info@danpodjed.eu

researcher │ author │ speaker

HAPPINESS ISN'T INSIDE, IT'S RIGHT BESIDE.

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Anthropologist Dan Podjed, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Institute of Slovenian Ethnology), Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and a Field Expert at the Institute for Innovation and Development of the University of Ljubljana. He is the founder and Executive Advisor of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network and the initiator of the international event Why the World Needs Anthropologists, which has been organized since 2013. His main research interests include isolation, crises, human–technology interactions, and sustainable lifestyles.

His most recent pair of books – a novel and a scientific monograph published under the joint title Crisolation – explores the lives of people who, during a time of permanent crisis, spend their days in front of screens and within four walls. The project has drawn wide attention both in academia and among the general public. The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency recognized his work twice as an outstanding scientific achievement, in 2011 and 2021.

Podjed’s statement that “happiness isn’t inside, it’s right beside,” which the newspaper Večer named the Spade of the Year (Bob leta) in 2022, also resonated widely. In 2025, he received the honorary title Science Communicator of the Year 2024 from the Slovenian Science Foundation.

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researcher in the field of anthropology.

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for diverse audiences.

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nationally and internationally.

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Crisolation: A Science Story of Isolated People

At a time when the crisis is becoming the new normality, a new human is emerging: homo insulatus. She or he lives between four walls and in front of screens, seemingly connected to the community, but in fact disconnected from reality and increasingly isolated. Can the isolated human, who is the opposite of Yuval Noah Harari’s idea of homo deus, break the shackles of crisolation, i.e. the intertwining of crisis and isolation, detach her or his gaze from the screen and step out into the open? This book provides answers to such questions and shows that both isolation and crisis have different images, which the author places in front of the mirror. Not everyone will necessarily be happy with the reflection.

*edition in Slovenian language

Edited By Dan Podjed

Crisolation: A Fiction Tale of Isolated People

People are hiding in the isolation of their own homes, and no one knows what has happened outside. During the crisis, which has dragged on indefinitely, they work, study and socialise remotely, while their essentials, which they order online, are delivered to them through a drawer in the door… One day, teenager Zarja who lives in one of the apartments wakes up with a severe stomach ache. All the signs point to appendicitis. The e-doctor is unresponsive, so Zarja’s mother tries to call a house council meeting and ask for help from neighbours she has never met before. Will the inhabitants of the house manage to get out from isolation and help the teenager? Can they do it? And do they even want to?

*edition in Slovenian language

Edited By Dan Podjed