Graduate Student Associates 2011–12

Ai Abo, Special Student; Career Officer, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Security ramifications of Russian foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific Region; the US-Russian relationship; Japanese foreign policy towards Russia.

Gregory Afinogenov, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Eighteenth century Russian and European intellectual history.

Woongki Ahn, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Soviet Korean artists; Korean life in Central Asia; presence of Russia, the United States, and China in Central Asia; minority policies and foreign policies of the former Soviet nations.

Anna Aizman, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: Modern Russian and Czech literatures; poststructuralist theories; poetry and theater.

Mikhail Akulov, Ph.D. Candidate in History: The peasant commune in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; peasant resistance during the civil war; state formation during the civil war; atamanshchina and organs of peasant self-rule.

Natalia Anker-Lagos, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Conceptions of culture and identity and their impact on daily life and development in post-Soviet Central Asia.

Erin Baggott, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Sino-Russian competition for influence in Central Asia; Russia’s attitude towards the CSTO.

Alla Baranovsky, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: International trade and finance as they affect the Russian economy; the impact of Russia’s trade policy on social policy; U.S.-Russian trade relations; the economics of adoption and state-run orphan care in Russia.

Oliver Bevan, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Different inequalities in transition states and in relation to the political and economic environment.

Maria Blackwood, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Ethnic and national consciousness; Central Asia within the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Andrea F. Bohlman, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Music: Cultural history of the Cold War; religion in Eastern Europe; music; media studies; Poland.

Debra Caplan, Ph.D. Candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations: Jewish literature and culture in Eastern Europe; performance and identity; Yiddish art theater; theatrical modernism.

Edward Charlton-Jones, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Changing notions of the state; statecraft and various forms of identity in the context of increasing flows of information, capital, and people; resolution of competing external influences into a stable power structure in the Caucasus and Central Asia; how Russia can 'find its borders.'

Volha Charnysh, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Civil society; democratic transitions in post-communist states; European integration.

Christina Elizabeth Crawford, Ph.D. Candidate in the History and Theory of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Planning: Urban design in the early Soviet period, especially the transition from avant garde notions of city-design to Stalinist (Socialist Realist) model.

Devon Dear, Ph.D. Candidate in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies: Central and Inner Asian history; Qing history; Inner Asian economic and intellectual history; history of statistics.

Ujala Dhaka, Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology: The Russian Orthodox Church; religious sovereignty; civil society; democracy.

Kathryn Dooley, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Central Asian history; empire; nationality policy; cultural identity.

Jonathan Drake, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Economic effects of the Northern Distribution Network in the Caucasus and Central Asia; interactions with Georgia and other ‘near abroad’ states after the ‘reset’; long-range Russian national security interests.

Jeff Eden, Ph.D. Candidate in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies: 19th- and 20th-century Islamic Central Asia; intellectual and religious history; history of Uzbekistan.

Melih Egemen, Ph.D. Candidate in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies: Comparative history of the 19th-century Russian and Ottoman empires.

Anders Engberg-Pederson, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: Epistemology and narrative in 19th-century Russian literature.

Elena Fratto, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: Russian Formalism; The interaction of math and physics theories with 20th century literature from a thematic and stylistic perspective; Kitsch and Camp aesthetics in post-Soviet Russia; the insect metaphor in literature and media studies .

Ina Ganguli, Ph.D. Candidate in Public Policy: Labor market issues in the former Soviet Union; wage inequality and gender wage differentials; immigration; science and innovation policy.

Johanna Conterio Geisler, Ph.D. Candidate in History: "The Soviet Sanatorium: Medicine, Nature, and Mass Culture in Sochi, 1917–1991."

Tatyana Gershkovich, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: 20th-century literature; Nabokov; Bely; late-Soviet-era literature and its influence on society; publishing practices in Russia and the Soviet Union; absurdist and dissident literature and writing.

Alexandre Gontchar, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: The shift from the visual to the conceptual mode in the plastic arts in the early 20th century; the Cubist revolution in the plastic arts as a factor in the evolution of the English and American poetic traditions; developmental and clinical psychology.

Brian Goodman, Ph.D. Candidate, History of American Civilization: The cultural and literary history of the Cold War era, particularly the transnational cultural and political relationship between the United States and Central and Eastern Europe.

Sofiya Grachova, Ph.D. Candidate in History: "Medicine, Politics, and Russian Jews (1860–1930)."

