Room: NW914
Phone:  0121 204 4990
Email: a.popov@aston.ac.uk

Anton Popov is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Policy in the School of Languages and Social Sciences of Aston University. He graduated from the Department of Ethnology, Archaeology, Ancient and Medieval History, the Kuban State University in Krasnodar, Russia. Then he studied social anthropology in the Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russia), cultural studies and Russian and East European studies in the University of Birmingham (UK). He received his PhD from Birmingham University based on the study of the cultural production of identity among Greeks in southern Russia and the North Caucasus. His research interests are in social anthropology (with a particular focus on postsocialist societies); identity and transnationalism; violence, ethnicity and (non-Western forms of) civil society; youth culture; qualitative research methods (ethnography, life story and family history); history, social memory and cultural heritage. Anton conducted ethnographic research on nativist and ethno-cultural revivalist movements, migrant and ethnic minority communities in southern Russia, the South Caucasus, north-eastern Turkey and Britaine. His past research includes a study of enacted social memory among the Cossack youth; an investigation of ethnicity and cultural heritage in a provincial Georgian town; an exploration the impact of collective memory on the youth activism in the UK. Currently Anton Popov is co-ordinating the EU-funded project ‘Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future’ (CHIEF; www.chiefproject.eu ).

2001-2005: PhD Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), The University of Birmingham, UK. (The thesis was successfully defended on the 3^rd of January 2006). The thesis title: ‘Transnational Locals: the Cultural Production of Identity among Greeks in the Southern Russian Federation’.

1997-2001: Part time PhD study (soiskatel’ uchenoi stepeni kandidat istoricheskih nauk), The Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, The Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. (Postponed because of the PhD study at the University of Birmingham).

1992-1997: BA (Hons.) and MA Ethnology and World History, The Kuban State University (Krasnodar, Russia).

September 2014 – Present: Lecturer / Senior Lecturer (since August 2018) in Sociology, Sociology and Policy Group, The School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University (Birmingham, UK).

June 2011 – August 2014: Senior research fellow, The Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick (Coventry, UK).  

August 2008 – May 2011: Teaching fellow, The Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick (Coventry, UK).

January 2007 – July 2008: Research fellow, The Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick (Coventry, UK).

September 2005 – December 2006: Research fellow, The Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick (Coventry, UK).

October 2004 – August 2005: Administrator of the RIME project. Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), The University of Birmingham (Birmingham, UK)

1999-2001: Executive director of the project ‘Centre for ethnic, racial, and linguistic minorities rights’. NGO ‘Centre for Pontic and Caucasian Studies’ (Krasnodar, Russia)

1999-2001: Regional expert of ethnological monitoring in Krasnodar krai (Russia). Network on Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflict, The Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, The Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia)

1998-2001: Lecturer, The Institute of Economics and Law, The Kuban State University (Krasnodar, Russia).

1996-1997: Regional expert in Krasnodar krai and the Republic of Adyghea (Russia), The Institute of Humanities and Political Studies (Moscow, Russia). Project title: ‘The Main Events in Regions of Russia’

2016-Present: Member of the Association for Study of Nationalities (ASN)

2012-2014: CEELBAS representative (board member) in the University of Warwick

2008-2014: Expert of the Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS)

2007-Present: Member of the British Sociological Association (BSA)

2007-Present: Member of the SOYUZ: The research Network for Postsocialist Cultural Studies

2004-Present: Member of the American Anthropological Association (AAA)

2004-Present: Member of the British Association of Slavonic and East-European Studies (BASEES)

1999-2001: Member of Network on Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflict (Moscow, Russia)

2013-Present: Editorial board member of the Ethnologia Actualis Slovaca

1999-2001: Member of editorial board of ‘Bulletin: Anthropology, Minorities, Multiculturalism’ (Krasnodar, Russia)

Anton Popov is a lecturer and seminar tutor on the ‘Understanding Social Divisions A’ (Year 1), ‘The Social Life of Stuff’ (Year 2) undergraduate modules. He has also taught on ‘Qualitative Methods in Social Research’ and 'Social Theory and Social Change' postgraduate modules and contributed to Foundations in Qualitative Research doctoral training programme.

