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Ethical Questions in Researching the Religious Underground in Romania's Secret Police Archives, Part I
In their effort to curtail the clandestine practice of religion, the secret police produced a thorough database of names, places, biographies, activities, and networks. It created one of the most...
Ethical Questions in Researching the Religious Underground in Romania's Secret Police Archives, Part II
Several immediately identifiable problems arose in our talks: the problem of questioning the authority of the canonical historical narrative of the church elders based on documents that were created by...
Romanian Secret Police Archives and the Women of the Religious Underground
In the process of surveilling church leadership, clergy, and church elders, the Secret Police unwittingly uncovered the new roles that women took on in religious life during a time when...
Black woman or Russian fashion accessory? Only her hairdresser knows for sure...
If you’re an art impresario, fashion designer, and related to two (count ‘em, two) Russian oligarchs by blood and by common-law marriage, it can’t be easy finding a new thrill....
Words Fail Us (Russia's Alien Nations)
The term’s origins had to be foreign, for precisely the same reasons that it is problematic.
Why Does Central Asia Matter?
Topics in Central Asian regional politics, and in particular assessments of the present and future of the relevant states, are often the focus of international fora and conferences. However, examining...
Paralysis of Complicity in Dmitri Prigov and Beyond: How to Do Things With Metaphors Now?
For many of us who feel complicit—through language, citizenship, or background—in the crimes Russia is carrying out in Ukraine right now, it feels necessary to reassess the metaphors we have...
Why Talk About Regional Leadership in a Time of War?
Will a major power always hurt smaller nations simply because it can and wants to, ignoring all rules and obligations? Or will the major power build a more complex relationship with smaller nations that are ultimately beneficial to both sides?