Elena Rodina is media and communication scholar. Her research examines the changes that mass media are undergoing in the context of global digital transformation with a focus on the intersection of journalism and activism, and, in particular, on journalistic resistance to state pressure in post-Soviet states. She also publishes on issues related to communication ethics and media ecosystems.
She has done extensive ethnographic research in Russia’s North Caucasus (Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia) and South Caucasus (Armenia).
She holds a PhD (2019) from the Department of Media, Technology, and Society at Northwestern University, a Master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Romanic-Germanic philology from Kazan State University. Before entering academia, Elena worked as a full-time, Moscow-based socio-political correspondent for weekly magazines Ogoniok and Esquire Russia. Her journalistic work and illustrations have been published in Time Out Chicago, Russian Reporter, Esquire (Russia), Ogoniok, Newcity, EtoKavkaz, Elle, and Russian Life, among others.
She is currently employed as a Subject Matter Expert and Guest Lecturer for the Master of Science in Communication Program (MSC) at Northwestern University, and was named a 2020 visiting scholar at Aleksanteri Institute (Helsinki, Finland).