Ketevan Khutsishvili

Ketevan Khutsishvili obtained her BA and MA from Tbilisi State University Department of Ethnography. She defended her dissertation in 2000 on the topic - „The dream and the dream interpretation in Georgian being“, and became the candidate of historical sciences and in 2005 she defended her dissertation on the topic - „The Influence of Religious Factor on the Ethno Cultural Identification and Civil Integration (The Case of the Modern Georgia)“ and became the doctor of historical sciences. Ketevan is a full time professor and the major research fellow of Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology. She is the author of several publications, such as: Religious groups in modern Georgia, Materials for Georgian Ethnography XXV, 2005 Tbilisi (in Georgian); Ethnography of the Caucasian People, Tbilisi 2007 (in Georgian); Religious organizations in civil society, Journal “Logos” #IV Tbilisi 2007 (in Georgian) and many others.

Mariam Gvelesiani

Mariam Gvelesiani obtained her first degrees in Art History and Theory from Tbilisi State University and in English Language from Tbilisi Sate University of Foreign Languages. She obtained her PhD in Cultural History in 2004. From 1994 she has been a Senior Researcher at Georgian National Museum. She has also been a Researcher at Ancient Georgian Art at Department of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Art. Mariam is the Professor of  Art History in Liberal Arts in the Joint Project of Michigan State University and Ilia Chavchavadze Universitiy. In 2006 she received the grant of the Project of the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Heritage Preservation: “Preservation/Conservation of the Textile and Embroidery Collection of Shalva  Amiranashvili Museum of Art at National Museum of Georgia”. She is the author of many publications, such as: The Notion of Hvarena in Post-Achaemenid Georgian Kingship, JPS (Journal of Persianate Studies), New York University, Stony Brook, New York,  2.1 2008; Towards Interpretation of Anthropomorphic Figure from Katlanikhevi, Miscellanea. The International Symposium: Georgian Arts in the Context of European and Asian Culture (June 21-29, 2008, Tbilisi), forthcoming in 2009; and many others. In 2009 she will be a fellow of Carnegie Research Fellowship, University of Chicago, Divinity School.