Elitza Kotzeva has a PhD in English Studies with a focus on Rhetoric from Washington State University. She holds a Certificate in Applied Literary Translation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduate degrees in Slavic Languages (Czech, Slovak, and Bulgarian), Local Development, and English Literature from universities in Bulgaria, Italy, and the United States. Her research explores the intersections of material rhetorics, performance studies, feminist geography, and rhetorical ethnography. Elitza’s publications appear in journals dedicated to the study of material culture and rhetoric. She has published translations in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation, and Apofenie.
Education
- 2019, PhD in English, Washington State University
- 2015, Certificate in Applied Literary Translation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2012, MA in English, Appalachian State University
- 2004, МА in Local Development, University of Trento and University of Bolzano, Italy
- 2002, MA in Slavic Studies: Czech, Slovak, and Bulgarian, Sofia University, Bulgaria
Selected Publications
Edited Chapters
“#WeWillWin When We Become Good Citizens, or Hegemonic Masculinity in Armenian War Rhetoric.” Exploring Masculinities in the South Caucuses. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung: Georgia. Forthcoming in Fall 2023.
“Queering Bulgarian Pop-Folk: Hybridity, Gaga Feminism, and Defamiliarization in Chalga.” The Routledge Handbook of Popular Music and Politics of the Balkans. Forthcoming in July 2024.
“Down the Rabbit Hole.” Our Body of Work: Embodied Teaching and Administration in Writing Studies. eds. Anna Sciari and Melissa Nicolas. Boulder: U of Colorado Press, 2022.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Kotzeva, E. and Anders, B. “Engineering a Dialogue with Klara, or Ethical Invention with Generative AI in the Writing Classroom.” Journal of Academic Writing. 13 (2) Winter 2023. 73-80.
Kotzeva, E. with Bzdigian, N., Gevorgyan, S., Khachatryan L. “Rhetorical Resilience and Righteous Discontent in Eurasia: Female Students Leading the Way.” Cluster Conversation: Addressing the Barriers between Us and that Future: Feminist Activist Coalition Building in Writing Studies. Peitho. 26 (1). Fall 2023.
Kotzeva, Elitza. “Counter-Mapping for Resistance and Cultivation of Counter-Memory: The Social Life of Some Nagorno Karabakh Maps.” Special Issue: Social Lives of Maps. Material Culture Review. July 2023.
Kotzeva, Elitza. Traveling Back with Time: On the Rhetorical Significance of Dureé.” Intraspection: a Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Style. Issue 5, 2022.
Other Publications
Collaboration with Garabet Kazanjian & Lilit Khachatryan, “From Sacred to Sacrilegious: Armenian Human-Water Relations.” Media Seascape and the Criminal Imaginary. In Media Res, November, 2021.
“From Concerto for Sentence by Emiliya Dvoryanova, translated by Elitza Kotzeva.” Review of Contemporary Fiction, 33 (1): 46-51. Dalkey Archive Press, 2013.
“Czech Short Fiction.” Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2012
Literary Translations
Poetry by poets of the Bulgarian circle New Social Poetry. Apofenie. Volume 7: Justice. June 2019.
Excerpt from Invisibleby Nataliya Deleva. Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation. Fall 2018 Issue. The University of Iowa.
Concerto for Sentence by Emiliya Dvoryanova. Urbana-Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 2016. (Bulgarian to English)
“From Concerto for Sentence by Emiliya Dvoryanova, translated by Elitza Kotzeva.” Review of Contemporary Fiction, 33 (1): 46-51. Dalkey Archive Press, 2013.
Born under a Lucky Star by Ilona Lacková. Centre de Recherches Tsiganes, Université “René Descartes”, Paris, France. Sofia: Litavra Publishing, 2000. (Czech to Bulgarian)