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Biography
I am a historian of modern Russia specialising in the socio-political dynamics of revolution, war, and power transformation in the early twentieth century. I received my PhD in History from the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
I have several articles and books on the Russian Revolution, the First World War, and the Civil War, with particular attention to the relationships between violence, political power, and social structures. I am currently a Marie Sk艂odowska-Curie Fellow at the 海角黑料, where I am working on a project exploring how urban communities were reshaped during war and revolution.
Expertise Summary
I specialise in the history of early twentieth-century Russia, with a focus on revolutionary movements, military institutions, and political violence. My work examines how social actors shaped political processes during periods of crisis and state collapse. I take an interdisciplinary approach that combines political, social, and cultural history, paying particular attention to the language used to legitimise power during the Russian Revolution.
Teaching Summary
My teaching interests focus on modern Russian and East European history, with particular emphasis on the late Russian Empire, the First World War, the Russian Revolution.
I teach courses on the history of the First World War, the collapse of the Russian Empire, and the revolutionary period of 1917-1922. More broadly, I am interested in themes such as political violence, state formation, and the role of ordinary people in shaping historical change.
Research Summary
My current research explores how urban communities in Russia were transformed during the First World War and the revolutionary period of 1917-1922. I investigate how ordinary people became political… read more
Current Research
My current research explores how urban communities in Russia were transformed during the First World War and the revolutionary period of 1917-1922. I investigate how ordinary people became political actors and how new forms of self-organisation emerged in conditions of war and state collapse. I am particularly interested in the relationship between everyday life and political mobilisation, as well as in the cultural and linguistic frameworks through which people understood conflict and belonging.
Past Research
My previous research has centred on the political language of the Russian Revolution and the cultural mechanisms through which violence and conflict were understood and legitimised. I have examined how key concepts, such as "civil war," "dual power," and "Bolshevism", etc. were used, contested, and transformed in 1917-1918. This work approaches revolution as a process of conceptual change, in which political vocabulary shaped perceptions of reality. My earlier work focused on forms of soldiers' self-government in rear garrisons. I explored how rank-and-file soldiers created assemblies, committees, and other institutions of collective decision-making, and how these practices reshaped authority within the army. This research demonstrated that soldiers were not only participants in revolutionary events but also active agents in redefining power relations and political order.