Ivan ČOLOVIĆ, The Balkans: The Terror of Culture: Essays in Political Anthropology. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2011 (Southeast European Integration Perspectives vol. 5). 196 pp., ISBN 978-3-8329-6303-3, € 34.00. Südosteuropa, 1 (60), 137-139.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2010. Religion, Nation und Religiosität in Albanien [Religion, Nation and Religiosity in Albania] (German). Zeitschrift OST-WEST: Europäische Perspektiven (OWEP), 11 (4), 276-285.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2010. Dukuri trafikimi dhe ritrafikimi të shqiptareve [the phenomenon of trafficking and retrafficking of Albanians] (Albanian). Perpjekja, 17 (26-27), 213-232.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2008. Albanians, Albanianism and the Strategic Subversion of Stereotypes (republication). Anthropological Notebooks, 14 (2), 47-64.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Di Lellio, A., 2006. Komandanti legjendar: Ndërtimi i një master-narracioni shqiptar në Kosovën e pasluftës [The Legendary Commander: The construction of an Albanian master-narrative in post-war Kosovo] (Albanian). Perpjekja, 12 (23), 77-95.
  • Di Lellio, A. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2006. The legendary commander: The construction of an Albanian master-narrative in post-war Kosovo. Nations and Nationalism, 12 (3), 513-529.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Di Lellio, A., 2006. Udhetimi I shenjtë drejt kombit: ndërtimi i një faltoreje në Kosovën e pasluftës [Sacred Journey to a Nation: the Construction of a Shrine in Postwar Kosovo] (Albanian). Perpjekja, 13 (24), 27-49.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Di Lellio, A., 2006. Sacred Journey to a Nation: the Construction of a Shrine in Postwar Kosovo. Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing, 7 (1), 27-49.
  • Mai, N. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2003. Albanian migration and new transnationalisms. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 29 (6), 939-948.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2003. Imagologie und 'Albanismus' – Zu den Identifikationen der Albaner [Imagology and 'Albanianism' - about the identifications of the Albanians] (German). Österreichische Osthefte, 14 (1-2), 195-226.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 1999. Humiliation and Reconciliation in Northern Albania: The Logics of Feuding in Symbolic and Diachronic Perspectives. Sociologus, Supplement 1, 133-152.

Books

  • Confronting Multiple Crises: Local and International Perspectives on Policy-Making in Kosovo. Prishtina: Kosovo Research and Analysis Fellowship.
  • Local and International Determinants of Kosovo's Statehood II. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society.
  • Local and International Determinants of Kosovo's Statehood I. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society.
  • State-building in Post-Independence Kosovo: Policy Challenges and Societal Considerations. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society.
  • Αλβανικές ταυτότητες: Μύθος και ιστορία [Albanian Identities: Myth and History] (Greek, unauthorised translation). Athens: Papazisis.
  • The New Albanian Migration. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.
  • Albanian Migration and New Transnationalisms, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. University of Sussex.
  • Albanien: Geographie - historische Anthropologie - Geschichte - Kultur - postkommunistische Transformation [Albania: geography - historical anthropology - history - culture - postcommunist transformation] (German). Vienna - Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang Pub Inc.
  • Albanian Identities: Myth and History. C. HURST & CO. PUBLISHERS.
  • Die weite Welt und das Dorf: Albanische Emigration am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts [Wide world and village: Albanian emigrations at the end of the 20th century] (German). Vienna: Böhlau Verlag.

