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Article by Faculty of Humanities Graduate Daniel Trlifaj Published in the Prestigious Journal Environment and Planning E

An article by MPhil. Daniel Trlifaj - a graduate of Faculty's bachelor’s program and holder of a MPhil from the University of Cambridge - has been published in the journal Environment and Planning E (Q1). Titled "Polluted air, polluted politics: Disfiguring atmospheres in Sarajevo"¹, the article presents the author's ethnographic research on the climate situation in Sarajevo. It specifically examines how toxic urban smog—recognized by most segments of society as a serious problem—fails to spark a unified political movement aimed at addressing the immediate health impacts of the environmental crisis. The author views this situation as a consequence of a so-called "disfiguring atmosphere"—an environment where the visual manifestations of environmental failure obstruct the imagining of alternative political arrangements. In doing so, he contributes to the discourse on the role of visibility of environmental impacts within the context of environmental justice.

We are proud to have such talented individuals at our faculty. We offer our sincere congratulations to Daniel Trlifaj on this milestone and wish him great success in his future research! You can read the full article here: Polluted air, polluted politics: Disfiguring atmospheres in Sarajevo.

MPhil. Daniel Trlifaj, author of the article

Article abstract:

What forms of political imagination emerge in disturbed ecologies? This paper explores this question through an ethnographic study of Sarajevo, where winter temperature inversions trap toxic emissions from diffuse and decentralized sources, turning the air into a suffocating smog. Pollution leaves enduring traces on residents’ bodies – causing at least one in five premature deaths and significantly increasing rates of cancer and asthma. Despite being firmly ‘in sight’ and widely recognized as a serious problem by citizens, politicians, and foreign intervention agencies alike, it fails to galvanize any political mobilization. Approaching air pollution as a socio-material force that links embodied experience with city-wide governance, I trace how political inferences accrue through the smog and argue that in Sarajevo, air pollution operates disfiguratively: it materializes relations that actively foreclose the imagination of alternative political orders beyond the status quo. This analysis critically engages with literature on ‘slow violence’, which often frames visibility as the primary key to environmental justice; instead, I demonstrate that visibility can inhibit political action as readily as inspire it. Ultimately, I call for attending to the ‘political dispositions’ of environmental entities – their proclivity for channeling certain forms of imagination over others – opening a path for developing political strategies in times of widespread activist exhaustion.