About
I am a historian of the Soviet Union with a particular interest in the history of political ideas and their impact on marginalized members of society. My work has so far explored ideas of social rights and welfare, relief to political prisoners, bio-political approaches to behaviorally problematic children, the rehabilitation of blinded WWII veterans, and ideas of justice among deaf people during the Russian Revolution. Most recently, I have published a book entitled The Right to Be Helped: Deviance, Entitlement, and the Soviet Moral Order (Northern Illinois University Press, 2016). Through an analysis of the treatment reserved to men, women, and children who deviated from the physical and gender norms of Soviet subjectivity, this book explores the moral order of socialism and interrogates its legitimacy in the post-revolutionary and Stalinist periods.
