PhD, Adjunct Professor Elina Kahla is a versatile expert on Russian culture and society, previous director of the Finnish Institute in St. Petersburg, currently principal investigator researcher affiliated with the Aleksanteri Institute, UH.

Kahla’s research projects include the clash of values and geostrategic shifts in the contemporary world, and the relations of state, church, and society. She is furthermore interested in the soft power strategies implemented in state-sponsored cultural productions. Kahla has authored or co-authored more than hundred publications; edited or translated fiction from Russian. Her latest publications discuss cults of new Russian saints and memory politics, as well as civil and public religion. Her latest volume Petsamon marttyyri (2020) tells about the last leader of the Pechenga-Petsamo monastery, hieromonk Paisi. Her current research interest includes study of intellectuals of gulag, especially Pavel Florensky and Dmitry Likhachev.

Kahla teaches in Master Programmes (MARS, VIExpert) run by the Aleksanteri Institute. She has several doctoral students.

Erikoisalat:

- venäläinen kirjallisuus, erityisesti varhainen kirjallisuus, hagiografiat, modernismi (Marina Tsvetajeva, Maria Skobtsova), nykykirjallisuus (Ljudmila Ulitskaja, Jevgeni Vodolazkin);

- ortodoksinen kulttuurituotanto (kirjallisuus, tv-draama, elokuva, dokumentti)

- ikonitaide ja -teologia

- muistiperintö, erityisesti ortodoksiseen kulttuuriin ja rajapintaan liittyvä, ml. Petsamon luostarin historia

- kirkon ja valtion yhteistyö Venäjällä;venäläiset arvot ja identiteetti