Individual projects

This project aims to determine the specifics of the images of Ukraine constructed by church historians of the Russian Empire during the "long" 19th century. The transformation of Russian church narratives about Ukrainian history will be examined from the broad perspective of the history of colonialism, nationalism studies, and new imperial history. Dr. Pavlo Yeremieiev will try to discover how the characteristics of the Ukrainian lands in church historiography were influenced by the historians' personal theological, historiosophical, and socio-political views, changes in methodological approaches to studying history, and general cultural trends of the era. Can we characterise the Russian Orthodox Church as a maiden of the state (in terms of Richard Pipes) in constructing the images of the Ukrainian past?  What was the role of the scenarios of power (in terms of Richard Wartman) and the invention of tradition (in terms of Eric Hobsbaum) in constructing the images of Ukrainian lands by Russian church historians? How did the Russian, Ukrainian and Polish national movements influence the church's historical narratives about Ukrainian lands? In what way did the church historians actualise Biblical images and medieval concepts (the Second Jerusalem and so on) to characterise Ukrainian religious history?

The project presents an interdisciplinary approach to the interrelationship between media, language, and society in the context of conflicts and wars. It integrates frameworks from sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, describes the phenomenon of media language and compares it in different countries. On the example of the warfare between Ukraine and Russia (Russian military aggression), the study will show the impact of the conflict on the media language, type of media and society, as well as make a comparative analysis of the methods and techniques used by media actors to communicate with people. In this context, Dr Yuliya Krylova-Grek pays attention to the different aspects of language in the period of war and conflicts: language as a weapon (“weaponized language”), language as a tool of resistance, and counteraction to psychological operations (PSYOPs). The interdisciplinary approach allows the researcher to explore what methods and tools media actors use to influence public opinion and how the choice of language is determined by social and political context, depending on the country and region. The project is based on a comparative study of how media operate during conflicts and crises in different countries and regions (Ukraine, Russia, Central and Eastern European countries).

The project is focused on studying the peculiarities of an important Ukrainian region through the prism of quality of life. "Quality of life" is used as a collective interdisciplinary category (at the intersection of Sociology, History, Medicine, Economics, and Psychology), which allows us to look at the human environment, the influence of natural conditions and climate, changes in nutrition and their consequences, the (un)successful fight against diseases and medicalization, changing social conditions and social standards. These are difficult areas to reflect on, especially if the historian wants to find long-lasting, important changes and tectonic shifts. It is uneasy to compare the quality of life in time or space because the population has different standards and expectations. In his research, Dr Igor Serdiuk has to apply universal comparative indicators, such as mortality parameters, food security, earnings ratio and prices of basic necessities. At the same time, it is essential how people of that time, especially representatives of the "silent majority", imagined the quality of their life. To investigate this, I apply micro-historical and historical-anthropological approaches to working with sources that allow hidden "voices" to be heard. The result of the project will be several scientific publications, an optional discipline for master's students-historians, updating the existing educational courses "Everyday life history" and "Methodology of history", which I teach to students-historians.

The project examines how East European Jews, a population bedeviled by grinding poverty and economic and residential restrictions, viewed another maligned population – Black Africans and African Americans – with whom they had no contact. Although most of them would not see a Black person throughout their lives, or only upon their arrival in America, East European Jews already acquired some level of information, however skewed, which served as a basis for imagining Black people as savage and primitive. This study critically revises the existing literature and provides an invaluable insight into the process of combining traditional and modern elements in the acquisition of knowledge. The project's findings are significant to the larger context of immigration history. They demonstrate how would-be immigrants have had preconceived imagery of Blacks prior to setting foot in America (same notions are true for those who stayed in the Old Country). Parallel cases of imagining people without meeting them can be shown with other ethnic groups who also hailed from areas that had no Black population, whether in Europe or Asia. Those themes are especially relevant to studying the dynamics of racism, as they expand our understanding of the genealogy of knowledge. In that respect, this study is also important to fields such as translation studies and history of science, as it examines how literature, scientific texts, and travel accounts were transformed when disseminated in a different culture.

This project is a continuation of Ivo Danchev's previous work, "Behind the Masks," where he explored the participation of different ethnic and social groups in Bulgaria's ancient masked traditions, with a particular emphasis on the Roma minority. He is committed to creating a visually compelling and socially relevant narrative that not only captures the essence of the Kukeri but also contributes to the ongoing dialogue around cultural heritage and inclusivity.

Ever since the Upper Palaeolithic, communities have been making miniature figures, with a peak in figurine usage in the Balkan Neolithic - Chalcolithic (6200 – 3500 cal BC). While endlessly fascinating, these figurines remain enigmatic. The principal shift in approach has been from “What did these figurines mean?” to “What do these figurines do?” – viz., studies of performance and figurine agency. Many see figurines as vehicles for exploring people’s relationships with human bodies. Yet in the last two decades, the pendulum has swung towards agency and away from meaning, leading to a lack of integration of research results. This state of affairs offers an opportunity for new research in which context is central, performance is meaningful and human and object agencies are in dialogue. My main research question is “how were figurines embedded in domestic and mortuary performances through time and space in prehistoric Bulgaria?” I shall answer this question by studying reports on figurine assemblages and first-hand examination of some figurine collections in Bulgarian museums in order to discover the figurines’ depositional circumstances and performative roles. The output would be a chapter in an invited book in the Cambridge Elements “Archaeology and Gender” series on “Female figurines in European prehistory”.

