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Kalkina Valeriya

I have recently graduated with the PhD degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2017). Before gaining my doctoral degree, I earned MA in Visual Culture from Lund University, Sweden (2012) and BA in Arts and Humanities from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (2009).
My research interests lie on the crossroads of several interconnected areas: cultural studies, new media studies and post-Soviet aesthetics. Thus, in my doctoral dissertation (‘Mediated Memories of the USSR: Reconstruction and Critical Re-evaluation of the Soviet Past through Internet Images’) I probed novel subject of post-Soviet digital memory, which only recently emerged in the academic discourse. Using this concept, I identified different patterns of remembrance of the Communist period on the Internet, as I researched how online depictions contributed to memorialization of that bright and controversial epoch among contemporary Russians. While users bring dozens of Soviet images on the Web, the number and variety of digital commemorative practices increases, what results into a more dynamic and fluid post-Soviet ‘memoryscape.’ I presented results of this scholarly inquiry at international conferences worldwide, including Amsterdam (2015), Christchurch (2015), Wellington (2015) and Washington DC (2016), thereby connecting with researchers, who investigated similar subjects of post-Soviet culture, collective memory and general ‘digitization’ of Russian public sphere. In the same vein, I published a chapter from my doctoral project in New Zealand Slavonic Journal, Vol. 47-48, whilst I currently work on the manuscripts of three other articles based on my dissertation. One of them is called ‘Digital Spaces of Soviet Trauma: Mediating Memory of the Soviet Political Repressions in the Virtual Museum of Gulag’ and the other two are ‘Between Memory and Stiob: Creative Transformations of the Soviet Propaganda Posters on the Web’ and ‘Irony Misunderstood, Memory Misrepresented: A Close Reading of ‘Stalin is Like’ Digital Images.’
During my PhD programme, I worked for some time as a tutor on the course of the Soviet history, which gave me confidence in teaching and ignited interest in this job, so that I am well prepared to teach assigned classes and develop my own classes on a variety of subjects. I look forward to launching of both short-term and long-term courses touching different aspects of art history, contemporary visual culture and new media.
Apart from the main university degrees, I also have a number of additional qualifications. Thus, I hold a certificate of the “Instructor of Russian as a Foreign Language” from the Moscow State University (2017), a diploma of “Consultant-Interpreter from the English Language into Russian in Humanities” (2011) and a qualification of “PR and Communication Manager”(2008) from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.
Throughout my studies, I received a few academic awards and research grants, such as ‘UC Doctoral scholarship for the completion of doctoral programme at the University of Canterbury’ (2013-2016), ‘UC conference travel grant for attending of the symposium at Amsterdam University’ (2015) and ‘Honorary Diploma for the highest academic achievements during studying at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia’ (2009).