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Sandra King-Savic

Sandra King-Savic

Sandra King-Savic

Dr.

Lecturer in Migration | Research Associate

SHSS-HSG
Büro 52-7138
Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8
9000 St. Gallen
Education
  • Certificate Program of Advanced Studies in Migration Law (CAS), University of Bern December January 2020 - December 2022
  • Dr. rer. soc., Organization Studies, University of St. Gallen, CH, January 2014 – February 2019
  • MA of Arts, Russian and East European Studies, University of Kansas, USA, August 2011 – May 2013
  • BA of Arts and Sciences, University of Wyoming, USA, August 2007 – December 2010
  • Berufsschule Stans, Switzerland, August 1998 – 2001 

Summer- and Winter Schools Attended

  • Field Training School and Research Seminar “Urban Ethnography and Theory”, 18-26 July 2022, Montecatini Terme, Italy
  • Eight International Postgraduate Summer School “Cultures, Migrations, Borders”, 2nd – 11th July 2019, School of Social Sciences – Department of Social Anthropology and History, Plomari Lesvos, Greece
  • 3CI Ph.D. Winter School on Migration and Urban Change, 15th – 19th January 2018, Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies at the University of Liège, Belgium
  • Albania on the Move – Die Albanische Migrationsgesellschaft, 19th August – 1st September 2017 in Tirana and Durrës, Albania
  • Sarajevo 1914 – 2014 Academic Summer Program on War & Peace. Commemorating the centenary of the beginning of WWI and the conflicts that followed, June 16th June 28th 2014 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

In progress

  • Certificate Program of Advanced Studies in Higher Education (CAS), teaching certificate, University of St.Gallen 
Professional Career
  • Project leader, University St. Gllen (January 2023 - present)
  • Lecturer, University of St. Gallen, CH (January 2018 - present)
  • International Postdoctoral Fellow, University of St. Gallen, CH (March 2019 - 2023)
  • Visiting Fellow, European University Institute, Florence, Italy (January – May 2021)
  • Executive Director at the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe, University of St. Gallen, CH (2016-2022)
  • Human Rights Educator, Amnesty International Switzerland (2017-2019)
  • Research Associate at the Department of Russian Culture and Society, University of St. Gallen, CH (2015-2018)
  • Research Assistant at the Department of Russian Culture and Society, University of St. Gallen, CH (2014-2018)
  • Research Assistant, Foreign Language and Area Studies & the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas, USA (2012-2013)
  • Research Assistant, Foreign Military Studies Office & the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas, USA (2011-2012)
  • Internship, Wyoming Women’s Foundation, Laramie Wyoming, USA, (2010)
  • Assistant at the International Studies Department, University of Wyoming, USA, (2009-2010)
  • Internship, AMIDEAST Nabeul Language Village, Tunisia (June – August 2008) 
     
