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Maria Galmarini-Kabala on “defective children” and the state that treated them
Historian Maria Galmarini-Kabala puts her lens on a 1920s children’s sanatorium in search of “norms, discourses and historiographical frames” of the period’s pedagogy.
Maria Vinogradova: Guns on Film in Soviet Culture
On September 29th, Maria Vinogradova, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute, came to discuss and impart her expertise surrounding the role of guns on film in the culture...
Conversation in the Kitchen: Sasha Dugdale’s Voiced Translation of Maria Stepanova
Some may argue that there is a conflict of interest in translating a friend, but Sasha Dugdale’s deft translations of Maria Stepanova, with whom she is close, suggest that friendship...
The Strength and Flexibility of Maria Kolesnikova
While the possibility for political change has seemed nearly unimaginable under Lukashenko’s long tenure, the penetration of global consumer culture over the past decade has nonetheless helped to shape a...
The Invisible Crisis: How We See (and Don’t See) Inequality Today
Whatever the causes may be, the true data measuring an objective comparison show the truth: we are hypocritical in our statistics and in our analyses of disparity as compared to...
Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Perceptions of Income Inequality in Russia and the US
How do Russians view wealth and income inequality as compared to their US counterparts? More importantly, how often are they asked?
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...
You Want Romanovs With That?
There has long been a reluctance to accept that the Bolsheviks could, in fact, wipe out the entire imperial family and for the next seventy-five years not feel bad about...
"Everyone Reads the Text That's in Their Own Head": An Interview with Linor Goralik
I’ve really lucked out in that I really consider myself to be a private individual, I don’t feel the need to look for a relationship to the Russian literary canon,...
Reassembling the Ephemeral: Soviet Amateur Culture at the Orphan Film Symposium
On April 11-14, NYU’s Orphan Film Symposium returns to New York for the first time in six years. This biennial event, which gathers a diverse international group of scholars, archivists,...
A Synthesis of Ephemeral Forms: Soviet Camera Enthusiasm on the Margins of the Performing Arts
During the renaissance that was the post-Stalin Thaw period, camera enthusiasm became a notable aspect of Soviet sixties culture. The film clubs opening in various parts of the country were...
Regulating Everything: Businesspeople and Paperwork in Provincial Russia
According to the Regulatory Quality Indicator compiled by the World Bank, Russia occupies one of the lowest positions among Eastern European states. The unlimited power concentrated within Russian state agencies...
Blessing of the Guardians: Religious Rhetoric in Russian Gubernatorial Inaugurations
The role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in modern Russian society has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, a trend that manifests in the growing participation of clergy...
With Shame and Hope
We must remain firm in this unanimous demand: an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.
Linor Goralik: "She Said, He Said"
Like, here, I had this parrot, and you know, they live a long time. Well, he died, like, he was sitting on my shoulder and all of a sudden I...
Linor Goralik: Excerpts from "Biblical Zoo"
The rabbit conveys to you that you can’t even imagine how and what he pees and poops—but soon you will.
Representations of Race in Russian Art of the “Long” Nineteenth Century
The past three decades have witnessed the steady rise of scholarly interest in depictions of ethnically and racially diverse subjects in European art. Lavishly illustrated, multi-volume publications, such as the...
Victory Day at the Soviet Kitchen Table
“Why are you crying, Musya? Because we’re so old?” asks my grandmother, annoyed. “No, no, because it all happened.”
Narratives of Childbirth in Tolstoy’s "War and Peace"
I started to wonder if the very fact that there is not much to Liza’s birth scene might precisely be the point. Because, while a birth scene can be understood...
Reinventing the Soviet Past: Actor Pavel Derevyanko's "Positive Heroes"
In the series "Dark Side of the Moon" (2011-) and in the film "Salyut-7" (2017), historical and biographical truth take a backseat to the aesthetic and ideological needs of the...