Fellows Research

Despite an existing strict regulatory structure for controlling air pollution in Ukraine, public health impacts of particulate matter emissions from coal-burning power plants remain a major concern. Focusing on a case study of the Burshtyn Thermal Electro-Station (TES) in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, this project attempts to quantify the human health risk associated with the coal combustion emissions resulting from the generation of electricity.

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Air Pollution Risk Assessment in Ukraine: Challenges and Opportunities (567 KB pdf)

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My research evaluates whether there have been significant changes in the quantity or, more importantly, the quality of anti-corruption efforts in the Kyrgyz Republic following the April Revolution of 2010. I examine cross-sector reforms, as well as those in the areas of economics, education, energy, health, judiciary, and media. Generally speaking, the number of anti-corruption efforts increased, although not in those sectors that depend on financial support from international development organizations. Substantive improvements in quality were limited to the energy and media sectors.

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Anti-Corruption Reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic (358 KB pdf)

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The 2011-2012 Yegor Gaidar Fellowship Program in Economics closed with two days of events in Moscow, Russia where the Gaidar Fellows presented their research results along with their U.S. collaborators.  The Yegor Gaidar Fellowship Program in Economics supports collaborative research between U.S. and Russian economists on topics of importance to both countries.

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Free and independent media are a vital component of any democratic society. This research project focuses on the state of Bulgarian political journalism during the post-Communist transition. It reports the results of (1) a systematic content analysis of political news coverage during each national election since the end of Communist rule (from 1989 to 2011) and (2) semi-structured interviews with Bulgarian journalists regarding their professional norms and practices when reporting political news.

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The Relationship between Media and Politics in Post-Communist Bulgaria (387 KB pdf)

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This project explores the gendered ways in which political youth organizations voice their criticism of and support for the Putin-centered regime that began ruling Russia at the turn of the twenty-first century. My interviews and research explore the ways that youth activists on both sides of the Kremlin (pro- and anti-regime), as well as political actors within the regime itself, have chosen to wield traditional concepts of femininity and masculinity as tools in their political organizing efforts.

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The Use of Gender Norms in Russian Politics (555 KB pdf)

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This research focuses on a little known incident of Stalinist mass violence, the Kazakh famine of 1930-33. More than 1.5 million people, a quarter of Kazakhstan’s population, perished in this disaster, dramatically altering the demographic and environmental profile of the surrounding region. This research seeks to understand the causes and consequences of this terrible disaster, one which has important implications for our understanding of violence under Stalin, Soviet nationalities policy, genocide studies, and Kazakh society today.

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The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Mass Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan (565 KB pdf)

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My research is an ethnographic examination of the organizational and decision-making practices developed around what came to be known as 15o or Occupy Slovenia. I conclude that earlier activist efforts by migrants and their allies to confront dominant xenophobic policies, especially by encouraging migrants to speak and act for themselves, have contributed to the development of a distinctive and minoritarian form of direct democracy that has successfully facilitated broad participation.

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Migrant Activists as Insurgent Citizens: Diversity and Direct Democracy Within Occupy Slovenia (360 KB pdf)

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Due to its unique properties, mercury has long been used in products, industrial processes, and mining. It is also a potent toxin and environmental pollutant. The Nikitovka mercury mine, located in Gorlovka, Ukraine, produced over 30,000 tons of mercury before it closed in 1994. Mercury recycling activities continue on the former mine site. Previous studies indicate moderate to high levels of mercury near the site, as well as elevated concentrations of mercury in among some Gorlovka residents and workers.

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Environmental and Health Impacts of Mercury Mining and Recycling in Gorlovka, Donetsk Region, Ukraine (438 KB pdf)

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My project used understudied and previously unknown original source materials in major cities of Uzbekistan to explore how medieval Muslim scholars constructed a uniquely Islamic theory of knowledge – through the testimonial concept tawātur – which resulted in the unquestionable historical validity of the Qur'ān and statements from the Prophet Muhammad. I examined handwritten manuscripts of Islamic law, legal theory, and theology to build a description of the theoretical development of the concept of testimony, and to gather data on its application in theoretical and practical contexts.

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Remembering the Past and Reforming the Future: The Maturidi School and Pluralism in Central Asian Islam (343 KB pdf)

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