Featured
A Transnational History of Alaska by Susan Smith-Peter
The decision to sell and buy Alaska was informed by different types of empire each country chose to pursue.
Words Fail Us (Russia's Alien Nations)
The term’s origins had to be foreign, for precisely the same reasons that it is problematic.
Civil Society in 19th-Century Russia
Susan Smith-Peter discusses the shaping of Russian provincial identity amidst the Great Reforms.
New York Public Library Appoints Full-Time Slavic Curator
On October 15, 2018, Bogdan Horbal became the full-time Slavic curator at the New York Public Library. He holds a Ph.D. in history from University of Wrocław in Poland and...
On Translating the chinari
While their participation in OBERIU offered a crucial period of incubation for their thought and art, it is as chinari that Kharms, Vvedensky, Lipavsky, and Druskin assumed their most influential...
Open Letter on the Termination of Russian Studies Faculty at Ohio University
Like you, we are wholeheartedly invested in the survival and recovery of higher education in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That recovery depends on the will of universities...
Poor Liza and Russia’s Sentimental Marketplace
On December 11, 2020, the Jordan Center welcomed Prof. Kirill Ospovat for a talk on links between narrative modes and visions of economy that defined Russian sentimentalism. Through a close...
The Hobbit Menace (Russia's Alien Nations)
Fine, we'll be your evil empire.
Grassroots Glasnost in East Berlin
On 30 May 1989, a black pictogram of a camera framed in red with a diagonal red slash appeared on two major landmarks in East Berlin’s central Alexanderplatz. The message...
Theater Review: Jonathan Leaf's "Pushkin," Now Playing at New York's Sheen Center
When I saw the Sheen Center's new Pushkin play (which runs until August 25), I came aware of both the reverence I should have felt were I Russian and the...
Upcoming Columbia Event
In Search of Empire: the 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanov February 14th-16th 2013 Co-sponsored by the Bakhmeteff Archive, the Harriman Institute, the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia...
Nemtsov and the Smoking Gun
In the absence of facts, the speculation about possible culprits says far less about reality than it does about the speculators’ worldviews.
Judging the Victors: Why Victimhood Is a Bad Fit for Russia
Today’s Russian fascist is simultaneously omnipotent and persecuted.
Teaching Race in Russia Part III: Sartre, Jazz, and the Cossack Dance
Sartre’s essay spends considerable time problematizing the intersection of communism and anti-racist politics, asking, “Can the black man count on a distant white proletariat-- involved in its own struggles?"
Crime and Punishment in Today's Russia
Almost 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, crime and policy responses to it are critical to understanding the political dynamics of the region.
Alexis in America: The Grand Tour of a Russian Grand Duke, 1871-1872
The story of the Grand Duke’s trip is more than just a tale of forbidden love, political intrigue and colorful characters. It also touches upon important developments and events in...
Notes from the Bathroom
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory may not be as good at riding horses topless, swimming in Siberian lakes, and flying with cranes, but his ability to bend logical reasoning almost...
Migration as a Tool for Expansion: Russia’s Geopolitical Carte Blanche Vis-à-vis Eurasian Union
Migration is key to Putin’s geopolitical strategy.
The Art of Empathy: An Interview with Russian Graphic Artist Victoria Lomasko
What we need right now in Russia are some hybrid forms of journalism that can address the problems with actually existing journalism.
The Class of 2021 Looks Back
I remember the truck taking away the last books to the recycling center because we had a strict green policy and I remember the last prof who the cops had...