As part of the RETLAMI-SEE project activities, members of the research team from the University of Banja Luka conducted a study visit to the University of Vienna and its project partner RECET (Research Centre for the History of Transformations) from 7 to 12 April 2025. The visit aimed to deepen collaboration with colleagues at RECET, and to further develop research strategies within planned exploratory research on labour and migration in Southeast Europe.
The visit included a rich program of workshops, fieldwork, and collaborative meetings. The team had the opportunity to present the project during RECET’s regular “Jour Fixe” seminar, where Prof. Dr. Anđela Pepić and Dr. Goran Musić introduced RETLAMI-SEE to a wider academic audience at the University of Vienna.
Throughout the week, researchers took part in sessions dedicated to designing and refining the research plan, preparing for (auto)ethnographic fieldwork, and developing oral history interview questions for labour migrants and their families. A highlight of the visit was the workshop on oral history and interview techniques, jointly led by Dr. Goran Musić and Dr. Rory Archer, which gathered researchers from the RETLAMI-SEE team, as well as collaborators from the Central European University Vienna (CEU), the University of Graz, and RECET.
The study visit also included site visits, interviews, and participant observation as part of the fieldwork preparation. Members of the research team explored migrant spaces in Vienna, visited the Musem of Migration (MUSMIG) exhibition at the Volkskundemuseum, and conducted interviews with relevant stakeholders, including representatives of organizations that deal with migration trough their work.
This visit represented an important step in developing the methodological approach and strengthening research collaboration between RETLAMI-SEE partners, reinforcing the project’s interdisciplinary and transnational orientation.