Teaching Activities
  • Introduction to Migration Studies, Spring 2022
  • Migrationsland Schweiz? Geschichte und Gegenwart, Fall 2022, University of St.Gallen
  • Immigration, Flight, Expulsion – A History of Migration, 1650 – 2000, Fall 2018 – present, University of St.Gallen
  • Not all is Legal: An Introduction to Informal Practices, MA course, co-teaching with Dr. Matias Dewey, Fall 2021, Spring 2022 University St.Gallen
  • Migrationsland Schweiz – Geschichte und Gegenwart der globalen Eidgenossenschaft, MA course, co-teaching with Prof. Dr. Caspar Hirschi, Fall 2020, University of St.Gallen
  • Knowledge, Power, Culture – Rethinking (former) Yugoslavia, MA, co-teaching with Dr. Jelena Tosic, Spring 2020, University of St.Gallen
  • Migration und Technologie im Spannungsfeld von Möglichkeit und Kontrolle, BA course, co-teaching with Dr. Jan Horstmann, Fall 2019, University of St.Gallen
  • Russian and Turkish Soft Power in the Western Balkans, MA study abroad course, co-teaching with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schmid, Fall 2019, University of St.Gallen
    • Study abroad component in in Belgrade, Serbia, Novi Pazar in Serbia, and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 27. October – 3. November 2019 (co-organized with Ulrich Schmid, University of St. Gallen)
  • Imperium-Nation-Kommunismus: Zeitgenössische Interpretation von Nationalismus in Südosteuropa, BA study abroad course, co-teaching with Dr. Partschefeld, Fall 2018, University of St.Gallen
    • Study abroad component in Belgrade, Serbia; Skopje, Macedonia; and Tirana, Albania, 1. – 9. April 2022 (co-organized with Yves Partschefeld, University of St.Gallen
    • Study abroad component in Belgrade, Serbia; Skopje, Macedonia; and Tirana, Albania, 28. October – 3. November 2018 (co-organized with Yves Partschefeld, University of St.Gallen)
Projects
  • Principal Investigator in the project "Protecting Irregular Migrants in Europe: Institutions, Interests and Policies" (PRIME), University of St. Gallen | Horizon-CL2-2022 Transformations-01, April 1st 2023 - March 31st 2026, coordinated by the European University Institute in Florence, in cooperation with Uniwersitet Warszawksi, Dank Flygtningehjaelp Forening, Uppsala Universitet, Sveuciliste u Zagrebu - Pravni Fakultet, and the University of Bristol
  • Post-doctoral research project March 2019 – 2022: “Mediating Belonging in Switzerland: Strategies of Integration Among Labor Migrants and Refugees from Yugosalvia”, University of St. Gallen | International Post-Doctoral Fellowship
  • Scientific outreach project in cooperation with All might Change 2016, 2019: “Voices of the Via Egnatia”, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Landis & Gyr Foundation
  • Doctoral research project 2014 – 2019: “Transnational Black-Market Practices between Novi Pazar, Serbia, and Turkey: Re-Constructing Social Relations through the Prism of Šverc (Smuggling), University of St.Gallen | Swiss National Foundation
  • MA research project 2011 - 2013: “Social History of Interethnic Relations: A Case Study of Novi Pazar, Serbia”, University of Kansas | Foreign Language & Area Studies Scholarship (FLAS) and Foreign Military Studies Office 
Affiliations
  • INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL COHESION (IMISCOE)
  • THE EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM FOR POLITICAL RESEARCH (ECPR)
Awards
  • Grant: Horizon-CL2-2022 Transformations-01 Grant for the realization of the "Protecting Irregular Migrants in Europe: Institutions, Interests and Policies" (PRIME) project, April 1st 2023 - March 31st 2026, coordinated by the European University Institute in Florence, in cooperation with Uniwersitet Warszawksi, Dank Flygtningehjaelp Forening, Uppsala Universitet, Sveuciliste u Zagrebu - Pravni Fakultet, and the University of Bristol 
  • Grant: Swiss National Foundation Gold Open Access funding for the publication of "Forging Transnational Belonging through Informal Trade - Thriving Markets in Times of Crisis", Routledge 2021
  • Fellowship: Scientific Exchange Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, January – Mai 2021, competitive full academic scholarship awarded through the Swiss National Foundation (2020)
  • Grant: City of St.Gallen grant for the realization of the theater project “Voices of the Via Egnatia” (in cooperation with All might Change, 2020)
  • Grant: City of Zürich grant for the realization of the theater project “Voices of the Via Egnatia” (in cooperation with All might Change, 2020)
  • Grant: Convention of the Workshop ““Samo Vjeran Pas”: Workshop on Post-Yugoslav Neoliberal Academic Selves and Possibilities of Knowing the Balkans Otherwise”, awarded through the Forschungskommission at the University of St.Gallen (co-application with Suncana Laketa and Jelena Tosic, 2019)
  • Fellowship: International Postdoctoral Fellowship (IPF) awarded by the Basic Research Fund (GFF) at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), competitive full academic scholarship for the post-doctoral project “Mediating Belonging in Switzerland: Strategies of Integration Among Labor Migrants and Refugees from Yugosalvia” (March 2019-March 2022)
  • Grant: Ernst Göhner Foundation grant for the realization of the theater project “Voices of the Via Egnatia” (2019, in cooperation with All might Change)
  • Grant: Landis & Gyr Foundation grant to conduct research of the theater project “Voices of the Via Egnatia” (2016, 2019)
  • Grant: Science Peer Mentoring awarded by the Basic Research Fund (GFF) at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Academic scholarship for the support of young researchers, 2015 – 2016, (co-conceptualized with Alice Froidevaux)
  • Fellowship: Swiss National Foundation Fellowship awarded through the Department of Russian Culture and Society, University of St.Gallen (HSG) competitive full academic scholarship for the doctoral project “Transnational Black-Market Practices between Novi Pazar, Serbia, and Turkey: Re-Constructing Social Relations through the Prism of Šverc(Smuggling) (April 2015 – April 2018)
  • Fellowship: Foreign Language and Area Studies scholarship (FLAS) awarded through the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Kansas (KU), competitive full academic scholarship for the MA project “Social History of Interethnic Relations: A Case Study of Novi Pazar, Serbia” (2012-2013)
  • Prize: Transitions Online, Winner of the Next in Line.eu Citizen Journalist Contest (2012)
  • Fellowship: Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) scholarship awarded through the Center for Russian and East European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Kansas (KU), competitive full academic scholarship in support of ethnographic fieldwork in Novi Pazar, Serbia (May 2012-July 2012)
  • Fellowship: Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) awarded through the Center for Russian and East European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Kansas (KU), competitive full academic scholarship for the MA project “Social History of Interethnic Relations: A Case Study of Novi Pazar, Serbia” (2011-2012)
  • Grant: Arts & Sciences Study Abroad Scholarship, academic scholarship to cover a Winter School in Brussels, University of Wyoming (March 2010)
  • Grant: Dick and Lynne Cheney Scholarship academic scholarship to cover a Winter School in Brussels, University of Wyoming (March 2010)
Talks

