Jordan Center for the
Advanced Study of Russia

Join us for another 19v seminar! The rapid growth of literacy in the Russian Empire of the second half of the nineteenth century gave rise to attendant debates concerning the roles that reading could play in the moral and intellectual development of the individual. In this talk, Professor Kim examines how such figures as Leo Tolstoy, Vissarion Belinsky, and Nikolai Rubakin approached the task of guiding new readers to worthy texts that would maximize their potential for self-improvement, and by…

Join us for a series of lectures by NYU Professor Eliot Borenstein about the joys and sorrows of Russian and Soviet television advertising. These informal lectures are geared towards students, scholars, and anyone who might be interested in the topic. And yes, we take requests. The series runs weekly on Fridays. Lecture Six – Tampax Comes to Russia (and Jumps the Shark) In the 1990s, commercials for feminine hygiene, one of the most neglected consumer product segments in the USSR,…

Join us for a series of lectures by NYU Professor Eliot Borenstein about the joys and sorrows of Russian and Soviet television advertising. These informal lectures are geared towards students, scholars, and anyone who might be interested in the topic. And yes, we take requests. The series will run weekly on Fridays. Lecture Five - "Bank Imperial": The Great Man Theory of History and Finance Why isn't Count Suvorov eating anything? What does Genghis Khan think is man's greatest pleasure?…

Join us for another 19v seminar - the first of the summer series! Судьба и творчество Марии Вилинской-Маркович (псевдоним – Марко Вовчок) сыграли важную роль в развитии женского письма и прозы о крестьянах в украинской и русской литературах. Три сборника ее народных рассказов из украинского и русского быта (1858, 1859, 1861) стали литературной и даже политической сенсацией. Если украинские рассказы Вовчок существенно повысили культурный престиж украинского языка в Российской империи и позже вошли в канон украинской литературы, судьба рассказов Маркович о…

Join us for a series of lectures by NYU Professor Eliot Borenstein about the joys and sorrows of Russian and Soviet television advertising. These informal lectures are geared towards students, scholars, and anyone who might be interested in the topic. And yes, we take requests. The series will run weekly on Fridays. Lecture Four - MMM: Marketing the Pyramid Scheme The infamous MMM pyramid scheme flooded the airwaves in 1994, reeling in viewers with a series of commercials that cashed…

The New York-Russia Public Policy Series is co-hosted by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University and the New York University Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia. The forced landing of a Ryanair flight by Belarusian authorities and coerced detention of dissent journalist Roman Protasevich has spotlighted the practice of transnational repression: the targeting of political exiles and opposition figures abroad by authoritarians and their security services. President Lukashenko’s brash act has been referred to as a “state-sponsored” hijack and has prompted the EU to terminate…

Join us for a series of lectures by NYU Professor Eliot Borenstein about the joys and sorrows of Russian and Soviet television advertising. These informal lectures are geared towards students, scholars, and anyone who might be interested in the topic. And yes, we take requests. The series will run weekly on Fridays. Lecture Three - Snickers: The Milk Chocolate Invader from Mars© When Snickers came to Russia, it was not just a chocolate bar; it was a verb. But what…

At one year after the official founding of 19v, the Working Group on 19th-Century Russian Culture, we are going to take a communal pause to reflect on the course of the last year, rest briefly on our laurels, and think together about the future. Please join us to share your comments, ideas, concerns, and to help us chart our plans for 2021-2022. All participants and fellow travelers are welcome! Watch the event recording on YouTube here.