Abigail Karas

My research looks at the interaction between urban space and local identity in Moldova and Russia, the legacies of centralised urban planning and the marketisation of the post-socialist city. I am also interested in interdisciplinarity and the use of alternative methodological approaches to the study and critique of history, culture and society. ​

I am currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Modern Languages. My project explores the construction of national and civic identities in the Republic of Moldova following its independence from the Soviet Union, examining how authorities have used architecture and urban planning to express notions of Moldovan nationhood and how citizens have responded to these efforts. By exploring the processes through which Moldova’s urban landscapes have acquired identities and material forms, this study will reveal the complex overlapping cultural geographies that shape contemporary political and social imaginings of Moldovan identity.​