Invited Talks 

  • Museums Gespräch: Weiss – Die Benennung Unreiner Assoziationen, Textilmuseum St. Gallen, 13.04.2023
  • Vortrag: Die Zugehörigkeit zum Schweizer Body-Politique Mobilitätsregime und Interdependenz zwischen dem West-Balkan und der Schweiz, Zürcher Hochschule der KünsteZürcher Hochschule der Künste 03.04.2023
  • Debatte: Netzwerk-Treffen zum Thema politische Mitbestimmung von Menschen ohne Schweizer Bürgerrecht, kHaus Basel, 27. März 2023
  • Vortrag: Aus dem zerfallenen Jugoslawien in die Schweiz, Volkshochschule Zürich, 7. Februar 2023
  • Vortrag: Transnationale praktiken von Diasporagruppierungen mit spezifischen Augenmerk auf den Balkan und die Schweiz, Hochschule Luzern, 31. Januar 2023
  • Debatte: INES Club #Neue Schweiz#: Debatte zu aktuellen auf der Schnittstelle Migration, 22. Oktober 2022, Reithalle Basel 
  • SP SOMMERSPAZIERGÄNGE: “GEMEINSAM AM LANGEN TISCH”, Mittwoch, 31. August 2022, invited by the Sozialdemokratischen Partei St. Gallen
  • Presentation: “Integrating in Whose Name? An Emic Perspective of Experiencing Mobility and Integration”, Dealing with the Violent Past: Transnational Dimensions and Diasporic Experiences, University of Zürich, 23 - 24 September 2021
  • Presentation: Book presentation at the EUI Anthropology working group in Florence, Italy, 1 June 2021
  • Vortrag: "Integrating in Whose Name? An Emic Perspective of Experiencing Mobility and Integration", Workshop zu Migration mit Inputs aus Kunst, Kultur und Wissenschaft, Center for Global Studies (CGS) am historisch-philosophischen Institut an der Universität Bern, 15 Mai 2021 (postponed due to Covid19)
  • Presentation: "Reframing Integration: Building a new Paradigm of Integration Based on the Perspective of those who Experienced Migration. A Case Study of Labor migrants and Refugees from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Switzerland” at the Kompaktkolloquim for Ph.D. candidates and postdocs at the University of Constance, February 10th 2020
  • Presentation: “Integration’ von Jugoslawischen ‘Gastarbeitern’ und ‘Asyslsuchenden’”, Brownbag Seminars at the University of Graz, 7. January 2020
  • Discussant: “Southern steppe frontiers and the Black Sea region”, Borderlands and Contact Zones in Ukraine and the Black Sea Region Conference in Vinnytsa, Ukraine, 12. September 2019
  • Presentation: “Zur Integration in der Migrationsforschung”, Doctoral Colloquium at the Department of History, University of St. Gallen, 15. May 2019
  • Presentation: “Mediating Belonging in Switzerland: Strategies of Integration Among Labor Migrants and Refugees from Yugoslavia”, Migration Working Group – Labour Market | Integration of Migrants and Refugees at the European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence, 26 March 2019
  • Chair: “Liberalism in Yugoslavia: before and after the disintegration” 3rd Workshop Basler Arbeitskreis für Südosteuropa (BASO), University of Basel, 15. March 2019
  • Lecture: “Introduction to qualitative data collection”, New Europe College in Bucharest, Romania, 28. February 2019
  • Lecture: “Transnational Relations and Informal Markets in Post-Socialist Serbia”, Summer School on Borderland Studies in East-Central Europe and the Black Sea Region, Kharkiv, Ukraine, 25. June – 6. July 2019
  • Chair: “Are we still rocking the boat? Reflections on Gender Research as Critical Enquiry”, Engendering Academia, University of St. Gallen, 5. June 2018
  • Chair: “The Revolution Expands: Now and Then”, One Hundred years that shook the world: Failures, legacies and futures of the Russian Revolution, University of St. Gallen, 6. October 201
