Christina Novakov-Ritchey

Candidate for Graduate Student Representative, 2019

Christina Novakov-Ritchey is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of World Arts and Cultures and a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in Culture and Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her dissertation, “Enduring Modernity: The Use of Culture at the End of Europe,” demonstrates how colonial modernity has been articulated through discourses on art and tradition in the Yugoslav region since the mid-nineteenth century. She is grateful to have received support for her research from the U.S. Department of State Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Title VIII), UCLA’s Center for European and Russian Studies, UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture, and UCLA’s International Institute, among others. Novakov-Ritchey has most recently presented her research at the Dialoguing ‘Between the Posts’ Workshop in Belgrade (2019), the ASEEES Annual Convention (2018), and the International Federation for Theatre Research Conference (2018). She is also currently co-organizing the symposium, “Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Empire in Southeastern Europe,” which will be held at the University of Toronto this September. In her academic service work, Novakov-Ritchey is a passionate advocate for equitable representation of scholars, artists, and activists from across all countries of the Balkan region, including migrant, Romani, queer, and other minoritized communities. A union steward for graduate student workers at UCLA (UAW LOCAL 2865) and a member of ASEEES since 2016, Novakov-Ritchey is intimately familiar with the issues facing graduate students working in Eastern Europe and Eurasia and would be honored to represent her peers on the ASEEES Board.