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James Andrews on how the Moscow metro tells the story of socialism
There were no fortresses, which the Bolsheviks could not overcome.
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...
Sex and Cold-War Technological Fixes, Part I
Like their counterparts among American defense intellectuals, Soviet engineers often imagined their work in sexual terms. Mating thus became a convenient shorthand for complex engineering couplings. Through the mid-1960s, docking...
Sex and Cold-War Technological Fixes, Part II
ASTP engineers had worked painstakingly to engineer the flight in a way that would remove the implication that one side, the "male," was dominating the other, the "female," but that...
Why the international community shouldn’t ignore the Crimean Tatars
Early in 2014 the Russian annexation of Crimea caused international uproar. Subsequently, things went quiet. Today, the media are paying attention again, as they reveal how local Russian authorities are...
CNN Interview | Russia facing strong economic sanctions
Here’s How Trump’s Election Will Affect U.S.-Russian Relations
Donald Trump broke new ground — especially for a Republican candidate — with his consistent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Etkind’s Russia’s “Oily Grip of Power” and the Hyper-Extractive State
On Wednesday, May 7th Alexander Etkind, Professor of History at European University Institute- Florence, joined the Jordan Center for a lecture and panel discussion of his new critical theory, which...
Neoliberalism and the Crisis of Liberalism
Scholars discuss the roots of neoliberalism and how we can understand the spheres of economic and political liberalism.
Gothic Doubling and The Double, Gothically
Dostoevsky was well aware of the power of the gothic.
Kompromat: Everything You Wanted to Know (But Were Afraid to Ask)
The logic is simple: If you know that “the services” have a file on you, with information that could get you arrested or destroy your career, you are not very...
Matt Taibbi's Not-So-Secret Russian Past
Like the clueless expats they loathed, the editors treated Moscow and its residents as their playground.
Getting One Thing Straight: “Postmodernists” Are Not the Problem
Discussions of Trump and Putin as “Postmodern politicians” come in many different forms and degrees of sophistication. My own modest contribution is intended only to dispel a bit of confusion...
Conflict Between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Kremlin Authority, Part II
An independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church free from Moscow’s control has long been a goal for many in Ukraine, especially among Ukrainian nationalist organizations. Demands for such a split from the...
The Very Long Nineteenth Century (Akunin WQ 2-3)
Iin the beginning of The Winter Queen we see all the ways in which witnesses tried *not* to see the suicide happen.
The Orc-Song of Mikhail Y. Elizarov (Russia's Alien Nations)
The song is an implicit call for the renewal of Orc pride.
Off the Reservation (Russia's Alien Nations)
The “Orc question” becomes much more provocative when seen in terms of internal cultural dynamics.
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...
Excerpt from Timothy K. Blauvelt's "Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba," Part I
With a vast territory to control and a small number of trusted cadres in the periphery, in the new “national” republics of the emerging ethno-territorial system, the Bolshevik central leadership...
Technology, Ideology and Culture: Legacies of Soviet-African Relations
Historians and anthropologists discuss the impacts and legacies of Soviet-African relations of the 20th century.