Russian

How did Russian policies in East Asia and events of the early-twentieth-century Russia influence Rimsky-Korsakov’s representation of the Orient? Adalyat Issiyeva is a Lecturer and Research Assistant at McGill University (Canada): her talk will address how Russian policies in East Asia and events of the early-twentieth-century Russia influenced Rimsky-Korsakov’s representation of the Orient. After its disastrous war with Japan that brought Russia to the 1905 Revolution, many Russian intellectuals questioned the legitimacy of this war and expressed their disagreement over the official policies in the East. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel also problematizes Russia’s official vision of the East as the Yellow Peril and simultaneously warns that an oversimplification of an unknown, sophisticated, and luring Orient, impersonated in the Queen of Shemakha and the Astrologer, can bring the downfall of the empire. Tuesday, November 28, 2017 @6:00 PM | Schapiro 129 Sponsored by the Department of German and Russian, the Department of Music, the Program in Global Studies, and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Continue reading »

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, is by many accounts the world’s most powerful political leader. What have been his chief goals, values and operating principles? What accounts for his vast popularity in Russia, even at a time of continued military engagement, low oil prices and economic recession? Nina Tumarkin is Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Slavic Studies, Professor of History, and director of the Russian Area Studies Program at Wellesley College. ✽ March 13, 7PM Postponed - New date TBA | Schapiro 129 Sponsored by the Department of Russian and German with support from the Department of History, Programs in Comparative Literature and Global Studies, and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Continue reading »

Juliet Johnson, professor of political science at McGill University, will explore in her talk Russia's quest for national identity through the political struggles over Soviet and post-Soviet-era monuments. Johnson’s research focuses on the politics of money and identity, particularly in post-communist Europe. She is the author of Priests of Prosperity: How Central Bankers Transformed the Postcommunist World (Cornell 2016), A Fistful of Rubles: The Rise and Fall of the Russian Banking System (Cornell 2000), lead editor of Religion and Identity in Modern Russia: The Revival of Orthodoxy and Islam (Ashgate 2005) and author of numerous scholarly and policy-oriented articles. ✽ Thursday, March 9 at 7:00pm | Schapiro Hall, 129 Continue reading »

Russians like to joke that theirs is “a country with an unpredictable past.” This lecture explores the Kremlin’s efforts to deploy official narratives about historical events—World War II above all—to legitimize current policies and shape national identity. In addition, Prof. Tumarkin will highlight grassroots efforts to claim ownership of Russia’s dramatic and contested past. ✽ April 17, 4:15PM | Schapiro 129 Sponsored by the Department of Russian and German with support from the Department of History, Programs in Comparative Literature and Global Studies, and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Continue reading »

Vitaly Komar, conceptual artist, will talk about his artistic path, his works and his evolving concept of artistic collaboration. ❉ Thursday, March 10 at 4:15pm to 5:30pm | Lawrence Hall, Rm. 231 Continue reading »