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Anja Vranic

Doctoral Research Fellow - Department of Media and Communication

Email anja.vranic@media.uio.no

Mobile phone +47 41499192

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Visiting address Gaustadalléen 21 Forskningsparken 0349 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo

Other affiliations Faculty of Humanities (Student)

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Academic interests

In my PhD project, I look at women leaders in media, their communication and presentation, particularly in terms of the portrayal of gender and different femininities/masculinities. I am interested in how this interplays with their credibility, authority, and power; how we as a society understand and discuss them in their roles as authorities. I am also interested in underlying questions concerning gender equality - how we understand gender equality and feminism today. My project is primarily concerned with how this plays out in crises, where credibility - and gender - is particularly disputed. My project is affiliated with Pandemic Rhetoric.

Background

I have previously worked as a researcher on the project "The Silent Voices - Media Coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Norway", funded by the Norwegian Media Authority and led by Professor Eli Skogerbø. The project looks at how the marginalised voices navigate in a hierarchical media system.

I have worked as a research assistant at POLKOM - Centre for the Study of Political Communication for two years where I was involved in several projects.

In my Master's Thesis, I looked at the connection between gender identity and ideologically constructed gendered language use amongst young Japanese women.

Commissions of trust

2022- : Board member at the Department of Media and Communication, UiO

Tags: Gender and Feminist Studies, Gender Theory, Feminist Theory, Postfeminst Theory, Feminist Communication Theory, Media and communication, Rhetoric, Discourse Analysis, Minorities, Credibility, Trust, Political communication

Vranic, Anja & Just, Sine Nørholm (2026). Neoliberal feminist articulations of emancipated femininity: Sanna Marin’s negotiation of double binds of gendered leadership. Women's Studies in Communication. ISSN 0749-1409. p. 1–22. doi: 10.1080/07491409.2026.2626690. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The double bind for women political leaders is well-documented in studies of mediated political discourse, where leadership is equated with masculinity and femininity is positioned outside the political sphere. Some political actors are, however, redefining the possibilities of gendered leadership. Notably, a previous Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, who has transitioned to a career in political advising, challenges norms of gendered leadership. Drawing on critical perspectives on neoliberal feminism and postfeminism, we investigate how Marin negotiates gendered norms, insisting on being “free to be herself.” Through analyses of the mediation of Marin’s political career and her self-presentation on Instagram, we find an evolution in her gendered performance, culminating in “emancipated femininity.” Marin, we argue, resolves traditional double binds by individualizing gendered emancipation. Hence, we identify persistent tensions between individual empowerment and structural inequities, offering critical insights into intersectional conditions of possibility for gendered performances in the context of mediated politics.
Vranic, Anja & Just, Sine Nørholm (2025). Mother of the Nation: Negotiating Women Leaders’ Credibility in a Health Crisis. Politics & Gender. ISSN 1743-923X. doi: 10.1017/S1743923X2500008X. Full text in Research Archive
Skogerbø, Eli; Ihlen, Øyvind; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund & Vranic, Anja (2024). Trustworthiness: Public reactions to COVID-19 crisis communication. Communications. ISSN 0341-2059. doi: 10.1515/commun-2023-0132. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In an unprecedented situation of uncertainty, the COVID-19 pandemic tested the public crisis communication capacity. Using focus group data, this study analyzes public reactions to COVID-19 policies in Scandinavia. In line with the “rally around the flag” hypothesis, trust in public health authorities remained high in all three Scandinavian countries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked how people assessed the trustworthiness of authorities, and how they discussed reasons for complying with regulations and recommendations. Our findings suggest that the trustworthiness of experts and leaders was continually negotiated, manufactured, and renegotiated, producing critical and conditional trust. Willingness to and reasons for complying with measures to curb the disease were expressed and justified by participants from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, notwithstanding the national policies consisting of harsh regulations and mild pressure.
Ihlen, Øyvind & Vranic, Anja (2023). Dealing with dissent from the medical ranks: Public health authorities and COVID-19 communication. Public Understanding of Science. ISSN 0963-6625. doi: 10.1177/09636625231204563. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
During a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health authorities will typically be criticized for their efforts. When such criticism comes from the ranks of medical personnel, the challenge becomes more pronounced for the authorities, as it suggests a public negotiation of who has sufficient expertise to handle the pandemic. Hence, the authorities are faced with the challenge of defending their competence and advice, while at the same time adhering to a bureaucratic/scientific ethos that imposes communicative boundaries. This explorative study analyzes the response strategies used by the Norwegian public health authorities in this regard. A main finding is that the authorities shunned aggressive language and mostly relied on a strategy pointing to well-established values such as proportionality (between the measures and the gravitas of the epidemiological situation) and relevance (the measures should meet the challenge in question).
Vranic, Anja (2023). Strukturell sexisme eller kvinnefrigjørende? En kritisk diskursanalyse av debatten om Hadia Tajiks bokomslag. Norsk medietidsskrift (NMT). ISSN 0804-8452. 30(2), p. 1–18. doi: 10.18261/nmt.30.2.2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
I denne studien undersøker jeg de ulike argumentene, perspektivene og diskursene i debatten om omslaget til Hadia Tajiks bok Frihet. En politisk og personlig historie og spør hvordan feminisme forstås av de ulike sidene. Ni debattinnlegg og tre nyhetsreportasjer, samt selve bokomslaget som den kontekstuelle rammen, ble analysert ved hjelp av en kritisk diskursiv tilnærming. Debatten består av to sider: kritikk og forsvar av bildet av Tajik på bokomslaget. Analysen avdekket at ulike feministiske diskurser ligger til grunn for de motstridende tolkningene. Kritikken forstår likestilling som uoppnådd og Tajiks bilde som underlagt strukturell diskriminering, mens forsvaret forstår det som Tajiks frihet til å være seg selv fullstendig basert på egne valg. Forsvaret tolker ikke kritikken av bildet som kritikk av underliggende strukturell diskriminering, men som et angrep på kvinners frie valg.
Vranic, Anja & Skogerbø, Eli (2022). Silence, Voice, and Public Listening: Media Coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Journal of Global Indigeneity (JGI). 6(3), p. 1–17. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Vranic, Anja (2024). Ja til «gledesdrepere». Full text in Research Archive
Vranic, Anja (2023). «Sexy» Tajik-omslag splitter feminister. [Journal]. Kilden. Full text in Research Archive