In the past, Anton Popov acted as a conviner, lecturer and seminar tutor on the Introduction to Social Theory (Year 1) undegraduate module.

1. Project  ‘Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future’ (CHIEF) (The European Commission Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation grant), PI amd Consortium coordinator; ethnographic research in hertiage sites, qualitative interviews with young people in formal and non-foraml educational settings and intergnerational interviews with families in the UK. Ongoing project: 1 May 2018 - 30 April 2021.

2. Project ‘Cultural heritage and memories of (post-)socialism in the provincial Georgian town’ (School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University and Department of Sociology, Warwick University): ethnographic research in Tbilisi and Telavi, Georgia in April 2012, June 2014, August 2015, August 2016, and April 2017 (participant observation of mnemonic practices at the local sites of memory and youth NGOs; expert interviews, focus group interviews with young people).

3. Project ‘Community memory and young people’s civic activism: Mining communities of West Midlands in times of socio-economic transformations, the 1950s, the 1970s-80s, 2008-12’ (Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick in partnership with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry): interventionist ethnographic research with young people in Nuneaton, UK, July-August 2012 – running a media/photography workshop with young people, participant observation of workshop activities, individual and focus group interviews with young people, curating photo exhibition and multi-media presentation of the workshop outcomes. 

4. Project MYPLACE (Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick): in total 12 months of fieldwork in Coventry and Nuneaton, UK in 2011-2013 – ethnography in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, expert interviews, participant observation of permanent and temporal exhibitions and outreach work with young people, individual and focus group interviews with young people, intergenerational interviews; 1 month (April 2012) ethnographic fieldwork in Tbilisi and Telavi, Georgia (participant observation of mnemonic practices at the local sites of memory and youth NGOs; expert interviews, focus group interviews with young people); coordination of research activities within WP ‘Interpreting the past’ in 15 regions across Europe; writing WP’s deliverable reports. 

5. Project ‘Subculture and Lifestyles’ (SAL) (Department of Sociology, The University of Warwick): urban ethnography of young Cossacks in Krasnodar and Sochi, Russia (fieldwork research carried out in March -September 2007).

6. PhD project ‘Transnational Locals: the Cultural Production of Identity among Greeks in Southern Russian Federation’ (CREES, The University of Birmingham): extended ethnographic fieldwork in Krasnodar krai and the Republic of Adyghea (Russia) in 2002 and 2003.

7. Project ’Transnational Groups and Natives of the Caucasian Black Sea Coast in Transition’ (The Centre for Pontic and Caucasian Studies, Krasnodar): ethnographic fieldworks in Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Adyghea and Abkhazia (October 2000 - October 2001).

8. Project ‘The Udins’ (The Centre for Pontic and Caucasian Studies, Krasnodar): ethnographic fieldwork in North-Western Azerbaijan among the Udin minority (November 1997) and ethnographic research among Udin migrants in Krasnodar Krai (December 1997 - August 1998).

9. Project ‘Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities and Migrants in Krasnodar Krai’ (The International Human Rights Centre ‘Memorial’, Moscow): one month of field research in Krasnodar Krai among the Meskhetian Turks, Armenians, Kurds and Georgian refugees from Abkhazia (September 1997).

10. MA project: ‘Funeral Rituals of the Pontic Greeks: The Study of the “Traditional” Culture and Ethnic Identities in the Pontos’ (The Kuban State University, Krasnodar): ethnographic fieldworks in Krasnodar Krai and North-Eastern Turkey (the province of Trabzon) (September 1996 - June 1997).

11. Project ‘Ethnic Minorities in the North-Western Caucasus’ (The Kuban State University, Krasnodar): ethnographic fieldwork among Pontic Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Meskhetian Turks, Kurds and Yesidies in Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Adyghea (1992-96).

