Staff

Vesna Malesevic

Lecturer

Ph.D. (Sociology) University College Cork
M.A. (Society and Politics) Central European University, Warsaw, Poland – accredited by the University of Lancaster, UK
B.A.(Sociology) University of Zagreb, Croatia

Office: 324 Aras Moyola
Telephone: 353 (0)91 495014
Email: vesna.malesevicnuigalway.ie

Member of the Global Women's Studies Research Cluster
Member of the Gender, Discourse and Identities research group of Gender ARC, a joint NUI Galway-UL research network

Profile

Dr Vesna Malesevic has a BA degree from University of Zagreb in Croatia and an MA from the Central European University. Her PhD thesis focused on the relations between the Catholic Church, state and civil society in comparative perspective (examination of Poland and Croatia in communist and early post-communist periods) at the University College Cork. As a lecturer in the School of Political Science and Sociology at NUIG, she teaches the sociological course on religion after over twenty years of not having this type of course on the curriculum in this University. She also teaches a course called The Sociology of Sexuality that is also unique to the Irish higher education institutions where other courses such as Gender studies or the Sociology of the Body only touch upon sexuality issues. Furthermore, she teaches courses in sociology of health and in sociology of medicine in the School of Nursing.

She has over a decade’s experience in research projects in Croatia and Ireland on subjects including ethnicity, sexuality and religion. Her empirical work on the topic of religion produced a B.A. thesis dealing with Croatian students and their religious attitudes and behaviour. Also, her conference papers, workshop papers, public lectures and most recent research projects deal with the topics of religion, secularisation, sexuality and LGBT issues in Ireland and comparatively in Ireland, Croatia and Poland. She has published refereed articles dealing with the topics of ethnicity, sexuality and religion while topics of religion and religious organizations form a main part of the book proposal based on her doctoral thesis.

Teaching

1BA: Introduction to Politics and Sociology, Key Ideas in Sociology and Politics, Problems in Sociology and Politics
BA School of Nursing: 1BA: Introduction to Sociology and Sociological Approaches to Health Care
3BA: Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Sexuality
MA in Social Work: Human Behaviour and the Social Environment (selected topics)
MA in Irish Studies: selected topics within seminar based course
2BA seminar leader for General Seminar
1BA seminar leader

Research Interests

She is an editor on the editorial board of the Irish Journal of Feminist Studies and her areas of research cover religion and religious organisations, especially the Catholic Church, sexuality and LGBT issues, civil society, Irish society and Central and Eastern Europe. 

Selected Publications

Articles in Refereed Academic Journals

Malesevic V. (2009). “Ireland and Neo-Secularisation Theory”. Irish Journal of Sociology. (forthcoming)

In the course of analysis of the secularisation theories, this paper arrived at the conclusion that neo-secularisation concept offers a greater sociological potential when tested against Irish society. Through the analysis of the macro, mezzo and micro levels of Irish social landscape, the paper provides an in-depth understanding of a changing religious field. The central arguments of the paper are tested against variety of data including quantitative and qualitative studies.

Malesevic S. & Malesevic V. (2009). “Civil Society: Ernest Gellner”. International Encyclopaedia of Civil Society. Springer. New York. (forthcoming)

Description: This publication addresses the contribution of Ernest Gellner in the field of scholarly debate on civil society. The sections of the paper provide a brief biography, the main lines of his theoretical argumentation and relevance of Gellner’s theory on present day discourses on civil society.

Vesna Malesevic and Aine Lorie, GROW-ing Neo-Secularisation, Working Paper No. 2, Gender, Empowerment and Globalisation Research Cluster, School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland, Galway (2009)

Malesevic V. (2003). “Demonic or Divine? Attitudes towards Sex and Sexuality among Galway University Students”. Irish Journal of Sociology. Vol.12 No.2.

Malesevic S. & Malesevic V. (2001): “Ethnic Identity Perceptions: An Analysis of Two Surveys”, Europa Ethnica, 58 (1-2): 30 – 45.

Other Publications

Malesevic V. (2006). The Catholic Church, State and Civil Society: A Comprative Analysis. University College Cork. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis.

Malesevic V. (2001): Croatia. In Susan Knight (ed.): Where The Grass Is Greener: Voices of Immigrant Women in Ireland, Dublin: Oaktree Press, pp. 83-88.

Articles submitted for publication or Working papers

Malesevic V. and Lorie A. (2009) “GROW-ing Neo-secularisation”. Social Compass.

Conference Papers

July 2009 - “Is there identity dissonance between religious and sexual orientations?”. International Society for Scientific Study of Religion (ISSR) (biannual conference). Santiago de Compostela. Spain.

May 2009 - “The ’Coming-Out Stories”. Sociological Association of Ireland. Waterford. Ireland.

