Katie Stewart

Meet Professor Stewart

Years at Knox: 2017 to present

My research and teaching interests stem from a fascination with how national identities come to be so strongly held and contested. I'm broadly interested in the processes by which "we the people" is defined and promoted, who gets to do the defining, and who is excluded. Also, I explore how this process varies in its form and significance in authoritarian versus democratic states.

My current research project examines how the Putin administration uses nationalism as a strategy for bolstering its legitimacy and popular support in Russia. In Russia's multi-ethnic state, this strategy has the potential to backfire and divide citizens along regional boundaries. I explore Putin's legitimating nationalism through a comparison of symbolic politics in three of Russia's ethnic republics based on fieldwork observations and interviews. I also evaluate this strategy's effectiveness in increasing regime legitimacy with survey data collected in 2016.

Education

Ph.D., Political Science, 2017, Indiana University

B.A. Political Science, 2010, Dickinson College

Teaching Interests

Nationalism, Russian and East European Politics, Survey of Comparative Politics, Authoritarianism, Democratization

Personal Website

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants

• Katharine C. Greenough Award for Outstanding Dissertation, Department of Political Science, Indiana University 2018
• REEI Mellon Endowment Dissertation Write-Up Fellowship Spring 2017
• Fulbright U.S. Student Award, Russia, 2015-2016
• Mellon Innovating International Research, Teaching and Collaboration Graduate Dissertation Fellowship, 2015-2016
• Graduate Leadership Award, Department of Political Science, Indiana University, 2015
• Advanced Research Fellowship, American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program, 2014
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Russian language study, 2013-2014
• Associate Instructor of the Year, Department of Political Science, Indiana University 2012-2013
• The Bruce Andrews Prize in Political Science, Dickinson College, 2010

Publications

"Holidays as a Nation-building Tactic: A Regional Analysis of Holidays in Russia" In Progress.

Presentations

"Competitive or Complementary Identities? Nation-building Effectiveness in Russia's Regions" Midwest Political Science Association Conference, 2017

"Holidays as a Nation Building Tactic: A Regional Analysis of Holidays in Russia" Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, 2016.

"Who is Tatarstan? An analysis of contemporary Russian, Tatar, and Tatarstani nation-building in the Republic of Tatarstan" Association for the Study of Nationalities Conference, 2015.

"Land and Nationalism in Buryatia: An Analysis of Two Territorial Restructurings" Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University, 2015.

"Measuring Elusive Concepts: New Work on Corruption, Clientelism, Nationalism and Protest in Russia's Regions" Roundtable, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, 2014