Events

Past Event

Forgotten Friendships: Yugoslavia and the Anticolonial Francophone World

February 2, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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East Gallery, Maison Française, Buell Hall

Alexandra Perišić 

In her book Forgotten Friendships: Yugoslavia and the Anticolonial Francophone World (Amherst College Press, 2025), Alexandra Perišić examines transnational friendships and alliances between intellectuals from Yugoslavia and the Francophone African and Caribbean world during the mid-twentieth century. Forgotten Friendships emphasizes the ways in which writers, intellectuals, and activists envisioned alternative futures rooted in collaboration across peripheries. Personal bonds of friendship were not mere footnotes to the anti-colonial struggle, but vital political tools for rethinking global solidarity.

Alexandra Perišić teaches at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, Serbia, where she is also the Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs. She studies how literature helps us see overlooked movements of people and ideas across places like the Balkans, the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America, focusing on South-South connections such as friendships, collaborations, and shared struggles. Her previous book, Precarious Crossings: Immigration, Neoliberalism and the Atlantic, examines the underlying precarity in twenty-first-century immigrant fiction and reveals the contradictions inherent in neoliberalism as an ideology.

This event is co-sponsored by the Maison Française, Institute of Comparative Literature and Society, and Department of Slavic Languages.

Event Details & Important Information

This event is free and open to the public, but please note that registration does not guarantee a seat. We intentionally overbook our events, and seating is first come, first served. We recommend arriving early.

Important: Campus Access Requirements

Columbia’s campus is currently open only to Columbia-affiliated guests (with a valid CUID).
If you do not have a Columbia ID, you will need a QR code to enter campus.

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To receive a QR code:

  • You must register on Eventbrite at least 48 hours in advance
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  • You will receive an email from [email protected] with your unique QR code on the day of the event.

Please check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see the email, and bring a valid photo ID with you to present at campus entry points.