Biography

Pieter Troch is Assistant Professor in Southeast European Languages and Cultures at the Department of Languages and Cultures (section Slavic and East European Studies).

His research deals with the modern social and cultural history of Southeast Europe, with a particular interest in the dynamics of social relations and identification against backgrounds of political and social transformations in the former Yugoslavia. His first monograph, Nationalism and Yugoslavia, dealt with the unsuccessful but impactful Yugoslav nation-building project in the broader domain of education. He is currently conducting a historical study of social relations and identities in the city of Mitrovica in Kosovo, covering the period of the socialist societal transformations between the end of World War II and the outbreak of the war in Kosovo. Within this project, Troch investigates how shifts in memory politics played out in the city of Mitrovica. He also looks at the intersection of memories of urban progress and ethnopolitical polarisation in the urban landscape. With photographer Thomas Janssens, Troch has co-published the photobook Layers of Time in the Urban Landscape, Visions of Socialist Urbanity in Mitrovica.

Working on Southeast Europe from the perspective of critical area studies, Troch engages with broader disciplines, including nationalism studies, labour history, urban studies and memory studies.

Contact

Department of Languages and Cultures, Room 160.013

Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2

9000 Ghent, Belgium

Email: Pieter.Troch@Ugent.be