Oleksandra Gaidai:

Museum of History of Kyiv (Ukraine)

Projects: Region, Nation and Beyond; Transcultural Contact Zones

Oleksandra Gaidai holds a PhD in history. She graduated from the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and currently works as a Senior Research Fellow at the Museum of History of Kyiv. Her dissertation, titled “Soviet Heritage in the Politics of Memory and Memories of Ukrainians (1991–2014)” analyses the remembering of the Soviet past by the Ukrainians, as well as the public opinion towards Lenin statues after the country gained independence. She employs interdisciplinary approaches in studying memory politics in contemporary Ukraine. In addition to her research work, she also participates in various museum projects, including “Development of concept of the historical museum in Ukraine”, held by European Union National Institutes for Culture. In the summer of 2016 she attended courses in Ukrainian Literature and History at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.