Rachel Platonov

Additional Information

Teaching Areas:
I teach courses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature and culture at both the undergraduate and MA levels.

Research students: My research students include Marco Biasioli, whose PhD project investigates issues of language choice and identity in contemporary Russian rock music; and Mozhgan Samadi, whose PhD project focuses on women and martyrdom in Stalin-era war cinema. I have previously supervised successful PhD theses on topics including literary translation and the role of the translator in Russia in the 1930s; the impact of the Internet on the contemporary Russian literary scene; the function of mat (obscene language) in late Soviet and post-Soviet literature; and the role of online gaming communities as a space for the formation of new youth identities.

I am happy to supervise research on a wide range of topics in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature and culture. I am particularly interested in research projects involving aspects of Russian literature and culture that fall outside traditional notions of 'the canon'; and in projects of an interdisciplinary or multimedia nature. Literary and culture studies topics of a comparative or cross-cultural nature are also welcomed.

• PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures (Harvard University, 2004)
• BA summa cum laude in Russian (Yale University, 1996)

Research specialisations: My primary areas of research are Russian and Soviet popular culture; nineteenth-and twentieth-century Russian literature; and interactions between literature, music and performance. My current work focuses on late Imperial Russian and early Soviet circus.

Along with Professor Hilary Pilkington (Manchester) and Professor Susan Reid (Sheffield), I co-organised two workshop series funded by CEELBAS, 'Doing Culture' (January - October 2008) and 'Situating Culture'  (2009-2010).