Orli Fridman, PhD
Dr. Orli Fridman holds a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on peace studies and memory studies with interest in comparative conflict studies. She writes extensively about memory politics and memory activism in Serbia and in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. In her writing and teaching, she brings comparative knowledge, experience and expertise from the Balkans and the Middle East (with focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict).
Dr. Fridman has been involved in political education for more than 20 years. She was trained as a facilitator for groups in conflict, and facilitated group encounters for participants from Israel/Palestine, Cyprus, and the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. She teaches in the Politics Department at the Belgrade-based Faculty of Media and Communications (FMK), where she heads the Center for Comparative Conflict Studies (CFCCS).
See Dr. Fridman’s full list of publications
Courses Taught
- Peace and Conflict Studies in the Balkans
- Research Methods and Ethics
- Practitioner Inquiry
- Memory and Conflict: Remembering and Forgetting in Divided Societies
- Reflective Practice
- Professional Development
Select Publications
Fridman, O. (2024). Memory and protest in Belgrade: Remembering the 1990s in the mass demonstrations of 2023. Memory Studies, 17(5), 1023-1038. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980241263931
Fridman, O. and Gensburger, S. Eds. (2023). The Covid-19 Pandemic: A New Memory Era? Remembrance, Commemoration, and Archiving in Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031345968
Fridman, O. (2022). Memory Activism and Digital Practices after Conflict: Unwanted Memories. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
Fridman, O. (2022). #Memoryactivism and Online Commemorations. In Y. Gutman and J. Wüstenberg (Eds.). Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (in press).
Fridman, O. and Gensburger, S. (2022). Unlocked Memory: Did the Covid Pandemic Change Commemorations? in Y. Gutman and J. Wüstenberg (Eds.). Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism. (in press).
Fridman, O. and Ristić, K. (2020). Online Transnational Memory Activism and Commemoration: The Case of the White Armband Day. In J. Wüstenberg and A. Sierp (Eds.) Agency in Transnational Memory Politics (pp. 68-91). New York: Berghahn Book.
Fridman, O. (2020). Peace formation from below: The “mirëdita, dobardan!” festival as an alternative to everyday nationalism. Nations and Nationalism, 26, 447-460.
Fridman, O. (2020). Conflict, Memory, and Memory Activism: Dealing with Difficult Pasts. In O. Richmond and G. Visoka (Eds.). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_38-1
Fridman, O. (2018). Too Young to Remember Determined Not to Forget”: Memory Activists Engaging with Returning ICTY Convicts. International Criminal Justice Review 28(4).
Select Popular Work
Featured on Realms of Memory podcast episode 21: https://realmsofmemory.com/podcast/episode-21-memory-activism-in-serbia-remembering-the-wars-of-the-1990s/
New Books Network October 19, 2022. Podcast with Orli Fridman about her book Memory Activism and Digital Practices After Conflict: Unwanted Memories
Glisic, Iva. (Host). (2022). New Books in Eastern European Studies [Audio podcast]. New Books Network. https://newbooksnetwork.com/memory-activism-and-digital-practices-after-conflict
Fridman, O. (2019). “Hashtag Memory Activism as a Mnemonic Practice: Online Memory Activism and Commemoration,” Observing Memories: Magazine of the European Observatory on Memories.
Fridman, O. (2016). “Mirëdita Dobar Dan Festival in Belgrade: We Stuck our Foot in the Open Door,” The Balkan in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) Blog, June 2.
Fridman, O. (2015). “Remembering the Wars of the Balkans: Belgraders helping Refugees from the Middle East,” Local Talk/Siha Mekomit, September 9. [Hebrew]
Fridman, O. (2015). Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide: Memory Activism in Serbia” Haaretz, July 11. [Hebrew]
Fridman, O. (2015). “How Belgraders Remember the NATO Bombings,” Balkan Insight, March 30.
Select Presentations
Fridman, O. (July 1, 2022). Keynote lecture at the annual conference Witnessing, Memory, and Crisis, at the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture
Fridman, O. (July 5-9, 2021). Remembering Online: Alternative Commemorative Events in times of Corona [panel Convenor ‘Memory and Commemorations in Times of Corona’]. Memory Studies Association (MSA), Warsaw/online. https://msaconferencewarsaw.dryfta.com/
Current Research Interests
Memory and commemorations in times of Covid-19
Alternative commemorative events in a comparative perspective
Alternative Ceremonies as a Political Action: the case of the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memory Day Ceremony & the Joint Nakba Day Ceremony
Education
- PhD, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
- MA, Middle East Studies, Tel Aviv University
- BA, Political Science and Middle East Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