Daniel Green, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages Literatures: 19th- and 20th-century Russian literature and culture.

Alexander M. Groce, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Contemporary society in Russia; 19th-century literature; Czech literature; the borders of Russian hegemony, specifically in the Caucasus region; the development of ‘European’ discourses in 18th- and 19th-century Russia.

Masha Hedberg, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Comparative political economy of post-communist countries; the evolution of business collective action and its influence on policy reform and institutional development; the formation, organizational growth, and political strategies of business associations in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Philippa Hetherington, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Late 19th- and early 20th-century Russian and East European history; gender history and history of sexuality.

Thomas Hooker, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Friendship, sexuality, and the dialectic between individual and collective in Russian and Soviet history.

Jennifer Howk, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Comparative politics of communist and postcommunist countries (particularly Cuba), including constructivist political economy; state development and institutional change; informal institutions and identity politics; party development and political competition; paradoxical regime legitimacy and resilience.

Tanvir Hussain, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Non-mainstream spirituality in belles-lettres of Soviet peripheries.

Erin Hutchinson, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Language policy, education, and identity in the former Soviet region, especially Armenia.

Irina Ikonsky, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: The rise of the literary canon in 19th-century Russian and American literature.

Jakub Kabala, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Christianization, state formation, and trade in early medieval Slavdom, including Great Moravia, Kievan Rus, Poland, and Bohemia; medieval Slavic traditions of hagiography and chronicle writing; regional relationships with the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Papacy.

Mihaly Kalman, Ph.D. Candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations: Pogroms, self-defense, and Jewish experiences with violence from the Pale to Palestine; East European Jewish history; Jewish nationalisms; masculinity.

Konstantin Kashin, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Political methodology; political economy of market reform; comparative politics.

Elizabeth Kerley, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Ideas in Soviet and late imperial Russian history; history of philosophy; ideology and dissent.

Brian Kilgore, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Caucasus as a focal point of instability; prospects for devolution of the Russian hinterland to population and strategic restructuring; Russia and NATO security priorities.

Oleh Kotsyuba, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Post-Soviet Russian and Ukrainian literature; Ukrainian sotsrealism and modernism; feminist and gender studies.

Nataliya Kun, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literature: "Russian Literature through the Prism of Language Failure."

Anton Kunayev, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: The politics of agricultural reform and modernization in Soviet and post-Soviet space, with emphasis on Russia and Kazakhstan.

Victoria Levin, Ph.D. Candidate in Public Policy: Social policy; cash and in-kind transfers; health insurance.

Stefan Link, Ph.D. Candidate in History: "A Fordist International: Illiberal Modernism and the Politics of Production in the USA, Germany, and the Soviet Union, 1917–1944."

Xiaolu Ma, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: World literature; spatial narrative; poetry; autobiography and biography.

Aleksandra O. Makarova, Ph.D. Candidate in Linguistics: Russian phonology; second language acquisition; Mongolian.

Hassan Malik, Ph.D. Candidate in History:"A Case Study in Emerging Markets Investing: Russia, 1880–1930."

Danilo Mandic, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology: "The Legacy of Nationalism: The Aftermath of Kosovo’s Independence."

Hiroaki Matsuura, Ph.D. Candidate in Global Health and Population: Constitution and health care systems; health care financing and delivery in post-Soviet countries.

Robyn Meeks, Ph.D. Candidate in Public Policy: Development and environmental economics; impacts of access to drinking water; role of agricultural water management systems; relationship between diversity and public goods provision in rural Kyrgyzstan.

Rowan Morbey, Ph.D. Candidate in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies: Russian imperial perspectives of Islam; interactions between Muslims and the Russian Orthodox Church; administration of non-Russians in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Far East.

Ainsley Morse, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: 19th- and 20th-century Russian and Soviet literature and history; history, culture, and literature of the Balkans, especially what was once Yugoslavia; contemporary Russian literature and culture.

Oksana Mykhed, Ph.D. Candidate in History: History of the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th and 18th centuries; confessional relationships; popular movements and administration in the Ukrainian borderland.

Plamen Nikolov, Ph.D. Candidate in Health Economics: Microfinance; behavior and experimental economics; private equity in emerging markets; time inconsistency in inter-temporal decision-making; cognitive development; HIV/AIDS.