This interdisciplinary project studies the geological exploration of the Balkan Peninsula, focusing on the descriptions and analyses of thermal water that were produced by traveling naturalists and scientists from the beginning of the sixteenth century until the end of the nineteenth. Placing the texts in their proper historical contexts and considering the authors’ agendas and the broader developments within the travel writing genre, the project examines how the exploration of the geology and thermal hydrology of the Balkans was situated in the overall study of the peninsula and what role it played in shaping the travelers’ perceptions of Balkan societies and cultures. I look into how Southeast Europe’s affinity for the healing and sacral properties of spring water informed Western travelers’ perceptions of the region as ‘other’ vis-à-vis the places they were coming from and how the study of the hydrothermal landscapes of the Balkans influenced the formation of a comprehensive image of the region. I use insights from cultural geography and anthropology to show how thermal water played an essential role in place-making in the Balkans and how its scientific exploration was ultimately linked to the study of human culture.

This research explores the dynamics of Bulgarian archaeology during the communist period and the Transition years (1944–2007), examining the profound influence of political ideologies on archaeological research, scientific interpretations and social implications. It is innovative for Bulgarian historiography, as the subject is challenging due to the difficulty of objectively assessing such a recent past. The proposed research is a multifaceted endeavour that requires a comprehensive approach. It aims to examine a wide range of issues, problems and key features, encompassing the historical background of Bulgaria during the communist period and beyond, political ideologies, state institutions and control, international relations, and the influence of political policies on the conservation and management of Bulgaria's archaeological heritage. The proposed research will be organised in several phases according to its main objectives. Using a variety of research methods, including archival studies and comparative analysis with other Eastern European countries, the study aims to stimulate scholarly discourse and inspire further research into Bulgaria's complex scientific past. Ultimately, the project will culminate in a monograph that will synthesise the findings to enrich our understanding of this fascinating historical period.

This research project seeks to comprehensively explore the overlooked and forgotten Turkish literature produced within Communist Bulgaria from 1944 to 1968. Despite comprising approximately one hundred poetry books, long stories, and novels during this period, these Turkish texts have been largely neglected by both Bulgarian and Turkish scholars, remaining mere entries in bibliographies. The primary aim of this research is to unravel the complex interplay between Turkishness, Muslimness, socialism, and peasantism as reflected in these (selected) Turkish literary works published in Bulgaria during the Cold War era. Specifically, this research focuses on texts released by the state-sponsored publishing house, Narodna Prosveta, from 1959 to 1968, as well as contributions to the monthly magazine Yeni Hayat (New Life) (1953-60) and its literary supplement, Çağdaş (Modern). By conducting literary and sociocultural analyses within the context of ideological upheavals during the Cold War, this project aims to illuminate the unique and uneven development of minority literature in Bulgaria. Additionally, it employs archival research to enhance understanding of the relationship between socialism, nationalism, the idea of the land, and Turkish literary culture within this specific historical framework. Furthermore, by conducting a comparative examination between Bulgaria and Turkey—neighboring countries aligned with opposing ideological blocs during the Cold War—the research enriches our comprehension of the diverse trajectories of Turkish literature under contrasting ideological regimes.

The Second World War played, and continues to play a major role in Ukrainian political, cultural, public, and scientific discourse. In the conditions of Russia's contemporary war against Ukraine, the memory of the Second World War, the previous destructive war on the territory of Ukraine, becomes even more relevant for the state, scientists, and the public. In this project, called 'Memory of the Second World War in Contemporary Ukraine', Dr. Ihor Dvorkin plans to continue his research on the place of the Second World War in the contemporary Ukrainian discourse, after the Ukrainian independence in 1991. Since then, the coexistence of national and post-Soviet historical narratives in the political, scientific, and educational spheres was typical. However, after the Euromaidan and the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, and especially after the legislative changes of 2015, called "decommunization laws", the situation changed in favour of a national approach. These events had a significant impact on the humanitarian sphere in Ukraine, the politics of memory and historical politics. In his study, Dr. Dvorkin will assess the following phenomena:

• Soviet heritage and post-Soviet realities. The "Great Patriotic War" vs World War II (until 2014).
• Euromaidan (2014) and its impact on memory politics and historical politics. Legislative changes (2015). Changes in rhetoric, aesthetics and toponymy; the invention of new traditions.
• The impact of the full-scale Russian invasion (2022) on perceptions of World War II. Possible changes during and after the current war.
• Russian instrumentalization of the Second World War in the conditions of hybrid and full-scale wars and the Ukrainian response.
• "Memorial places" dedicated to the war in the Ukrainian city: Soviet and post-Soviet (memorials, monuments, commemorative practices).
• Memory of the war in the toponymy of the Ukrainian cities: dynamics of changes.