Lidia Zhigunova Professor of Practice Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies Tulane University

Lidia Zhigunova

Senior Professor of Practice in German and Russian
lzhiguno@tulane.edu
Newcomb 309 B
504-865-5276

Biography

Lidia Zhigunova holds a PhD from Tulane University (2016) and a master’s degree in Comparative Literature from Louisiana State University (2002). Her dissertation “From Harem to Feminocracy: De-Orientalizing the Circassian National Imaginary in Literature and Art From the Early Modern to the Post-Soviet Periods” explores the politics of representation and continuous identity formation of Circassians, the indigenous people of the North Caucasus. Her main areas of academic interest include the study of 19th century literary and artistic traditions (German and Russian Romanticism and Realism), travel literature, as well as postcolonial and feminist literary theories and indigenous studies.

In addition to the language (Russian and German) courses, taught at Tulane and LSU, she has taught seminars on “Imperial Visions in Russian Literature and Art,” “Tolstoy & Dostoevsky,” “The Images of Women in the 19th Russian Literature, ”The Representations of the Caucasus in Russian Literature and Film,” “German Language and Culture II: From the Enlightenment to the Weimar Republic,” “German Language and Culture III: From the Weimar Republic to the Unification of Germany,” and “Exploring Russia.”

Publications

Workshops / Exhibitions

This summer, she organized an Educational Workshop “Under the Tree” on Indigenous Communities and Knowledges, North Caucasus, Russia ( Jul. 20-27, 2017).

In addition, she helped to organize and launch two exhibitions:

  • Exhibit “The Circassians: A Legendary Nation Is Rediscovered.“ Museum für Volkerkunde, Hamburg (May, 2014)
  • Exhibit “Caucasus Morpheus,” in conjunction with the Russian Center for Science and Culture (Palazzo Santa Croce) and the Officine Fotografiche Roma. Rome, Italy (July, 2012)