Dr Marina Sapritsky-Nahum
📧 m.sapritsky@gmail.com 📞 +44 (0) 7793 056 367

EDUCATION

PhD Social Anthropology, London School of Economics, 2011
MSc Social Anthropology, London School of Economics, 2004
BA International Relations, Boston University, Cum Laude, 2002

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS

2023–present University College London, Dept of Anthropology, Honorary Research Associate
2022–2025 Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, European Centre for Jewish Music, Research Associate
2023 Stanford University Montag Centre for Overseas Studies, Oxford University — Teaching and supervising undergraduate students on the topic of Soviet Jewish Diaspora (Summer Term)
2014–present London School of Economics and Political Science, Religion in Contemporary Society Program and Department of Anthropology, Visiting Fellow
2012–2013 London School of Economics, Teaching Fellow
2007–2008 London School of Economics, Graduate Teaching Assistant
2006 Odessa National University, Visiting Researcher

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS

2022–2025 German Academic Research Council (DFG) Priority Program “Jewish Cultural Heritage.” Project “Knowledge Architectures: Mapping Structures of Jewish heritagization process on communal, organizational, and academic levels in post-1945 Europe.”
2015–2016 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, International Fellowship in Jewish Studies. Project “New Directions in Transnational Jewish Identity: Russian-speaking Jews in London.”
2014–2015 Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry. Junior Faculty Research Grant. Project “New Directions in Transnational Jewish Identity: Russian-speaking Jews in London.”
2008–2009 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, Doctoral Scholarship. Project “Negotiating Traditions: Jewish Life in post-Soviet Odessa.”
2007–2008 London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Anthropology, Alfred Gell Memorial Grant.
2005–2007 American Councils for International Education, Title VIII Research Scholar Fellowship for Doctoral research in Ukraine. Project “Negotiating Traditions: Jewish Life in post-Soviet Odessa.”

BOOK

2024 Jewish Odessa: Negotiating Identities and Traditions in Contemporary Ukraine Learn more ->

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2025 New Book Roundtable — *Jewish Odesa: Negotiating Identities and Traditions in Contemporary Ukraine.* Chair: Nataliia Goshylyk. Moderators: Laada Bilaniuk and Sasha Senderovich. The 31st Annual Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies (REECAS Northwest). 10–12 April. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
2024 “Community as Salvation: Jewish Life during the Russian–Ukrainian War.” Association of Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Online Panel “Three Jewish Responses to Catastrophe.” 17 December.
2023 “Jewish Cultural Heritage in the Context of Jewish Heritage Studies.” Jewish Cultural Heritage in the Light of Critical Heritage Studies. Conference of the DFG Priority Program (SPP 2357) Jewish Cultural Heritage Grand Forum. Schwabisch-Gmund, Germany. 5–8 June.
2023 “Ethnographic Portrait of Ukrainian Jewish Refugees in Germany.” War in Ukraine and its Impact on East European Jewish Studies Conference. Nevzlin Center, Hebrew University, Israel. 26–27 June.
2023 “In Search of a Home: Ukrainian Jewish Refugees in Berlin.” European Association of Jewish Studies (EAJS) 12th Congress. Frankfurt, Germany. 16–20 July.
2023 “A Rabbi Never Leaves His Community: Ukrainian Communities Torn by Russia’s War in Ukraine.” European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR). Vilnius, Lithuania. 4–6 September.
2022 Roundtable: “Between Loss and Response: Ethnographic Reflections on Ruptured Lives in Russia’s War on Ukraine.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Online. 11 November.
2021 “Jewish Revival in Post-Soviet Odessa: Identities, Communities and Places.” Odessa, Cosmopolitanism, Modernism Conference. Israel Institute for Advanced Studies. Online. 21–24 June.
2019 “What Does It Mean to Return from Israel? The Language of Jewish Migration and the Feelings Behind It.” Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association (AAA). Vancouver, BC, Canada. 20–24 November.
2013 “Why Odessa? Jewish and Non-Jewish Heritages and Mythologies.” International Forum of Young Scholars on East European Jewry, Leonid Nevzlin Research Center, Mechnikov Odesa National University, Odessa, Ukraine. 1–4 July.
2013 “Religious Journeys of Russian-Speaking Israelis in Ukraine.” *Religiosity in Migration* Conference, Ben Gurion University, Israel.
2011 “Home in the Diaspora? Jewish Returnees and Transmigrants in Post-Soviet Ukraine.” The Contemporary Russian-Speaking Diaspora Conference, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University.
2010 “Jewish Migration in Odessa: Newcomers and Returnees.” Paper presented at *Black Sea Cities: State Practices, Co-Existence and Migration* Conference, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Cambridge University.
2008 “Building Religious Empires in Jewish Odessa.” Paper presented at the 39th National Convention, American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Orleans, LA, USA.
2007 “Jewish Migration in Post-Soviet Ukraine: The Case of Odessa.” *Ukraine: A Sending, Transit and Destination Country of Migration* Conference, Institut für Soziologie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany.
2007 “Reviving and Reliving the Past: Contested Jewish Identity in Odessa.” Paper presented at *Nation, Community and the State*, Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2024 University College London, Dept of Anthropology — Guest Lecturer, “Anthropology of Socialist and Post-Socialist Societies” (“Soviet and Contemporary Ukraine”), November
2012–2013 London School of Economics, Department of Anthropology — Teaching Fellow, *Theory and Ethnography (Tutorials)*
2007–2008 London School of Economics, Department of Anthropology — Graduate Teaching Assistant, *Introduction to Anthropology (Tutorials)*
2006–2007 Jewish Community Centre of Odessa (Migdal) — English Instructor

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2019–present Member of the Advisory Board, PJ Library, London, UK
2005–present Translator, Jewish Museum of Odesa, Odesa, Ukraine
2007–2008 Researcher and Translator for author Sarah Helm’s manuscript *Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler’s Concentration Camp* (Anchor Books), London, UK
2002–2003 Development Associate, Catholic Medical Mission Board, New York, NY

LANGUAGES

English Fluent
Ukrainian Intermediate
French Intermediate
Hebrew Basic Reading
Russian Fluent

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

EASR European Association for the Study of Religion
EAJS European Association of Jewish Studies
BAJS British Association of Jewish Studies
AAJS American Association of Jewish Studies
BAECRN British Academy Early Career Research Network