Dr. Hristova Accepted to NEH Summer Seminar

Maria Hristova, Assistant Professor of Russian and Russian Section Head, has been accepted to a 2019 NEH Summer Seminar titled, “Religion, Secularism, and the Novel”. Hosted by the University of Iowa and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this seminar will bring together sixteen faculty members from around the United States to collaboratively consider a range of new scholarship on post secular studies and the novel. Participants (NEH Summer Scholars) at this seminar will read five specific novels in advance, so that they may engage with other participants and guest speakers, and focus on the secondary readings and their individual research projects during three-week seminar. Dr. Hristova plans to work on an article, “Women in Nature: Female Bodies and Religious Experiences in Contemporary Russian Literature”, which feeds into her larger research/book project that examines outputs of contemporary Russian writers, directors, and visual artists. More information about Dr. Hristova’s research is available here.

Each year NEH supports competitive Seminars and Institutes for college and university faculty to enrich and revitalize their understanding, scholarship, and teaching of humanities topics that bear upon undergraduate education.  Each seminar provides an intimate and focused environment that emphasizes sustained interaction among the participants and directors through discussion of common readings, conversations about teaching, and advising on independent projects. Faculty members apply directly to the seminar(s) of interest and receive a stipend to offset the costs of participating.

It is noteworthy that this is Dr. Hristova’s second external award since she joined the Lewis & Clark faculty in 2017; in Summer 2018 she was selected to participate in ASIANetwork’s faculty enhancement program, “Religion in National and International Affairs in China and India.” Participating in the ASIANetwork program led to Dr. Hristova’s development of “Art, Religion, and Politics in Russia and China since 2000”, which she taught this past fall semester.