Ognjen Parojčić, MA, Research Assistant at the Institute of Ethnography SASA, participated in the international scientific conference Affective Regimes of Normality and Discomfort, held from 28 to 30 September 2026 at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb. The conference was organized by the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, the Academy of Dramatic Art of the University of Zagreb, and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Udine.

As part of the panel The Body in the Regimes of Medicine and Law, he presented a paper entitled “Renarrativization of the Self: Treatment, Identity, and the Maintenance of (Ab)normality,” in which he analyzed narratives of personal experiences of addiction, focusing on the process of undergoing a treatment program. In his presentation, he emphasized the role of treatment itself in the process of renarrativization of the personal identities of participants in the rehabilitation program.

The conference examines the concept of “normality” from an anthropological and folkloristic perspective, starting from the everyday experiences, cultural practices, and affective dispositions of individuals and communities. In addition to diagnosing contemporary social crises, the conference aims to explore the potential of “discomfort” as a form of critical resistance to the normalization of violence, inequality, and the erosion of social and humanistic values.

The abstract and conference programme can be found at: https://www.ief.hr/novosti/afektivni-rezimi-normalnosti-i-nelagode/