  • Presentation: “Voices of the Via Egnatia”, Landis & Gyr Foundation in Support of History and Social Science Projects in Zug, Switzerland, 4. November 2016

 

Presentations

  • Presentation: Labels and Categories: ‘Integrating’ Citizens into the Body Politique – A Diaspora Perspective, Panel: Revisiting the ideational aspects of migration and integration policy, politics and governance, 2023 General ECPR Conference, Charles University, Prague, 4 – 8 September 
  • Presentation: “Ethical Dilemmas in Recruiting, Sustaining Relationships with, and Disseminating Data Concerning Irregular Migrants”, Beyond ‘Vulnerable Populations’ Vulnerability and Fieldwork in the Social Sciences at European University Institute in Florence, July 2023 (co-presentation with Caitlin Procter IHEID)
  • Presentation: “Ethical Dilemmas in Recruiting, Sustaining Relationships with, and Disseminating Data Concerning Irregular Migrants”, IMISCOE annual conference Warsaw, 3 - 6 July 2023 (co-presentation with Caitlin Procter IHEID)
  • Roundtable: "The migrant researcher? Reflections on academic selves, inequalities and epistemologies in migration studies", IMISCOE annual conference Warsaw, 3 - 6 July 2023 (co-convened with Jelena Tosic)
  • Presentation: “A legal genealogy of creating categories of foreignness in Switzerland: A case-study of Yugoslav labor migrants and refugees in Switzerland”, ‘New Dynamics of East-West Migration and Migrant Integration Within Europe and Beyond’, University of Sussex, 15-16 November 2021
  • Presentation: "Labels and Categories: ‘Integrating’ Citizens into the Body Politique", Swiss Network for Law and Society Inaugural Conference, University of Lausanne, 15.-16. October 2022
  • Panel: Public discussion about State Responses to Immigration: Between I/liberalism and “Willkomenskultur, Tbilisi, Georgia, 13. September 2022
  • Presentation: "Reframing Integration through Belonging: A Case Study of Labor Migrants and Refugees from Yugoslavia in Switzerland", 18th IMISCOE Annual Conference on "Crossing borders, connecting cultures", hosted by Luxembourg University, 7. - 9. July 2021
  • Panel on Post-Jugoslav Migration, "Mediating Belonging in Switzerland: Strategies of "Integration" Among Labor Migrants and Refugees from Yugoslavia", Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), 5. - 8. May 2021 (co-convened with Miso Kapetanovic)
  • Panel on Post-Jugoslav Migration, Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), 6. – 8. May 2020 (co-convened with Miso Kapetanovic, cancelled due to Covid19)
  • Presentation: “Solidarity Networks and Black Markets”, The Informal & the Formal in Times of Crisis: Ethnographic Insights at the University of the Peloponnese, University of the Peloponnese, Corinth, 7-9 July 2017
  • Presentation: “Šverc: (Black Markets) in Southeastern Europe”, Brownbag Seminar, Zentrum für Südosteuropa Studien, Universität Graz, 21 June 2016
  • Presentation: “Šverc: Trade Under the Aegis of Transnational Relations Between Istanbul and Novi Pazar – Or, ‘Making Sense of the Yugoslav Succession Wars’”, 47th Annual Association for East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Conference in Philadelphia, USA 19 – 22 November 2015 
  • Presentation: “Transnational Relations amidst War, Nationalism, and Economic Hardship”, 11th Congress of South-East European Studies, Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre or Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, Bulgaria, 31 August – 4 September 2015 

