Svetlana Boym
Encyclopedia
Svetlana Boym is the Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literatures at Harvard University
, and a media artist, playwright and novelist. She is also an associate of the Graduate School of Design and Architecture at Harvard University
. Much of her current work is focused on developing the new theoretical concept of the off-modern
.
Boym was born in Leningrad
, USSR. She studied Spanish at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad
. She received an M.A. from Boston University
and a Ph.D. from Harvard.
Boym's written work explores relationships between utopia and kitsch, between memory and modernity, and between homesickness and sickness of home. Her research interests generally include 20th century Russian literature, cultural studies, comparative literature and literary studies. In addition to teaching and writing, Boym also sits on the Editorial Collective of the interdisciplinary scholarly journal Public Culture
. Boym has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cabot Award for Research in Humanities, and an award from the American Council
for Learned Societies.
In the 2006, Boym's media art exhibit opened in Ljubljana Factory Rog Art Space during the City of Women Festival. At the same time she curated the exhibit "Territories of Terror: Memories and Mythologies of Gulag in Contemporary Russian-American Art" at the Boston University Art
Gallery.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and a media artist, playwright and novelist. She is also an associate of the Graduate School of Design and Architecture at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. Much of her current work is focused on developing the new theoretical concept of the off-modern
Off-modern
Off-modern, a word invented by Svetlana Boym, is defined as a detour into the unexplored potentials of the modern project. It recovers unforeseen pasts and ventures into the side-alleys of modern history at the margins of error of major philosophical, economic and technological narratives of...
.
Boym was born in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, USSR. She studied Spanish at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
. She received an M.A. from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
and a Ph.D. from Harvard.
Boym's written work explores relationships between utopia and kitsch, between memory and modernity, and between homesickness and sickness of home. Her research interests generally include 20th century Russian literature, cultural studies, comparative literature and literary studies. In addition to teaching and writing, Boym also sits on the Editorial Collective of the interdisciplinary scholarly journal Public Culture
Public Culture
Public Culture is a reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal of cultural studies, founded in 1988 by anthropologists Carol Breckenridge and Arjun Appadurai...
. Boym has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cabot Award for Research in Humanities, and an award from the American Council
American Council
American Council may refer to:In linguistics:* American Council of Teachers of Russian, an organization that has to advance research development in Russian and English language...
for Learned Societies.
In the 2006, Boym's media art exhibit opened in Ljubljana Factory Rog Art Space during the City of Women Festival. At the same time she curated the exhibit "Territories of Terror: Memories and Mythologies of Gulag in Contemporary Russian-American Art" at the Boston University Art
Gallery.
Selected bibliography
- Another Freedom: The Alternative History of an Idea (University of Chicago Press, 2010) ISBN 9780226069739
- Ninotchka: A Novel (SUNY Press, 2003)
- Kosmos: Remembrances of the Future - photographs by Adam Bartos, text by Svetlana Boym (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001)
- The Future of Nostalgia (Basic Books, 2001)
- Common Places: Mythologies of Everyday Life in Russia (Harvard University Press, 1994)
- Death in Quotation Marks: Cultural Myths of the Modern Poet (Harvard University Press, 1991)
External links
- Boym's personal website displaying her art
- Boym's page at the Department of Comparative Literature, Harvard University
- Boym's page at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
- 'Ilya Kabakov: The Soviet Toilet and the Palace of Utopias' an article by Boym for ARTMARGINS 1999
- Article about Boym's exhibition, Nostalgic Technologies by Ken Gewertz for Harvard University Gazette, March 2007.