Collegium Helveticum
Switzerland
fellow
Tatjana Hofmann
2022-2023
Discipline(s)
Literature
Theme(s)
Cultural Studies; Democracy, Citizenship, Governance; Information & media; Peace & conflict
Fellowship dates
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Biography
In her research, Tatjana Hofmann (1983, Sevastopol, former UdSSR) focuses on Eastern European literatures and cultures. Her research interests include the avant-garde and post-socialism as well as aesthetics of documentarism and of childhood. In general, her work follows intersections between the arts and cultural anthropology with an emphasis on Black Sea studies. Tatjana is the author of the books Krim – Erkundungen am Rand Europas (Crimea: Explorations on the Edge of Europe, 2022) and Sewastopologia (2015).
With the support of a grant from the Canton of Zurich, Tatjana is currently working on her next novel.
Research Project
Crimea’s Polylinguism
Crimea’s multiculturality has lived through frequent shifts in state affiliation and was affected by ethnic and linguistic fluctuation due to the Crimean War, the First and Second World Wars, Stalinism, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the annexation in 2014. During her fellowship at the Collegium, Tatjana analyzed Crimea’s “local text” and (semi-)fictional representations mainly in Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian literature and film, but also in the work of Karaim and Crimean Tatar intellectuals. This corpus of sources thus refers to Crimea as a historic place, as an imaginative setting, and as a center of different political configurations.
As part of the project, Tatjana further examined the genre of travel reportage in the 20th century as a European medium of cultural dialogue, especially in times of political upheaval. The project will lead to a book that lies at the intersection of journalism, literature, and mass media.
Research Interests:
Ethics fluctuation; linguistic fluctuation; Crimean War; WWI; WWII; World War I; World War II; Stalinism, the fall of the Soviet Union; the annexation of Crimea; travel reportage