What is a Voluntary Association? Rethinking Associational Life from Southeastern Europe: Concepts, Archives and Perspectives
Seminar #1
Beyond Dichotomies: Voluntary Associations and Social Movements in 20th-Century Yugoslavia
Fabio Giomi CNRS, CETOBaC
Melvin Bernard EHESS, CETOBaC
Jovana Papovic EHESS, CETOBaC
Ana Otasevic EHESS, CETOBaC
Lucie Raskin INALCO, CREE
In collaboration with the CETOBaC and the Modern Greek History Research Center of the Academy of Athens
#SemMod
Programme 2025
Abstract
This seminar aims to revisit the research conducted over the past ten years within the CETOBaC Balkans cluster on voluntary associations and social movements. Particular attention will be given to the seminar For a History of Social Movements in Southeastern Europe (19th-20th Century), led for four years at EHESS by Fabio Giomi and Nathalie Clayer, as well as to several publications involving members of the group: Fabio Giomi, Stefano Petrungaro (eds.), Voluntary Associations in Yugoslavia, 1918-1941, European Review of History: Revue européenne d’histoire, Special Issue, 26, 1, 2019; Fabio Giomi, Célia Keren, and Morgane Labbé (eds.), Public and Private Welfare in Modern Europe: Productive Entanglements, Routledge, London, 2022; and Fabio Giomi, Lukas Posselt (eds.), Qu’est-ce qu’une association ? Pratiques volontaires, pratiques documentaires, 1870-1960, 20-21. Revue d’histoire, forthcoming. Building on these works, the seminar organizers will seek to demonstrate, through their respective case studies, how research on Southeastern Europe can contribute to destabilizing several dichotomies that continue to shape global historiography on voluntary associations—such as public-private, East-West, and liberal-illiberal divides.
About the seminar cycle
This seminar cycle aims to bring together a network of scholars at different career stages and institutional affiliations who share a common interest in two key aspects: first, the study of voluntary associations; and second, a regional focus on Southeastern Europe, with particular attention to Greece and the (post-)Yugoslav region in the 20th and 21st centuries. Despite Southeastern Europe’s reputation for being less inclined toward civic engagement, recent research—including our own—has highlighted the central role of voluntary associations (udruženje/удружење or društvo/друштво in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian and σύλλογοι or εθελοντικές οργανώσεις in Greek) in shaping social and political life since their emergence in the 19th century. Given the region’s profound socio-political transformations throughout the 20th century—ranging from imperial rule to nation-state formation, from liberal democracy to right-wing dictatorship and to “real socialism”—this project seeks to integrate Southeastern Europe into the global history of associations.
Over the course of three sessions, members of this research network will present recently published and ongoing research on the trajectories of volunteering and associational engagement. We will explore how individuals and groups navigated and shaped these networks over time, focussing on the lived experiences of association members and the interplay between personal agency, institutional structures, and broader social transformations. This seminar cycle aims to foster a dialogue on the key research questions driving participants’ work, the concepts they mobilize, and the sources available for studying associational life.