Индивидуални проекти

26 July 2023 will mark the 60th anniversary of the calamitous earthquake that struck the Socialist Republic of Macedonia’s capital city of Skopje in 1963, taking the lives of 1070 persons and destroying more than two-thirds of the urban fabric. Building upon the memory- and critical disaster studies, I recently published several papers in which I argued that the natural disaster shattered not only the material reality of Skopjans but also the symbolic worlds they inhabited, thus influencing much of their imaginaries of the city and its future urban development.The present proposal aims at discussing the Bulgarian political and societal responses to the 1963 Skopje earthquake. In the midst of the present-day bilateral quarrel over history and memory, I postulate that the mid-1960s episode of multilevel solidarity and support – such as, inter alia, the Bulgarian calls for aiding Skopje within the framework of the UN as well as the citizen-to-citizen help – challenges the prevailing understandings of shared history and memory in both the societies: as exclusivist, politically-driven notions. I will develop this research into a working paper after researching at the Sofia archives, conducting several interviews with experts and history witnesses, and discussing it with the colleagues at CAS.

This project examines the social history of tangerine trees imported from Japan to Cheju Island (South Korea) from the 1960s to the 1980s. From the colonial era all the way to the April 3 Incident of 1948, hundreds of thousands of Cheju islanders went into exile and migrated to Japan in order to avoid political turmoil and economic hardships but were unable to return to their devastated homeland. These people sent money collectively to build Cheju infrastructures and shipped tens of thousands of tangerine trees for Cheju farmers to transform their farming lands from subsistence farming to growing cash crops. These tangerine trees have played a crucial role in rapidly increasing the farmers’ income and reshaping the ecology on Cheju, an exemplary tourist destination with a culture, history, and ecology distinct from the rest of Korea. By situating Cheju in the context of East Asian post-colonial / Cold War development, I develop a book project centered around three main points related to tangerine trees: 1) as gifts; 2) as commodities; and 3) as state projects. This project revisits the gift-commodity relationship and the governance of nature through the lens of tangerine trees, highlighting how Cheju has been controlled by, and has controlled, nature as a means of future-making.

My project, titled “Roland Barthes and Julia Kristeva’s Personal Turn, 1975-1983,” examines a moment in the history of French thought when the certainties of Marxism and Structuralism were collapsing. In the last half-decade of the 1970s and first years of the 1980s, Barthes and Kristeva, leading intellectuals on the French Left, began to break from this political formation towards a new kind of apparently a-political thinking. Following a trip together to Mao’s China, which Barthes dismissed as a failure and Kristeva initially celebrated as a utopian experiment (before rejecting it in favor of a new appreciation for capitalist democracy, inspired by the United States, in the late 70s), each turned to writing about intimate emotional processes rather than political struggle. Barthes gave a series of lectures on ‘the lover’s discourse,’ culminating in a book on the subject; Kristeva prepared a book on ‘abjection,’ Powers of Horror, followed by her own analysis of love. And yet, I argue, their mutual turns to the personal were not only shaped by their different political reactions to Communist China, but represented a common project of rethinking the foundations of Western politics from a post-utopian vantage, founded on a careful analysis of psychic life.

The project concerns the cognitive value of literature. Is literature an effective cognitive medium? What sort of knowledge literature provides? How is this knowledge justified? These themes have constituted the focus of my recent research, which has already resulted in publications in significant journals. During my fellowship period, I will compose two articles on these themes. The first one defends the idea that literary works can give knowledge of what it is like to have a certain kind of experience, usually termed “experiential knowledge” in aesthetics. The second paper deals with the issue of justification. How can the reader draw valid conceptions and perspectives on what it is like to have a certain kind of experience from literary works? Drawing on esteemed research on epistemic trust, authority, responsibility, and virtuosity, I argue that many literary works meet the same conditions that social epistemologists have thought to lie behind valid epistemic trust. Together with my previous publications, these articles form the basis of a monograph the manuscript of which I plan to finish by the end of 2024. The results of the project are important for understanding the threats related to the global decrease of literary reading witnessed in recent decades.

The project is about writing a book on the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828-1829, focusing on its long-term impact on the Balkans and the Caucasus. In the scholarly literature the war has been studied from narrow and nationalistic agendas, without using the Ottoman archives and with little use of the archives of Georgia and Armenia. The proposed research and ensuing monograph will develop a synthetic and comprehensive narrative and a more objectively balanced view of the war, without being drowned in technical details. Research questions: What was the impact of the 1828-29 Russo-Ottoman War on the European balance of power, the Eastern Question, the Balkans and the Caucasus? Why were Russian military authorities reluctant to use Balkan irregulars in this war? Were the Bulgar volunteers similar to the Greek klephti? Why was Russia more successful than the Ottomans in gaining the neutrality of Kurdish tribes along the Caucasian borderlands? Why did Russia set up an Armenian province out of the khanates of Erivan and Nakhichevan, ceded by Qajar Iran in 1828? Apart from the Greek independence and autonomy of the Danubian principalities, what was the legacy of the war?

