Mariya Levitanus
Affiliation
Mariya (she/her) is a scholar, queer activist, and psychotherapist trained within the dialogue between the person-centred approach and psychodynamic perspectives. She received her Doctorate in Psychotherapy from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. Her thesis is entitled “Regulation and Negotiation of Queer Subjectivities in post-Soviet Kazakhstan”. Previous and upcoming publications have focused on the role Soviet discourses in the narratives of queer people in Kazakhstan, queer emigration and queer activism in Kazakhstan and Russia. Mariya's work foregrounds lived experiences, examining how the socio-political context shapes the everyday life in authoritarian regimes.
Key Research interested include:
- Everyday lives of queer people in Central Asia
- Gender, sexuality and relationship diversity within counselling and psychotherapy
- Agency, queer activism, alternative forms of activism
- Queer migrations
- Queer theory, intersectionality
- Narrative inquiry
- Discourse analysis
- Decolonial methodologies
Current and notable research projects/ publications:
- Levitanus, M.(2023) ‘Soviet legacy in the narratives of queer people living in Kazakhstan’, in Dundovich, E. and Bellezza, S.A. (eds.) Queer Transnationalities: Notes for a History of LGBTQ+ Rights in the Post-Soviet Space. Pisa University Press.
- Levitanus, M. (2022) ‘Agency and Resistance Amongst Queer People in Kazakhstan’, Central Asian, Survey, 41 (3), pp. 498-515.
- Levitanus, M. (2022) ‘The role of uyat or the culture of shame in the regulation of queer subjectivities in Kazakhstan, and forms of resistance against it’, in Caron, J-F and Thibault, H. (eds.)
- Uyat and the Culture of Shame. Palgrave Macmillan. ‘The Steppe and Beyond’ Series.