Marriage in Modern Serbia
The promotion of the book by Aleksandra Vuletić “Marriage in Modern Serbia” will be held at the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026, starting at 6 PM.
The book “Marriage in Modern Serbia” represents a significant historiographical study that sheds light on the institution of marriage in Serbia during the 19th 19. and 20th centuries – in the period of the formation of the modern state and society. The author examines marriage through the complex influences of the state, church, social norms, and individual choices, pointing to its key role in shaping everyday life.
A particular value of this study lies in the insight into “marriage from within” – from the perspective of the spouses themselves. Through archival material, scenes from the lives of ordinary people are reconstructed: their emotions, expectations, fears, and daily concerns, thereby questioning and transcending entrenched notions of marital relations in the past.
The book also highlights the importance of marital policy as one of the key segments of Serbia’s internal politics in the 19th century. Legal regulation of marriage and the state’s efforts to transform traditional customs often met resistance in society, testifying to the complex relationship between regulations and practice.
Aleksandra Vuletić, PhD, senior research associate of the Institute of History in Belgrade, was born in Brčko and completed elementary school and Gymnasium in Šabac. She graduated in 1995 from the Department of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, where in 2001 she defended her master’s thesis “Family in Serbia during the Second Reign of Prince Mihailo”. Her doctoral dissertation “Marriage in the Principality of Serbia” was defended in 2008 at the same
Faculty. Since social history and the history of private life have long been her narrower field of professional interest, with this book the author sought to make her doctoral dissertation accessible also to those without historiographical training.
The book “Marriage in Modern Serbia” abounds in authentic archival material, numerous testimonies, and court rulings, excellently bringing closer to the reader the past of everyday life.
The promotion will be an opportunity for the audience to become more familiar with this work, which sheds new light on the past and establishes a connection with contemporary understanding of marriage and family relations.
In addition to the author, the book will be presented by Nebojša Jovanović, PhD, editor of the edition and representative of the publishing house “Laguna” and Katarina Mitrović, PhD, research advisor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade.