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Dr. Sperling teaches a variety of courses in comparative politics, including Russian politics; revolution and political violence; mass murder and genocide under communism; transitions to democracy; globalization and democracy; and political science fiction. Her research interests lie mainly at the intersection of Russian politics and gender studies.
Sperling's book, Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia (Oxford University Press, 2015) won the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Davis Center Book Prize for the "outstanding monograph on Russia, Eurasia, or Eastern Europe in anthropology, political science, sociology or geography," as well as the Association for Women in Slavic Studies (AWSS) Heldt Prize for the "Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian Women's Studies." Sex, Politics and Putin was also included in Top 10 books on Russia for 2014. Sperling is also the author of Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia (Cambridge University Press, 1999), and Altered States: The Globalization of Accountability (Cambridge University Press, 2009). She and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom (with Melike Sayoglu) are co-authors of Courting Gender Justice: Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights (Oxford University Press,2019). Her most recent book, co-authored with her Clark colleague, Robert Boatright, is Trumping Politics as Usual: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections (Oxford University Press, 2020). In recent years she has published articles in East European Politics and Societies, Post-Soviet Affairs, and the International Journal of Human Rights.
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1997
- M.A. in Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1992
- M.A. in Russian Area Studies, Georgetown University, 1991
- B.A. in Political Science, Yale University, 1987
Affiliated Department(s)
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Scholarly and Creative Works
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Gender, Germs, and Governors: Political Masculinity and Leadership in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Published in European Journal of Politics and Gender
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2024
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How Masculinity Legitimates Political Regimes
Elles Sans Frontiers, Ninth Congress of Women: Masculinities and Other Bonds
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Brussels, Belgium
December 9
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2024
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Women’s Antiwar Activism in Russia
REEESNe Student Conference
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University of Massachusetts, Amherst
April 13
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2024
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Soviet Legacies in the Kremlin’s Take on Women’s and LGBTQ+ Rights
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2024
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Published by Routledge
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2024
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Unpacking ‘Traditional Values’ in Russia’s Conservative Turn: Gender, Sexuality, and the Soviet Legacy
Published in Europe-Asia Studies
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2024
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Vol. 76
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Issue #2
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Gender, Germs, and Governors: Political Masculinities and Leadership in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Published in European Journal of Politics and Gender
January
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2024
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Russia in a Changing Climate
Published in WIREs Climate Change
March/April
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2024
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Vol. 15
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Issue #2
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Exodus: Russian Repression and Social Movement
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Convention
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Philadelphia, PA
December
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2023
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Masculinity and Authoritarianism: Political Leadership and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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March
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2023
Sponsored by Inclusive National Security Initiative: Center for Naval Analysis, Washington DC
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Unpacking ‘Traditional Values’ in Russia’s Conservative Turn: Gender, Sexuality, and the Soviet Legacy
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February
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2023
Sponsored by Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan
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Exodus: Russian Repression and Social ‘Movement’
March 24
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2023
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Unpacking ‘Traditional Values’ in Russia’s Conservative Turn: Gender, Sexuality, and the Soviet Legacy
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
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Chicago, IL
November
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2022
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Vladimir Putin, the czar of macho politics, is threatened by gender and sexuality rights
April 11
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2022
The Conversation
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Is Putin lining up with conservatives? We’re not so sure.
February 11
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2022
The Monkey Cage blog, The Washington Post
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Feminist Activism from Perestroika to Putin
International Research Roundtable: Everyday Activism in Central and Eastern Europe
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Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
May 12-13
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2022
Sponsored by Peter Wall Institute, University of British Columbia
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War in Ukraine: Understanding the Crisis
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Worcester, MA
March 16
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2022
Sponsored by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)
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“Masculinity or Madness? Gender and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”
“Gender and the Russian Aggression against Ukraine: Women at the Time of War and Peace”
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Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
March 8
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2022
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The Evolution of Civic Activism in Contemporary Russia
Published in East European Politics and Societies (EEPS)
November 2022
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2022
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Vol. 36
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Issue #4
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New and Enduring Forms of Feminist Activism in Contemporary Russia
October 15
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2021
Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia Blog, New York University
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Gender, Germs, and Governors: Political Masculinity and Leadership in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Political Masculinities as an Analytical Category
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Netherlands
June 18
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2021
Sponsored by Research Network for Political Masculinities through the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS)
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Mixed Signals: What Putin Says about Gender Equality, 1999-2020
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May
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2021
Sponsored by Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI),
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Mixed Signals: What Putin Says about Gender Equality, 1999-2020
Published in Post-Soviet Affairs
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2021
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Vol. 37
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Issue #6
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Feminist Activism and Domestic Violence
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July 8
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2020
Sponsored by New York-Russia Public Policy Seminar, co-sponsored by the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia (New York University) and the Harriman Institute (Columbia University)
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Masculinity, Misogyny, and Political Image Crafting in Russia and the United States
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September 22
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2020
Sponsored by The New School (New York)
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Great Power Competition, Gender, and the Global Fragility Act: The Case of Russia
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September 22
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2020
Sponsored by Arizona State University, McCain Institute (Washington, DC) for State Department Personnel from the Conflict and Stabilization Bureau
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What Studying Putin’s Russia Can Teach Us about the United States: Masculinity, Misogyny and U.S. Elections in the Trump Era
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October 1
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2020
Sponsored by Davis Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
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Feminism in Russia: 1988-2014
Feminism in Russia: Change over Time
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November 2
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2020
Sponsored by Kennan Institute
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Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2020 Presidential Elections in the United States
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November 24
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2020
Sponsored by University of British Columbia
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Masculinity, Misogyny, and Political Image Crafting in Russia and the United States
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November 30
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2020
Sponsored by Oberlin College
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Gender Constructions in Russian Power Discourse
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Convention
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Virtual
November
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2020
Sponsored by Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
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New Forms of Gender Activism in Contemporary Russia
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Convention
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Virtual
November
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2020
Sponsored by Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
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Are Women’s Rights Human Rights? Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights
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University of South Florida
January 30th
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2020
Sponsored by Institute on Russia at USF
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Courting Gender Justice: Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights
Women’s Human Rights in the Twenty-First Century: Developments and Challenges under International and European Law
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Strasbourg, France
February 14th
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2020
Sponsored by European Court of Human Rights
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Cautionary Tales: An Unorthodox Guide to Field Research
Chapter: All the Signs Are There: Incidental Discoveries During Fieldwork on Gender Discrimination in RussiaPublished by Columbia University Press
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2020
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Trumping Politics as Usual: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections
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2020
Oxford University Press
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Are Women’s Rights Human Rights? Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights
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European University in Saint-Petersburg, Russia
May 20th
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2019
Sponsored by European University in Saint-Petersburg, Russia
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Are Women’s Rights Human Rights? Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights
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Wesleyan University
October 31st
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2019
Sponsored by Wesleyan University
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Russian Gender Discrimination Cases at Home and Abroad
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Convention
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San Francisco, CA
November 24th
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2019
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Tinder just agreed to let Russia review its data on demand. That could be dangerous for Russians
June 11th
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2019
The Monkey Cage blog, The Washington Post
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Choose Your Words: How women are fighting sexist language in Russia
August 17th
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2019
Oxford University Press Blog
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The politics of female ‘anger’,” Letter to the Editor
November 13th
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2019
The Boston Globe
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Published in International Journal of Human Rights
October 9th
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2019
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Sex, Politics, & Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia
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2015
Oxford University Press
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Altered States: The Globalization of Accountability
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2009
Cambridge University Press
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Building the Russian State: Institutional Crisis and the Quest for Democratic Governance
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2000
Westview Press
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Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia: Engendering Transition
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1999
Cambridge University Press
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Developments in Russian Politics 10
Chapter: Russia’s Gendered PoliticsPublished by Bloomsbury Academic
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Awards & Grants
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Values-based Legitimation in Authoritarian States: top-down versus bottom-up strategies, the case of Russia (LegitRuss)
Research Council of Norway
Sep. 1, 2020 - Dec. 25, 2024
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Everyday Activism in Russia: Civil Society Thirty Years after Communism’s Collapse
Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Aug. 1, 2021
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Faculty Associateship
Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
2018
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Advisor of the Year Award
Clark University
2023
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