Mariya Levitanus

Mariya is a scholar, queer activist, and psychotherapist trained within the dialogue between the person-centred approach and psychodynamic perspectives. She received her Doctorate in Psychotherapy from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. Her thesis is entitled “Regulation and Negotiation of Queer Subjectivities in post-Soviet Kazakhstan”. Previous and upcoming publications have focused on the role Soviet discourses in the narratives of queer people in Kazakhstan, queer emigration and queer activism in Kazakhstan and Russia. Mariya's work foregrounds lived experiences, examining how the socio-political context shapes the everyday life in authoritarian regimes.