Ksenija Iljina

Ksenija Iljina is a Ph.D. researcher at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London (UCL). At Yale she is continuing work on her doctoral thesis, which examines the uses of Soviet mythologies and ritual practices, especially in contemporary Latvia. She considers how Russia as a post-imperial state exerts its soft-power influence in post-Soviet states through nostalgia for the Soviet past and how these states are responding. Her research centers on heritage, memory, and identity construction in the Baltic region.

In 2017 Ms. Iljina received an M.A. in Arts and Cultural Management from King’s College London (Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries). Before this she completed a B.A. degree in Russian Philology at the University of Latvia. Her broader research interests include Russian and Slavonic Studies, Baltic Studies, and Cultural Memory and Social Anthropology.