Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Dina Varpahovsky
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Key information
Key information
- Department
- Department of Anthropology and Sociology
- Qualifications
- Specialist Diploma (Saint Petersbury Mining), BA Fine Art (UAL), MA Fine Art (C&G), MA (SOAS)
- Subject
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Email address
- 713367@soas.ac.uk
- Thesis title
- Japanese family life and identity in transnational contexts: material culture, generation, and belonging in the UK (working title)
- Internal Supervisors
- Dr Fabio Gygi & Dr Benjamin Bowles
Biography
Dina Varpahovsky is a MPhil/PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at SOAS.
Her academic work examines the material, sensory, and emotional dimensions of Japanese transnational family life, with a particular focus on how everyday objects mediate identity, belonging, and cultural continuity across borders.
Having lived in both Russia and the UK, and worked across education, fine art, and finance, she brings an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of migration, material culture, and the affective ties people sustain across distance. A long-standing interest in Japan, shaped through language learning, cultural study, and ongoing engagement with Japanese communities, grounds her commitment to understanding the lived experiences of Japanese women and families navigating life abroad.
Dina’s doctoral project builds on her MA dissertation, which investigated how Japanese women in the UK maintain cultural, sensory, and emotional connections through objects brought from Japan, ranging from foodstuffs and textiles to domestic tools and children’s educational materials. Her current research expands this work by exploring the transnational circulation of things, memories, and practices within mixed-heritage Japanese families. She is particularly interested in the ways children and adults negotiate identity through the handling, displaying, and exchanging of objects; the sensory practices that travel between Japan and the UK; and the improvisational strategies families develop to sustain cultural life across distance.
More broadly, her research contributes to debates on migration, materiality, kinship, care, and the anthropology of home. Before beginning doctoral study, Dina completed an MA in Fine Art (2016). She also works as an academic librarian at Winchester College, supporting students in research skills, information literacy, and project planning. Dina is an active contributor to the SOAS community, serving as Helen Kanitkar Library Student Manager in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. A native Russian speaker and committed learner of Japanese, she aims to integrate linguistic, sensory, and ethnographic insight into her anthropological research and future teaching.
Research interests
- Japan
- Material studies
- Migration
- Family
- The Anthropology of Home
Contact Dina
- Social media
