The Soviet state reduced the soldier’s biography to the parameters that the army was interested in.
Continue reading...Brandon Schechter looks at the Great Patriotic War Through Everyday Objects
Natasha BluthFalling Lenins: Decommunization in Ukraine Through the Lens of Art
Natasha Bluth
On December 9th, 2016, please join the Jordan Center and NYU Russian and Slavic Department for a panel discussion entitled, “Falling Lenins: Decommunization in Ukraine through the Lens of Art,” with multimedia artists Anna Jermolaewa and Vova Vorotniov, art historian, activist and journalist, Asia Bazdryieva, and historian Kateryna Ruban. The panel will be moderated by Natasha Bluth, MA Candidate in Journalism and Russian and Slavic Studies at NYU.
Continue reading...Tatiana Saburova and Ben Eklof on Charushin and the lives of Russian populist intellectuals
Nigar Hacizade
Nikolai Charushin and his generation of populists insisted that every step of their revolutionary lives should be guided by ethical principles.
Continue reading...Raquel Greene explores construction of race in 1920s Soviet children’s literature
Nigar Hacizade
The Soviets condemned American slavery and European colonialism as part of their civilizing mission, but their negative assessments of race and specifically Africanness was still informed by the West.
Continue reading...“In to Africa”: The Soviet Union and its Civilizing Mission as Depicted in 1920’s Soviet Children’s Literature
Heather Janson
A conversation with author Michael David-Fox on Soviet modernity
Nigar Hacizade
Michael David Fox speaks on his recent book, Crossing Borders: Modernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet Union.
Continue reading...Lucan Way argues that revolutionary origins led to Soviet durability
Natasha Bluth
Revolutionary regimes have been among the most durable forms of authoritarianism in the modern era.
Continue reading...Roundtable Discussion on ‘Crossing Borders: Modernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet Union’, a book by Michael David-Fox
Heather Janson
Revolutionary Origins of Soviet Durability
Heather Janson
Catriona Kelly approaches “period zapoya” through cinema
Natasha Bluth
On May 13, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia and the Tisch School of the Arts welcomed Catriona Kelly for the last colloquium of the Spring 2016 semester, entitled “Period zapoya: Alcohol and Cinema during the Brezhnev Era.” Kelly, who is a Professor of Russian at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy, was introduced by Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. The former president of Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) and a prolific writer, Kelly spoke briefly about her ongoing project – a book on the Soviet cine underground, a history of film in Leningrad during the post-Stalin era.
Continue reading...Evgeny Dobrenko examines the “Cold War” through socialist realist ideology
Natasha Bluth
On April 15, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia welcomed Evgeny Dobrenko for a lecture entitled “Soviet Cold War Imagination.” Dobrenko, head of the department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Sheffield and an April Fellow at the Jordan Center, was introduced by Rossen Djagalov, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at NYU. His presentation focused on the Stalinist years of the Cold War, as a unique period charting the transformation of the Soviet Union from outcast to superpower in the postwar bipolar world.
Continue reading...Anindita Banerjee speaks on Aelita, Queen of Mars in Radiant Futures keynote speech
Natasha Bluth
On April 8, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia hosted a conference entitled “Radiant Futures: Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction.” After the first panel, NYU Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies Eliot Borenstein introduced keynote speaker Anindita Banerjee. “If we think of our conference and our field in terms of science fiction, then she is Queen of Mars, our Aelita,” Borenstein said. Banerjee, a professor of comparative literature at Cornell University, centered her talk on Aelita, Queen of Mars, a 1924 Soviet silent film directed by Yakov Protazanov based on Alexei Tolstoy’s eponymous novel.
Continue reading...“Radiant Futures” conference brings Soviet science fiction and fantasy out of the periphery
Ilaria Parogni
On April 8, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia hosted a conference entitled “Radiant Futures: Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction.” The conference was convened by Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies and Collegiate Professor at New York University, and it featured a varied lineup of speakers from the literary field. In his introduction, Borenstein said that the idea behind the conference was to gather a group of people who have been thinking about nauchnaya fantastika (scientific fantasy) from a scholarly and non-scholarly perspective, particularly given the peripheral role this genre usually plays in the academic context.
Continue reading...Soviet Cold War Imagination
Ilaria Parogni
Yanni Kotsonis shares the value of babushka stories at NESEEES
Natasha Bluth
On April 2, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia hosted the 37th Annual Meeting of the North East Slavic, East European and Eurasian Conference (NESEEES, a regional conference of ASEEES). Panel discussions were held throughout the day, with scholars at the junior and senior level, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, to present their work. After being introduced by the Executive Director of NESEEES Susan Smith-Peter, NESEEES President and Jordan Center Director Yanni Kotsonis provided the keynote address, entitled “Babushka and the Sewing Machine, and Other Instructive Fails during My Travels in Russia.”
Continue reading...Edward Cohn explores “prophylactic policing” in the Soviet Baltics
Kathryn David
On April 1, 2015, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia welcomed Edward Cohn for a colloquium on “A Soviet Theory of Broken Windows: Policing and the KGB’s Struggle With the Baltic States.” Cohn, Associate Professor of History and chair of the Russian, Central, and Eastern European Studies concentration at Grinnell College, was introduced by Arturas Rozenas, Assistant Professor of Politics at NYU. The presentation and discussion focused on a paper that will become part of a larger research project on Soviet strategies of policing in the Baltics.
Alfred J. Rieber approaches Soviet history through Stalin and the nationality question
Natasha Bluth
On March 28, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia and the NYU Department of History welcomed Alfred J. Rieber from Central European University for a lecture on his recent book, “Stalin and the Struggle for Supremacy in Eurasia.” The event was introduced by Jordan Center Director Yanni Kotsonis and was followed with comments by Stephen Kotkin from Princeton University.
