Anatoli Ulyanov is a media researcher and documentary filmmaker whose interdisciplinary work bridges Critical Media Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Visual Anthropology. Focusing on post-Soviet and global contexts, he examines how toxic narratives and visual regimes shape identity, legitimize violence, and disrupt social and ecological relations.
Before beginning his doctoral work at UCLA, he led international media initiatives at the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, producing public-facing projects on suppressed histories and the legacies of mass violence. He has collaborated with global platforms, including Dose of Society, and co-led an initiative focused on AI-driven detection of hate speech and prevention of extremism on YouTube.
His recent work spans Soviet-era media, gender and labor in cinema, and the analysis of hate offenders, conducted in collaboration with the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate, the California State Commission on Hate, and the California Department of Civil Rights. His current project, From War to Peace, examines how propaganda undermines societal relations and how counter-narratives can foster care, kinship, and collective healing.
Recent texts:
