Modern Languages and Literatures
Kristin Bidoshi
Job Title
Professor of Russian
Director of Russian and East European Studies
Areas of expertise
Russian & East European literature and cultural studies
Slavic and Balkan folklore (evil eye, vampire studies)
Technology-enhanced language learning (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, AI)
Research interests
Russian and East European literature, culture, folklore and Russian language pedagogy
I research narrative form, belief systems and cultural memory in Russian and Eastern European literary and folkloric traditions. My work explores how oral tradition shapes literary form in the works of Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov and Luidmila Petrushevskaia. I also conduct ethnographic research on contemporary folk traditions in Albania. I am particularly interested in how representations of the undead reflect cultural anxieties and constructions of the other in Eastern European and American short stories. More recently, my research has turned to applied linguistics, as I investigate language teaching as an ethical and civic practice and explore how emerging technologies, including virtual and augmented reality, and AI might support grammatical development and critical thinking in the beginning-level Russian classroom.
Teaching interests
Russian language courses (building AI literacy)
The Vampire in East European and American Culture (in English)
Madness and the Mad in Russian Literature (in English)
Resilient Voices in Ukrainian Literature, First-Year writing seminar
Teaching English Practicum (in partnership with Ukrainian NGO & also Greater Capital District YMCAs)
Publications
Articles
“Silence as Dominant Structural Metaphor in Chekhov’s ‘House with a Mezzanine’.”New Zealand Slavonic Journal (NZSJ) 51-52 (2017-2018): 49-67 (published Dec 2020).
“‘The Mindworm’: C.M. Kornbluth’s Post-War American Vampire Tale at the Dawn of the Atomic Age.” Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research 6:1 (2019): 28-40.
“… And little by little one recalls the legends of the steppe, travelers’ stories, and nanny’s folk tales…”: Folk Motifs and Rituals in Chekhov’s ‘Steppe’” in Десять шагов по « Степи » Ten Steps along the ‘Steppe”. Ed. Vera Zubarev. Idyllwild: Charles Schlacks Publisher (2017): 133-52.
“Liudmila Petrushevskaia’s “Our Crowd”: Pushing at the Margins, Exploding Mythologies of the Feminine.” Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture 15:4. Forthcoming.
Article: “Fritz Leiber’s Postwar American Vampire Tale and the Second Red Scare.” The Journal of Dracula Studies. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Press. No. 17 (2015): 5-30 .
“American College Life – Focus on Union College, Schenectady, New York” in Education in the USA: Textbook. Ed. Svetlana Domysheva. Irkutsk: EALI, MSLU. 2014 (65 pages).
“Beauty and the Beast à la Russe.” Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairytale Studies. Wayne State University Press. Vol. 22, No. 2 (2008): 277-295.
“The Case for Dynamic Exercise Systems in Language Learning” (with David Galloway). Computer Assisted Language Learning: An International Journal (CALLIJ). Forthcoming 2008, 16 pp.
“Asynchronous Computer-Assisted Classroom Discussion in the Beginning Level Russian Language Classroom” (with Natasha Anthony). Inventio: Creative Thinking About Learning and Teaching. George Mason University. Forthcoming 2007, 42 pp.
“The Stranger in the Fictional Works of Nikolai Gogol’s Arabesques.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal (NZSJ) 39: 1-36. Victoria University Press, Dec 2006.
“’Veronica’s Dream’: A Contemporary Albanian Fairytale.” Folklorica: Journal of the Slavic and E. European Folklore Association (Translation from Albanian with Introduction and Notes.) Vol. XI, No. 1. Edmonton: Priority Printing (Autumn 2006): 78-116.
“The Dordolec: Albanian House Dolls and the Evil Eye.” Journal of American Folklore 119 (473): 337-355. University of Illinois Press, Summer 2006.
“Circles and Crowds: ‘Svoi krug’ Liudmily Petrushevskoi v angliiskikh perevodakh” [Circles and Crowds: Liudmila Petrushevskaia’s ‘Our Circle’ in English Translation] in Rossiia i S.Sh.A.: formy literaturnogo dialoga. Eds. M. Odesskaia and I. Masing-Delic. Moscow: Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet (2000): 164-171.