I identified and deciphered unpublished cuneiform tablet from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. Surprisingly, the Middle Babylonian text (ca. 1500-1200 BCE) turned out to be a forerunner to a medical treatise on Bronchial complaints from the Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia. The latter is the foremost collection of therapeutic writings from the Ashurbanipal Royal Library (7th century BCE), and the most important compendium of medical literature before Hippocrates. Moreover, cuneiform therapies against coughing phlegm as recorded on the Baghdad tablet bear unmistakable similarities to practices from the Hippocratic Corpus (post 4th century BCE). These sources offer a unique opportunity for medical historians, since we can now clearly see that therapies recorded in the Graeco-Roman world were in use in the Ancient Near East, even during the 2nd Millennium BCE.The project aims to scrutinize the Baghdad tablet in context. The Mesopotamian evidence will be compared and juxtaposed with similar practices from the Graeco-Roman world, but also beyond, since we are aware from other case studies that common therapies circulated throughout the ancient world. Furthermore, these similarities will be interdisciplinary discussed with real doctors, who will provide more medical context. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed paper.

The aim of the project is to explore whether and to what extent the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was part of the general trend, characteristic for other European churches (regardless of denomination), for taking part and supporting the modernization projects in their respective countries. The question seems to be important, on the one hand because it remains generally unexplored in the historical literature. It seems important also because nowadays the tradition of Church involvement in social work and modernization projects in Bulgaria is completely lost, mainly as a result of the official prohibition imposed on these activities by the communist authorities. Last but not least, because most of the contemporary Orthodox churches think of themselves as the custodians of an imagined conservative tradition and could hardly rethink their past in such a context.

This research project examines the pilgrimage experiences of Eastern and Western Christian women in the Crusader Holy Land (1099-1291), and analyzes the new behavioral patterns related to their gender roles that emerged as a consequence of the transformative character of the pious voyages. Regarding the performative aspects of gender and ritual, it explores the relationships between female pilgrimage practices and their male-authored descriptions. By analyzing the phenomenon cross-culturally and diachronically, the project analyzes the differences in pilgrimage experiences between Western and Eastern Christian female travelers, and provides an explanation for the popularity of Holy-Land female journeys in the Western world in the subsequent centuries and the disappearance of this practice in the Eastern Christian tradition. As a working hypothesis, it assumes that the shared communal experiences that distinguished the Western ladies’ journey led to the pilgrimages’ acquisition of a touristic character, whereas the focus on monastic experiences of Eastern women caused a shift from the external travelling experience to the inner spiritual journey, and led to the disappearance of the actual pious voyages in the late-medieval period.

"Future City: Art, Utopian Architecture, and Critical Research" encapsulates an artistic project that delves into the realms of art, architecture, and urban development. This multidisciplinary endeavor seeks to reimagine our urban spaces with an imaginative blend of creativity and critical inquiry, ultimately envisioning a more sustainable and harmonious urban future.At its core, this project celebrates the transformative power of art. Through a diverse range of artistic mediums, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital art, and more, it aims to breathe life into the concept of a "Future City." The art created under this theme explores the interplay between human-made structures and the natural world, challenging conventional boundaries and inspiring viewers to see urban environments through a new lens.The term "utopian architecture" invites us to dream beyond the confines of practicality and imagine what our cities could be in an ideal world. This project delves into utopian architectural concepts, where buildings are not just functional but also serve as expressions of ecological harmony, innovation, and human well-being. It rethinks architectural design to prioritize sustainability, green spaces, and coexistence with nature.This project is firmly grounded in research and critical research and intellectual inquiry. It involves rigorous investigation into the historical, cultural, and environmental contexts of urban spaces. Through critical research, it aims to uncover the challenges and opportunities that shape our cities. By delving deep into the past and present, it informs the artistic creations with an understanding of the complex forces at play in urban development.Together, these three elements converge to create a holistic exploration of "Future City." It challenges us to think beyond the present and consider the possibilities that lie ahead. It prompts us to ask critical questions about the role of art and architecture in shaping our urban environments, particularly in the context of pressing environmental concerns."Future City: Art, Utopian Architecture, and Critical Research" extends its visionary exploration to Sofia, Bulgaria, a city rich in history and architectural diversity. In Sofia, this project takes on a unique character as it engages with the city's distinct architectural heritage, ranging from the Byzantine and Ottoman influences to modernist, post modern, and socialist-era structures. The project delves into Sofia's urban fabric, reimagining its iconic landmarks and urban spaces as potential canvases for utopian architecture."Future City" is an invitation to embark on a journey of imagination, discovery, and transformation. It encourages us to envision urban spaces where the boundaries between the built environment and nature blur, where architecture is a vessel for sustainability, and where research informs creative expression.

Objectives – identification of manifestations and new trends in the use of the narrative of the Great Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in modern Belarusian memory politics, description of forms, methods of its implementation and disclosure of antagonistic essence.The following questions will be investigated: 1. Appeal to the GDL in memorial laws, political documents, politicians' speeches. 2. Non-governmental initiatives to promote the narrative of the GDL. 3. Main stages, directions and forms of memory politics implementation. 4. Conflictogenic “zones of memory” about the GDL and antagonism of memory politics. 5. The significance of the actualization of the narrative of the GDL for the Belarusian societyThe novelty – creation of the first special study on the border of history, philosophy, geopolitics, sociology. Belarusian factology will be placed in the context of modern theory of memory politics.Research sources: scientific literature, media materials.