Anatoli Ulyanov

University of California, Los Angeles
Dept. of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Languages & Cultures
ulyanov@UCLA.eDU / orcid: 0009-0006-6831-8885

 

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 investigates how toxic narratives shape identity, legitimize violence, and fracture both social and ecological relations.

 

EDUCATION

2024 — PhD Student, Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages & Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles / Los Angeles, CA

  • Major Field: Critical Media, Discourse, and Narrative Politics

  • Minor Field: Environmental Humanities & Visual Anthropology

2006 — M.A. Journalism, Taras Shevchenko National University / Kyiv, Ukraine

2005 — B.A. Journalism, Taras Shevchenko National University / Kyiv, Ukraine

Fellowships AND AWARDS

  • Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship: Premier doctoral fellowship for public scholarship and transformative humanities (2024).

  • Graduate Research Mentorship (GRM) Program: Award for international, faculty-guided interdisciplinary research (2025—26).

  • Harry and Yvonne Lenart Graduate Travel Fellowship: Supports fieldwork on media, memory, and propaganda (2025).

  • Graduate Summer Research Mentorship (GSRM) Program: Funds research on trauma, care, and narrative repair (2025).

  • CERS Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship: Supports post-Soviet fieldwork in environmental and cultural contexts (2025).

  • ASEEES Annual Convention Travel Grant: Awarded by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2025).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Media Studies & Narrative Politics: Propaganda, disinformation, hate speech, affective communication, and narrative responses to violence, trauma, and exclusion.

  • Environmental Humanities: Biophilic imaginaries and multispecies entanglement; queer ecologies and postcolonial critique; toxic ecologies; feminist ethics of kinship and care; and environmental storytelling.

  • Visual Anthropology & Documentary Film: Archival and sensory ethnography; public history; relational ontology; experimental and cross-modal documentary practices.

  • Slavic, Post-Soviet & Transcultural Studies: Romanticism, Symbolism, and Modernism in Slavic intellectual history; Holocaust memory; Russian imperialism; Ukrainian nationalism; and post-Soviet cultural transitions.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2025 — Graduate Researcher, UCLA Initiative to Study Hate  

In collaboration with the California State Commission on Hate and Civil Rights Department. Supervised by Professor David N. Myers and David A. Kalkstein. Analyzed hate offender typologies, motivations, and systemic trends; developed policy recommendations and proposed a structured coding system for law enforcement and state agencies.

2024 — Graduate Researcher, UCLA Department of History  

Supervised by Prof. Jared McBride. Conducted archival research on Soviet-era media, Holocaust records, and the Volhynia massacre; led a regional research network and supported digitization under wartime constraints.

2024 — Graduate Researcher, UCLA Slavic Department  

Supervised by Prof. Lilya Kaganovsky. Researched labor and gender in Russian and Soviet cinema; developed a cross-temporal archival database and annotated bibliographic tools.

CRITICAL MEDIA PRACTICE

2021–22 — Head of Media, Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, Kyiv

Led international media initiatives on suppressed histories, trauma, and memory politics; directed cross-functional teams producing public-facing, multilingual educational content and documentaries; developed media strategies to foster dialogue around contested pasts.

2022–24 — Field Interviewer & Producer, Dose of Society, Los Angeles

Produced short-form video narratives amplifying marginalized voices; conducted on-the-ground interviews for a social media platform with 2M+ followers.

2022–24 — Media Analyst, Productive Playhouse (Google contractor), Los Angeles

Co-led a 365-person team analyzing antisemitism, hate speech, and extremist content; applied discourse analysis, semiotics, and cross-linguistic strategies to identify covert propaganda and platform manipulation; contributed to metadata protocols for hate speech detection.

2000–Present — Independent Media (DADAKINDER, Looo.ch, SHO, PROZA, X3M)

Produced award-winning documentaries on marginalized communities, underrepresented voices, and cultural resistance; developed digital storytelling strategies reaching 50K+ followers; founded and edited the first major bilingual post-Soviet publishing platforms.

