Katarina Pejovic


EDUCATION
  • PhD Candidate, Religious Studies, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto (ABD)
    • Dissertation: "Magician and Martyr, Sorcerer and Saint: St. Cyprian of Antioch and the Transmission of Occult Knowledge, Identity, and Authority”
  • MA, Religious Studies, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto (2019)
  • Hon BA, Philosophy, University of Toronto (2018)
  • Political Studies Program Fellow, Hertog Foundation (2018)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Course Instructor: Professor
  • RLG197: Enchantment, Disenchantment, Re-enchantment, Prof. Katarina Pejovic, 2024
  • RLG318: Religion and Nature, Prof. Alexander J.B. Hampton and Prof. Katarina Pejovic, 2022

Teaching Assistant: Leading Tutorials & Grading
  • RLG200: Study of Religion, Prof. Jennifer Harris, 2021, 2024​
  • RLG307: Museums and Material Religion, Prof. Krista Barclay, 2022
  • RLG102: Blood, Sex, and Drugs, Prof. Kevin O’Neill, 2021; Prof. Rosalind Cooper, 2022
  • RLG203: Introduction to Christianity, Prof. Alexander J.B. Hampton, 2020
  • RLG211: Psychology of Religion, Prof. Marsha Hewitt, 2025
  • RLG380: Religion and Trauma, Prof. Marsha Hewitt, 2025

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
  • “Where the Night-Children Dwell: Vampires in South-Eastern European Herbal Magic,” Viridis Genii Symposium​, Olympia WA, 2025
  • “Balkan Weathermakers, Folk Magic, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge,” AAR – Eastern International Region Annual Meeting, University of Toronto, 2024
  • "Not Even Elijah Can Strike My Nettle-Crown!: Traditions of Herbal Magic with Saints in the Serbian Orthodox Folk Context," Viridis Genii Symposium​, Olympia WA, 2023
  • “Neither in Heaven nor on Earth: Dwelling Places of Dragons and Fairies in Serbian Folklore and Folk Songs”, International Association for Comparative Mythology, Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts, 2022
  • “Weaving the Loom, Spilling the Blood: Female Saints, Seers, Fairies, and Monsters in Balkan Folk Magic and Witchcraft,” Magickal Women’s Conference, London UK, 2022
  • “Maddened, Immolated, Broken, Rebuked: An Execration Miscellany of Balkan Folk Magic,” Speakeasy of the Dead, Radio Free Golgotha, 2022
  • “Sin-Eating, Spirit Combat, and the Negotiation of Grief in Balkan Folk Necromancy,” International Association for Comparative Mythology, Online via Zoom, 2021
  • “The Supernatural Assistant as a Mediator of Divine Power: An Examination of Ritual Authority in the Greek Magical Papyri,” Ancient Magic Symposium: Magickal Women’s Conference, London UK, 2021
  • “Taken, Consumed, Transformed: The Charmed Dead in Balkan Folk Magic,” Speakeasy of the Dead, Radio Free Golgotha, 2021
  • “For the Devil and His Wife: The Reflections and Transgressions of Exu and Pomba Gira,” Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students in English Conference, Dalhousie University, 2019
  • “Across the Borders of Initiation: Race, Religion, Class, and Syncretism in Brazilian Candomblé,” London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of London, 2019
  • “To Read This Book is a Sin”: O Grande Livro de São Cipriano as an Object of Power in Folklore and Myth,” Book History & Print Culture Colloquium, University of Toronto, 2019
  • Panelist, “Mind and Magic: The Psychology of Sorcery,” Jungian Society, University of Toronto, 2018

ALT-AC CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
  • “Not on the Thorn, Not on the Bush: Night Flight, Witchcraft, and Nocturnal Attack in the Balkan Folk Tradition,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2024
  • "Forty-One Brothers & Sisters: An Introduction to Favomancy & Its Sorcery," Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2023
  • “Key in the Heavens; Lock in the Seas: An Introduction to Balkan East Orthodox Folk Magic,” Voices of Folk Magic, Spiritus Arcanum, 2023
  • Keynote Paper (co-presented with Sasha Ravitch), “The Willow Weeps, But Not for Me: Traditions of Fairy Seership in the Balkans,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2022
  • “The Warriors of St. Elijah: Weather Sorcerers and Spirit Combat in Balkan Folk Magic,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2022
  • “God kills you! God saves me! Attack and Defense Sorcery in Balkan Folk Magic,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2021
  • “Your Father Came from the Clouds: Love, Sex, and Marriage with Spirits in Balkan Folk Magic,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2021
  • “The Hands that Heal and Strike: The Magic of Saints in the Eastern Orthodox Serbian Context,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2020
  • “Vampires, Night-Hags, and the Children of Hunger: An Introduction to the Legends & Magic of the Balkan Restless Dead,” Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, Salem MA, 2020

​AWARDS
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships: $105,000 Doctoral Entrance Scholarship, “Super” SSHRC, 2020–2023
  • Shiff Family Graduate Student Scholarship, Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies, 2018
  • Ambassador of Switzerland to Canada Book Prize in German, St. Michael’s College, 2018
  • Silver Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement, St. Michael’s College, 2018
  • C.L. Burton In-Course Scholarship, St. Michael’s College, 2018
  • W.B. Dunphy In-Course Scholarship, St. Michael’s College, 2017
  • C.L. Burton In-Course Scholarship, St. Michael’s College, 2015
  • President’s Entrance Scholarship, University of Toronto, 2014
  • Award of Excellence, Young Writers of Canada, 2013–2014
  • Published Author, Youth Anthology Project, 2013
  • Double Winner: 1st Place Prose & 2nd Place Poetry, Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards, 2013

PUBLICATIONS
Articles:
Book Reviews:
Alt-Academic:
  • “Where the Night-Children Dwell: Vampires in South-Eastern European Herbal Magic,” Viridis Genii 3, no. 10 (2025).
  • “The Great Garland of the King: Balkan Herbal Magic of St. George’s Day.” Viridis Genii 3, no. 9 (2024).
  • "The Martyr and His Cross: Dual Veneration of Saints and Trees in the Serbian Orthodox Folk Context." Viridis Genii 3, no. 8 (2023).
  • “Beating the Winds, Piercing the Skies; Spirit Combat in Balkan Folk Magic.” Pillars 2, no. 2 (2020). 153-161.
  • Balkan Folk Magic: Zmaj. London: Hadean Press, 2019.

LANGUAGES
  • Serbo-Croatian (Native)
  • English (Fluent)
  • German (Fluent)
  • Portuguese (Advanced)
  • ​French (Intermediate)
  • Spanish (Intermediate)
  • Japanese (Beginner)

REFERENCES
John Marshall, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, U of T
Valentina Napolitano, Professor, Department of Anthropology, U of T
Marsha Hewitt, Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, U of T
​Alexander J.B. Hampton, Assistant Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, U of T
© 2023 Katarina Pejovic