Ph.D., Columbia University
M.A., Columbia University
A.B., Harvard University
145F Social Science
Phone: (518) 442-5357
Fax: (518) 442-5301
HIS 130: Western Civilization
HIS 297: Religion in History and Society
HIS 353: History of Eastern Europe II, 1600-2000
HIS 354: History of Russia I, 850-1850
HIS 355: History of Russia II, 1850-2000
HIS 495Z: Senior Honors Thesis
HIS 496Z: Senior Honors Thesis
HIS 520: Readings in Modern Russia History
HIS 611: Readings Seminar: Life-Writing, Autobiography, Biography, Hagiography, and History
HIS 611: Research Seminar: Writing an Introduction to a Primary Source
HIS 611: Readings Seminar, Representations of Religion in Classic and Modern Film
HIS 619: Research Seminar, 19th Century Russian History
HIS 619: Research Seminar, 20th Century Russian History
HIS 620: Research Seminar: Cold War Representations in Film
HIS 620: Research Seminar: Introduction to Hagiography
HIS 620: Research Seminar, Film in Soviet and Post-Soviet History
HIS 642: Readings Seminar, The Russian Empire in the 18th Century
HIS 643: Readings Seminar, History of Religion: Historiography
Current Research Interests:
Nadieszda Kizenko researches and teaches Russian history, with a focus on religion and culture. She explores the history of Orthodox Christianity, saints’ lives as a historical source, lived religion, political liturgy, women’s written confessions, and depictions of religion in film. Her first book, A Prodigal Saint: Father John of Kronstadt and the Russian People (Penn State University Press, 2000) examined the cult of a charismatic priest whose cult spanned the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A Russian edition appeared as “Святой Нашего Времени: о. Иоанн Кронштадтский и русский народ» (Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 2006). Currently she is completing a history of confession in Russia from 1666 to the present. Her courses and seminars cover both Russian and East European history, as well as religion and film.
Recent dissertations supervised by Prof. Kizenko include: “Promiscuous Pioneers of Morality: The Code of Ethics of a Secret Service Functionary in Communist Poland as Set by Law and Practice, 1944—1989,” "Sacrifice in the Name of Sacred Duty: The Representation of the Decembrist Wives in Russian Culture, 1825-Present," and "Striving for Salvation: Margaret Anna Cusack, Sainthood, Religious Foundations and Revolution in Ireland, 1830-1922.”
“The Feminization of Patriarchy? Women in Contemporary Russian Orthodoxy,” Signs, Volume 38 (3), 2013, 595-621.
“The Poltava Battle in Language and Liturgy,” in Serhii Plokhy, ed., Poltava 1709: The Battle and the Myth (Cambridge: Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University, 2012), 227-270.
“Sacramental Confession in Russia and Ukraine,” in Catherine Wanner, ed., State Secularism and Lived Religion in Soviet Russia and Ukraine, Chapter 6, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 190-217.
Full Curriculum Vitae