Доц. д-р Александра Главанакова, Ръководител катедра

Alexandra Glavanakova

Assoc. Prof. Alexandra K. Glavanakova, PhD

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Alexandra Konstantinova Glavanakova

Department of English and American Studies

St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia

15 Tsar Osvoboditel blvd.

Sofia 1504, Bulgaria

Tel.: (+359 2) 9308 429

e-mail: a.glavanakova@uni-sofia.bg

http://uni-sofia.academia.edu/AlexandraGlavanakova

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My main areas of research are in the field of transcultural studies and posthumanism, the philosophy of technology, and the major cultural shifts in literacy, education, literary studies, the creation and reception of texts under the impact of digital technology. I have been involved in a number of projects on e-learning and digital culture, and teach courses in digital culture and literature in the age of the Internet. My PhD thesis examines the evolution of cybertexts and the re/positioning of the body in cyberspace. My professional expertise includes teaching and research in postmodern American literature; popular culture of the US and Canada; immigration, race and ethnicity in the U.S.A. and Canada; the history of immigration from Eastern Europe to the U.S.A.; the study of the Bulgarian Diaspora in the U.S. and Canada. My habilitation monograph explored transcultural reflections / refractions of terrorism, immigration and racism in the Bulgarian and North American contexts.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

  • Salzburg Global Seminar – American Studies Association: Resistance and Readiness: Immigration, Nativism and the Challenge of Ethnic and Religious Diversity in the US. And Europe Today, September 27 – October 1, 2012, Salzburg, Austria.
  • PhD, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department of English and American Studies. PhD Thesis: “Transformations of the Body in Cyberspace: From Print Literature to Cyberliterature”, June 2010.
  • ICCS Grant under the Faculty Enrichment Program for developing a new course in Canadian studies “Popular Culture and Politics: The Canadian Perspective”, Canada, August – September 2009.
  • Fulbright American Studies Institute on Contemporary American Literature “Redefining American Spaces: The City, the Land, and the Body” held from June 30 to August 12, 2003 in Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois and Colorado, U.S.A.,
  • Salzburg Seminar – American Studies Center: “The Continuous Challenge of America’s Ethnic Diversity”, 23 Feb. – 2 March 2002.
  • Seminar “What is an American?” September 19 – 23, 2001. Pulawy, Poland
  • University of Wolverhampton, School of languages and European Studies. Great Britain. Retraining/updating course for University teachers of English language as part of TEMPUS PHARE JEP No7604 (27th April – 25th May 1997).
  • MA thesis “Black Female Stereotypes in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Beloved by Toni Morrison” October 1989, Department of English and American Studies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Department of English and American Studies

from 1991 onward:

 

BA courses:

  • American Literature: from Romanticism to Realism
  • American Literature: from Modernism to Postmodernism
  • Introduction to US Cultural Studies
  • Transcultural Dialogues: the US and Bulgaria in the Beginning of the 21st Century (a transatlantic course taught together with Texas Christian University)
  • Canada: Society, Culture and Politics

 

MA courses:

  • American Popular Culture and Politics
  • Literature in the Age of the Internet
  • Multimodal Writing
  • Digital Culture

 

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS:

  • Authored Books:

Glavanakova, Alexandra. Transcultural Imaginings. Translating the Other, Translating the Self in Narratives about Migration and Terrorism. Sofia: KX – Critique and Humanism Publishing House, 2016. ISBN: 978 954 587 201 3.

Glavanakova, Alexandra. Posthuman Transformations: Bodies and Texts in Cyberspace. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press. 2014. ISBN 978-954-07-3869-7.

 

  • Edited Books:

Glavanakova, Alexandra, Emilia Slavova, Bozhil Hristov, Jonathan McCreedy, and Rositsa Ishpekova (eds.). New Paradigms in English Studies. Language, Linguistics, Literature and Culture in Higher Education. Sofia: “St. Kliment Ohridski’ University Press, 2017. ISBN: 978-954-07-4371-4.

 

  • Journal articles and chapters in books:

Главанакова, Александра. „Една среща с Иън Макюън“. Литературен вестник брой 29, 12-18.09.2018г., стр. 6. [“Meeting Ian McEwan,” Literaturen Vestnik, 29, Sept. 20118].

Glavanakova, Alexandra. “S is for Seduction: From Electronic Literature to the Printed Book.” Visual Worlds: The Aesthetics and Politics of Affect. (eds.) Isabelle Boof-Vermesse, Kornelia Slavova, Elena Dineva. Sofia: Polis Press, 2018. 136-144. ISBN: 978-954-796-066-4.

