The student protests that emerged in Serbia in autumn 2024 constitute the largest wave of social mobilization in the country since the anti-regime protests of the 1990s. Triggered by the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, initially commemorative actions evolved into a nationwide movement demanding political accountability, institutional transparency, and democratic renewal.
This joint research project by PD Dr. Daniela Simon (IdGL) and Dr. Danica Trifunjagić (University of Darmstadt) examines the protests from historical, media, and gender-history perspectives. The project investigates how protests are framed, interpreted, and contested in public discourse and compares the current movement with the student protests of 1996–1997 against the Milošević regime. Through this comparison, the project explores both continuities and transformations in student activism, democratic mobilization, and political communication in Serbia.
A central focus lies on media narratives and protest communication. Drawing on extensive analyses of Serbian newspapers, the project examines how different media outlets construct, legitimize, delegitimize, or depoliticize protest movements. The findings demonstrate that media do not merely report on protests but actively participate in shaping social and political realities.
Another strand of the project addresses the gendered dimensions of contemporary protest. Particular attention is paid to women’s participation, feminist organizations, and the interaction between feminist and national symbolic repertoires within the protest movement. By combining historical analysis, media studies, and gender history, the project contributes to a broader understanding of democratic contestation and civic engagement in contemporary Southeast Europe.
The project’s research has been presented at international conferences and public events in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Conference travel to international events was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Publications
Simon, Daniela and Trifunjagić, Danica:
Die Studierendenproteste in Serbien 2024/25. Zwischen Trauer, Symbolpolitik und internationaler Resonanz. Zeitgeschichte-online, 12.09.2025. (https://www.zeitgeschichte-online.de/themen/die-studierendenproteste-serbien-202425)
Simon, Daniela and Trifunjagić, Danica: Threatened Orders, Contested Frames: Media Narratives of Student Protest in Serbia, 1996–1997 and 2024–2025. In: Florian Bieber, Gorana Pudar Draško und Ivana Išpanović (eds.), Protests and New Democratic Imaginaries in Serbia. Routledge (forthcoming 2026).
Simon, Daniela and Trifunjagić, Danica:
The Framing Potential of Headlines: Student Protests in Serbia, 1996–1997 and 2024–2025. In: Contemporary Southeastern Europe (forthcoming 2026).
Presentations
23.05. 2025 “Media Coverage of Student Protests in Serbia in 1996–1997 and 2024–2025”, paper from Daniela Simon und Danica Trifunjagić presented at the 29th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York.
05.06. 2025 “Protesting in Threatened Orders: Student Protests in Serbia in 1996/97 and 2024/25 through the Lens of Media Coverage”, public lecture from Daniela Simon und Danica Trifunjagić organized by the Student Union (Verfasste Studierendenschaft) of the University of Tübingen, Tübingen.
17.10.2025 “Forget the Rose – I Want a Revolution! Women in the 2024/25 Student Protests in Serbia”, lecture from Daniela Simon presented as part of the lecture series “Gender History: New Research Perspectives”, organized by the History Association (Förderverein Geschichte) of the University of Tübingen, Alte Aula, Tübingen.
21.04.2026 “Between the National Flag and the Feminist Banner: Female Agency in the 2024–2025 Student Protests in Serbia”, paper from Daniela Simon und Danica Trifunjagić presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) 2026, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.
Funding: Conference travel to Edinburgh and New York was generously supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
