This is a selection of themes I've dealt with over the past years and will work on in the time to come. Feel free to choose a link from the menu below.
• Networking & Sustainable Development
• Genocide Studies & Human Rights
* LANGUAGES
Afrikaans | Aramaic | Albanian | Arabic | Armenian | Basque | Bislama | Bosnian | Bulgarian | Catalan | Czech | Danish | Dutch | English | Estonian | Finnish | French | German | Greek | Haida | Hebrew | Hungarian | Icelandic | Indonesian | Inuktitut | Italian | Japanese | Kalaallisut | Kurdish | Lithuanian | Macedonian | Maltese | Mandarin | Mooré | Norwegian | Pashto | Polish | Portuguese | Romanian | Russian | kinyaRwanda | Scottish-Gaelic | Slovak | Slovenian | Spanish | kiSwahili | Swedish | Tagalog | Tamashek | Tok Pisin | Turkish | Ukrainian | Welsh | Yiddish | Yoruba
For more on how and why I learn languages, see the FAQ.
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The creative industries - in my view, using creative talent to make money and drive communities forward - have been a key element of my work since becoming Advisor to the Mayor of Tuzla in 2001. Back then, we employed a strategy that would generate urban renewal in Tuzla - a grey, industrial, mining city - by using the city's rich cultural tradition and youth potential. This was nothing new; Richard Florida claims there are three key ingredients to development - talent, tolerance, and technology. In 2006, I went on to work with the Creative Industries Unit (now Creative Economy Unit) of the British Council in London, employing networking tools - such as a web portal - to foster interaction between communities of creatives throughout the world. I have also worked with Creative Europe, a Vienna-based association that fosters strategies for creative growth throughout Europe.
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* NETWORKING & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
I firmly believe that networks are the best tool ever made available to humanity, not only for social interaction, but for fostering growth, progress, and knowledge sharing. Academia Bosniensis, a Sarajevo-based association I work with, connects young Bosnian academics spread throughout the world in projects aimed at ensuring sustainable growth back in their homeland. Networking websites such as Facebook and Xing are platforms that enable not just easy communication with contacts, but also systematic analysis. My interest in belonging to two dozen networks was in trying to find what knowledge can be transported and used across networks. Responsibly shared knowledge from India can power visions in Bosnia, Malawi and Uruguay: we've proven it and know it works.
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In 2004, I became an Ambassador for the World Youth Peace Summit and have been an active proponent of putting youth in charge - the youth as the present, not as the future. From co-establishing the first School Students Council in Bosnia in 2001 to co-managing a regional network in the Balkans, as well as exchanges in places as diverse as Portugal and Finland, or working with organizations such as the International Youth Foundation, it has been clear to me that effective management of local problems makes strong global leaders, and that, for the sake of tomorrow's world, we need to pay more attention to those dreaming it today.
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* GENOCIDE STUDIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Coming from Bosnia, and with an educational background in law and international relations, it seemed natural to take up genocide studies both as a field of academic research and passionate activism. My work started with the Bosnian Federal Commission for the Research of Missing Persons, and victims' families associations throughout the country and then, in 2005, I went to work with the University of Sarajevo Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, which is Bosnia's only academic institution that deals with genocide research in Bosnia and lessons from places as diverse as Argentina, Rwanda and Cambodia. In 2007, I became a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and an Echenberg Fellow in this field at McGill University in Montréal, Canada.
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