Jelena Jovanovic

While researching the curricula for learning Romani language in elementary schools in Serbia in 2011, she has found several topics that are constructed on stereotypes, represented through the textbooks, both gender and ethnic based. While continuing to be interested in the intersections of gender and ethnic based institutional discrimination, during her second MA program at Central European University in Budapest and University of Hull in England (2012-2014), she got interested in the wider situation of Romani representations and self-representations, both at transnational, but also at national level. Specifically, she has conducted research on representation of Romani people in general and Romani women in particular in media and academic discourses. She continued to examine self-representations of Romani women political activists at transnational level. Related to Romani women’s political activism, she critically evaluates the concept of Romani women's identity. Besides her academic interests, she was active in governmental (in Serbia) and international organizations (in Hungary) where she worked on the improvement of Romani children's educational opportunities.