Megi Kartsivadze

I am interested in the Soviet history and politics, society and culture of the former Soviet republics. I come from Tbilisi, Georgia, where I have graduated from the Free University of Tbilisi with a full governmental scholarship. Since then, I have been involved in the research of Soviet past and legacy, starting with my Junior Project and My BA thesis, which was an ethnographic work carried out in Stalin’s birthplace, Gori, examining public attitudes toward his figure. As for my graduate studies, I have graduated from the MA in Russian Studies programme at the University College London, where my studies were fully covered by the Chevening Scholarship. My MA dissertation was focused on the analysis of the Georgian history textbooks published during Stalin’s rule, investigating the origins of Georgian Stalinism. During my doctoral studies at Oxford, within the frame of my dissertation “Stalin’s Cult in Georgian Colours: Stalinist History Textbooks, Press, Mass Culture and the Emergence of Georgian Stalinism, 1930-1956” I plan to expand its scope through in-depth archival research. My studies here are fully sponsored by the ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
Besides my educational background, I worked at the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information as an Analyst of Memory and Disinformation Studies. Also, my experience includes running courses “Political Ideologies”, “Caucasus and Georgia” and “MA Dissertation Preparation” as an Invited Lecturer at the Free University of Tbilisi and the Agricultural University of Georgia. I have also been a supervisor of various Junior Projects and BA theses there. Additionally, I was an Executive Editor of UCL’s academic journal SLOVO and worked as a coordinator of a number of local and international grant calls at the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia. Moreover, my experience includes working as a journalist at the Georgian media platform Tabula.