Students enrolled in 2025
Anna Borodkina (BA in Art History from St Petersburg State University): My interests lie in the field of urban history, with a focus on Russia’s largest cities from 1991 through the 2010s. My areas of inquiry are: the political and economic conditions of Russian urban planning from the late-20th to the early-21st century; the transformation of aesthetic and cultural norms in Russia after 1991; and the genealogy of ideas in urban planning. Languages: Russian (native speaker), English.
Egor Davydov (BA in History, HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in the history of Russian emigration in the 1920s and 1930s, the history of emigration, Interbellum political movements, and New Imperial History. My thesis will likely explore the connections between ROVS (Русский Обще-Воинский Союз) and the right-wing movements of its time. Languages: Russian (native speaker), English, German (basic).
Ertine Doptan (BA in Sociology and Social Informatics from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in linguistic anthropology, ethnography of urban spaces, post-socialist transformations, and coloniality. Regionally, I am interested in Tuva and Western Mongolia. Languages: Tuvan (native speaker), Russian (native speaker), English (advanced), Mongolian (intermediate), German (basic).
Asya Dutka (BA in Tourism and Hospitality from LAB University of Applied Sciences, Lappeenranta). I am interested in anthropology of religion, linguistics and linguistic anthropology, mythology and folklore. My master’s thesis is dedicated to how contemporary Russian pagans theorise their own practices and argue that every neopagan tradition operates using similar or identical terms and concepts that can be all tied to global New Age influence. Languages: Russian (native speaker), English, Chinese (A2).
Sofya Efimova (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in history of law and social history in the late Russian Empire and in the early Soviet era, gender history and law anthropology. My bachelor’s thesis examined early Soviet criminal cases involving women accused of homicide. For my master’s research, I aim to expand this work by incorporating cases from Imperial Russia to trace legal continuities between pre-revolutionary and Bolshevik judicial practices and by broadening the scope of crimes. I also plan to compare gendered legal narratives by analyzing both male and female defendants in my archival sample. Languages: Russian, English, Italian (basic), Latin (with dictionary).
Ekaterina Fliginskaya (BA in History from HSE Saint Petersburg) My main research interest is the Communist International and everything related to it: political culture of this institution, its participants, idea of the World Revolution and associated themes. My BA thesis was dedicated to a unique source — greeting telegrams — which circulated in early Soviet communication during the Revolution and Civil War in Russia. My MA thesis most likely will focus on the political culture of the Communist international, and more precisely — to the integration of Hungarian revolutionaries into it. Languages: Russian (native), English, Hungarian (basic).
Fatih Can Islak (BA in Political Science with a Minor in Social Anthropology, HSE University St. Petersburg). I am interested in political and policy ethnography, particularly the anthropology of the state, bureaucracy, and migration. Regionally, I focus on the post-Soviet space and on how Soviet-era institutional legacies shape contemporary political and policy practices.
Elizaveta Ivanova (BA in History from HSE — St. Petersburg): I'm interested in the history of lighthouses and marine navigation, infrastructural development of the Russian North in the late 19th century, environmental history, as well as the political culture of the Russian Revolution and the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries. Languages: Russian (native), English.
Maksim Kuznetsov (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in Soviet history and socialist urbanism, with a particular focus on the post-war period’s social dynamics, delving into how urban planning under socialism shaped everyday life, cultural identities, and community structures in the Soviet Union. The interplay between architecture, policy, and social history captivates me as I explore themes such as collective housing, urban reconstruction, and social movements. My proposed research project focuses on how housing policy reflected and reinforced Soviet social hierarchy of the late Stalinist society. Languages: Russian (native), English (advanced), German (elementary), Italian (starter).
Tabata Magela Guimaraes Lima (BA in International Relations from the University of London). I am interested in the anthropology of emotions, Russian history, and how national identity is constructed. I’d like my thesis to focus on the emotion behind rituals and symbols; more specifically on how empathy becomes a ritualized emotional practice and how it can bring historical sufferign and national belonging. Languages: Portuguese (native), English (fluent), German (advanced), Spanish (intermediary), Russian (basic).
