Anton Yasnitsky, Ph.D.
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EXPERTISE (from Book Reviews)

"What a wide-ranging view of the comprehensive subject of mind-culture-neurology! It serves a real purpose both pedagogically and in the scholarly sense." — Jerome Bruner, Professor Emeritus, New York University School of Law

"Yasnitsky ... offers "a sharp polemic with ‘cultism’ in Vygotsky Studies, ... sheds new light on the history of the reception and promotion of Vygotsky and his ‘school." — Andy Byford, Professor / Director of Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, UK

"This is the first thorough coverage of the life and work of this Russian-Jewish scholar since my work with Rene van der Veer over twenty-five years ago (Understanding Vygotsky, 1991). Vygotsky’s psychological theories, based on his deep feelings on theatre and literature, continue to fascinate scholars worldwide.
Yasnitsky has clearly emerged as the new world leader in doing careful analytic work on Vygotsky’s heritage." — Jaan Valsiner, Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark

"This feisty collection is compulsory reading for anyone interested in Vygotsky’s legacy, and Vygotskians should be prepared to be, by turns, intrigued, enlightened and infuriated by its revelations. Will the ‘revisionist revolution’ in Vygotsky studies ultimately triumph? Or will the revolutionaries eventually turn on one another? That remains to be seen. But whatever the revolution’s fate,
Anton Yasnitsky and his colleagues have ushered in a new era in Vygotsky scholarship." — David Bakhurst, Charlton Professor of Philosophy, Queen’s University, Canada

Yasnitsky et al. challenge our assumptions about the history of Soviet science and the nature of Soviet Marxism and its influence on psychological thinking.

He significantly broadens the discussion around Vygotsky’s life and work and its historical context, applying theories of other notable thinkers such as Alexander Luria and the much-neglected philosopher/psychologist Sergei Rubinstein, alongside key movements in history, such as the pedology and psychohygiene." — Editorial



PROJECTS: Past, Ongoing and Forthcoming

  • The Cambridge Handbook of Cultural-Historical Psychology
  • Revisionist Revolution in Vygotsky Studies
  • Vygotsky: An Intellectual Biography
  • Questioning Vygotsky’s Legacy: Scientific Psychology or Heroic Cult
  • A History of Marxist Psychology: The Golden Age of Soviet Science
  • Cultural Historical Gestalt Psychology: Historical, Methodological and Theoretical Perspectives
  • Psychological Materialism: An Introduction
  • “Science of Supermеn”: Avant-Garde Science of the Future
  • Perfect(ly Flawed) Science: A Transnational Cultural-Historical Psychology of Vygotsky and Luria
  • Rebellious Science: A Guideline



BOOKS
Yasnitsky, A. (2022, forthcoming). Psychological Materialism: An Introduction
Yasnitsky, A. (Ed.) (2022, forthcoming). Cultural Historical Gestalt Psychology: Historical, Methodological and Theoretical Perspectives
Yasnitsky, A. (Ed.) (2020). A History of Marxist Psychology: The Golden Age of Soviet Science (Routledge/Taylor & Francis). Available for pre-order. Item will ship after October 30, 2020 [BOOK PREVIEW]
Yasnitsky, A. (Ed.) (2019). Questioning Vygotsky’s Legacy: Scientific Psychology or Heroic Cult. London and New York: Routledge [BOOK PREVIEW]
Yasnitsky, A. (2018). Vygotsky: An Intellectual Biography. London and New York: Routledge [BOOK PREVIEW]
Yasnitsky, A., van der Veer, R., Aguilar, E. & García, L.N. (Eds.) (2016). Vygotski revisitado: una historia crítica de su contexto y legado. Buenos Aires: Miño y Dávila Editores (in Spanish)
Yasnitsky, A. & van der Veer, R. (Eds.) (2015). Revisionist Revolution in Vygotsky Studies. London and New York: Routledge
Yasnitsky, A., van der Veer, R., & Ferrari, M. (Eds.) (2014). The Cambridge Handbook of Cultural-Historical Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Yasnitsky, A. (2009). Vygotsky Circle during the Decade of 1931-1941: Toward an Integrative Science of Mind, Brain, and Education (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto) [pdf]
CHAPTERS & ARTICLES
EDITING: Special Journal Issues

