Individual projects

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?

Motivated by my previous and upcoming work situated at the junction of the Classics and the Medical Humanities, and inspired by recent events relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, the aim of this project is to offer a charitable reading of patient anxieties in illness narratives dating to the High Roman Empire, a pivotal period in political and medical history (ca. 1st-2nd c. CE).As a branch of ‘technical’ learning, medicine was held in high regard by the leading class in this period. Confronted with the sheer reality of illness, medical uncertainty, and the prominence of the medical art in the public sphere, numerous eminent members of learned society, including philosophers, sophists, politicians, even emperors, wrote extensively about medicine and health related topics, to the extent that some scholar contemptuously speak of an ‘Age of Hypochondria’.Within this fascinating, and still under-explored field, my interest while at CAS Sofia is in the ways in which Stoic philosophers express and deal with health related anxieties. What strategies do they propose to manage such fears? And how effective is their philosophy really when push comes to shove? How did the ancient Stoics square their high-minded philosophy with the physical reality of bodily illness and pain, which they profess to be ‘indifferents’ (indifferentia/adiaphora)?Seneca is a good case in point considering his notoriously weak physique (the man suffered from asthma, suspirium, among other such respiratory afflictions). How does this leading Stoic make sense of his bad health? How does he try to rationalise his fear and expectation of death by boldly – even cheerfully – looking it in the eye? What strategies does he claim are helpful (for himself and for his reader) to philosophically cope with existential crises? And how typical (or not) is his case? In other words, what role do such anxieties play in Stoic illness narratives more generally? What concepts and imagery are being used to capture it? And does the ‘Stoic patient’ (if indeed this is a valid category) always practice what he/his philosophy preaches in terms of mental tranquillity and medical self-management (think, e.g., of the correspondence between the emperor Marcus Aurelius, author of the Meditations, and his teacher Fronto, a prominent Roman sophist, where they complain about all kinds of localised pain)?In addressing questions like these, this project combines perspectives from the history of emotions and intellectual history (viz. ancient philosophy and medicine), with the aim of making a meaningful contribution to our understanding of the affective experience, as well as the cognitive construction, of fear/anxiety as an embodied phenomenon in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, and what relevance these ancient patient voices may still have for us today.

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.

Post-socialist Bulgaria was haunted by poltergeists, visited by aliens, and awash with ‘phenomena’ of various kinds. Why were these alternative forms of knowing the world proliferating in the first decades of ‘democracy’? This project combines the histories of late socialism with new research into the post-socialist period to explore the intersection of official and unofficial science and knowledge-making communities. Utilizing archival documents, analysis of literature, digital tools, and oral history, it will uncover the role of socialist science and narratives in the shaping of post-1989 narratives around Bulgarian ‘uniqueness’ but also esoteric expectations about spirits, energies, and aliens. It argues that the print and digital culture of the post-1989 period enabled amateur communities to claim scientific expertise in novel ways, often utilizing but obscuring the theories’ origins in earlier periods. Who could claim truth and how did they defend it? More so, why was post-socialist Bulgaria receptive to such ideas and why do publics continue to flock to and fund such communities? Building on existing literature about both the lost utopias of socialism and the ways post-crisis societies deal with meaning and disenchantment (from political narratives), this project bridges the 1989 divide in political and cultural language in novel ways.

When we ask ourselves what are the objects of our visual perception, the most intuitive answer that comes to mind is that we perceive the things that constitute our reality or external world, e.g. buildings, trees, tables, etc. In philosophy of perception, this account came to be known as common sense realism, naïve realism or direct realism. Regardless of its intuitiveness, however, direct realism nowadays has close to none supporters to endorse it.

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.

The project explores the predicament of Bulgarian cultural and artistic intelligentsia in the unexplored post-socialist period when, for the first time in their two-century history, intellectuals were becoming uniquely insignificant figures. The project is envisioned as a social–historical and cultural analysis of how Bulgarian intellectuals, artists, writers, poets, and filmmakers experienced first the liberal-intellectual and then the social revolution engendered by the transition from state socialism to neol-iberal capitalism. It explores the paradox that while East European intellectuals and dissidents were instrumental in the demise of communism, it was ironically under neo-liberal democracy that they were relegated to a life of cultural and social irrelevance. Methodologically, the project will weave an economic analysis of the impact of the new market economy on intellectual and artistic production together with a cultural analysis of intellectual and artistic reactions to the cultural and political transformations of the 1990s and 2000s. Examining intellectuals’ attitudes towards such issues as nationalism, pro-EU or pro-US sentiment, political activism, and post-communist nostalgia, this project seeks to understand how the marginalization of the intelligentsia has affected not only post-1989 cultural and intellectual life, but also social and political mobilization.