Biography

Mariam Chaladze is a PhD candidate in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Ilia State University. Her doctoral research, “What Does a Room Remember: Private Spaces and Public Battles in Post-Soviet Georgia,” explores how girls’ bedrooms in Georgia function as intimate spaces where political ideologies, gender norms and national identity are negotiated, reproduced, and, at times, resisted. Her research argues that walls, rooms and the objects within them are not passive “containers” or mere recipients of space. Rather, they “remember” and can “speak” not only about the individual who inhabits them, but also about the society in which that individual lives.

Mariam completed her BA in International Relations at the Free University of Tbilisi, where she wrote her undergraduate thesis, “From Identity Crisis to Violent Extremism,” using a multidisciplinary approach drawing on terrorism studies, anthropology, and the social sciences. She later received an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Tbilisi State University. Her master’s research effectively used autoethnography, participant observation, and interviews to ethnographically explore the post-Soviet transformation of an unfinished residential building in the Didi Dighomi settlement.

Alongside her academic work, Mariam has professional experience in research, project management, communications, and international relations.