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Russian-Speaking Patriotism in Ukraine: Under-Researched and Misunderstood, Part I
Five factors explain the failure of Putin’s “New Russia” project and clarify why Ukraine did not disintegrate in 2014 despite pressure from the Russian military and hybrid warfare.
Russian-Speaking Patriotism in Ukraine: Under-Researched and Misunderstood, Part II
If Russian speakers represent approximately two thirds of Ukraine’s security forces fighting Russian and Russian proxy forces, and they represent the majority of casualties, any concept of Ukraine as divided...
All the King's Horses: Ukraine, Russia, and Gogol's Troika
What the rest of the world perceived as a quaint cultural mascot had additional layers of meaning for the Russian public that were overlooked in western media coverage of the...
Ukraine’s ‘far east’: on the effects and genealogy of Ukrainian Galician reductionism
In the context of the current war, faith in the idea of national ‘purity’ often comes couched in rationalist terms, positing no known cure for the Soviet hangover in the...
Sex secrets of the Russian classics
Reason #137 to study Russian literature: apparently, it will teach children about sex. This is a good thing, because no one else in Russia seems to want to.
Catherine the Little and Crimean Puppets: From Vandalism to Voodoo in Ukrainian Popular Culture, Part II
Whereas vandalism is programmatically collective and anonymous, voodoo performance requires a priest: an authorial actor and director of the ritual.
Trauma and the Maternal: Does Tragedy Have a Woman’s Face?
During traumatic events we keep returning to the representations of the maternal, a manifestation of motherly protection, which is often coloured by our childhood fears that such protection will inevitably...
How Will Our Scholarship On Nineteenth-Century Russian Culture Change In Response To Russia's War On Ukraine?
On May 25, 2022, six scholars—all primarily Russia specialists—responded to the question of how scholarship on nineteenth-century Russian culture would change in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The present...
Ukrainian Russophonia: Beyond the "Russian World" Paradigm
As the famous Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov pointed out in a June article for "The New Statesman," the atrocities of recent months have made it quite likely that Russian will...
Scholars Share Ideas on 1821 Greek Revolution
A conference on “1821: What Made It Greek And Revolutionary?".
Undocumented Aliens (Russia's Alien Nations)
“Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in.”
Very Nice! (Russia's Alien Nations)
Borat exemplifies a particular kind of Soviet and post-Soviet shame