Karina V. Korostelina is a Professor and Director of the Program on History Memory and Conflict at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, GMU. She has taught at National Taurida University, Ukraine and, since 2003, at GMU, where she also serves as a Director of on-line M.S. program. She is also a Chair of the Peace Culture and Communication Commission of the International Peace Research Association.
Professor Korostelina is a social psychologist whose work focuses on social identity and identity-based conflicts, intergroup insult, the nation building processes, the relationships between Muslim and non-Muslim populations, role of history in conflict and post-conflict societies, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. She has been Fulbright New Century Scholar in 2002-2003, fellow at the Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in 2009, fellow at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1999-2000, and a visiting scholar at the Curriculum Resource Center of the Central European University in 2001. In 1993-2003 she was conducting research on ethnic and religious conflicts in Ukraine and served as a project director, mediator, and trainer for numerous conflict intervention programs. Since 2003 she is conducting research on identity-based conflicts in Armenia, Georgia, Morocco, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Ukraine. She has received 39 grants from the MacArthur Foundation, Luce Foundation, Spenser Foundation, Ebert Foundation, Northeast Asia History Foundation, Soros Foundation (Research Support Scheme, Managing Multicultural Communities Project, Renaissance Foundation), the United State Institute of Peace, US National Academy of Education, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of USDS, INTAS, IREX, Eckert Institute, and Council of Europe.
One of her current projects, supported by the Ebert Foundation, Spenser Foundation and the United State Institute of Peace, concentrates on the impact of contested histories on political violence, the role of historic narratives in deeply divided societies, the role of history education in the formation and redefinitions of social identities in conflict and post-conflict societies, the processes of reconciliation and trauma healing in post-conflict societies, and inclusive and common history projects. In addition to conducting several research projects related to this topic, she conducts trainings for history teachers and leads a series of international seminars on contested histories.
Professor Korostelina has published more than 80 articles and chapters and is author or editor of 15 books. She authored The System of Social Identities: The Analysis of Ethnic Situation in the Crimea (2003), The Social Identity and Conflict: Structure, Dynamic and Implications (2007), Why they die? Civilian Devastation in Violent Conflicts (2011), History Education in the Formation of Social Identity: Toward a Culture of Peace (2013), Constructing Narrative of Identity and Power (2013), International Insult: How Offence Contribute to Conflict (2014) and Trump effect (2016)). Among her edited books are: Identity, Morality and Threat (2006), Civilians and Modern War: Armed Conflict and the Ideology of Violence (2012), Forming a Culture of Peace: Reframing Narratives of Intergroup Relations, Equity, and Justice (2012), and History Education and Post-Conflict Reconciliation: Reconsidering Joint Textbook Projects (2013), and History Can Bite - History Education in Divided and Post-War Societies (2016).
