Full Professor
Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Zagreb
Address: Ul. Ivana Lučića 3 10000 Zagreb, CROATIA
Email: mbelaj@m.ffzg.hr

Marijana Belaj received her PhD in ethnology and cultural anthropology (title: Patron Saints in Lived Religion in Croatia) in 2006 from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, where she has been employed since 2000, and became a full professor in 2020 (confirmed in 2025). She teaches at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels of ethnology and cultural anthropology, has given guest lectures at universities in Ljubljana, Bergen, Krakow and Pristina, and participated in the doctoral program in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana.

Throughout her career, she has been researching in the field of anthropology of religion, focusing on lived religion, cults, pilgrimages, sacred sites, interreligious relations, and the impact of religious (heritage) projects and policies on community development. In the last decade she has also explored applied anthropology. She conducted research in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, participating in a dozen national and international projects. She has published three scholarly books: on the making of pilgrimage site, pilgrimages and community transformations in Medjugorje (2012), sacred landscapes in western Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019) and the development and potentials of applied anthropology, particularly in Croatia (2024). She has also co-edited five volumes and published over forty articles in scientific publications. She has received several recognition awards from the Croatian Ethnological Society and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for her scholarly work and professional contributions.

She has served as editor-in-chief of the international scientific journal Studia ethnologica Croatica and is a member of the international editorial boards of the three scientific journals. She is a member of Société Internationale d´Ethnologie et de Folklore, EASA Applied Anthropology Network, Pilgrimage Studies Network of EASA and SIEF Working Group on Ethnology of Religion, and Croatian Ethnological Society where she served as a president (2019–2021).

Complete bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/2255