Tatiana Filimonova

My research focuses on literature and politics in Russia, which have always been intertwined. Their interdependence has fascinated and unsettled me for a long time. In my teaching, I encourage students to explore the broader socio-historical context of literary and cinematic works in order to fully grasp their meaning and political relevance, and to appreciate the stylistic quirks and cultural allusions prompted by this context. When teaching the Russian language, I provide students with as much historical, political and creative context as possible: with this knowledge, Russian will be not just a skill, but a window into a new culture.

In my writing, I focus on late twentieth-century and contemporary Russia, and I examine how geopolitical thought has influenced perceptions of national identity in literature and culture. My work explores Russian national identity in its multi-ethnic and transnational contexts, including movements like Eurasianism, as well as the colonial and anti-colonial impulses that underpin such ideologies. I am currently at work on my first monograph, titled New Russia's Geopolitical Novel: Alternative Eurasian Visions. On the one hand, my book examines literature through the approach of critical geopolitics, tracing how messianic and civilizational ideologies like Eurasianism are shaping contemporary prose, which often portrays Russia as a major actor on the world political stage. On the other hand, the book proposes an engagement with a form of domestic geopolitics by exploring the narratives of migration, both transnationally and within Russia's boundaries.

Apart from the monograph, I am currently working on an edited volume about Victor Pelevin's position within both the Post-Soviet and Global discourses, as well as on a critical anthology of Indigenous writing from Russia's North, Siberia and the Far East.