Dr. Sofia Gavrilova

Human geographer of the (post) Soviet spaces

I am a human geographer of the post-Soviet spaces.
For the past six years I have been working in the field of the human geography and social anthropology of post-Soviet countries, focusing on the production of the ‘military landscapes’, ‘the North’, border regions, and peripheries during and after socialism, and their representation.My doctoral research project at the University of Oxford was dedicated to the analysis of the production of places in Russian regional museums in the transformational period between the socialism and Russian capitalism. During my post-doctoral fellowship at Christ Church I was working on the Gulag mapping research project (www.gulagmaps.org). Now I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geogpraphy, Leipzig.

Research

2020 – p.d.

Process of Spatialization under the Global Condition

Collaborative research centre SFB 1199, funded by DFG, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig.
Postdoctoral Researcher

2019 – 2020

Landscapes of Soviet repressions project

funded by Christ Church research fund, University of Oxford, Christ Church.
Postdoctoral researcher

gulagmaps.org

2013 – 2015

Mapping the Gulag

funded by ERC, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. Research Associate

Teaching

2014 – 2017

Tutor in Russian Geographical thought, Undergraduate, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment.

2015 – 2018

Seminar instructor in Research methods, MPhil, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment.

2015 – 2020

Co-lecturer in Recoding Sociology, Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

2009 – 2014

Lecturer and seminar instructor in GIS methods in prediction of the Natural Disasters, Moscow State University, Geographical Department, Moscow.

2010 – 2013

Lecturer and seminar instructor in Spatial Analysis and GIS methods, Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

Academic writings
Art and curatorial projects
The KRAEVEDENIE project
Mapping the GULAG
Media
Download CV

Teaching

2014 – 2017 Tutor in Russian Geographical thought, Undergraduate, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment.

2015 – 2018 Seminar instructor in Research methods, MPhil, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment.

2015 – 2020 Co-lecturer in Recoding Sociology, Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

2009 – 2014 Lecturer and seminar instructor in GIS methods in prediction of the Natural Disasters, Moscow State University, Geographical Department, Moscow.

2010 – 2013 Lecturer and seminar instructor in Spatial Analysis and GIS methods, Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

Education

2019 – DPhil in Human Geography, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment. Thesis title: ‘The present taxidermied: Soviet ‘common unsaids’ in Russian krayevedcheskiy museums’, passed with 'no corrections'.

2013 – PhD degree in GIS and cartography, Moscow State University, Geographical department.

2012 – Masters in Contemporary Arts, Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia Art named after A.Rodchenko.

2009 – Specialist degree, Moscow State University, Geographical department.

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles
Published and forthcoming

Gavrilova S. The production of urban identities in the memorial complexes of Murmansk and Rostov-on-Don. Urban Studies and Practices. 2019, 2. pp.35-47.

Gavrilova S. Regional Memories of the Great Terror: Representation of the Gulag in Russian Kraevedcheskii Museums. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History (10 001 words, revise and resubmit).

Gavrilova S. The legacies of Soviet exhibition policies in Russian krayevedcheskiy museums. Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue canadienne des slavistes (accepted pending minor corrections 8500 words).

Gavrilova S. Redefining Soviet krayevedeniye: the role of marginalised science in (post-)socialist society and economy. Journal of Historical Geography (9350 words, revised and resubmit).

Under review
Pallot J., Gavrilova S. New perspectives in research on Russia's landscapes of mass repression Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (9780 words, under review).

Gavrilova S. Creating the ‘Others’: Soviet kraevedcheskyi museums in Chukotka, for the special issue of Etudes Innuit Studies, ed. D. Oparin (6150 words).

Book chapters
Gavrilova. S. How to study the largest country in the world? Soviet kraevedenie and the environmental studies of the early XX century. Eds Heywood, A., Palmer S.W., in Science, Technology and Environment in Russia 1917-1922, in Russia's Great War and Revolution, 1914-1922 series, Slavica Publishers (8500 words, accepted pending minor revisions).

Gavrilova S. Digital humanities and memory wars in contemporary Russia. Debates of Global Humanities. Minnesota University Press (5600 words, in press).

Gavrilova S. A. Nasledie sovetskih teoretichesih principov v sovremennih kraevedhsekih museiah v Rossii (Rus.) in Politika Affecta: muzey kak prostranstvo publichnoy istorii (Rus) Eds A. Zavadsky, V. Sklez, K. Suverina. M - Novoe literatirnoe obozrenie (NLO), 2019 pp. 174 – 195
Summary: The chapter presents and overview of the exposition practices of regional and local museums in Russia in 1930-1955 years, fitting in overarching topic of the issue which is the dedicated to variety of museum practices in USSR.

Monograph in preparation
Gavrilova S. Bear. Soldier. Arctic Tundra. The construction of places in Russian regional museums. monograph, in the process of negotiations with publishers.

Book reviews
Review of Postsocialist Landscapes: Real and Imaginary Spaces from Stalinstadt to Pyongyang, edited by Thomas Lahusen and Schamma Schahadat, Bielefeld, Germany, Transcript, 2020, 328 pp.,
Eurasian Geography and Economics.

Editorial
‘Remembering Stalin’s Gulag in Russian Museums’ ed. S. Gavrilova and A. Zavadski, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, editorial process in progress.

'Past and future of Russian Arctic Cities' ed. S. Gavrilova and M. Gunko, Urban Studies and Practices, editorial process in progress.