Within the cycle titled Regional Tea Party: Yugoslavia, on 27 March at 12:00 pm in the Grand Hall of the Institute of Social Sciences, Radina Vučetić will give lecture about the state and social responses to the smallpox epidemic in Yugoslavia.
The outbreak of the most recent smallpox epidemic in Europe in 1972, caused an extensive socio-political reaction in Yugoslavia. Due to the joint, and primarily decisive and well-organised reaction by the state administration, epidemiological and healthcare services, army, as well as the citizens of Yugoslavia, the number of casualties of this dangerous disease stayed below 40, and thus a bigger tragedy was prevented.
Based on her monograph Nevidljivi neprijaтelj – Variola vera 1972 (The Invisible Enemy – Variola Vera 1972, Službеni glasnik, 2022), Radina Vučetić would talk not only about this comprehensive and often dramatic fight against the disease, but primarily about the ways in which this epidemic affected and caused Yugoslav society and the state to change in the long run.
Furthermore, she will address the question of potential parallels between the socio-political context in which the smallpox epidemic was fought on the one hand, and that of the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
Radina Vučetić is a full professor and the Head of the Centre for American Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. Her research is focused on 20th Century America, American Studies, American soft power, Cold War, history of Yugoslavia and Serbian/Yugoslav-American relations. She is the author of Coca-Cola Socialism: Americanization of Yugoslav Culture in the Sixties (published in Serbian and in English), Nevidljivi neprijatelj: Variola vera 1972 (The Invisible Enemy – Variola Vera 1972), Monopol na istinu: Partija, kultura i cenzura u Srbiji šezdesetih i sedamdesetih godina XX veka (Truth Monopoly: the Party, Culture and Censorship in Serbia in 1960s and 1970s), Evropa na Kalemegdanu: „Cvijeta Zuzorić“ i kulturni život Beograda 1918-1941 (Europe at the Kalemegdan: “Cvijeta Zuzorić” and Belgrade’s Cultural Life 1918-1941), and Vreme kada je narod govorio: Odjeci i reagovanja u Politici, 1988-1991 (The Time When People Spoke: Vox Populi and Reactions Rubric in the Politika Daily 1988-1991, Co-authored with Aljoša Mimica). She also co-edited Tito in Africa: Picturing Solidarity and Brotherhood and Unity at the Kitchen Table: Food in Socialist Yugoslavia, and authored dozens of scientific papers.
The Lecture is a part of the cycle titled “Yugoslavia”, organised in cooperation with the Academic Network for Cooperation in South East Europe. The lecture’s moderator is Irena Ristić (IDN).
https://zoom.us/j/95149713291?pwd=eHVadTA3Z2FscE5GdlNBM1FLNmFIUT09
Meeting ID: 951 4971 3291
Passcode: 060987
