Andrey Shcherbenok received his first Ph.D. in Russian Literature from St. Petersburg University, Russia, in 2002 and his second Ph.D. in Rhetoric with the designated emphasis in Film Studies from UC Berkeley in 2006. His first dissertation was on Deconstruction and Classical Russian Literature, while his second one, entitled Trauma and Ideology in the Soviet Film of 1929 - 1945, focuses on the traumatic contradictions that lie at the heart of the ideological message of Soviet post-avantgarde cinema. In this ongoing research project Andrey analyzes the interrelations between ideology and trauma, ideology and sexuality, and ideology and psychoanalysis, which he combines with elaborate textual analysis of visual material and puts in the socio-political context of Stalinism. He is currently working towards the publication of his second book based on this dissertation.

Andrey's interests include Soviet film and Russian literature, as well as psychoanalysis, theory of ideology, and cinematic sexuality. As a Fellow, he has taught Literature Humanities, Russian Language, and a seminar on sexuality in Russian and Soviet cinema.