Dr Jana Kujundzic

Assistant Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Jana joined Northumbria University in September 2022. Before that, she held a lectureship position in Criminology at Kingston University and a research assistant position in Criminology at the University of Hull, providing research support on the AREDAA study (‘Audio recording-enabled domestic abuse alarms (AREDAA) to reduce DVPN violation: A feasibility study and process evaluation’).

She was awarded a PhD in Criminology in March 2022 and her thesis was titled: Marital Rape in Croatia: Law, Economic Precarity and the Politics of Professional Judgment. She has taught sociology and criminology undergraduate modules (2019-2021) at the Department of Sociology, University of Essex. She holds two Master’s Degrees: one in Gender Studies from Central European University and the other in Sociology from the University of Zagreb. Her BA was in Philosophy and Sociology (Uni of Zagreb). Jana is a long-term member of various grassroots feminist, anti-fascist and LGBTIQ movements in the ex-Yugoslav region.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Jana's doctoral project explored the socio-legal structures and power dynamics that affect the perception, prosecution, and penalisation of marital rape in Croatia. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a diverse range of professional actors, including lawyers, judges, prosecutors, social workers, coordinators of feminist NGOs, women’s shelters’ workers, psychologists, journalists, and academics, and the first-hand observation of a rape trial, her thesis developed new insights into the legal, political and social implications of marital rape in a post-conflict, post-socialist context.

She has presented her research at more than a dozen local and international conferences. Her current project is seeking to develop the theory and praxis of abolition feminism in the Former Yugoslav region. This includes developing publications problematising capitalism, patriarchy and the state's responses to domestic and sexual violence. The project seeks to critique carceral responses and feminist carceral activism; to map the devastation of the heatlth and social welfare systems following the privatisation and transition in Croatia; and to illuminate the erosion of the progressive socialist legacy of community responses and solidarity in former Yugoslavia.

Her research interests also include the political economy of violence, abolition feminism, decolonial feminism, and queer Marxism.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Beyond recognition: gendered violence and the critique of political economy in Croatia, Kujundzic, J. 24 Sep 2025, In: Frontiers in Sociology
Asking to Be Saved: A Critique of Carceral Feminism in Croatia, Kujundzic, J. 18 Mar 2025, In: International Feminist Journal of Politics
The Importance of In-Depth Interview with Practitioners in Researching Gendered-Based Violence, Kujundzic, J. 2025, The Routledge International Handbook of Gender-Based Violence Research, London, Taylor & Francis
Social Work and Domestic Violence in Croatia Through a Gendered Lens: Between Power and Precarity: Socijalni rad i obiteljsko nasilje u Hrvatskoj kroz orođeni pogled: između moći i prekarijata, Kujundzic, J. 31 Jan 2023, In: Croatian Sociological Review
Sexual Violence and New Forms of Religious Traditionalism in the Croatian Post-Conflict Context, Kujundzic, J. 13 Sep 2019, In: Facta Universitatis, Series: Law and Politics
Femicide as a new criminal offence in Croatia: Is more law the answer?, Kujundzic, J. 22 Nov 2023