Joshua First is a historian of the Former Soviet Union, focusing on Russia and Ukraine. He is currently writing a history of Soviet medicine in the period 1960-1990.
Research Interests
Joshua First is interested in the intersections between cultural and institutions. Previously, he looked at how culture and identity was produced at a Ukrainian film studio, and currently he is examining how Soviet healthcare institutions contended with ideas about biotechnology and cybernetics.
Biography
Joshua First is Croft Associate Professor of History and International Studies and specializes in the history of Russia and Ukraine during the 20th and 21st centuries. Professor First came to Mississippi in 2010 after receiving his Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan. His teaching interests include modern Russia, the Soviet Union, post-war Europe, the welfare state and cinema. Professor First’s first book is Ukrainian Cinema: Belonging and Identity during the Soviet Thaw (2014) and another book on the Ukrainian film, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (2016). Professor First’s latest interests include the history of the Soviet welfare state and the development of health care and public health after Stalin.
Publications
Cinema: Belonging and Identity during the Soviet Thaw
Sergei Parajanov: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Making Soviet melodrama contemporary: conveying ‘emotional information’ in the era of Stagnation
Courses Taught
- HST 343 History of the Holocaust
- HST 344 Russia under the Tsars
- HST 345 Russia in the Era of Total War
- HST 346 Russia from the Cold War to the War in Ukraine
- INST 205 Introduction to European Studies
- INST 328 Contemporary Russia
Education
B.A. History, University of Missouri-Columbia (2001)
Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (2008)