Elise Herrala

Elise Herrala is a sociologist of art and culture, with a focus on the dynamics of cultural production and how culture aids in reproducing inequality. Her first book, Art of Transition: The Field of Art in Post-Soviet Russia (Routledge 2022), traces the ways the field of art has developed, evolved, and been sustained in Russia after socialism. Based on fieldwork conducted from 2012–14, Art of Transition shows how Russia’s art world has grappled with its Soviet past and negotiated its standing in an unequal, globalized present. By attending to the historical legacy of Russian art throughout the twentieth century, her book constructs a genealogy of the contemporary field of postsocialist art that illuminates how Russians have come to understand themselves and their place in the world.

Elise's teaching and research interests include art, culture, qualitative research methods, social theory, consumption, and Russia / the Former Soviet Union.