Date of birth: 14 January 1979
Place of birth: Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia
Education:
2012 – Ph.D. in Ethnology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (IEA), Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius – Skopje, “Anthropology of Intimacy in Macedonian Folk Culture”.
2008 – MA in Ethnology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (IEA), Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius – Skopje, “Gossiping as the Mechanism for Social Control in the Folk Culture of Strushki Drimkol”.
2002 – BA in Ethnology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (IEA), Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius – Skopje, “Pre-marital sexual relations in the Folk Culture of Poreche – taboo and the real situation”.
Professional experience:
2022 - Full professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
2017 – Associate professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
2012 - Assistant professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
2011 - Assistant at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
2008 - Younger assistant at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
Monographs:
2021. From Ethnocentrism to Humanism – The Dominant Expressions in Macedonian Folkloristics, Ethnology, and Anthropology Throughout History, Skopje.
2016 Anthropology of Intimacy in Macedonian Folk Culture, IEA, PMF, UKIM, Skopje.
2009 Gossiping as the Mechanism for Social Control in the Folk Culture of Strushki Drimkol, IEA, PMF, UKIM, Skopje.
Editor:
2025 editor of the translation of the book by Karolina Bielenin-Lenczowska, Spaghetti with Ajvar: The Translocal Everyday Life of Muslims in Macedonia and Italy, Macedonian Student Ethnological Society, Skopje 2025.
Translated from Polish into Macedonian by Karolina Bielenin-Lenczowska.
2021 Ashtalkovska-Gajtanoska, Ana and Aleksandra Ristovski (eds.). Daut and Hari, series: Living Legends of Skopje, Macedonian Student Ethnological Society, Skopje.
2019 Ashtalkovska-Gajtanoska, Ana and Andrej Tatarčevski (eds.). Persa and Shupak, series: Living Legends of Skopje, Macedonian Student Ethnological Society, Skopje.
2019 Darko Stojanov, Jana Kocevska, Vlora Rečica, Daniel Bernhardt, Ana Ashtalkovska-Gajtanoska, and Ilina Jakimovska (eds.). Returning to 2001, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, CINIK, ForumZFD, Skopje.
2017 Daniel Bernhardt, Darko Stojanov, Ana Ashtalkovska-Gajtanoska, Ilina Jakimovska, and Jana Kocevska (eds.). It All Gone Now: Yugoslavia in the Memories of People from Macedonia, Forum Civil Peace Service – Macedonia Program, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, CINIK, Skopje 2017.
2014 co editor (with Ljupcho S. Risteski) of the monograph “For Ethnology ... Countless Doorsteps We Have Crossed ... For Aneta Svetieva”, Skopje, IEA.
2011 Editor of EtnoAntropoZum no. 7, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Skopje, on the theme: Methodological and Epistemological Aspects of Contemporary Field Research in Macedonia – Reflective Considerations.
2009 co editor and operative manager of the collection of articles “Social and Spiritual Aspects of the Material Culture”, editor in chief: Aneta Svetieva, Skopje, IEA.
Published articles:
2025 Macedonian Ethnology and Anthropology of Women: A Selfritical Reexamination of Conceptual Contradictions, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 25, Skopje IEA (131-166).
2025 Book Translation Review: Spaghetty With Ajvar. Translokal Everuday Life of Muslims in Macedonia and in Italy, Skopje, Macedonian student ethnological Society, 2025, 349 pages, translated from Polish into Macedonian by Karolina Bielenin-Lenczowska, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 25, Skopje IEA (197-201).
2025 Ljupcho S. Risteski, Ilina Jakimovska, Ana Ashtalkovska-Gajtanoska, Ines Crvenkovska-Risteska, Viktor Trajanovski, Aleksandar Meshkov, Bojana Mirchevska-Chakovska, Elizabeta Pavkovic, Davorin Trpeski, Mirjana Mirchevska, Eda Starova-Tahir, Ethnological and Anthropological Lexicon: Figures and Their Works, Volume I, editor Ljupcho S. Risteski, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University
2025 "WITHOUT A VEIL INTO A NEW LIFE": Strategies for Emancipation of 'Muslim Women' on the Pages of Makedonka, in: Invisible Archives: Makedonka - Organ of the WAF (1944-1952), Articulated Memories and Critical Review, edited by Jana Kocevska, Skopje Center for Research of Nationalism and Culture - CINIK (97-155).
2025 Digitization of the Collection of Naum Celakoski (1934–2023), in: Macedonian Folklore, Journal of the Institute of Folklore “Marko Cepenkov,” Year LVI, issue 87, Skopje (pp. 97–104).
2024 The attitude of the Macedonian academic community towards the “Torbeshi”: method of solidarity or scientific subjectivity?, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 24, Skopje IEA (73-108).
2024 “Makedonka” – organ of the WAF (1944-1952) – the first Macedonian women’s magazine as an “Invisible archives”, in: in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 24, Skopje IEA (209-213).
2022 Struggles to overcome ethnocentrism of ethnology and anthropology students, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 22, Skopje IEA (117-139).
2021 Authors’ Patriotism on the Balkans, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 21, Skopje IEA (11-37).
2021 Premarital Sexual Relations in the Folk Culture of Poreče – A Taboo Topic and the Actual Situation, in Ethnological and Cultural-Anthropological Study of Poreče, editors Ljupčo S. Risteski and Aneta Svetieva, Skopje CEIPA (281–353).