Chapters

  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Levell, J., 2023. Jeta e Rrugës: Translocal On-Road Hustle, Within and From Albania. In: Levell, J., Young, T. and Earle, R., eds. Exploring Urban Youth Culture Outside of the Gang Paradigm: Critical Questions of Youth, Gender and Race On-Road. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2023. Albanian culture and major crime: Challenging culturalist assumptions among investigating UK police. Policing race, ethnicity and culture: Ethnographic perspectives across Europe. 267-288.
  • Klinkner, M. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2022. Transitional justice principles versus survivors’ experience – conflicting interpretations in Kosovo case study involving missing persons and their memorialisation. In: Rauschenbach, M., Viebach, J. and Parmentier, S., eds. Localising Memory: The Dynamics and Informal Practices of Memorialisation after Mass Violence and Dictatorship. Routledge.
  • Murati, D. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2021. An Exercise in Legitimacy: Kosovo's Participation at the Venice Biennale. In: Armakolas, I., Demjaha, A., Elbasani, A. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., eds. Local and International Determinants of Kosovo's Statehood II. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, 71-107.
  • Armakolas, I., Demjaha, A., Elbasnia, A. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2021. Introduction. In: Armakolas, I., Demjaha, A., Elbasani, A. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., eds. Determinants of Kosovo's Statehood II. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, 13-29.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2020. Magic moments - early memories of Albania. In: Pichler, R. and Pula(j), E., eds. Albania's 90s: Photographs and Narratives. Vienna: bahoe books, 184-189.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., Gusia, L., Luci, N. and Pollozhani, L., 2019. Fragments on Heroes, Artists and Interventions: Challenging Gender Ideology and Provoking Active Citizenship through the Arts in Kosovo. In: Cooke, P. and Soria-Dolan, I., eds. Post-Participatory’ Arts for the ‘Post-Development’ Era. London: Routledge.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., Armakolas, I., Demjaha, A., Elbasani, A., Skendaj, E. and Tzifakis, N., 2017. Introduction. State-building in Post-Independence Kosovo: Policy Challenges and Societal Considerations. Prishtina: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, 29-48.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2014. Was ist das Visuelle an der Visuellen Geschichtskultur? – Kommentar zu einem neuen Forschungskonzept [What is the Visual in Historical Visual Culture?: a commentary on a new research concept],. In: Gasior, A., Halemba, A. and Troebst, S., eds. Gebrochene Kontinuitäten: Transnationalität in den Erinnerungskulturen Ostmitteleuropas im 20. Jahrhundert (German). Vienna - Cologne - Weimar: Böhlau-Verlag Gmbh.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2013. Democratisation through Defiance? The Albanian Civil Organisation 'Self-Determination' and International Supervision in Kosovo. In: Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V., Ker-Lindsay, J. and Kostovicova, D., eds. Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2012. 'Virgjëreshat' dhe 'elevantët në dyqanin e qelqurinave': Rreth sfidave ndërkombëtare të etnologjisë shqiptare në epokën post-socialiste ['Virgins’ and 'Bulls in a China Shop’: about the international challenges to Albanian Ethnology during the postsocialist period] (Albanian). In: Schmitt, O.J. and Frantz, E.A., eds. Historia e Shqiptarëve: Gjendja dhe perspektivat e studimeve [Albanian History Studies: state and perspectives] (Albanian). Tirana, Albania: Botime Përpjekja, 219-254.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2010. Bridging gaps between local and foreign concerns? Communication across symbolic divides in the transformation of the security forces in Kosovo. In: Montanari, L., Toniatti, R. and Woelk, J., eds. Il pluralismo nella transizione costituzionale dei Balcani: diritti e garanzie. Trento: Università di Trento, 145-169.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2010. Between Social Opprobrium and Repeat Trafficking: choices and chances of Albanian women deported from the UK. In: Holmes, L., ed. Trafficking and Human Rights: European and Asia-Pacific Perspectives. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 95-115.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2010. Invisible - Inaudible: Albanian Memory of Socialism after the War in Kosovo. In: Todorova, M. and Gille, Z., eds. Post-Communist Nostalgia. Oxford - New York: Berghahn Books, 96-112.