 

Workshops, Retreats, and Study abroad Courses  (co-)organized

  • Workshop “Informal practices in Southeastern Europe – Examples and Analyses” at the Institute for Contemporary History in Belgrade, Serbia, May 2022 (co-organization with Diana Mishkova, Constantin Ardeleanu, Vladan Jovanovic, and Katharina Biegger)
  • Symposium zum Film "Arada - Verbannt in eine Fremde Heimat", Anschliessend Gespräch mit dem Regisseur Jonas Schaffter und Fanny de Weck im Kinok, St. Gallen, 29. November 2021
  • Doctoral and Postdoctoral retreat: HSG Doctoral Organization Studies Peer-Group Retreat in Appenzell, Switzerland, 3. – 5. September 2020 (co-organization with the SHSS Gender & Diversity Commission, University of St.Gallen)
  • Workshop: ‘Shades of Grey’: Inquiries into Informal Practices in the Black Sea Region since the Eighteenth Century, New Europe College, Bucharest, 8. – 9. June 2020 (co-organization with Constantin Ardeleanu & Katharina Biegger, postponed due to Covid19)
  • Workshop: “Samo vjeran pas?” Workshop on Post-Yugoslav Neoliberal Academic Selves and Possibilities of Knowing the Balkans Otherwise, University of St Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, 5. -7. February 2020 (co-organized with Suncana Laketa, University of Neuchatel, and Jelena Tošic, University of St. Gallen)
  • Symposium: (Post)Totalitarianism? Western Balkan Experiences, University of St. Gallen, 25. October 2019 (co-organized with Jelena Tošic, University of St.Gallen)
  • Workshop: Basler Arbeitskreis für Südosteuropa, University of St.Gallen, 3 April 2020 (co-organization with Ljiljana Reinkowski, cancelled due to Covid19)
  • Winter School: Intensive Winter Course in Research Methods, New Europe College in Bucharest, Romania, 28. February – 2. March 2019 (co-organized with Constantin Ardeleanu, University of Galati, Romania, and Katharina Biegger, Wissenschafts Kolleg zu Berlin)
  • Workshop: Transnational Smuggling Networks: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Narratives about Illicit/Black/Second Markets in the Black Sea Region and Southeastern Europe, Center for Advanced Studies in Sofia, Bulgaria, 19. -21. October 2017 (co-organized with Vladan Jovanovic, Institute for Contemporary History, Serbia)
  • Doctoral retreat: HSG Doctoral Organization Studies Peer-Group Retreat in Appenzell, Switzerland, 19. – 21. May 2016 (co-organized with Alice Froidevaux)

 

 

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