Ana Olenina, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: Late 19th- and early 20th-century Russian and East European intellectual history, literature, and visual arts, with a special emphasis on avant-garde movements; Russian formalist theory; the history of silent cinema; ways in which writers, film directors, and performance theorists of the 1910s and 1920s drew on psycho-physiological research of their time to theorize the role of gestural expression and emotion in the arts.

Dan Orbach, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Modern histories of Germany, Russia, China, and Japan.

Mihaela Pacurar, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Hybrid literary forms; eclecticism; the reception of Russian literature and cinema in satellite countries; almanacs and calendar-books; memoirs; French and Romanian literature.

Tamara Pavasovic Trost, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology: "Ethnic and National Identity in Context: Identity Discourse among Serbian and Croatian Youth."

Philipp Penka, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: 20th-century Russian poetry; Russian prose of the 1920s and 1930s; Platonov; Russian theories of language and self, especially the work of Gustav Shpet; 20th-century Czech literature and film.

Sierra Perez-Sparks, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Food politics and food systems, especially as they relate to promoting healthy, democratic, and open societies in Ukraine and Central Asia.

Sabrina Peric, Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology: Social impact of primary resource industries in the Balkans; postwar economies; industrialization and intellectual production; Balkan imperial and environmental history; labor.

Molly Perkins, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: The attitudes of post-Soviet youth culture to political participation, sexual orientation, and globalization.

Drew Peterson, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: History, theory, and practice of Russian grand strategy and foreign relations; Soviet and Russian defense-industrial cooperation with other powers, especially India; military and energy security in the Baltic, Black Sea, and Caspian regions; dynamics of identity, territoriality, and conflict in the Caucasus and Balkans.

Maya Peterson, College Fellow, History of Science Department: Late imperial Russia; Soviet Union; Central Asia; environmental history.

Maxim Pozdorovkin, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: The silver age of Russian literature.

Anastasiya Prymovych, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Interethnic conflicts in historical perspective; Lviv in World War II; cultural memory.

Elizabeth Ransome, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Transmission of Russian cultural patterns, especially in the 20th century; literature, society, and politics in the interwar period; narrative structure and the poetics of behavior; Russian-Italian cultural links.

Maria Ratanova, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literature: "Vladimir Tatlin and Velimir Khlebnikov: The Art of Construction and the Word."

Carolin F. Roeder, Ph.D. Candidate in History: History of modern Eastern and Southeastern Europe; Habsburg Empire; environmental history.

Andrei C. Roman, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Leftist ideology and democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe; the impact of EU integration on corruption and clientelism.

Zeyneb Hale Eroglu Sager, Ph.D. Candidate in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies: History of Islam in China.

Anna Shapiro, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: The Soviet legacy and its effects on mentality and the development of civil society in Russia; language politics in Ukraine.

Gleb Sidorkin, Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Russian and Soviet cinema; visual art of the avant-garde; icon theory; Rus' in relation to Mongol and Byzantine commonwealths.

Aleksandar Sopov, Ph.D. Candidate in History and Middle Eastern Studies: Ottoman and Balkan history.

George Soroka, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: The liberal deficit among new democracies in the postcommunist world.

Povilas Strazdas, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: The impact of politics and economics on relations within the former Soviet Union.

Petra Belkovic Taylor, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature: Circulation of American literature in 20th-century Russia; South Slavic oral literature; multilingual writers in America.

Alexander Tedeschi, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Islam in the post-Soviet space, including Central Asia, through the lens of the print media.

Regina Topolinskaya, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Law and foreign affairs; EU-Russia relations; Russians in the Baltic states.

Michael Tworek, Ph.D. Candidate in History: Cultural and intellectual exchanges between Italy and East-Central Europe in the Early Modern period; the Renaissance in Eastern Europe; Renaissance humanism and ideas of nationality in Poland-Lithuania, German states, Ruthenia, and Hungary; history of education; history of the book and print in early modern Poland-Lithuania.

Alexander Vindman, A.M. Candidate in Regional Studies—REECA: Determining, through a strategic defense review, Russian and former Soviet Union states’ military needs and how best to satisfy them.

Anya Vodopyanov, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Democratization; economic development; state capacity and civil violence in postcommunist states.

Stephen Walsh, Ph.D. Candidate in History: "Austria on Ice: Habsburg Arctic Exploration and Its Legacy."

Yuri M. Zhukov, Ph.D. Candidate in Government: Comparative foreign and defense policy; political methodology, particularly spatial methods and text analysis.