Glavanakova, Alexandra. “How We Lost America: Transcultural Visions of the U.S. in Bulgarian Films.” National and Transnational Challenges to the American Imaginary. (eds.) Adina Ciugureanu, Eduard Vlad and Nicoleta Stanca. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2018. 133-149. ISBN: 978-3-631-75306-4.

Glavanakova, Alexandra. “Transcultural Identity and Migration: Zachary Karabashliev’s 18 % Gray.” (Pop) Cultures on the Move: Transnational Identifications and Cultural Exchange between East and West. (eds.) Astrid M. Fellner, Tetiana Ostapchuk, Bärbel Schlimbach. Saarbrücken:  Universitätsverlag | universaar, 2018. 67-87. ISBN 978-3-86223-229-1.

Glavanakova, Alexandra. “Intersections: Teaching Literature in the Digital Age.” New Paradigms in English Studies. Language, Linguistics, Literature and Culture in Higher Education. (eds.) Emilia Slavova, Bozhil Hristov, Jonathan McCreedy, Rositsa Ishpekova, Alexandra Glavanakova. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2017. 165-185. ISBN: 978-954-07-4371-4.

Glavanakova, Alexandra. “The Age of Humans Meets Posthumanism: Reflections on Don DeLillo’s Zero K,” Studies in the Literary Imagination vol. 50, no. 1 (2017): 91-109. doi:10.1353/sli.2017.0007. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/718438

Главанакова, Александра. „Интелектуалецът като терорист“. Америките ни: САЩ като културна метафора на модерността. Българо-американски литературни отражения (XX-XXI век). Редактори, Пламен Антов, Андрей Ташев, Иван Христов. Института за литература – БАН. София: Издателски център „Боян Пенев“, 2017. 455 – 474. ISBN: 978-619-7372-06-9. [“The Intellectual as Terrorist.” Our Americas: The USA as Cultural Metaphor for Modernity. Bulgarian American Literary Reflections (XX-XXI century), 2017].

Glavanakova, Alexandra.  “Transgressive Art and Terrorism”. Филологията – Класическа и нова. Юбилейна Научна Конференция на Факултета по класически и нови филологии. Съставител Димитър Веселинов. София: Университетско издателство „Свети Климент Охридски“, 2016. 648 – 666. ISBN: 978-954-07-4082-9.

“American Gothic Revisited: Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark.The Contemporary 19th Century. (eds.) Ralitsa Muharska and Rositsa Ishpekova. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2015. 87-96. ISBN: 978-954-07-4011-9.

“Cultural Translation: Miroslav Penkov’s East of the West”. Liber Amicorum: on the 80th anniversary of prof. Bistra Alexieva. (ed.) Diana Yankova.

“Bulgarian Diaspora in Canada”, Migrating Memories: Central Europe in Canada. Volume 1 – Literary Anthology. (ed.) Vesna Lopicic. Brno/Nis: SVEN, 2010. ISBN 978-86-7746-233-8

“The Bulgarian Diaspora in Canada: Stories of Immigration”, Migrating Memories: Central Europe in Canada. Volume 2 – Oral Histories. (ed.) Rodica Albu. Brno/Nis: SVEN, 2010. ISBN 978-86-7746-255-0

“A Quest for Harmony: Bulgarians Writing in Canada”, Proceedings. Managing Diversity and Social Cohesion, 5th International Conference of Central European Canadianists, 16-18 October 2009, Sofia. (ed.) Diana Yankova, Brno: Masaryk University, 2010. ISBN: 978-80-210-5270-3.

“Writing the Deviant Body in Cyberliterature”, Gender/Genre. (eds.) Kornelia Slavova, Isabelle Boof-Vermesse, Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-954-07-3026-4.

“Рецензия за сборника “Канада – поглед отвън.” Списание Език и литература,“Канада: позната и непозната”, кн. 1-2 (28. 07. 2008) Review of the collection “Canada: A View from Without. Un Regard D’Ailleurs, ed. Diana Yankova. Sofia: New Bulgarian University. Language and Literature. Issue on Canada 1-2 (July 28, 2008).

“Колективното творчество в интернет или как “милион пингвини” написаха отворен роман.” Списание Литературата, год. I , кн. 2 (2007), 7-17, ISSN 1313-1451. “Collaborative writing on the Internet or how ‘a million penguins’ wrote an open novel.” Literature, 1.2 (2007) 7-17.

“Тялото в киберпространството: от Уилям Гибсън до Талан Мемот”,Словото класическо и ново. Юбилейна конференция на Факултета по класически и нови филологии 2005 г., том I, София: Университетско издателство “Св. Климент Охридски,” 2007. ISBN: 978-954-07-2525-3. “The Body in Cyberspace: from William Gibson to Talan Memmot.” Conference proceedings, vol 1. Sofia: Sofia University Press, 2007.

