Institute of Contemporary History

Research Interests:

• socio-cultural history of socialist dictatorships
• history of socialist Yugoslavia
• memory studies
• theory and methodology of historical science

Education:

• 2026: Ph.D. in Czech History, Charles University Faculty of Arts
• 2017: MA in Comparative Literature, Charles University Faculty of Arts
• 2011: BA in Czech Language and Literature for Foreigners, Charles University Faculty of Arts

Employment:

• since 2026: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• since 2024: Researcher at the Institute of Czech History/ Institute of History, Charles University Faculty of Arts
• 2020–2023: Project Manager in the Grant Projects Department, Charles University Faculty of Arts
• 2017–2020: Researcher at the Institute of Czech History, Charles University Faculty of Arts

Positions and membership in organizations:

• since 2026: Memory Studies Association
  Research Platform Modern and Contemporary History of the South-Eastern Europe under the Institute of History CU FA (member)
• since 2012: Students of History Association, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (member)

Study and Research Stays Abroad

• Jun 2025: Historical Institute, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland (Erasmus+)
• Apr 2025: Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia (internal fellowship programme of the Centre)
• Nov–Dec 2024: Department of Croatian Studies, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia (CEEPUS)
• Sept 2024: Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia (Erasmus+)
• 2023–2024: Faculty of Humanities, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia (Erasmus+)
• Dec 2019: Historical Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia (CEEPUS)

Research projects:

• since 2023: Research Group for Historical Transformation Studies (Lumina Querantur Fellowship Programme of the Czech Academy of Sciences), Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences (PI Veronika Pehe); 2023–2025 external collaboration – Research Assistant, 2026–Present Postdoctoral Fellow
• since 2026: The Breakup of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in Mutual Reflections. Stereotypes – Interpretations – Comparisons (The Czech Science Foundation), Institute of History CU FA (PI Ondřej Vojtěchovský); Research Team Member
• 2023–2025: Negotiating the Revolt in Czech and Slovak Post-Socialist Transition (The Czech Science Foundation), Institute of Czech History/ Institute of History CU FA (PI Miroslav Michela); Research Team Member
• 2018–2020: The Experience of State Socialism Reimagined (Erasmus+), Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes of the Czech Republic et al. (PI Vojtěch Ripka); external collaboration within the Creative Teaching Group informal associate
• 2017–2019: Cultural Opposition: Understanding the Cultural Heritage of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries (Horizon 2020), Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Research Center for the Humanities et al. (PI Sándor Horváth); junior research and dissemination manager within the Czech Republic

Editorial work:

• Dolejský M., Melichar B., Rákosník J. and Vrba J. (eds.) (2024). “Došlo na slova komunistů” : Edice meziválečného komunistického tisku. Praha: Univerzita Karlova : Filozofická fakulta. (selection and translations of sources from Ukrainian into Czech)

Articles and book chapters:

• Harasimowicz, M. (2021). ‚Rok 1989 jako předmět vystavování: dědictví – narativy – kontinuity‘ in Agha, P., Geryk, J. et al. Otisky sametové revoluce. Kde přebývá devětaosmdesátý. Praha: Karolinum, pp. 139-159.
• Harasimowicz, M. (2021). ‚If you want to be classy, have Yugoclass. Postmodern Cultural Images of Josip Broz Tito.‘ In Slovak Ethnology. Vol. 69, no. 2 (2021), pp. 274-293.

Reviews:

• Harasimowicz, M. (2025). [Review of the book Post-Yugoslav Metamuseums: Reframing Second World War Heritage in Postconflict Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia by N. Jagdhuhn.], Southeastern Europe. Vol. 48 (2025), no. 2–3, pp. 450–452. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30965/18763332-48020009.
• Harasimowicz, M. (2024). [Review of the book In Search of Tito’s Punks : On The Road in a Country That No Longer Exists by B. Phillips.], Punk & Post-Punk Journal. Vol. 12 (2024), no. 3, pp. 429–431. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/punk_00221_5.

Conferences and workshops:

• Mezi pamětí a fikcí, ochranou a zapomněním aneb Jak Karkulky a Jiráskové stvořili svět, ve kterém žijeme, Historical Commision, Czech Association of Museums and Galleries, Česká Třebová, June 2026, paper: ‚Za obzor faktografie: metafora jako klíč k výstavnímu vyprávění‘
• History Fest 2026, University of Sarajevo Faculty of Humanities, Sarajevo, June 2026, paper: ‚Socijalistička modernizacija u okviru sadašnje kulture sjećanja u bivšim socijalističkim zemljama: između obrazovanja, kritike i retromanije‘
• Tváře brannosti, Military History Institute Prague, Prague, May 2026, paper: ‚Žádná překážka nezabraní splnění úkolu: Svaz pro spolupráci s armádou na I. celostátní spartakiádě‘
• 7th International Conference Socialism on the Bench: Global Socialism and Non-Alignment, Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Septemper 2025, paper: ‚Nesvrstana melankolija, nostalgična nesvrstanost? Sjećanje na Pokret nesvrstanih između emocije i političkog izazova‘
• The Postcolonial Perspective in the Study of Polish History: Benefits, Challenges, Potential, University of the National Education Commission, Cracow, October 2024, paper: ‚Does The Memory of Socialism Need To Be Decolonized? Heritage of European Socialist Dictatorships in Museums and (New) Possibilities of Its Reflecting in Emancipatory Ways‘
• Dějiny ve veřejném prostoru IV. Paměť pod tlakem: napětí, konflikty, katarze, Jan Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem Faculty of Arts et al., Ústí nad Labem, October 2024, paper: ‚Odsouzeno na věčné časy a nikdy jinak? Muzealizace socialistických diktatur jako konfliktní dědictví‘
• 10th Doctoral Workshop: Why Socialism Matters?, Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, August 2024, paper: ‚Was Socialism Weird? (Im)Possibilities of Left-Wing Cultural Memory‘
• 6th International Conference Socialism on Bench: Crises and Reforms, Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, September 2023, paper: ‚Na putu. (Ponovno) otkrivanje Jugoslavije u čehoslovačkoj publicistici u reformskom razdoblju 1968. godine‘
• Dějiny ve veřejném prostoru III. Globální paměť, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes of the Czech Republic, Prague, October 2022, paper: ‚Mem jako partyzánská píseň. Hrdinské narativy ve válečném folkloru včera a dnes’
• 12th Congress of Czech Historians, Jan Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem Faculty of Arts et al., Ústí nad Labem, September 2022, paper: ‚Mezi eposem a vzpomínkou: jak vyprávíme o soudobých dějinách v současných muzeích‘
• Jugoslovenski komunizam u međuratnom periodu: Naučni skup povodom 130 godina od rođenja Vladimira Ćopića, University of Rijeka, Rijeka [online], April–May 2021, paper: ‚Heritage of the Pre-war History of Communist Parties in Contemporary Museums: Meanders of Public Discourse and Challenges‘
• Nové pohledy na dějiny dělnického hnutí v letech 1848–1953 v současné české historiografii, Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague [online], April 2021, paper: ‚Dělnické kořeny jako prostředek mytizace životopisu komunistického vůdce: případ Josipa Broze Tita‘
• 6th Doctoral Workshop: Cooperation, Exchange and Solidarity in Europe 1945-1990, Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula [online], August 2020, paper: ‚Tito – a reliable friend. Media image of Czechoslovak-Yugoslav friendship during Tito’s state visits to Czechoslovakia‘
• Hardbass i południce. Słowianie w popkulturze, Institute of Slavonic Studies, Jagellonian University, Cracow, January 2020, paper: ‚Everyone’s Favorite Dictator. Josip Broz Tito jako superbohater internetu‘
• (Re)thinking Socialism. Knowledge, Memory and Oblivion of the Socialist Past, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, November 2019, paper: ‚ Socialist Festivity at the Crossroads Between Ritual, Ideology and (Popular) Culture: The Case of Czechoslovak Spartakiads‘
• Pamięć i zapomnienie – perspektywa filozoficzna, polityczna i społeczna, Department of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, September 2019, paper: ‚Czechosłowackie Spartakiady jako przykład oficjalnego rytuału pamięci w okresie socjalizmu‘
• Nostalgia, retromania, hauntologia: konteksty kulturowe, medialne i społeczne, AGH University Faculty of Humanities, Cracow, June 2019, paper: ‚Stare, dobre czasy jako topos czeskiej pornografii spankingowej w latach zerowych XXI wieku‘
• Natřeno na růžovo. Idyla, idylično a ideál v literatuře: Studentská literárněvědná konference 2019, Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, May 2019, paper: ‚[…] aby nikdy nezazněl zvonec a téhle hezké pohádky, aby už nikdy nebyl konec. Motivy idylična na československých spartakiádách‘
• Perverzita: dějiny, vnímání a přístupy, Students of History Association, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, March 2019, paper: ‚Fronta na (sado) maso aneb Obrazy minulosti ve filmech, které jste vážně nepotřebovali vidět‘
• Kam kráčí studium populární kultury v českém a slovenském prostředí?, Centre for Study of Popular Culture, Ostrava, October 2017, paper: ‚Blázni a Pythagoras Hermíny Frankové a Paladinové Haliny Snopkiewicz jako příklady sociálně kritického uplatnění žánru románu s dívčí hrdinkou v české a polské próze šedesátých let 20. století‘

Guest lectures:

• ‚Nostalgija, moraliteti i druge priče o prošlosti: kako se prikazuje suvremena povijest u muzejima‘, May 28th 2024, Faculty of Humanities, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula (organized by the Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism)
• ‚Československá spartakiáda jako novodobý mýtus‘, April 17th 2019, Charles University Faculty of Arts, Prague (organizace by the Students of History Association, Faculty of Arts, Charles University)

 Awards:

• 2023, 2024: scholarship within the Specific University Research programme ‚Dějiny: aktuální výzvy a jejich výzkum v mezinárodním kontextu‘
• 2020, 2021: scholarship within the Specific University Research programme ‚Historie mezi minulostí, současností a budoucností‘
• 2019: Vladimír Macura Prize in the doctoral category, 2nd place