May 2008 - “How religious are we? Ireland tested against secularisation theory”. Sociological Association of Ireland. Galway. Ireland.

July 2007 - “Religious Transformation in Ireland”. International Society for Scientific Study of Religion (ISSR) (biannual conference). Leipzig. Germany.

December 2006 - “The Catholic Church: A Promiscuous Lover?”. International Study of Religion in Central and Eastern Europe Association (ISORECEA) (biannual conference). Leanyfalu. Hungary.

March 2006 - “Secularisation or religious change?”. Community and Environmental Association of Ireland (CESI). NUI Galway. Ireland.

April 2002 – “Let’s Don’t Talk About Sex: Attitudes towards Sex and Sexuality among Galway University Students”. Sociological Association of Ireland. Galway. Ireland.

June 2001 – Stulhofer A., Johnson B., Malesevic V.: “Adolescent Concupiscence in Cross-Cultural Perspective”. International Social Science Conference: ’Sexualities in Transition’. Dubrovnik. Croatia.

Workshop Papers/Visiting Lectures

June 2009 – “Religion and Secular Society in the Irish Context”. CINEFOGO (Civil Society and New Forms of Governance in Europe). Workshop 49: ’What are the Consequences of Particular Religious-Secular Distinctions?’. University of Aberdeen. UK.

March 2009 – “Being Gay in Galway: Some Preliminary Findings”. LGBT society NUI Galway. Public lecture (invited).

February 2009 – “Religion and Irish Society”. MA in Irish Studies. NUI Galway.

November 2008 – “Using Surveys in Social Research”. Postgraduate lecture. School of Political Science and Sociology. NUI Galway.

February 2008 – “How to be Sexual in Ireland? Reflections and Future Prospects”. LGBT society NUI Galway. Public lecture (invited).

February 2008 – “Gay Stereotypes in Society, Past and Present”. Baby Blue Training. Limerick. Public lecture (invited).

August 2007 – “Tolerance v. Acceptance: … Will we Take the Road Less Travelled?”. LGBT society NUI Galway. Public panel debate (invited).

March 2007 – “Christian/Catholic Notions on Sexuality”. LGBT Society. NUI Galway. Public lecture (invited).

October 2005 – Series of lectures in Women’s Studies Centre, NUI Galway on Feminism in former Yugoslavia and its successor states and feminist issues in Eastern and Central Europe (invited lecture).

April 2005 – “Feminism in Communist Yugoslavia”. Women’s Studies Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway (invited lecture).

November 2004 - ’Sexual attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in Ireland’. Public talk on a topic: Sexuality discourse between pleasure and abuse. Series of public talks organised by Sligo Olympic Handball Association (invited lecture).

January 2004 - “Communist Yugoslavia and its Successor States: Case of Feminism”. Women’s Studies Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway (invited lecture).

June 2003 - “The Catholic Church, Civil Society and the State in Poland and Croatia”. Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland Cork, Cork. Interpretative Social Political Analysis Workshop. Allihies. Co. Cork.

June 2002 – “Catholic Morals and Sexuality in Ireland: An Empirical Illustration of Generation Caught in a Limbo”. Department of Sociology, University College Dublin, workshop on ’Sexuality in Ireland’.

Supervision of Research

2009

PhD: Aine Lorie (degree awarded), thesis title: Sacred Belief and Secular Health: A Study on Religion and Mental Illness in Modern Irish Society

MA in Social Work: Aisling Carr (degree awarded), thesis title: Children’s Rights and Social Work: An Exploratory Study on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child by Social Workers in Child Protection

2008

PhD: Sara Stokes (started October 2008), thesis title: The Impact of Raunch Culture on the Development of an Autonomous Female Sexuality in Ireland

PhD Committees: Marja Almqvist (thesis title: The Prospects for Transformative Women’s Movements in Post Conflict BiH), Angela O’Connell (thesis title: Lesbian families in Ireland), Jackie O’Toole (thesis title: Women and the Body-Project: An Analysis of Women’s Narratives of their Experiences of Weight Management), Gorana Mlinarevic (thesis title: A Critical Analysis of established systems for the prosecution of sexual violence as a war crime: the situation of Bosnia Herzegovina)

2007/8

MA in Community Development: Laurence John Reddy (degree awarded), thesis title: Learning about Life: The Teenage Health Initiative. Dilemmas in Providing Sexual Health and Relationship Education and Knowledge for Vulnerable Yung People in the West of Ireland

MA in Social Work: Sile Donohue (degree awarded), thesis title: An Investigation of Assessment Practice in Child and Family Social Work

2005/6

MA in Irish Studies: Aine Harris (degree awarded), thesis title: Sacred Consultations: A Study on Religion and Mental Illness in Modern Irish Society

MA in Family Support: Jeanne Thorne (degree awarded), thesis title: The Perceived Impact of Family Support Training among Residential Care Teams

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