
Emma Mateo
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ukrainian Studies
Harriman Institute, Columbia University in the City of New York
Email em3753@columbia.edu
Address Harriman Institute, New York
ABOUT
Emma Mateo is a sociologist who studies protest and activism in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Her research focuses on local mobilzation during mass protests and significant political events. Emma also studies how media and technology interact with protest and civil society mobilization, and her work makes innovative use of social media data, such as Telegram Messenger.
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At the Harriman Institute, Emma is working on a project examining grassroots community responses to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite massive amounts of aid being directed to international organizations and charities in response to Russia’s invasion, early studies have shown that it was in fact Ukrainian community groups and local NGOs that provided the overwhelming majority of humanitarian support in Ukraine in the initial months. This project will study how these local networks mobilize, and what tools they use to obtain and distribute resources to support humanitarian causes and the military in Ukraine.
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Emma holds a DPhil (PhD) in Sociology from the University of Oxford, awarded in 2022. Emma’s doctoral thesis explores what shapes subnational variation in protest during nationwide instances of mass mobilization, in the cases of Ukraine (2013-14) and Belarus (2020). This article-based thesis studied in particular the role that different kinds of social networks (activist networks, community networks, workplace networks, and local political networks) play in shaping where protest and repression take place throughout a country. Emma’s research on the role of pre-existing networks during regional protests in Belarus is published in Post Soviet Affairs, and her co-authored article on media consumption, disinformation, and protest
participation during the Euromaidan protests (with Olga Onuch and Julian Waller) is published in Social Media + Society.
SKILLS & EXPERTISE
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Mixed methods researcher
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Software: Stata, QGIS, NVivo.
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Programming: R, Python (beginner).
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Languages: English (Native), Russian (Advanced), French (Advanced), Ukrainian (Advanced).
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Working with data, including
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Cross-national survey data
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Social media data
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Qualitative interviews
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News media
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EDUCATION
2018-2022
University of Oxford, UK
DPhil in Sociology
Advisors: Dr Olga Onuch (Primary); Dr Stephen Fisher (Secondary)
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2016-2018
University of Oxford, UK
MPhil in Russian and East European Studies
Distinction
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2011-15
University of Cambridge, UK
BA in Modern and Medieval Languages (Russian, French & Ukrainian)
First class
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PUBLICATIONS
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2022 Mateo, E.,'"All of Belarus has come out onto the streets": Exploring Nationwide Protest and the Role of Pre-existing Social Networks'. Post-Soviet Affairs. DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2022.2026127
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2021 Onuch, O., Mateo, E., and Waller, J.G., Mobilization, Mass Perceptions, and (Dis)information: “New” and “Old” Media Consumption Patterns and Protest. Social Media + Society. April 2021. doi:10.1177/2056305121999656.
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2019 Mateo, E., Review: Youth Movements and Elections in Eastern Europe by O. Nikolayenko. Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Vol. 36, No. 1/2 (2019)
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2019 Mateo, E., Review: Revolution and War in Contemporary Ukraine: The Challenge of Change. Ed. O. Bertelsen. ID:International Dialogue, Multidisciplinary Journal of World Affairs. Vol. 9.
WORK UNDER PREPARATION
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Mateo, E., Industrial Workers, Middle-class Employees, & Mass Mobilisation: Regional Employment Patterns & Subnational Protest Variation in Ukraine & Belarus.
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[with O. Onuch, C. Arkwright and A. Martinez] “Protest and Progress: Gender Attitudes and Protest Engagement”. Working paper
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OTHER AVAILABLE WORK
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Presentation for Harvard University Ukraine Research Institute (with Olga Onuch): From 'Glory to Ukraine' to 'Long Live Belarus': A Comparison of Mass Mobilization in Ukraine (2013-2014) and Belarus (2020) 23 November 2020.
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Podcast episode for the Slavic Connection: One Maidan, Two Maidan, Three Maidan, Four... with Olga Onuch and Emma Mateo (Parts 1 and 2)
CONTACT
Email em3753@columbia.edu
Address Harriman Institute, 420 W 118th Street, New York, 10027
© 2022 Emma Mateo. Created with Wix.com