Migration.
Identity.
Imagined Worlds.
Exploring how people move, belong, remember and imagine across cultures, borders and speculative worlds.
Marijana Jancheska Ugarkovikj, PhD
Cultural Studies Scholar · Researcher · Author · Speaker
Culture, movement and the worlds we imagine.
My research lies at the intersection of migration, identity, culture and science fiction. I am particularly interested in how migration and displacement reshape identities, how cultures construct belonging and otherness, and how speculative fiction allows us to imagine these processes beyond the boundaries of the present.
I hold a PhD in Cultural Studies, with doctoral research focused on the typology of migration in science fiction, and an MA in Cultural Studies focused on migration, identities and Balkan culture. My work combines cultural theory, literary analysis and interdisciplinary approaches to questions of mobility, memory, technology, otherness and imagined futures.
Research interests & intellectual focus.
Migration & Displacement
Migration, mobility, exile, borders, displacement and the cultural meanings of home and belonging.
Identity & Otherness
Cultural identity, belonging, marginality, voice, representation and encounters with the Other.
Culture, Memory & the Balkans
Cultural memory, trauma, literature, collective identities and cultural narratives in the Balkans and beyond.
Science Fiction & Imagined Futures
Science fiction as a cultural space for exploring migration, technology, otherness, political emotions and alternative societies.
Technology & Society
Cyberculture, cyborgs, digital transformation and the shifting boundaries between human identity and technology.
Literature & Cultural Narratives
Literature as a space where societies negotiate memory, belonging, conflict, voice and social change.
Books & edited work.
Typology of Migrations in Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
This grandiose scholarly study, which deals with the topic of migrations, represents a deep and essential investigation of one of the most important phenomena of our time. The work opens up new perspectives and contributes to a broader understanding of the cultural, social and identity dimensions of migrations. Available only in Macedonian.
The Voicelessness Syndrome
Thinking about the syndrome of voicelessness, Jancheska starts from the complex problematic of identity, examining it from different perspectives, in order to reach the category of the socio-cultural and historical Other, who, always helping to define the same, remains excluded and without the opportunity to speak. Jancheska’s literary-cultural hermeneutics deals with marginalized subjects and others, who, from a position of abject and far from the position of power, do not get the opportunity to express themselves and to be inscribed in the discourse of the social present. Available only in Macedonian.
Flying Saucers Landed in Delčevo
Flying Saucers Landed in Delčevo is a collection of science fiction stories from the Balkans, featuring authors from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Albania.
One of the leading pioneers of the Yugoslav science fiction scene, Zoran Živković, once asked the world why flying saucers never land in Lajkovac, but always station themselves in New York, Tokyo, or London. Živković alluded to the local literary scenes and how much effort we should put into getting to know them, nurturing them, and promoting them. Several decades later, with this collection of science fiction stories from the Balkans, we want to pay tribute to Živković and answer him that flying saucers do land in Lajkovac, but also in Kruja, Veliko Tarnovo, and Zagreb. Available only in Macedonian.
Selected research, articles & conference papers.
Ideas are most interesting when they become conversations.
Available for academic conferences, guest lectures, university seminars, panel discussions, workshops and public conversations on migration, identity, culture and science fiction.
Guest Lectures
Migration and identity · science fiction and society · displacement and belonging · cultural memory.
Workshops
Interactive formats on identity, otherness, speculative worlds, cultural narratives and future societies.
Talks & Quizzes
Accessible academic formats combining cultural studies, science fiction, popular culture and audience participation.