Welcome!
My name is Marina Lazetic and I am a researcher and writer who lives between Boston, Belgrade, and Sarajevo. ​
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I am the Director of Programs at the Center on Forced Displacement and the editor of the Critical Forced Displacement Magazine. My research and writing center on experiences of displacement and the people living and working in or crossing through borderlands.
As the co-principal Investigator of a project focusing on the EU and the US border regimes, I currently work on illuminating different actors and strategies that shape border management and the experiences of forced displacement in these spaces. This work is funded by The Mellon Foundation and unfolds in collaboration with Dr. Carrie Preston and Dr. Muhammad Zaman at Boston University. An edited volume book based on this work, titled Mexico-US, Serbia-EU Border Lives and Works, will be published by Anthem Press in December 2024.
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For over a decade, I worked on issues related to forced displacement, gender, and peacebuilding as an academic researcher and educator, humanitarian and human rights practitioner, and an artist. I am deeply committed to interdisciplinary research and projects that tackle ethical challenges and propose innovative, rigorous methodologies for documenting experiences of forced displacement and the roles that different actors play in addressing its challenges. I am particularly committed to designing and leading research and educational projects that bring together people from different backgrounds, sectors, disciplines, and parts of the world. One such project is the annual interdisciplinary summer school on forced displacement, which brings together scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists from the US and Serbia in collaboration with colleagues from Boston University and the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Science.
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I am an enthusiastic teacher who enjoys creating experiences that allow my students to learn in environments beyond the classroom. I am the recipient of the Harvard University Office of Undegraduate Education Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for the Spring 2021 semester. My teaching portfolio includes graduate and undergraduate classes focusing on forced displacement, migrations, international relations and border regimes, and research methods.
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I hold an MA from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a BA from Bard College. As a Ph.D. candidate at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, I am currently writing a dissertation on civil society organizing in the US-Mexico and Hungary-Serbia borderlands.
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​​This website presents some of my academic work and personal reflections about displacement, borders, and collective trauma and healing.
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You can download a copy of my CV here.
ASSOCIATIONS & PROJECTS
I am proud to be associated and working within institutions and organizations that focus on some of the ideas and topics I outline in this online space