Selena Rakočević (10/26/1971–5/18/2022, Belgrade)

Abstract

Ethnomusicologist and ethnochoreologist Selena Rakočević, PhD, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, left us prematurely on May 18, 2022, after a brief serious illness. Although interrupted in the prime of her research career, Selena Rakočević was an untiring worker not only in the field of ethnochoreology but also in ethnomusicology and paved the way for new generations of scholars. Her colleagues, associates, and admirers unanimously agree that she made a historic contribution to the humanities in this region. Her passion for traditional dance, which she cultivated in theoretical and practical interpretations, became a hallmark of her academic career. Selena Rakočević spent her childhood and youth in Pančevo, where she finished primary and secondary music school. In 1990, she began her graduate studies in ethnomusicology at the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology of the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade. In 1995, she graduated with an average grade of 9.95 after defending her graduate dissertation entitled Muzička tradicija banatskih Srba okoline Pančeva [The Music Tradition of Banat Serbs in the Area of Pančevo]. In 2001, she defended her master’s thesis Vokalna tradicija Srba u Donjem Banatu [The Vocal Tradition of Serbs in Lower Banat], which were both under the supervision of Dimitrije Golemović, PhD. In 2009 she received her doctoral degree after defending her dissertation Tradicionalna igra i muzika za igru Srba u Banatu u svetlu uzajamnih uticaja [The Traditional Dance and Dance Music of Banat Serbs in the Light of Their Mutual Relationships] under the supervision of Dimitrije Golemović, PhD, and Olivera Vasić, PhD.