Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Faculty of Economics, University in Tuzla
The second WEMov’s training school took place in the charming Bosnian and Herzegovinian town of Tuzla on 6-9 June 2023. The University of Tuzla, Faculty of Economics, as part of Summer University 2023 event, hosted students and tutors from all over the world. Coming from over different nationalities, 9 Master and 12 PhD students from European universities, spent four days in Tuzla, learning about women’s migration across Europe from various perspectives.
On 6 June, after the welcome and introductory speeches of Selma Smajlović (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, University in Tuzla, leader of WEMov WG3), Vesna Bratovčić, (Vise-rector of international cooperation of University in Tuzla), and Marie Ruiz (Associate Professor in British History, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, WEMov chair), the training school attendees had the opportunity to hear the opening lecture given by Natalija Perišić, PhD, Full Professor of Social Policy at the University of Belgrade on “Theorizing and Researching Women on the Move – Perspectives from the Western Balkans“.
After the first classes with their tutors, the students visited the old town of Tuzla, learning about the rich history of this multicultural place. They also visited the Memorial center ‘’Kapija’’, dedicated to the remembrance of the Kapija massacre victims in 1995.
On the second day of the training school, Full Professor Jasmina Okičić, PhD, from the University in Tuzla, Faculty of Economicsgave a keynote speech on “Mixing Thing Up! Overcoming the Qualitative-Quantitative Gap Trap in Migration Research“. After the day of classes and group works, the students and their tutors enjoyed on the Pannonian lakes in the very heart of Tuzla, where they soaked up the sun and swam together.
June 8, the third day of the training school, was reserved for the day trip to Sarajevo and the visit to the Ušivak Temporary Reception Center in Hadžići, a welcoming migrants’ reception center. The attendees were welcomed by the amazing, hard-working staff of the World Vision Bosnia and Herzegovina and the BH Women’s Initiative Foundation, who guided them through the center and explained the process of the migrants’ reception.
After visiting the Ušivak Center, the group took a stroll around Sarajevo’s historical center, Baš Čaršija, where everyone enjoyed a well-deserved homemade ‘burek’ before heading back to Tuzla.
On the last day of the Training school, June 9, an informative and touching speech was offered by Midhat Dugonjić, from IOM Tuzla, who talked about the IOM experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting especially an initiative called ‘No Nation Fashion’, a brand and a social enterprise that promotes the inclusion of migrants in host communities. Danijel Vasilj, from The Center for Community Services PUŽ, shared experiences and stories of working in community shelters for vulnerable groups and about transit migrants through Tuzla and the Western Balkans.
After the speeches, the students had classes, and in the afternoon they finalized the final tasks with their tutors. During the training school, the students were engaged in a diverse and multidisciplinary program offered by the tutors to MA and PhD groups. Each group presented their final task, on which they worked together with an assigned tutor. Igor Lyman tutored a MA group on oral history, storytelling, and biography, while Božena Miljić’s MA group focused on mapping European archives and libraries on women’s migration. The third MA group, tutored by Julia Stryker, got familiarized with the use of Python and Visualization in their fields. PhD students were tutored by Brigitte Le Normand, who engaged with them in strategies for finding and interpreting traces of migrant working women in the archives, while Maija Ojala-Fulwood and Marie Ruiz focused on career skills and memory on women’s migration with their students. The third PhD group was tutored by Stellamarina Donato, who worked with them on qualitative text analysis in atlas.ti regarding women’s migration.
The presentations were followed by certificate completion awards and the final cocktail, where everyone got the chance to summarize their thoughts and feelings and say goodbye to their new friends and to Tuzla.
Last, but not the least, all training school attendees were kindly invited to take part in the 6th Contemporary Woman Festival (‘Festival savremene žene’) that was being held in Tuzla during the same week.
