At Home With Medical Anthropology in the Former Yugoslavia: Between Socialist Legacies and Neoliberal Realities

Bukovčan, Tanja (author), Lipovec Čebron, Uršula (author)

The article traces the development of medical anthropolog y in the former Yugoslav region, highlighting how the discipline has evolved through the legacies of social medicine and socialist self-management and, in recent decades, as a response to neoliberal trends in healthcare. The authors understand this region as a site of epistemic resistance and creativ-ity, where scholars respond to shifting healthcare landscapes by rethinking the boundaries between critique and care, theory and practice. Drawing on a wealth of regional references and field experiences, the article offers both a historical and conceptual grounding for this special issue of Svetovi/Worlds, framing medical anthropolog y in the Balkans as simultane-ously local and transnational, reflexive and politically engaged.

• Language: English
• Keywords: medical anthropology, former Yugoslavia, social medicine, socialist self-management, neoliberalism, symposiums, dediščina socializma, zdravstvo, zgodovinski pregledi
• Geographic coverage: Jugoslavija
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.02.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 18-27
• Numbering: Letn. 4, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180161
• UDC: 39:61:329.14(497.1)
• ISSN on article: 2820-6088
• DOI: 10.4312/svetovi.4.1.18-27
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270314243
• Publication date in RUL: 04.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Svetovi
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2820-6088
• COBISS.SI-ID: 148550403

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Doma z medicinsko antropologijo v nekdanji Jugoslaviji: med socialistično dediščino in neoliberalno realnostjo

Abstract

Članek sledi razvoju medicinske antropologije na območju nekdanje Jugoslavije ter poudarja, da je ta disciplina zrasla iz dediščine socialne medicine in socialističnega samo-upravljanja ter se v zadnjih desetletjih odziva na neoliberalne trende v zdravstvu. Avtorici območje nekdanje Jugoslavije razumeta kot prostor epistemološkega odpora in ustvarjalnosti, kjer se raziskovalci in raziskovalke odzivajo na spreminjajoče se razmere v zdravstvu z razmislekom o mejah med kritiko in oskrbo, teorijo in prakso. Članek, ki črpa iz bogatih regionalnih referenc in izkušenj s terena, ponuja tako zgodovinsko kot konceptualno podlago za tematsko številko Svetov, obenem pa postavlja okvir medicinske antropologije na Balkanu, ki je sočasno lokalna in transnacionalna, refleksivna in politično angažirana.

• Keywords: medicinska antropologija, nekdanja Jugoslavija, socialna medicina, socialistično samoupravljanje, neoliberalizem, simpoziji, legacy of socialism, healthcare, historical reviews

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P6-0187-2022
• Name: Etnološke raziskave kulturnih znanj, praks in oblik socialnosti