EDUCATION

Ph.D.:  Political Science, Central European University, Hungary (2015)

MA    : Political Science, Central European University, Hungary (2007)

BA     : Political Science/International Relations & European Studies, American University in Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (2006)

AREAS OF INTEREST

Research: Memory Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Sociology, Discourse Analysis and Political Ethnography

Teaching: Classics of Political Thought, Introduction to Comparative Politics, Introduction to International Relations, Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism, International Organizations and Institutions, Comparative Politics, Classical and Modern Political Theory, Ethnicity and Nationalism

EXPERIENCE

Academic Experience

University of New York Tirana (AL), Department of Political Science and International Relations, Assistant Professor (2018-Current)

European University of Tirana (AL), Department of Applied Social Sciences, Lecturer (2016 -2018)

University of Mandalay (MM), Department of International Relations, Visiting Professor (December 2016)

Central European University (HU), Department of Political Science, Teaching Assistant (2011-2012)

University of Tirana (AL), Department of Political Science, Research Assistant (2007-2009)

Administrative Experience

University of New York Tirana, Member of the Ethics Committee, (2020 – Current)

RESEARCH OUTPUTS

Refereed Journal Articles

Lleshi, S. (2020). Reconstructing the past in a state-mandated historical memory institute: The case of Albania. European Politics and Society, 21(3), 277-291. https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2019.1645420

Lleshi, S. (2019). Doing field research in state-mandated historical memory institutions: Institutional access and researchers’ liminality. SAGE Research Methods Cases Politics & International Relations, 2, 1-13. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526465627

Lleshi, S. (2018). Legitimating the democratic state in post-communist Romania: Memory as a cultural good. New Europe College Yearbook, 97-122.

Lleshi, S., & Starova, T. (2017). The autonomisation of the cultural field in late socialist Albania and the emergence of early sociological research. Stan Rzeczy, 2(13), 119-144. https://doi.org/10.51196/srz.13.6

Books and Book Chapters

Lleshi, S. (2021). Reconstructing the past in a state-mandated historical memory institute: The case of Albania.  In V. L. A. Čeginskas., S. Kaasik-Krogerus & N. Sääskilahti (Eds.), Politics of Memory and Oblivion in the European Context (pp. 76-90). Routledge.
Kalemaj, I. & Lleshi, S. (2020). Sources and continuities of ethno-religious nationalism in the Western Balkans.  In E. Meka & S. Bianchini (Eds.), The Challenges of Democratization and Reconciliation in Post-Yugoslav Space (pp. 151-168). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. 

Refereed Conference Presentations

Lleshi, S. (2022, May). Mediated Remembrance of the Subaltern in a Fractured Memory Regime: Affect and Organic Intellectuals [Paper Presentation]. Evocative Memories: Media, Materiality, Affect Symposium, 2022, University of Exeter, UK.

Lleshi, S. (2022, April). Mediated Remembrance of the Subaltern in a Fractured Memory Regime: Affect and Organic Intellectuals [Paper Presentation]. Memory, Affects and Emotion (International Interdisciplinary Conference) 2022, University of Gdansk, Poland.

Lleshi, S. (2018, July). Effects of state enterprise privatization on interest aggregation: A comparative study of post-socialist Albania and Slovenia [Paper presentation]. World Congress of Political Science: Borders and Margins (IPSA) 2018, Brisbane, Australia.

Lleshi, S. (2018, April). Divergent regime trajectories of post-communist democratic transition in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Central Europe: Late socialism as the missing variable [Paper presentation]. Midwest Political Science Association Conference (MPSA) 2018, Chicago, USA.

Lleshi, S. (2017, November). In the absence of traces: The reconstruction of the past through the episteme of affectivity [Paper presentation]. Uses of the Past Conference, 2017, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Lleshi, S. (2017, October). Memory practices intermediated through historical memory institutes: comparing Czech Republic and Albania [Paper presentation]. Scientific and Cultural Perspectives on Totalitarianism Conference, 2017, Tirana, Albania.

Lleshi, S. (2016, May). Late socialism in East Central Europe and Africa [Paper presentation]. Post-communism in Africa Conference, 2017, Budapest, Hungary.

Lleshi, S. (2016, April). Causes of party polarization in post-communist Albania [Paper presentation]. Albanian Studies Days, 2016, Tirana, Albania

Lleshi, S. (2016, April). Institutions as vehicles of memory politics: The Czech anti-communist bureaucrats eradicating communism? [Paper presentation]. Annual Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) 2016, New York, USA.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2020: Honorable Mention Designation Zumkehr Prize for Public Memory Ohio University

2020: Award of Merit Impactful Social Science, SAGE Publishing