Join us in congratulation two of our very own faculty members, Dr. Dima Arzyutov and Dr. Yana Hashamova, as well as our Chair Dr. Angela Brintlinger, who we thank for continuing to help make our faculty the best on campus!

Well Done Dr. Arzyutov, whose project has been funded by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies for AY2026-27:

Project title: From Sacred Land to Sacrifice Zone: Indigenous Histories and the Nuclearization of the Soviet Arctic in the Cold War Era

Project abstract

This project explores how the history of nuclear testing can be written from an Indigenous perspective. Focusing on Novaya Zemlya, a sacred Arctic archipelago for the Nenets, Komi, and Pomors, it examines how these communities were displaced when the islands were redefined as a nuclear sacrifice zone. The hypothesis contrasts Indigenous visions of sentient relations with the environment and the centrality of communal life with state logics that framed remote Arctic territories as suitable for dangerous experiments, unlike protected mainland populations. Drawing on Indigenous and archival sources and comparing global cases, the project reframes Cold War nuclear history through dialogue between “above” and “below” perspectives.

Well Done Dr. Brintlinger, who has been funded by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies for AY2026-27:

Project title: Chronotope and Disease in Times of Revolution and War

Project abstract: 

This book project involves tuberculosis, sanatoria, and fictional representations of disease, healing, and the passage of time in the cultures of four countries: Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and the U.S. Exploring narratives penned between 1924 and 2024, three chapters of the book analyze the relationship between revolutionary and war-time anxieties and physical illness to argue that the specific chronotope of the tubercular sanatorium serves as an incubator for thoughts and actions related to rupture and recovery. The Russian chapter highlights a creative substitution for refuge: starting from the curative destination of Altai, Siberia, it culminates in “Churaevka Village” near Southbury, CT. 

Expected products: The 12-month project will facilitate research for a monograph on the representation of sanatoria in cultural space across Europe (including Russia) and the U.S. The research intersects philosophical questions of time, the literary idea of the chronotope, and contemporary issues related to revolution and war-induced anxiety, somatic reflexes in uncertain times, ethnographic and geographic specificities, the complexities of exile and emigration, and gendered experiences of illness and medical healing.

Well Done Dr. Hashamova, who also has been funded by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies for AY2026-27 as a Mershon Faculty Research Fellow: