Lazar Barać

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Lazar Barać

Lazar Barać

Academic title: master

Research position: Research Assistant

migration studies, folk culture, Balkanism, masculinity, music studies, Orthodoxy and post-socialism, music and dance folklore, cultural heritage

Email: lazar.barac@ei.sanu.ac.rs

Education and qualifications:

  • 2026 – Research Assistant, Institute of Ethnography SASA
  • 2024 – Junior Research Assistant, Institute of Ethnography SASA
  • 2024 – PhD Candidate, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
  • 2023 – M.A. in Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
  • 2022 – B.A. in Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
  • 2018 – Professional Bachelor's Degree, College of Vocational Studies for Preschool Teacher Education, Kikinda

Affiliation:

  • The Institute of Ethnography SASA

Projects:

  • 2018 – Dance for All – We Are All the Same – Nebograd
  • 2022 – Rapid Assessment of Child Labour Exploitation on the Streets of Serbia – International Labour Organization (ILO) and SeConS Development Initiative Group
  • 2023 – The Small Great Economy – United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and SeConS Development Initiative Group
  • 2023/2024 – Transnational Entrepreneurs – Serbian Ethnological and Anthropological Society
  • 2024 – Supporting the Delivery of a Personal Initiative Training for Roma Women in Serbia – Institute of Ethnography SASA and the Move Entrepreneurship Institute (Berlin), with the support of the World Bank
  • 2025/2026 – Heritage of Emancipation: Empowering Roma Women through the Development of Solidarity Networks (HEROINES) – Institute of Ethnography SASA, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and the Bibija Roma Women's Center
  • 2026 – Migrants in Distress? Sociocultural Consequences of Contemporary Crises for Serbian Migrants in Austria and Returnees in Serbia – Bilateral Research Project of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Austria

Public Lectures and Panel Discussions

  • 2021 – Panel discussion How Do We See Islam? – Days of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade
  • 2022 – Panel discussion Post-/Yugoslav Gastarbeiters – Center for Yugoslav Studies
  • 2023 – Public lecture Constructing the Cultural Identity of Serbian Labour Migrants in Vicenza – Krov Social Centre
  • 2024 – Public lecture Folk Music Culture: From Traditional to Contemporary Forms – Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
  • 2025 – Panel discussion Research Shows: The Role of Sociocultural Research in ContemporarySerbia – Actant Centre for Sociocultural Research
  • 2026 – Participant in the Student Days of Music and Dance Traditions – National Committee of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

Awards:

  • Student of the Generation, College of Vocational Studies for Preschool Teacher Education, Kikinda (2015/2016)
  • Student of the Generation, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade (2018/2019)
  • Dušan Bandić Award for the Best Bachelor's Thesis, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology (2021/2022) (Extracomunitari, Slavi e Serbi: Conceptualizing and Contextualizing the Cultural Identity of Serbian Labour Migrants in the Italian Province of Vicenza – Supervisor: Prof. Dragana Antonijević, PhD)
  • Dušan Bandić Award for the Best Master's Thesis, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology (2022/2023) (Trap, God, Trap, Folk: The Reception of Balkan Trap among the Second Generation of Serbian Extracomunitari in Vicenza – Supervisor: Prof. Dragana Antonijević, PhD)
  • Borivoje Drobnjaković Award, presented by the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, for the Best Master's Thesis defended in 2023 at the Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

Research Interests

  • Migration studies, anthropology of music, masculinity studies, folk and popular culture, Balkanism, cultural heritage, and music and dance folklore

Professional Memberships

  • European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
  • International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)
  • International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)
  • Serbian Ethnological and Anthropological Society
  • Folklore Association of Serbia
  • Actant Centre for Sociocultural Research

Working Groups

  • WG Labour Migration History (European Labour History Network) – Working Group on Labour
  • Migration History, European Labour History Network