DOCUMENTARY AND VISUAL PROJECTS

A complete archive is available at dadakinder.com

2020-2025

2015-2020       

Pre-2015

  • Russian American: Wonderland (25 min.), Dima (8 min.), Dunsama (10 min.), Angel (7 min.)

    Diaspora portraits from NYC and Los Angeles.

  • Elliot Rodger Here — Documentary, 20 min.

    On masculinity, media, and violence through digital traces of the Isla Vista killings.

  • My New Orthodox Video — Documentary, 19 min.

    On nationalism, queerness, and self-mythology in post-Soviet digital space.

CONFERENCES & Public Engagements

2025

Tentacular Vision: What Can We Learn from Fascists, Mushrooms, and Women Who Care?

Panel, ASEEES Annual Convention, Washington, D.C.

Living Things: Identity Cages, Commodified Selves, and the Politics of Becoming-With

Panel, Human Rights Framework and Global Solidarities Conference, UC Davis

Biophilia (at Oxford)

Ecofilm Screening. Included in Professor Vetri Nathan’s keynote, On the Epistemic Humility of Multispecies Kinship, Queer Kinship Network International Conference, University of Oxford

Total Kiss: Romantic Biophilia, Relational Ontology, and the Ecological Imagination…

Panel, CGS/GSC Colloquium, Stanford University

Biophilia (at UCLA)

Ecofilm Presentation, Multispecies Salon, Royce Hall, UCLA.

New Materialisms

Presentation, Cybercene Lab, Transcultural Studies, UCLA

2024

Critical Perspectives on Emerging Forms of Global Solidarities

Panel, Institute for Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia

2023    

New East Cinema Symposium

Roundtable, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Pittsburgh

War in Ukraine. Peace Advocacy

Public-academic panel, 16BEAVER, New York.

2022    

Community Fundraiser on Conflict Resolution

Panel, Los Angeles, CA

Beneath The Surface with Suzi Weissman

KRFL Radio, Los Angeles. Interview on marginalization in Eastern Ukraine.

2014    

Against Censorship: Independent Media in Authoritarian Contexts

Public talk, Bowdoin College, Maine

Language and Violence: Nationalism and Identity in Post-Maidan Ukraine

Panel, 1st Ukrainian Writers’ Forum, Donetsk

2009   

Henry Miller vs National Expert Commission on Public Morality

Intervention performance, Ukrainian Parliament, Kyiv

PUBLICATIONS  

A complete archive is available at dadakinder.com

2025 — “How a Channel Islands Expedition Brought Environmental Humanities Vividly To Life,” UCLA College News / ELTS / Division of Humanities.  

A reflection on multispecies kinship, environmental pedagogy, and the emotional stakes of field-based research in the Environmental Humanities.

2024 — “To Blow (Up) the Mausoleum,” Daraja Press  

Examines post-Soviet political mythology, cultural memory, and the affective afterlives of revolutionary icons.

2022— “The Superfluous People Of Eastern Ukraine,” LeftEast

“Die Überflüssigen Menschen Aus Der Ostukraine,”  Widerspruch

Analyzes social marginalization, displacement, and identity in war-torn regions.

2020 — “Belarus Streikt – Brief An Die Arbeiter*Innen,” Transitory White  

An open letter in solidarity with striking workers during the 2020 Belarus uprising.

SELECTED BOOKS & MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS

2012 — Fuhrer of God (Digital publication, Looo.ch, New York): Explores political theology, patriarchal violence, and religious imaginaries through experimental critical theory.

2012 — Homosexuality for Kids (Digital, Looo.ch, New York): A satirical visual text critiquing queerphobia, censorship, and moral panic in post-Soviet and global contexts.

2007 — Slam! Theory and Practice of Poetic Revolution (Chili Publishing, Kyiv): A manifesto and cultural analysis of the spoken word movement in the post-Soviet literary scene.

SELECTED INTERVIEWS & MEDIA FEATURES

Feature:

Coverage:

Interview:

Report:

Membership

  • The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Pittsburgh, PA

  • Modern Language Association of America (MLA), New York City, NY

  • Populism Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association, London, UK

Languages

  • Russian — Native proficiency

  • Ukrainian — Native proficiency

  • English — Full professional proficiency