Ekaterina Shubenkina

Summary Statement of Research Interests

My research asks what it meant to write and to be(come) a writer in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russian empire. Inspired mostly by cultural historians, in my work I examine the history of writing as a wide range of interrelated practices which were not limited to producing poems or novels, but also included obtaining basic literacy skills, completing assignments at school, reciting one’s texts in public, corresponding, keeping a journal, proofreading, editing, etc. Currently, I am working on my dissertation entitled “Between Literary Training and Literary Service: School Writing Instruction in the Russian Empire, 1780–1860,” in which I consider education in “creative writing” as a twofold phenomenon. On the one hand, I explain how students’ exercises in poetry and prose formed an important part of public discourse and propagated the interests of the state. On the other hand, I show how the same system of juvenile literary activities facilitated the development of the literary profession and opened doors into the literary field. My secondary interests lie within the history of visual culture and media archeology.

Research Keywords

the history of education, social history of literature, the literary profession, education in writing, literary pedagogy, ego-documents, epistolary culture, literacy, penmanship, the history of visual culture, media archeology

Journal Article

• Shubenkina, E.Looking into Stereoskop: Aleksandr Ivanov’s Novella as an Optical Device. Slavic & East European Journalno. 1(2022): 81–101.

• Graduate School Fellowship for Continuing Students, University of Southern California,
• Graduate School Summer Research and Writing Grant, 2023-06-01-2023/08/31
• Early Modern Studies Institute PhD Dissertation Fellowship,
• Gold Family Graduate Fellowship,
• The Josephine De Karman Fellowship,
• Provost Top Off Travel/Research Award, University of Southern California,
• Slavic Department Award for Exceptional Contributions to Teaching,
• The Access 2021 Scholarship (for attending Rare Book School at the University of Virginia) ,
• The Zamorano Club Scholarship (for attending California Rare Book School),
• Provost’s Fellowship, University of Southern California, 2016-08-2021/05