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2009. ‘Jungfrauen' und 'Elefanten im Porzellanladen': Zur internationalen Herausforderung der albanischen Ethnologie im Postsozialismus ['Virgins’ and 'Bulls in a China Shop’: the international challenges to Albanian Ethnology during Postsocialism] (German). In: Schmitt, O.J., ed. Albanische Geschichte: Stand und Perspektiven der Forschung [Albanian History: state and perspectives of research] (German). Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 187-214.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2009. Emotions and Transitional Justice: on the restorative potentials of symbolic communication in Kosovo. In: Kostovicova, D., ed. The European Union and Transitional Justice: From Retributive to Restorative Justice in the Western Balkans. Belgrade: Humanitarian Law Centre.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2009. Securing Safe Spaces: Field Diplomacy in Albania and Kosovo. In: Huggins, M.K. and Glebbeek, M.-L., eds. Women Fielding Danger: Negotiating Ethnographic Identities in Field Research. Boulder, New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 173-198.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Ströhle, I., 2007. Der Nachhall des Sozialismus in der albanischen Erinnerung des Nachkriegskosovos [repercussions of Socialism in Albania memory of post-war Kosovo] (German). In: Brunnbauer, U. and Troebst, S., eds. Zwischen Amnesie und Nostalgie: Die Erinnerung an den Kommunismus in Südosteuropa [Between Amnesia and Nostalgia: Memory of Communism in Southeastern Europe]. Köln Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 216-235.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2007. Stolz und Schmerz: Albanische Sinnstiftungen durch Erinnerung an Krieg und Sozialismus im Kosovo vor dem endgültigen Status’ [Pride and Pain: Giving Albanian Meanings through Memory of War and Socialism in Kosovo before the Final Status] (German). In: Brunnbauer, U., Helmedach, A. and Troebst, S., eds. Schnittstellen: Gesellschaft, Nation, Konflikt und Erinnerung in Südosteuropa [Interfaces: Society, Nation, Conflict and Memory in Southeastern Europe] (Festschrift für Holm Sundhaussen zum 65. Geburtstag). Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 561-572.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2005. ‘Culture' in Court: Albanian Migrants and the Anthropologist as Expert Witness. In: Pink, S., ed. Applications of Anthropology: Professional Anthropology in the Twenty-first Century. Oxford - New York: Berghahn Books, 209-228.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2005. 'Gun Culture' in Kosovo: Questioning the Origins of Conflict. Small Arms Survey 2005: weapons at war. Oxford University Press, USA, 205-227.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2004. Albanians, Albanianism and the Strategic Subversion of Stereotypes. In: Hammond, A., ed. The Balkans and the West: Constructing the European Other, 1945 – 2003. Aldershot: Ashgate Pub Limited, 110-126.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2004. Times Past: References for the Construction of Local Order in Present-Day Albania. In: Todorova, M.N., ed. Balkan Identities: Nation and Memory. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 103-128.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2003. Gaps of Concern – An Inconclusive Conclusion. In: Siani-Davies, P., ed. International Intervention in the Balkans since 1995. London: Routledge, 194-217.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2002. Narratives of Power: Capacities of Myth in Albania (introduction). In: Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Fischer, B.J., eds. Albanian Identities: Myth and History. London: C. HURST & CO. PUBLISHERS, 3-25.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2002. Albanians. In: Ember, M., Ember, C.R. and Skoggard, I.A., eds. Encyclopedia of World Cultures (supplement). Macmillan Reference USA, 5-9.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2002. Dawn for a 'Sleeping Beauty Nation' – Aromanian Identity Politics and Conflicts in Post-Communist Albania. In: Kressing, F. and Kaser, K., eds. Albania--a country in transition: aspects of changing identities in a South-East European country. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 147-162.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2001. The Enactment of 'Tradition': Albanian Constructions of Identity, Violence and Power in Times of Crisis. In: Schmidt, B. and Schroeder, I., eds. Anthropology of Violence and Conflict. London: Routledge, 97-120.
  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2000. Gruppensolidaritaet und Gewaltlegitimation im heutigen Albanien [group solidarity and the legitimation of violence in contemporary Albania] (German). In: Lienau, C. and Steindorff, L., eds. Ethnizität, Identität und Nationalität in Südosteuropa: Beiträge Zu Einem Präsentationstag Der Südosteuropa-Forschung an Der Universität Münster Am 27.11.1998. Munich: Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, 133-150.

Conferences

  • Klinkner, M. and Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2017. Grieving lost normalcy: a Kosovo case study of social memory, incomplete transitional justice and political agency. In: Sixth International Expert Seminar on Transitional Justice 25-26 September 2017 KU Leuven.

Reports

Internet Publications

Theses

  • Schwandner-Sievers, S., 2012. Invoking a Culture – Deploying a Past: Albanian Identifications and Translocal Encounters. PhD Thesis. University of Roehampton, Dept of Social Sciences.
  • Schwandner, S., 1993. Funktion und Bedeutung der ‘Besa’ in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart [‘Function and Meaning of ‘Besa’ in past and present’]).

Posters

Others

Invited Lectures

  • What hip-hop can tell ..., Vienna, Austria, 13 Dec 2022 more
  • Root Causes of Irregular Migration..., University of Cambridge, Cambridge (UK), 07 Sep 2022 more
  • How Foreign is the Country of the Past? ..., IDMC, Tirana, Albania, 18 Feb 2022 more
  • Co-LearnSEE: Learning from the Western Balkans, Online / University of Leeds, UK, 09 Dec 2021 more
  • Memorialisation in Kosovo - Reflecting on TJ ..., Online / Belgrade, Serbia, 21 Dec 2020 more
  • If Buildings Held Memory: Reanimating space ..., Bournemouth, Bournemouth University, 02 Oct 2019 more
  • CtS: Lessons from (post-conflict?) Kosovo ACT, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 16 Mar 2019 more
  • Equity and epistemic justice in research collab..., Bournemouth, Bournemouth University, 05 Mar 2019 more
  • ‘Providing cultural expertise re. Albanian cases.., University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany, 14 Feb 2019 more
  • Arts,Critical Thinking & Active Citizenship, Kosov, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, 05 Dec 2018 more
  • The poetics of shame: post-socialist ethnographies, Materia, Italy, 08 Nov 2018 more
  • Changing the Story through the Arts in Kosovo?, University of Pretoria/Johannesb. Holocaust C., SA, 22 May 2018 more
  • InsideOut, OutsideIn: Postwar national-memory ..., London School of Economics, London, 28 Mar 2018 more
  • Against the Grain: Actors, Potentials and ...., University of Leeds, Leeds, 14 Nov 2017 more
  • Grieving lost normalcy: a Kosovo case study, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, 25 Oct 2017 more
  • Challenges of inclusive memorialization, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 24 Oct 2017 more
  • Anthropology After War: Inside/Outside Perspective, British Museum, London, 20 Jun 2017 more
  • Intervention fatigue, emotional knowledge and ..., University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, 16 Jun 2017 more
  • Enhancing Employment in a Divided Society, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, 05 May 2017 more
  • Male war and female peace?, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, 05 May 2017 more
  • Anthropology After War: Inside/Outside Perspective, London, 30 Jun 2016 more
  • New Approaches to Post-War Memory in Kosovo, Bologna, Italy, 10 May 2016 more
  • Quests into post-war Kosovo’s memoryscapes, Bournemouth, 06 May 2016 more
  • Conflict Transformation via gamification?, Bournemouth, 17 Dec 2015 more
  • Rethinking Reconciliation: an interactive approach, Bournemouth, 16 Nov 2015 more
  • Rethinking post-war reconciliation, memory and ..., University of Bournemouth, 26 Sep 2015 more
  • The Amanet – from cultural reproduction ...., University of Prishtina, Kosovo, 15 Sep 2015 more
  • 'The Anthropology of Birth and Death', University of Prishtina, Kosovo, 27 May 2015 more
  • Memory and the Anthropology of Nationalism, University of Prishtina, Kosovo, 25 May 2015 more
  • Anthropological approaches in the Political Scie.., University of Bologna (Forli campus), 22 May 2015 more
  • Transforming conflict after war ..., University of Bournemouth, 12 May 2015 more
  • 'Statues and statutes ..., Belfast, University of Ulster, 27 Apr 2015 more
  • 'Cultures of Informality and 'Corruption' ..., Munich, Germany, 04 Dec 2014 more
  • 'Anthropology of Human Rights', University of Prishtina, Kosovo, 25 Nov 2014 more
  • 'Critical Thinking - Anthropological Approaches..., University of Prishtina, Kosovo, 24 Nov 2014 more

Grants

  • Erasmus student/staff mobility 2020 - 2022 (Covid-prolonged until 2023) (EU, 01 Jun 2022). In Progress
  • SOUNDS: Understanding and Tackling the Drivers and Enablers of SOC in Albania through music (HipHop) elicitation and cocreation (Home Office, 01 Apr 2021). In Progress
  • CoLearnSEE (Consolidated Learning Southeast Europe) (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 01 May 2020). Completed
  • Reanimating Contested Spaces (ReReSpace: Designing Participatory Civic Education for and with Young People in Kosovo and Rwanda (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 01 Oct 2019). Completed
  • Erasmus student/staff exchange 2018 - 2020 (Covid-prolonged until 2021) (EU, 01 Jun 2018). Completed
  • Building Inclusive Civil Societies with, and for, Young People in 5 Post-Conflict Countries (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 01 Sep 2017). Awarded
  • Analysing Trafficking Routes: Typologies of Organised Immigration Crime (Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery, 27 Jun 2017). Completed
  • Migration, political mobilization, and kinship: the case of the Kosovo-Albanian population (since 2009: 'Ilegalja: the social and translocal organisation of militancy in Kosovo before the war') (Fritz Thyssen Foundation/ Free University Berlin (Osteuropa Institute), 01 Jan 2009). Completed

External Responsibilities

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • Building knowledge for peace-building and democratisation in and about post-conflict Kosovo, collaborating with civil society organisations, young scholars and regional universities (01 Jun 2016-30 Apr 2019)

Qualifications

  • PhD in Social Anthropology (Roehampton University, London, 2012)

Honours

  • International Fellow (Prishtina University, Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology) (Open Society Foundations, International Higher Education Support Program, Academic Fellowship Programme, 2014)
  • International Fellow (Prishtina University, Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology) (Open Society Foundation, International Higher Education Support Program, Academic Fellowship Program, 2013)

Memberships

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