Andrey Gornostaev

Andrey Gornostaev's research focuses on Russian social and transnational histories, with a particular interest in the interactions between ordinary people (peasants and townsfolk) and the imperial state, both in the center and peripheries. He is currently working on his first book, tentatively titled "Peasants on the Run: Resistance, Mobility, and Governance in Imperial Russia, 1649-1801." This work explores the state's efforts to curb unauthorized peasant migration, the strategies employed by peasants to live on the run, and the broader impact of peasant flight on social dynamics in eighteenth-century Russia. Additionally, Dr. Gornostaev has initiated a new project that investigates how borderland issues such as flight, crime, violence, and disease between Russia and Poland-Lithuania influenced the states' relations during the eighteenth century, offering fresh perspectives on the history of the Partitions of Poland.