Valerie Anishchenkova

Dr. Valerie Anishchenkova is Associate Professor of Arabic Studies and Core Faculty in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an M.A. with Honors in Oriental and African Studies from St. Petersburg State University, Russia.

Dr. Anishchenkova is the author of Autobiographical Identities in Contemporary Arab Culture (Edinburgh University Press, 2014) and Modern Saudi Arabia (Bloomsbury, 2020). Her current research examines the intersections of popular nationalism and Arabic-language television, with a focus on transnational genres, shifting media ecologies, and the cultural politics in the post-satellite era.

Her broader scholarly interests include Arab cinema and media, identity studies, and comparative cultural discourses of war in the U.S., Russia, and the Middle East. In addition to her research, Dr. Anishchenkova brings extensive experience in academic administration, program development, and curriculum design. She served as Principal Investigator and Director of the federally funded Arabic Flagship Program at UMD (2010–2017) and led the multi-institutional Flagship Culture Initiative (2017–2021), both supported by the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO).