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Fall Reading Series: Sergei Gandlevsky's "Illegible," Part III
Krivorotov tried to cause a jealous scene, but Anya would have none of it. “I have one jailer, my aunt, and that’s enough,” the young woman said to him. “If...
Cyborgs, Weak Cosmists, and a Russian Planet
Is Cosmism becoming a new Eurasianism?
V.V. Andreev’s Velikorusskii Orchestra: National Identity and Music in Late Imperial Russia
Anya Shatilova writes about Vasily Andreev, “a self-taught balalaika player” who in 1888 organized the Society of Balalaika Devotees in order to “manifest the ‘Russian national idea’ in musical form.
Russia and Marxism in Polish Political Thought, Part II
The views on Marxism of philosopher and legal theoretician Leszek Nowak were shared by a number of other important political thinkers of the Polish interwar period, including Roman Dmowski, Józef...
Kvas Patriotism in Russia: Cultural Problems, Cultural Myths
Professor Brintlinger's argument is developed along three ideas: Russian ideas about food become heightened during times of war and conflict; specific foods embody meaning beyond their sustenance value, to include...
The Ramp to Nowhere? Disability in Contemporary Russia
Given the deeply entrenched obstacles—physical, social, cultural, material— to participation in public life by people with disabilities, whatever mention is made is still noteworthy.
Excerpt from "Sex Work in Contemporary Russia: A Cultural Perspective," Part III
Prostitution existed in Russia for several centuries but became a widespread phenomenon during Peter I’s rule (1683–1725), with the first brothel or “public house” reportedly established by a German in...
The Sources of Putin's Support: Panel Recap
On Friday, October 25th the Jordan Center welcomed three NYU-based experts on contemporary Russian politics to participate in a panel discussion regarding the current situation of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Experts debate The Global History of Sport in the Cold War - Day 1
On October 23, 2015, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia opened the New York session of “The Global History of Sport in the Cold War,” a...
Russian scholars explore the use of the term 'biopolitics' in Jordan Center-UCL workshop series
What work is biopolitics doing as a heuristic in the Russian field?
Fighting HIV/AIDS in Russia: Challenges, Successes, and Working in a Pandemic
On January 13th, the Jordan Center and the Harriman Institute co-hosted a panel on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Russia as part of the NYC-Russia Public Policy Series. Panelists included Ulla...
Raquel Greene explores construction of race in 1920s Soviet children's literature
The Soviets condemned American slavery and European colonialism as part of their civilizing mission, but their negative assessments of race and specifically Africanness was still informed by the West.
Colloquium Series: “Bashkiria’s Imperial World,” a discussion with Charles Steinwedel
Charles Steinwedel Associate Professor of History at Northeastern Illinois University-Chicago joined the Jordan Center to discuss his soon to be completed book, Threads of Empire: Making the Russian Empire in...
Porn for Peace: Ending the War in Ukraine While Riding a Dolphin
In a world where brother battles brother, and Russia and Ukraine find themselves in a virtual state of war, Only One Man could restore peace and harmony. One Man. Sandwiched...
Russia vs. PornHub: Lie Back and Think of the Motherland
Apparently, people would rather do anything else—watch porn, have gay sex—than engage in heterosexual intercourse.
Change is coming to All The Russias
I am stepping away from most of my editorial duties for the blog
"Aspic" by Tatyana Tolstaya
Darkness comes early. There is a damp frost; you can see spiky halos around the streetlamps. You have to breathe through your mittens. Your forehead aches from the cold, and...
Fall Reading Series: Sergei Gandlevsky's "Illegible," Part I
In contemporary Russian literary life, Gandlevsky’s stature as a poet is indisputably great; he is less well known as a prose writer, although his novels and essays have been critically...
Fall Reading Series: Sergei Gandlevsky's "Illegible," Part II
Sergey Gandlevsky has written that his very first childhood poem, written on the occasion of the transfer to another school of the “beautiful, stern” little girl he had a crush...
Review: Olga Zilberbourg's English-Language Debut, "Like Water and Other Stories"
In both content and form, Zilberbourg’s "Like Water" expands the boundaries of Russian-American fiction, showing new ways of writing immigrant lives.