“Reading America Hypertextually”,In Politics [AND/IN] Aesthetics. Selected Papers from the International Conference, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, June 4-9, 2005. (ed.) Litsa Trayiannoudi. Thessaloniki, 2007. ISBN: 978-960-243-632-5.

“Cyborg Body Politics” in Bulgarian Journal of American and Transatlantic

Studies, 1, 12 Dec. 2006, <http://www.jatsbulgaria.org>

“За книжното тяло и четенето до забрава”, Vox Literarum 3, 2004, pp. 80-87, ISSN 1312-2207. “On the Textual Body and Getting Lost in a Book, Vox Literarum 3, 2004, pp. 80-87, ISSN 1312-2207

“Body Webs: Re/constructing Boundaries in Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl”, Journal of American Studies of Turkey , 18, Fall 2003, pp. 65-79, ISSN 1300-6606

“American Readings of Cyberspace”, International Conference “America in the 21st Century” of the Bulgarian-American Studies Association, Sofia, 21-22 November 2003. CD-Rom edition

“Interpreting Literary Machines”, inDialogues: American Studies in an International Context. Proceedings of the Jubilee Conference ofthe Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, November, 1-3 2002, (ed.) M. Katsarska, Plovdiv: Zombori, 2002. ISBN: 954-91615-1-X.

“Getting Lost in Hyperfiction”, ed. Kornelia Slavova, Essays in American Studies: Postmodern Perspectives. Sofia: Polis Press, 2003, pp. 145-159 ISBN 954-91011-8-5.

“Reading for Cultural Knowledge”, Conference Proceedings, Interactive Teaching Tools: Focus on Intercultural Communication, Rostov State Pedagogical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 6-8 May 2002.

“From ‘Dirty Fairy Tale’ to ‘Promised Land’ – the Bulgarian Exodus,” America Imagined. Selected Conference Papers. American University in Bulgaria. Blagoevgrad, October 18-21, 2001. (ed. et al.) Vernon Pedersen. Blagoevgrad: American University in Bulgaria. 2001

“A Post-Totalitarian Mis/Reading of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy,” in Essays in American Studies. Cross-Cultural Perspectives. (ed.) Madeleine Danova. Sofia: Polis, 2001. pp. 107-123. ISBN 954-90728-6-X

Membership in scholarly societies:

  • Bulgarian American Studies Association
  • Bulgarian Society for British Studies
  • Central-European Association for Canadian Studies
  • Bulgarian Fulbright Alumni Association
  • European Ambassador for Bulgaria of the European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (SLSA)

PROJECTS:

  • Project manager: “Transcultural Dialogues: American Studies in Bulgaria in the Beginning of the 21st Century” Grant Agreement № S-BU800-18-GR-0023/19 June 2018-31 August 2019 under the US Embassy Bulgaria Small Grants Program
  • Project head: Online Reading Strategies working group of the National Interdisciplinary Project “Reading Modes in Bulgaria 2018”, financed by the Bulgarian Science Fund. December 2017 – December 2020. [Ръководител на модул „Читателят в дигиталната среда“ от Читателски практики в България 2018 – Национален интердисциплинарен проект, изследващ състоянието на четенето и грамотностите в България, Фонд “Научни изследвания” МОН за H20/9 от 4.07.2017, 2017-2020].
  • Project participant: “Creating an Innovative Platform of Communication and Teaching in a Digital Society” International Erasmus + project: reg. No 2018-1-BG01-KA201-04798, Coordinated by the Association “Education without Barriers” 2018-2020.
  • Project coordinator: “Continued Development of an Environment for Collaborative Practices and Distance Education in the Faculty of Classical and New Philology” Project of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, Scientific Research Center at Sofia University Grant agreement № 80-10-83/19.04.2018.
  • Project coordinator: “Building an Environment for Collaborative Practices and Distance Education in the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology April-December 2017”. Scientific Research Center at Sofia University Grant agreement № 80-10-49/19.04.2017.
  • Project participant: “The Dynamics of Computer-mediated Communication among University students in English Studies: cultural, language and interpersonal models” (2012). Участие в проект “Динамика на компютърно-опосредстваната комуникация при студентите англицисти: културологични, лингвистични и междуличностни модели”, Договор ДДВУ02/95, 2012.
  • Project participant: “Adapting the MA Program “Language and Culture” at the Department of English and American Studies of Sofia University to computer-mediated forms of distance education” (2012). Участие в проект 164 от 05.04.2012 “Адаптиране на магистърска програма “Език и култура” (английски език) за дистанционно електронно обучение”
  • Project participant: Sustainable development of human resources for the purposes of higher education of and in foreign languages at the Faculty of Classical and New Philologies of Sofia University through the development and implementation  of computer-mediated forms of distance education” with the financial support of the operational program “Human Resources Development” and co-financed by the European Social Fund of the EU (2013-2014). Участие в проект № BG051PO001-4.3.04-0057 „Устойчиво развитие на човешките ресурси за целите на университетското образование по/на различни езици във Факултета по класически и нови филологии чрез разработване и внедряване на електронни форми на дистанционно обучение” с финансовата подкрепа на Оперативна програма „Развитие на човешките ресурси“, съфинасирана от Европейския социален фонд на Европейския съюз (2013-2014)
  • Project coordinator: “Innovative Methods for Improving the Quality of Teaching at the Department of English and American Studies at Sofia University” (2013-2015). Координатор на проект на ФУАА “Иновативни методи и технологии за подобряване качеството на преподаване в Катедрата по англицистика и американистика на СУ Св. Климент Охридски” с финансираща страна: Фондация „Америка за България”, грант 0086.20130412 (2013-2015).
  • National coordinator of the project of the Central European Association for Canadian Studies “Central Europe in Canada” dedicated to the study of diasporic communities of Central European countries in Canada, 2007-2010.  Участник и национален координатор на международния проект на Централно европейската асоциация по канадски изследвания за събиране на устната и писмена история на диаспорите на страните от централна и източна Европа, 2007 – 2010.

SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

  • Founding member of two NGOs in the 1990s: The Bulgarian American Studies Association and The Academic Foundation for English and American Studies (AFEAS).
  • Convener and organizer of many public events, conferences and projects.
  • CEO of the Academic Foundation for English and American Studies (2016 – ongoing): organizer of students’ poetry contests for the Vladimir Filipov Memorial Grant; head of evaluator’s committee for Kalina Filipova’s Memorial Grant; organizer of projects for the development and enhancement of education and academic research in digital studies and transatlantic studies at Sofia University, financed by AFEAS.
  • Member of the jury for granting the Krastan Dyankov Translation Award of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, 2016.
  • Member of the jury for granting the Krastan Dyankov Translation Award of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, 2017.

TRANSLATIONS from Bulgarian into English:

  • Петко Добчев, Благовеста Балканджиева. Висш адвокатски съвет. 1925-2010. Юбилеен алманах. Двуезично издание. Сиби, София. 2012. Petko Dobchev, Blagovesta Balkandzhieva. Supreme Bar Council, 1925-2010. Jubilee Edition, Sofia: Sibi, 2012.
  • Чикаго – Българският град. Редактори Климент Величков, Динко Динев, Симеон Стоилов, том първи, превод Александра Главанакова и Божил Христов. София, 2014. Chicago – The Bulgarian City. (ed. et. al.) Kliment Velichkov. Sofia, 2014.

TRANSLATIONS from English into Bulgarian:

  • Stephen King. The Dark Half. Viking Press. 1989. (translated as Стивън Кинг. “Тъмната половина”. КФ “Плеяда-прес”. София. 1992).
  • Stephen King. The Stand. The Complete and Uncut edition. Part II. Doubleday. 1990. (translated as Стивън Кинг. “Сблъсък”. ИК “Плеяда”. София. 1996).
  • Oscar Hijuelos. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. N.Y Farrar, Straus, Giroux. 1989. (translated as Оскар Ихуелос. “Мамбо Кингс”. ИК “Плеяда 7”. София. 1993).
  • Evan Hunter. Criminal Conversation. Hui Corporation, Warner Books, Inc. 1994. (translated as Eвън Хънтър. “Уликата”. ИК “Плеяда”. София 1995.)
  • Jack Higgins. Thunderpoint. Septembertide Publishing, B.V. 1993. (translated as Джек Хигинс “Когато тайните изплуват”. ИК “Плеяда”. София 1996).
  • Jack Kerouac. Visions of Cody. (translated as Джак Керуак. Видения за Коди. Изд. “Парадокс”, 2004, ISBN 954-553-071-5)
  • Woody Allen, Mere Anarchy. (translated as Уди Алън. “Внимание, падащи магнати,” Пълна Анархия, том 2. Книгоиздателска къща “Труд”, София, 2008, ISBN: 978-954-528-778-7r).
  • Charlotte Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1892. (translated as Шарлот Гилмън. „Жълтият тапет“,http://www.litclub.bg/library/prev/gilman/zhultiat_tapet.html, April 27, 2012. LitClub ISSN 1313-4124.
  • Leila Meacham. Tumbleweeds. 2012 (translated as Лийла Мийчъм. Тръни в пустошта. ИК „Бард“, 2013 ISBN 978-954-655-365-2)