Anton is currently co-supervising two PhD projects:

‘Migration and National Identity in Transnational Social Spaces:  Comparative study between post-WW2 and post-Cold War migration from Poland to the UK’ (Malgorzata Wootton);

‘Negotiating Identity in China: How Individuals of Mixed-Ethnic Backgrounds Experience and Construct Identity’ (Lindsey Cook).

The past PhD projects (co-)supervised by Dr Popov include:

‘Everyday Practices of Transnational Living: Making Sense of Brasiguaio Identities’ (Marcos Estrada, The University of Warwick, July 2018);

‘Second-Hand Memories of the Communist Era: the First Post-Socialist Generation in Romania’ (Daniel Hanu, The University of Warwick, December 2015);

‘Punk and Protest: A Socio-Historical Study of Political Resistance among Dutch Punks’ (Kirstin Lohman, The University of Warwick, September 2015);

‘Russian German Identity: Transnationalism Negotiated through Culture, the Hybrid and the Spatial’ (Sophie Mamattah, The University of Glasgow, October 2009).

2017-Present: Deputy Chair of LSS Disciplinary Hearing Board (overseeing Sociology and Policy Department).

2017-Present: LSS Sociology and Policy Exam Coordinator and ECAP representative, Aston University.

2014-2017: Chairperson of the LSS Research Ethics Committee, Aston University.

2014-2015 and 2016-2017: Coordinator of LSS Sociology and Policy Joint Honours Programmes, Aston University.

2015-2017: LSS representative at the University Data Management Committee, Aston University.

2015-2017: LSS Sociology and Policy Library representative, Aston University.

2008-2011: Academic coordinator of Student-Stuff Liaison Committee, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick.

Aston Achievement Award 2018: Excellent Research.

May 2018-April 2021: The European Commission Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation grant, ‘Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future’ (CHIEF) (PI, and Consortium Co-ordinator, budget: 4,590,674 EUR).

January-June 2017: University of South California, Institute of Armenian Studies’ Research programme fund. Project ‘The Armenians of Telavi: Social memory and cultural anxiety in post-Soviet Georgia’ (PI, budget: 3,780 USD)

March-November 2014: CEELBAS International Research Visit grant (PI, visits to CRRC, Georgia, to build research partnership; budget: 1,500 GBP)

June-July 2012: Warwick University’s Institute of Advance Studies Impact Fund, Project ‘Community memory and young people’s civic activism: Mining communities of West Midlands in times of socio-economic transformations, the 1950s, the 1970s-80s, 2008-12’ (PI; budget: 2,500 GBP).

April-July 2012: Warwick University’s Global Priority Programme ‘Connecting Cultures’ grant (PI, research of young people’s memories of deindustrialisation in Nuneaton, UK; budget: 2,500 GBP)

October 2011: CEELBAS research network workshop grant (Organiser of the workshop ‘Whose ethics? Politics and moral dilemmas of social research in Eastern Europe and beyond’, University of Warwick, budget: 3,225 GBP).

June 2011-September 2015: The European Commission FP7 grant, MYPLACE project (Writing parts of the grant proposal: History and memory state of art section and WP2 methodology section; a work package lead: developing research design for WP2, coordination research activities across all national case studies, editing and submitting WP2 deliverable reports; total budget: 7,996,000 EUR).

January 2007-July 2008: The European Commission FP6 grant, SAL project (Researcher; total budget: 1,400,000 EUR).

March 2006: Visiting research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany (budget: 2,000 EUR).

September 2005-December 2006: The European Commission FP6 grant, RIME project (Project manager; total budget: 901,488 EUR).

2001-2004: The Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program, scholarship for postgraduate studies in the University of Birmingham. (PI, total budget: 91,698 USD).

2000-2001: Soros Foundation and the Open Society Institute Research Support Scheme, grant for group research project ‘Transnational groups and natives of the Caucasian Black Sea coast in transition’ (Nominated researcher, budget: 18,000 USD)

1998-2000: International Non-Governmental Organization ‘Association Liberty Road’, grant for project ‘Ethnic minorities in the Krasnodar territory: human rights and the problem of adaptation’ (One of the principal applicants, CI, budget: 25,000 CHF)