Women and Partisan Art: Literature, Dance and Theater in WWII Yugoslavia

Panelists: Elena Messner (University of Vienna), Goran Lazičić (University of Graz) and Bara Kolenc (University of Ljubljana) 

Respondent: Jelena Batinić (Stanford)

Moderator:  Dominick Lawton (Stanford)

RSVP for the Women and the Partisan Art Event

During the Second World War, about 100,000 women took up arms in the Yugoslav people’s liberation struggle against fascism. These partizanke were joined by two million other women who supported the military resistance by managing hospitals and schools, running literacy and cultural programs, and aiding in intelligence and logistics operations.

Often overlooked in written histories of the War, the partizanke created a compelling and widespread culture of resistance. This panel will showcase recent scholarship on partisan literature and culture—ranging from folk crafts and avant-garde visual art to experimental dance and theater. Goran Lazičić and Elena Messner will present their co-edited volume, Women and Partisan Art: Aesthetics and Practices of Resistance in Yugoslavia and Carinthia (transcript 2025). In “Repeating Brina,” Bara Kolenc will demonstrate the lasting legacy of celebrated partizanka dancer Marta Paulin (alias Brina) for contemporary cultures of resistance, with reference to two collaborative dance performances Kolenc created in 2019 and 2021. 

Goran Lazičić is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Slavic Studies from the University of Graz and an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Vienna, after graduating in Serbian and Comparative Literature from the University of Belgrade. 

Elena Messner is a senior postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Slavic Studies at Universität Wien, working on feminist periodicals from ex-Yugoslavia. In addition to her academic work, she is a writer, curator and editor and has published several novels and essays. 

Bara Kolenc is a philosopher and an artist. She is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. She is currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford, working on the project “Re-Thinking Alienation Through the Lens of Yugoslav Social Philosophy: Zagorka Golubović and American Pragmatism.” 

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