Polina Vlasenko, Ph.D.

Title: Visiting Assistant Professor Instruction
Dept/Program: Department of Anthropology
Office: Olin Hall 239
Phone: 330-972-7875
Email: pvlasenko@uakron.edu

Biography

Dr. Polina Vlasenko is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Akron. Her research interests include commodification of women's bodies, intimacies and labours, political economy of ARTs, social reproduction and postsocialist transformations in Ukraine. She received her Ph.D. degree in medical anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington. Her dissertation "Global Circuits of Fertility: The Political Economy of the Ukrainian Ova Market" explored the functioning of the export-oriented egg banks and IVF clinics in Ukraine, donor eggs' valuation as racialized commodities, and egg donors' experiences of work and motherhood under postsocialism.

Research

Her research interests include commodification of women's bodies, intimacies and labours, political economy of ARTs, social reproduction and postsocialist transformations in Ukraine.

Education

Ph.D. degree in medical anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington

Courses

Fall 2021

3230:251 Human Diversity

3230:416 Anthropology of Sex & Gender