Sara Vukotić is a research assistant (early-stage researcher) at the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology, ZRC SAZU, where she is working on her PhD under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Saša Babič. Her research focuses on folkloristics and humor studies, and she is part of the doctoral programme Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures at the ZRC SAZU Graduate School.
After studying comparative literature at the University of Belgrade, she went on to complete a master’s degree in anthropology and cultural studies at the University of Primorska. Her work has been presented at conferences and published in several research articles.
Sara Vukotić’s research is situated at the intersection of humor studies, (contemporary) folkloristics, and comparative literature. It focuses on the ways identities, attitudes toward the body, and symbolic meanings are constructed in literary and everyday practices, as well as on the role of humor as a social mechanism.
Among her notable achievements is her master’s thesis “(Re)shaping the Identities of (Trans)Migrants through Ritual Practice: Do Serbs in Nova Gorica Celebrate Slava?”, for which she received the Srečko Kosovel Award (University of Primorska, 2024). She has participated in the research project “Sexual Desire in the Works of Slovenian Women Authors in a Transnational Perspective, 1890–1940” and in the citizen science project “Biciklistkinja Cycling Route” (University of Nova Gorica). Her research is further complemented by participation in international summer schools and workshops in Slovenia and abroad, including the “ATRIUM Summer School on Automatic Text Recognition” (Berlin, Germany, 2025) and “Crossing Media Boundaries: Gender and Writing Across Artistic Media” (Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2025), where she engaged with digital humanities methods and explored intersections of literature, gender, and media practices.
Within her doctoral research, she aims to study humor in the Slovenian context in greater depth, examining its social functions, its role in everyday practices, and its impact on the formation of interpersonal relationships and identities within different social groups.
Vukotić, S. (2026). »Drugače čas teče in nič ne reče dva meseca je vže za nama zdi se mi celo večnost«: Aleksandrinke skozi čas – podobe, izkušnje in sledi v (kolektivnem) spominu. V K. Mihurko in M. Mrđenović (ur.), Z besedami stkana bližina: pisma družin Šušmelj in Kosič med Egiptom in Primorsko (str. 276–288). Založba Univerze v Novi Gorici.
Vukotić, S. (2025). »Če jaz ne praznujem svoje slave, kdo jo bo?«: Pomeni in funkcije slave Srbov v Novi Gorici v kontekstu (trans)migracijske izkušnje in oblikovanja identitet(e). Studia mythologica Slavica, 163–184, doi: 10.3986/SMS20252808.
Vukotić, S, Ilin, D. (2024). Decolonizing Literary Studies: Unveiling Postcolonial Narratives in Post-Yugoslav Academic Curricula. Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia, 191–209. https://doi.org/10.15388/ActPaed.2024.52.12
Vukotić, S, Ilin, D. (2024). Stvaranje pesme i prirode kao (srpska) poetska kosmogonija u pesničkoj zbirci »Tako ona hoće« Milutina Petrovića. V: B. Čolak in M. Avramović, (ur.), Poetički koncepti Milutina Petrovića: zbornik radova (str. 193–216). Beograd: Institut za književnost i umetnost.
Vukotić, S. (2019). Infantilna percepcija sveta u Cankarevom romanu »Kuća Marije pomoćnice«. V Cankar i(n) mi: Zbornik radova sa Međunarodne studentske konferencije (90–99). doi:10.18485/cankar_i(n)_mi.2019.ch8.
- Srečko Kosovel Award for students of the University of Primorska (2024) for the master’s thesis “(Re)shaping the Identities of (Trans)Migrants through Ritual Practice: Do Serbs in Nova Gorica Celebrate Slava?”, supervised by Assoc. Prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget.
- student representative in the Senate of the ZRC SAZU Graduate School (2025/2026)
- member of the Slovenian Ethnological Society (SES)