Conference on the Importance of Exploring Ethnicity in the 21st Century
- Minority Issues Research Institute (MIRI)
- May 16
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
The Institute for Ethnic Studies (IES) organized a conference on the Importance of Exploring Ethnicity in the 21st Century on May 15 and 16, 2025, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The Institute for Ethnic Studies (IES) was founded in 1925, and it is one of Slovenia's original public research institutes. The Institute's initial focus was on the situation of ethnic minorities in Slovenia and Slovenian minorities in neighbouring countries, but it has subsequently expanded. The IES team now carries out research in all pertinent fields of ethnic studies, which helps to advance the protection of national and ethnic minorities, provides policy recommendations regarding the status of ethnic communities and migrants in Slovenia, and investigates issues pertaining to ethnic minorities, including nationalism, integration, and other matters.
The conference's objectives were to foster critical conversations on a broad variety of topics related to ethnicity and diversity in modern society and to offer a forum for exchanging ideas for papers.
MIRI's participation at the conference
Our President and Senior researcher, Dr Svetluša Surová, participated in the panel on Ethnic Data Collection, chaired by Dr Tamara Trošt from the University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, Slovenia.
At this panel, Astrid Adler from Leibniz Institute for the German Language, Germany, presented a paper on Language and ethnicity in German censuses, Vladimir Nikitović from the Institute of Social Sciences, Serbia talked about Spatial Dimension of Ethno-Demographic Processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Breakup of Yugoslavia and Alenka Verša from SLORI - Slovenian Research Institute, Italy spoked about Collecting Ethnicity Data: Purpose, Operationalization, and Methods. Dr Svetluša Surová presented her conference paper about ethnic data collection in Slovakia, with special focus on challenges and limitations of current practices.
Ethnic data collection in Slovakia, its challenges and limitations
Dr Surova's conference paper examines who, how and why collects ethnic data in Slovakia. What kind of data are collected and what are the main conceptual, methodological, legal, ethical, and practical challenges and limitations of ethnic data collection? At the panel, firstly, she presented a critical review of the key terms and concepts such as identity, ethnicity and ethnic identity from a conceptual and empirical perspective. Further, she showed the results of her analysis on the meanings and (mis) representation of data collected on ethnicity in censuses, surveys, atlases, and databases by state institutions in Slovakia. Slovak practices in ethnic data collection were critically evaluated while looking into how they align with the latest scientific knowledge on ethnicity, identity, nationality, and other related concepts, as well as with international practices and recommendations for collecting data concerning individuals' identities, particularly minorities.
Dr Surová concluded that state authorities define and operationalize “ethnicity” in various ways and use different methodologies and levels of data granularity. Therefore, her main message was that when analyzing administrative and statistical ethnic data, one should be aware of these differences. The most critical note concerned ascribing ethnic identity in the Atlas of Roma Communities (ARCs). It is an illegal and unethical practice that should be cancelled. Social scientists must exercize caution regarding the type of data collected, the methods of collection, and the reasons for collection. It follows that administrative or statistical ethnic data cannot and should not serve as a reliable source of knowledge about the ethnic composition of society.
"Questions regarding the identities of individuals, especially those related to nationality and ethnicity, are very personal and very sensitive. Therefore, they should be voluntary. The respondents should have the right to decide whether they will answer them or not. At the same time, they should give information about their nationality or ethnicity based on their free will and their free decision, without pressure." – Dr Svetluša Surová, Minority Issues Research Institute (MIRI)
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