2021 Ana Aštalkovska Gajtanoska and Ilina Jakimovska, No Country for Old People, Ethnography of Traditional and Contemporary Conceptualizations of Old Age in Rural North Macedonia, Dagmar Gramshammer-Hohl, Oana Hergenröther (eds.) Foreign Countries of Old Age East and Southeast European Perspectives on Aging, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld (111-126).
2020 “The nationality of folklore” – illustrated by examples from the journal “Macedonian folklore” and its publications from 1968 until 1991, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 20, Skopje IEA (63-91).
2019 Folkloristic Interpretations of Ethnicities in Socialism – With a Special Focus on the Albanian Ethnicity, Macedonian Folklore, Journal of the Institute of Folklore “Marko Cepenkov,” Year XL, Issue 76, Skopje (119–133).
2019 Macedonian–Bulgarian Academic Relations During Socialism: Based on Examples from the Journal “Macedonian Folklore”, in: Sofia – Skopje: Cultural Models and Migrations, editors Nadezhda Ivanova, Stamen Kanev, Marina Yanislavova, Bozhidar Parvanov, Academic Ethnological Association, Sofia (13–40).
2019 Folkloristic Interpretations of the “Macedonian Woman” (Based on Examples from the Journal Macedonian Folklore and Its Issues from 1968 to 1991), Macedonian Folklore, Journal of the Institute of Folklore “Marko Cepenkov,” Year XLI, Issue 75, Skopje (135–144).
2018 (Mis)Use of the National: Different Perspectives on the Tasks of the “National” Academic Disciplines in Macedonia, Macedonian Folklore, Journal of the Institute of Folklore “Marko Cepenkov,” Year XL, Issue 73, Skopje (67–80).
2017 Jakimovska Ilina and Ana Ashtalkovska Gajtanoska, "Old Age-Ugly Age: Ethnographic Notes on the Childless Elders from the Republic of Macedonia, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 16, IEA, Skopje (131-147).
2017 The Daughter who Gave up her Inheritance: Ethnography of Women’s Inheritance Rights and their Application in Contemporary Macedonian Context, in: Etnoantropološki problemi, Vol 12 Is. 2 (n.s.) Beograd (603-618).
2017 The Concept of Excellence and Me, in: Against All Odds: Ethnology and Anthropology between Theory and Practice, Risteski S. Ljupcho (ed.), IEA, PMF, Skopje.
2016 Essay for the Contemporary Patriots in Macedonia in 2016!, in EthnoAnthropoZoom 15, Skopje IEA (178-210).
2015 A Short Note for the Ultimate Evidence in Qualitative Research in Macedonian Context, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 14, Skopje IEA (98-124).
2015 Woman’s’ Intimacy at Fieldwork – Technical and Methodological Aspects, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 13, Skopje IEA (108-130).
2014 Some Aspects of Intimacy in Macedonian Folk Culture, in: For Ethnology ... Countless Doorsteps We Have Crossed ... For Aneta Svetieva, Ljupcho S. Risteski and Ana Ashtalkovska Gajtanoska (eds.), Skopje IEA (79-108).
2014 Take a Sedative Before You Start Reading, EthnoAnthropoZoom 11, IEA, PMF, UKIM, Skopje (129-133).
2014 The First National Conference for Drugs Politics “From Laws to Public Health”, Skopje, 30.9.2014, EthnoAnthropoZoom 11, IEA, PMF, UKIM, Skopje (135-139).
2013 Identification of ‘Informants’ and Methodological Dilemmas, in: Ethnologist 15, Skopje MED (129-140).
2009 How Did Things Become Complicated – Some Methodological and Ethical Issues on the Research of Gossip, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 7, Skopje IEA (10-63).
2009 The Public Opinion and Gossip as a Sanction in the Folk Culture of Strushki Drimkol, in: Ethnologist 12-13, Skopje MED (177-186).
2009 Statusy plci kulturowej wsród Macedonskojezucznych Muzulmanów w regionie Struški Drimkol. Sasiedztwo w obliczu konfliktu. Relacje spoleczne i etniczne w zachodniej Macedonii, Warszawa (33-41).
2008 Gossiping and Speculating in the Folk Culture of Strushki Drimkol available at: http://www.kula.si/CasopisKula/teksti/druga_stevilka/pdf%20verzije/ashtalkovska_gossiping_and_speculating.pdf in: KULA, the journal of the Slovenia ethnological and anthropological society: www.kula.si.
2008 Patriarchy is to be Blamed for Everything, in EthnoAnthropoZoom 5, Skopje IEA (170-187).
2006 Premarital Sexual Relations in the Folk Culture of Golo Brdo, in: Life on the Border, Skopje IEA (93-107).
2005 An Auto reflexive Approach to Kinship Relations, in: Ethnologist 11, Skopje MED (195-206).
2002 Premarital Sexual Relations in the Folk Culture of Poreche – taboo and the real situation, in: 70 Years from the Research of Josef Obrembski in Macedonia, Prilep (411-425).
2001 The Barren Woman and the Attitude of the Traditional Village Community Towards Her, in: EthnoAnthropoZoom 1, Skopje IEA (248-269).
1999 Birth Customs, Multicultural and Ethnical Characteristics of Four Villages in Veles Region: Upper Vranovci, Teovo, Melnica and Oreshe, 1999. www.iea.pmf.ukim.edu.mk.