Scientific Articles

  • Barać, Lazar. 2026. “The Balkans Tattooed on the Skin: The Reception of Balkan Trap/Trap-Folk through the Musical Habitus of Second-Generation Serbian Migrants in Vicenza.” Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 21 (2): 205–232. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v21i1.8 (M23)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Folk and Its Progeny: The Transformation of Popular Folk Music in Serbia from Its Origins to the Present.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 73 (2): 239–265. https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI2502239B (M23)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Made in the Balkans: A Contribution to Understanding Balkan Trap/Trap-Folk as a Musical Genre and Cultural Phenomenon.” Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 20 (2): 559–590. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v20i2.9 (M23)
  • Antonijević, Dragana, Miloš Rašić, and Lazar Barać. 2025. “Transnational Business Strategies of Serbian Entrepreneurs in Vienna.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 73 (1): 61–84. https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI2501061A (M23)
  • Barać, Lazar, Anđelka Živojinović, and Jelena Ćuković. 2024. “Migratory, Strategic and Ideological Aspects of Returning to the Countryside in Contemporary Serbia.” Anthropology 24 (2): 31–47. http://doi.org/10.21301/ant2422 (M51)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2022. “Extracomunitari the Serbian Way: Conceptualizing the Term Serbian Extracomunitari as a Designation for Serbian Labour Migrants in the Italian Province of Vicenza.” Papers in Ethnology and Anthropology 33 (22): 81–96 (M52)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2022. “Traditional Believers as the Mainstay of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Political Power in Postsocialist Serbia.” Insights 1: 8–12.

Encyclopedic Entries

  • Rašić, Miloš, and Lazar Barać. 2026. “Migrant Networks.” Ethnological-Anthropological Glossary of Serbian Culture. Available at: https://pojmovnik.rs/pojmovnik/ (M47)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Folk Music.” Ethnological-Anthropological Glossary of Serbian Culture. Available at: https://pojmovnik.rs/pojmovnik/ (M47)
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Habitus.” Ethnological-Anthropological Glossary of Serbian Culture. Available at: https://pojmovnik.rs/pojmovnik/ (M47)

Conference Papers

  • Rašić, Miloš, and Lazar Barać. 2026. “The ‘Folkloric’ Body as Disciplined and Affective: Pedagogical Practices in the Transnational Context of Serbian Traditional Dance.” In Tradition and Contemporaneity in Arts and Education: Book of Abstracts, 109–109. 4th International Scientific Conference Tradition and Contemporaneity in Arts and Education, Faculty of Arts, University of Priština with Temporary Head Office in Kosovska Mitrovica. Kosovska Mitrovica, May 15–17.
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Fendi, Gucci, Louis, Prada: Fashion Practices in Balkan Trap and Contemporary Folk Forms.” In The Social Life of Fashion in Serbia from the Nineteenth Century to the Present, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, 15–15. Belgrade, May 23–24.
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Alone (but) Together? Intracultural and Intercultural Principles of Functioning within the Serbian Community in the Italian Province of Vicenza.” Paper presented at the international conference Material and Spiritual Culture of Serbs in Multiethnic Environments and/or Peripheral Areas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš and the Union of Serbs in Romania. Niš, October 17–18.
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “The Balkans Tattooed on the Skin: Balkan Trap/Trap-Folk among the Second Generation of the Serbian Community in Vicenza.” Paper presented at the conference Popular Culture, Folklore, Communication, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. Belgrade, December 5–6.

Reviews, Debates, and Chronicles

  • Barać, Lazar. 2026. “Culture at the Heart of Sound: An Anthropological Reflection on Regimes of Knowledge in Contemporary Ethnomusicology.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 74 (1): 233–236.
  • Radivojević, Sonja, and Lazar Barać. 2025. “Following the Footsteps of HEROINES: A Chronicle of the Project Heritage of Emancipation: Empowering Roma Women through Networks of Solidarity (HEROINES).” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 73 (2): 325–332.
  • Barać, Lazar. 2025. “Research Shows: The Role of Sociocultural Research in Serbia Today.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 73 (1): 285–287.
  • Barać, Lazar. 2023. “Migration, Nations, Imaginations: Clubs as the Microcosm of the Serbian Gastarbeiter Community in Vienna,” review of Imagined Homeland: Clubs, Identity, and the Integration of Serbian Gastarbeiter in Vienna by Miloš Rašić (Belgrade: Institute of Ethnography SASA, 2022, 232 pp.). Etnološko-antropološke sveske 34 (23): 139–142.