Daria Ganzenko

Vita

2009–2014: B.A. in History, Saint Petersburg State University

2018–2020: M.A. in History, European University at Saint Petersburg

2023–present: Research Associate / Doctoral Candidate, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF)

Dissertation project: “Stage Comedy from the Late Soviet to the Post-Soviet Period in Russia (1950s–2020s)”, conducted as part of the project “Adjustment and Radicalization: Dynamics in Popular Culture(s) in Pre-War Eastern Europe”

2024–present: Doctoral Student, Department of Historical Studies, Central European University (CEU), Vienna

Publikationen

Daria Ganzenko, “The Tereshkova Moment: Self and Emotions in Soviet Women’s Letters” (Russian Review, 2021. Online cluster: https://russianreview.ku.edu/tereshkova-moment-self-and-emotions-soviet-womens-letters)

Vorträge

“A Story of Three Clubs: Spaces of Humour in Russia,” Pop after Communism: The Transformation of Popular Culture after 1989/90, Berlin, 16 November 2023;

“Comedy of Resentment and Pride: ‘Russian People’ in Mikhail Zadornov’s Satiric Monologues (1989–2000s),” Digital Tools, Radical Views, Appealing Aesthetics: Comparative Approaches to Popular Culture from Eastern Europe, Berlin, 14 February 2024;

“Verbal Comedy on Stage in Russia from the Late Soviet to the Post-Soviet Era: Forms and Meanings,” Kolloquium zur Osteuropäischen Geschichte, Die Forschungsstelle Osteuropa, Bremen, 2 December 2024;

“The Good, the Bad and the Funny: The FSB Agent as a Stand-Up Comedy Character,” Common Resentments, Diverging Plots: Forms and Functions of Popular Conspiracy Culture in Eastern Europe, Berlin, 19 June 2025.

Lehre

2014–2018: History Teacher, College of Culture and Art, St. Petersburg

2020–2023: History Teacher, Anichkov Lyceum, St. Petersburg

Summer Semester 2025: Co-taught BA Seminar “Empire vs. Nation: The Birth of the Ukrainian People in the Long Twentieth Century,” European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

Aktuelle Projekte

Joke After Joke: Russian Verbal Comedy Genres from late Socialism to the Post-Soviet Period

PhD project

Subproject of the joint project "Adjustment and Radicalisation. Dynamics in Popular Culture(s) in Pre-War Eastern Europe". Headed by the ZfL and in cooperation with the GWZO, the ZFF, and the Professorship for Slavic Literature and Cultural Studies (with a focus on Polish Studies) at the University of Potsdam.

Through analysis of comic routines and performances of the most influential Soviet and post-Soviet Russian comedians, the PhD project aims to trace the continuity and breaks in the evolution of Russian language verbal comedy over the past 80 years.

» zum Projekt

Abgeschlossene Projekte

Joke After Joke: Russian Verbal Comedy Genres from late Socialism to the Post-Soviet Period