Alena Potapova (BA in History, HSE Perm): My academic background is in history, with a focus on the everyday lives of children in the late Soviet period. In my current university-based research, I work on children’s media and mediating practices, focusing on how they contribute to the production of autonomous and intimate spaces.
My broader research interests include the anthropology of social media, children’s media practices (ranging from chalk drawings on asphalt to Telegram channels), and representations of childhood. I am also interested in communities of amateur mushroom foragers and mycology enthusiasts as sites of vernacular knowledge production and sociality.
Alongside my institutional research, I am involved in side projects in women’s history. Within this framework, I maintain a sustained interest in heteropessimism as a mode of public discourse—particularly its manifestations in gender-oriented online movements, mutual claims of men and women in digital spaces, and the ways these dynamics are embedded in meme cultures.
Angelina Saleeva (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg). My research focuses on Serbian proto-nationalism. In addition, I am interested in Balkan studies, the theory of nationalism, and intellectual history with a particular focus on the intellectual communication of the South Slavs in the second half of the 18th century and the concept of the Orthodox Enlightenment. Languages: Russian, English, Serbian.
Anna Slesar (BA in History from HSE Saint Petersburg): I am interested in history of Early Modern Italy, particularly the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, history of information and news, mobility history, history of epidemics and studies of early Italian postal networks. I plan to continue my research on information exchange during epidemic threat in Florence under the Medici. Languages: Russian (native), English, Italian.
Vlad Sovko (BA in Sociology (St. Petersburg State University of Economics). My research interests are localized in different fields of social anthropology, but primarily I’m interested in anthropology of art, ontological and material turns in social anthropology and anthropology of religion. Thinking about a project about assembling practices of socialist realism as an artistic method or about social life of Orthodox icons. Languages: Russian (native), English (B2).
Mikhail Teremetskii (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in the history of Finnish migrant community in the US, and in the history of migration and cross-border mobility in general. My main primary sources are Finnish-American newspapers and magazines. In terms of methodology, I am curious about Global History and Historical Anthropology. Languages: English (C1), Russian (Native), Finnish (A2).
Farman Ullah, I come from Waziristan—a rugged, tribal region woven into the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. My academic foundation is in Literature. I plan to research a practice often misunderstood from the outside: the wearing of the veil. Commonly seen as a fixed symbol of faith or tradition, I’ve observed from within that it functions more like a nuanced language—a language spoken not with words, but with cloth and gesture. My intended research will explore this social grammar. I aim to document how the practice changes subtly depending on social context. Why, for instance, is the veil strictly observed in front of a tribal elder, yet often relaxed around a nomadic herder (Kochi), a street vendor, or a refugee? These aren’t random exceptions; they are clues to an unwritten social code. I believe this modulation reveals that veiling is less about a uniform rule and more about navigating a complex map of honor, status, and social boundaries. It is a daily performance where women interpret and signal relationships, defining who is inside and outside their immediate circle of social regard. Building on my background in interpreting texts, I plan to embark on this ethnographic work to read the real-life narratives of my community—not as a critic, but as a curious insider seeking to understand the sophisticated, often unspoken, logic that guides everyday life.
Elizaveta Ivanova (BA in History from HSE — St. Petersburg): I'm interested in the history of lighthouses and marine navigation, infrastructural development of the Russian North in the late 19th century, environmental history, as well as the political culture of the Russian Revolution and the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries. Languages: Russian (native), English.
Ишлак Фатих Кан +++
Fatih Can Islak (BA in Political Science with a Minor in Social Anthropology, HSE University St. Petersburg). I am interested in political and policy ethnography, particularly the anthropology of the state, bureaucracy, and migration. Regionally, I focus on the post-Soviet space and on how Soviet-era institutional legacies shape contemporary political and policy practices.
Кузнецов Максим Александрович +++
Maksim Kuznetsov (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in Soviet history and socialist urbanism, with a particular focus on the post-war period’s social dynamics, delving into how urban planning under socialism shaped everyday life, cultural identities, and community structures in the Soviet Union. The interplay between architecture, policy, and social history captivates me as I explore themes such as collective housing, urban reconstruction, and social movements. My proposed research project focuses on how housing policy reflected and reinforced Soviet social hierarchy of the late Stalinist society. Languages: Russian (native), English (advanced), German (elementary), Italian (starter).
Магела Гимараес Лима Табата +++
Tabata Magela Guimaraes Lima (BA in International Relations from the University of London). I am interested in the anthropology of emotions, Russian history, and how national identity is constructed. I’d like my thesis to focus on the emotion behind rituals and symbols; more specifically on how empathy becomes a ritualized emotional practice and how it can bring historical sufferign and national belonging. Languages: Portuguese (native), English (fluent), German (advanced), Spanish (intermediary), Russian (basic). Email: tmagelagumaraeslima@edu.hse.ru
Салеева Ангелина Игоревна +++
Angelina Saleeva (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg). My research focuses on Serbian proto-nationalism. In addition, I am interested in Balkan studies, the theory of nationalism, and intellectual history with a particular focus on the intellectual communication of the South Slavs in the second half of the 18th century and the concept of the Orthodox Enlightenment. Languages: Russian, English, Serbian.
Слесарь Анна Николаевна +++
Anna Slesar (BA in History from HSE Saint Petersburg): I am interested in history of Early Modern Italy, particularly the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, history of information and news, mobility history, history of epidemics and studies of early Italian postal networks. I plan to continue my research on information exchange during epidemic threat in Florence under the Medici. Languages: Russian (native), English, Italian.
Теремецкий Михаил Фёдорович +++
Mikhail Teremetskii (BA in History from HSE St. Petersburg): I am interested in the history of Finnish migrant community in the US, and in the history of migration and cross-border mobility in general. My main primary sources are Finnish-American newspapers and magazines. In terms of methodology, I am curious about Global History and Historical Anthropology. Languages: English (C1), Russian (Native), Finnish (A2).
Уллах Фарман +++
The Relational Veil: Honor, Hierarchy, and Everyday Practice
My name is Farman Ullah, and I come from Waziristan—a rugged, tribal region woven into the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. My academic foundation is in Literature.
I plan to research a practice often misunderstood from the outside: the wearing of the veil. Commonly seen as a fixed symbol of faith or tradition, I’ve observed from within that it functions more like a nuanced language—a language spoken not with words, but with cloth and gesture.
My intended research will explore this social grammar. I aim to document how the practice changes subtly depending on social context. Why, for instance, is the veil strictly observed in front of a tribal elder, yet often relaxed around a nomadic herder (Kochi), a street vendor, or a refugee? These aren’t random exceptions; they are clues to an unwritten social code.
I believe this modulation reveals that veiling is less about a uniform rule and more about navigating a complex map of honor, status, and social boundaries. It is a daily performance where women interpret and signal relationships, defining who is inside and outside their immediate circle of social regard.
Building on my background in interpreting texts, I plan to embark on this ethnographic work to read the real-life narratives of my community—not as a critic, but as a curious insider seeking to understand the sophisticated, often unspoken, logic that guides everyday life.
Warm Regards
Farman Ullah
Флигинская Екатерина Дмитриевна +++
Ekaterina Fliginskaya (BA in History from HSE Saint Petersburg) My main research interest is the Communist International and everything related to it: political culture of this institution, its participants, idea of the World Revolution and associated themes. My BA thesis was dedicated to a unique source — greeting telegrams — which circulated in early Soviet communication during the Revolution and Civil War in Russia. My MA thesis most likely will focus on the political culture of the Communist international, and more precisely — to the integration of Hungarian revolutionaries into it. Languages: Russian (native), English, Hungarian (basic)