Ekaterina Anastasova (1962–2025)

Folklorist and ethnologist Ekaterina Anastasova died suddenly at the age of sixty-three on June 15, 2025. She led the Comparative Folklore Studies Department—and previously the Balkan Studies Department—at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia. Dr. Anastasova also served as an invited lecturer at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.

As one of the founders of the International Society of Balkan and Baltic Studies and as editor of the society’s yearbook, Dr. Anastasova helped to build networks and connections among scholars of the Balkans and the Baltics. Her publications include The Russian Old Believers in Bulgaria: Myth, History, Identity (1998), Ethnicity, Tradition and Power: Essays on Transition (2006), Balkan and Balticum: Current Studies in the Postsocialist Space (co-edited with Mare Kõiva, 2017), and numerous articles on ethnicity, migration, ritual, and oral tradition.