“U nego bylo takoe zhe angel’skoe litso, iasnoe i dobroe” (Simvolika podteksta rasskaza ‘Chernyi monakh’)” [‘He had the same angelic face, kind and clear’: Underlying Symbols in the “Black Monk”] in Molodye issledovateli Chekhova. Moscow, Russia III (1998): 74-77.
Book Chapter
“Поехали! Training Russian Verbs of Motion in VR” in Enhancing Beginner-Level Foreign Language Education for Adult Learners: Language Instruction Intercultural Competence Technology and Assessment. Ed. Ekaterina Nemtchinova. Routledge Press 2022.
Book Reviews
Jeremy Howard. Balkan Fabrications: From Fra and Jessie Newbery’s ‘Serbian’ Turn. Bristol:Sansom & Company, 2022. Slavic and East European Journal. Vol. 67, No. 1 (Spring 2023). Lexington, Kentucky: 138-40.
Joseph Feinberg, The Paradox of Authenticity: Folklore Performance in Post-Communist Slovakia. Slavic and East European Journal. Vol. 63, No. 4 (Winter 2019). Lexington, Kentucky: 613-615.
Keith Doubt, Through the Window: Kinship and Elopement in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Slavic and East European Journal. Vol. 61, No. 4 (Winter 2017). Lexington, Kentucky: 936-938.
Tatjana Aleksic, The Sacrificed Body: Balkan Community Building and the Fear of Freedom. Slavic and East European Journal. Vol. 58, No.4 (Winter 2014). Lexington, Kentucky: 745-746.
Laura Olson and Svetlana Adonyeva. The Worlds of Russian Village Women: Tradition, Transgression, Compromise. Folklorica: Journal of the Slavic and E. European Folklore Association. Vol. XVIII (Spring 2014). Edmonton: Priority Printing: 31-34.
Scott Evenbeck, Barbara Jackson, Maggy Smith, Dorothy Ward and Associates, Eds. Organizing for Student Success: The University College Model (No. 53). Journal of the National Academic Advising Association. Issue 31, No. 2 (Fall 2011). www.nacada.ksu.edu/Journal/Volume-Thirty-One-Issue-2.htm.
Susan Ingram. Zarathustra’s Sisters: Women’s Autobiography and the Shaping of Cultural History. Slavic and East European Journal. (Book Review) Vol. 49, No. 4 (Winter 2005). Lexington, Kentucky: 682-683.
Stephen Moeller-Sally. Gogol’s Afterlife: The Evolution of a Classic in Imperial and Soviet Russia. Canadian Slavonic Papers. (Book Review) Vol. 47, No. 3-4 (Sept-Dec 2005). Edmonton: Priority Printing: 47.
Aleksandr Kondratiev. On the Banks of the Yaryn. Trans. Valentina G. Brougher. Folklorica: Journal of the Slavic and E. European Folklore Association (Book Review) Vol. X, No. 1. Edmonton: Priority Printing (Spring 2005): 57-58.
Sally Dalton-Brown. Voices from the Void: The Genres of Liudmila Petrushevskaia. Canadian Slavonic Papers. (Book Review) Vol. XLIII, No. 4. Edmonton: Priority Printing (Dec. 2001): 570-572.
Edited Journals
Editorial Board, Folklorica: Journal of the Slavic and East European Folklore Association. University of Alberta Press, May 2008-May 2011.
Associate Editor, Symposium. Syracuse University Press, April 2007-present.
Co-Editor, The Middle East and South Asia Folklore Bulletin. The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Vol. 16, No. 2-3, Eds. Sabra J. Webber, Kristin Peterson and Ipek Celik, Spring 2000.
Edited Book
Fantasy or Ethnography? Irony and Collusion in Subaltern Representation. Papers in Comparative Studies, Vol. 8, Eds. Sabra J. Webber and Margaret R. Lynd with Kristin A. Peterson, 1996: 3-254.
Other / Textbook & CD
Golosa. Book 1, Third Edition. Internet Video Interviews and Web based Exercises, (www.gwu.edu/~slavic/golosa/) Richard Robin and Kristin Peterson.
Prentice Hall, September, 2002.
“Tochki zreniia”. Ohio 5 Viewpoints Series, Russian Video CD-ROM Project “Crossing Cultures and Platforms” (with Arlene Forman). August 1999.
Additional media
Academic credentials
B.A., Beloit College; M.A., The Ohio State University; Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Karp Hall 120
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Fax:
(518) 388-6462