Special Issue: "У узбеков ЕСТЬ иллюзий!" (2, 2013) / "The Uzbeks DO HAVE illusions!" (2, 2013). PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal

Special Issue: Царь (раз)Облаченный: Диалоги с "кругом Выготского" (1, 2013) / Tsar, the (un)Covered: Dialogues with the Vygotsky Circle (1, 2013). PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal

Yasnitsky, A. (2012). Revisionist Revolution in Vygotskian Science: Toward Cultural-Historical Gestalt Psychology. Guest Editor's Introduction. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 50(4), 3-15

Special Issue: Прикладное выготсковедение: психотерапия, когнитивная наука, текстология и транснационализм (3, 2012) / Applied Vygotskian science: psychotherapy, cognitive science, textology, and transnationalism (3, 2012). PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal

Special Issue: К основаниям теории Круга Выготского: вопросы истории, теории и текстологии (1, 2012) / Discussing theoretical foundations of the Vygotsky Circle: historiography, theory, and textology (1, 2012). PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal

Special Issue: Выготский и его тексты: вопросы истории, теории и текстологии (4, 2011) / Vygotsky and his texts: historiography, theory, and textology (4, 2011). PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal

Yasnitsky, A. & Falikman, M. (2011). Guest Editors' Introduction: Contemporary Research on Learning, Remembering, and Forgetting: The Scientific Legacy of P.I. Zinchenko Today. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 49(3), 3-10. (Guest co-editor for special issue).

Yasnitsky, A. & Ivanova, E.F. (2011). Guest Editors' Introduction: Remembering for the future: Grigorii Sereda in the history of Kharkov school of psychology. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 49(1), 3-16. (Guest co-editor for special issue).

Yasnitsky, A. (2010). Guest Editor's Introduction: "Archival revolution" in Vygotskian Studies? Uncovering Vygotsky's archives. Guest Editor's Introduction. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 48(1), 3-13. (Guest editor for special issue).

Yasnitsky, A. (2009). Guest Editor's Introduction: The Tradition of P.I. Zinchenko's Research on Memory Today. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-historical psychology], 2. (Guest editor for special issue).

Yasnitsky, A. (2008). Guest Editor's Introduction: Dialogue between the Soviet and international psychology of memory. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 46(6) (November-December), 3-5. (Guest editor for special issue).

Yasnitsky, A. (2008). Guest Editor's Introduction: Piotr Zinchenko's psychology of memory: A brief history of ideas. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 46(5), (September-October), 3-7. (Guest editor for special issue)

REVIEWS

Jaan Valsiner. A Guided Science: History of Psychology in the Mirror of Its Making.New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2012. 388 pp. $49.95 (hardcover). ISBN-13: 978-1-4128-4290-7. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. Volume 49, Issue 3, Summer 2013, Pages: 347-349

Ronald Miller. Vygotsky in Perspective. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 466 pp. $110.00 (hardcover). ISBN-13: 978-1107001862. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. Volume 49, Issue 1, Winter 2013, Pages: 108–111

Nikolai Krementsov. A Martian Stranded on Earth: Alexander Bogdanov, Blood Transfusions, and Proletarian Science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011. 192 pp. $35.00 (hardcover). ISBN-13: 978-0226454122. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. Volume 48, Issue 4, Autumn 2012, Pages: 408–410

Kenneth M. Pinnow. Lost to the Collective: Suicide and the Promise of Soviet Socialism, 1921–1929. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010. 288 pp. $49.95 (cloth). ISBN-13: 978-0801447662. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. Volume 47, Issue 4, Autumn (Fall) 2011, Pages: 426–428