Rachel Platonov

Rachel Platonov is a Senior Lecturer in Russian Studies at the University of Manchester's Department of Russian and East European Studies. She specializes in Russian and Soviet popular culture, 19th- and 20th-century literature, and interdisciplinary interactions between literature, music, and performance. Her current research focuses on late Imperial Russian and early Soviet circus.

Education:

• PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University (2004)
• BA summa cum laude in Russian, Yale University (1996)

Her research interests include marginalized cultural forms, such as post-Stalin guitar poetry, Gulag narratives, and the role of translation in Soviet cultural politics. She has co-organized workshops funded by CEELBAS, including the 'Doing Culture' and 'Situating Culture' series (2008–2010).

Platonov supervises PhD students on topics ranging from Russian rock music and Stalin-era cinema to online gaming communities. She actively promotes interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research projects outside traditional literary canons.