“We were separated as a family, so it took us two years to get out,” the 21-year-old says of the flight from her homeland. Her parents, Ivica and Branka Jagesic, settled in Revere, Mass., and Sanja attended East Boston High School.
Now a senior at Wellesley College, Sanja is driven by a passion to learn about the nature of truth, fairness and conflict. A sociology major, she has developed theories to explain why truth doesn’t always win in a contest of ideas—work that has received notice from leaders in the field. Wellesley sociology professor Thomas Cushman calls her “one of the most unique and remarkable” students he’s known in his 19 years at the college.
“Sanja Jagesic has an exceptional sociological imagination and a raw talent for sociological theory,” said Cushman. An honors student, she has presented research papers at two professional conferences, he added, “not for students, but in ‘real sessions.’ The most important of these were the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association last summer in New York, where Sanja presented some of the ideas of her senior honors thesis research at a regular roundtable discussion.”
In her years at Wellesley, Sanja has immersed herself in such research. “Knowledge is produced as people supposedly seek for truth,” Sanja said in explaining her work. “We think that, in a fair world, the best ideas always win. But other aspects—status, institutional prestige, interpersonal conflicts—affect ‘knowledge production.’ In creating new ideas, status matters.”
“Her thesis work reinterprets the important 19th-century debates between Marx and the anarchists in a strikingly original way,” Cushman said. “Her work offers a real contribution to the history and sociology of intellectuals and ideas.” |
To illustrate this, she has produced a case study on the conflict between two very big ideas: communism and anarchism. Communism, the brainchild of Karl Marx, developed a worldwide following. Anarchism, developed by Pierre Joseph Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin did not. For her thesis, she is analyzing what factors were involved in communism trumping anarchism.
Double majoring in sociology and German, Sanja read Marx in the original German, drawing on those childhood years spent in Germany.
After graduating from Wellesley, Sanja hopes to attend graduate school, aiming for a Ph.D. in sociology. She is currently an intern at the Wellesley Centers for Women’s National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST), where she evaluates after-school programs.
This past summer, as a NIOST research assistant, she helped to develop a Massachusetts Department of Education survey that looked at variations in after-school programs. She wants to continue to work in this area, lamenting, “We all have an ideal about education that doesn’t always pan out.”
As the first person in her family to attend college, she hopes to ease difficulties for students on the losing end of the education continuum. Toward that goal, she has volunteered at Teen Voices, a Boston inner-city school program that helps high-school girls aim for college.
“They are very gifted, and they could go on to college,” Sanja said. “It’s just a lack of information, and it’s a real tragedy. They just need a little guidance.” |
Sanja sees this situation, like her sociology research, through a filter of justice and morality.
“I want to see how institutions can help disadvantaged students,” she said. “So many of these differences have to do with social class. But most people don’t even admit that exists.” |
Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 68 countries.
- From Wellesley College Office of Public Affairs |
