• Publisher: *cf.
• 300 pages
• Author: Jana Drašler Milovanović
• Original title: Na robu mesta, v središču sveta: knjiga o cirkusu

At the Edge of the City, in the Centre of the World: A Book About Circus looks into the historical development of the travelling circus, its position within society, the specific nature of its (re)presentation, and a personal experience of a circus tour. Drašler is interested in the relationship between the circus performance and its cultural background, but also the relationship between the “private” identities of the circus artists and those identities constructed in the process of creating a show. In the first part, she presents the history of itinerant entertainers before the establishment of the circus as an institution and explains why, since the late 18th century, we can speak about circus as an institutionalised form of entertainment. In the second part, she deals with certain methodological issues of the anthropological field and research work and presents her field journal in which she records her observations of a married couple of funambulists during a months-long circus tour. Unlike in the first part, which represents the view “from the outside” through the analysis of circus representation, the second part focuses on the view “from the inside”. Drašler decided on the journal form mostly so that she could get close to the artists, their relationships, and the internal dynamics of the troupe.

About the author

Jana Drašler Milovanović

Jana Drašler Milovanović (1976) is anthropologist working at the intersection of NGO sector, non-fiction creative writing, and field research. Her research interests include writing about place, history, memoir, borders and migration, as well as itinerant performative communities such as circus, world fairs, and sideshows. She is also a coordinator of Migrantour Slovenia, supporting migrants to become intercultural guides in urban and rural environments.