My research focus is on postsocialist Russia and my research to date examines issues of gender, development, NGOs and civil society. I am also interested in exploring forms of feminist, activist and collaborative anthropology. My book, Empowering Women in Russia: Aid, NGOs and Activism (Indiana University Press 2007) traces the development encounter between Russian women's groups and international aid agencies via an account of a participatory action research project with activists in provincial Tver'. I am currently working on a collaborative research project that investigates the restructuring of social welfare and the promotion of youth voluntarism in Russia, supported by the National Science Foundation.
Articles
Nashi, Youth Voluntarism and Potemkin NGOs: Making sense of civil society in post-Soviet Russia, Slavic Review (2012)
This article tracks the aftermath of international development aid in post-Soviet Russia socialist space by...
Redefining need, reconfiguring expectations: the rise of state-run youth voluntarism programs in Russia, Anthropological Quarterly (2012)
This article investigates the restructuring of the Russian social welfare system by interrogating Putin-era state-run...
Soviet-style neoliberalism? Nashi, youth voluntarism and the restructuring of social welfare in Russia, Problems of Post-Communism (2009)
President Vladimir Putin has presided over a sustained mood of backlash against democracy promotion and...
Public Anthropology and the Paradoxes of Participation: Participatory Action Research in Russia, Human Organization (2007)
This article contributes to discussions of a public anthropology by bringing participatory action research (PAR)...
Global Civil Society and the Local Costs of Belonging: Defining 'Violence Against Women' in Russia, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (2004)
This article contributes to scrutiny of feminist transnationalism by providing an ethnographic investigation of one...
Books
Empowering Women in Russia: Activism, Aid and NGOs (2007)
Julie Hemment's engrossing study traces the development encounter through interactions between international foundations and Russian...