UCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies 2016-2017Newsletter
REEESATUCSANDIEGO
DearFriendsoftheREEESProgram,
Summer is underway, and I am excited to share with you our program’s accomplishments during the 2016-17 academicyear.This spring, one REEESmajor and threeREEESminors graduated, andwewish themmuch success! REEES affiliated graduatestudentsaremakingstridesintheirresearch–OlgaLazitski(Communication)hasadvancedtocandidacyandhasbegunworkonherdissertationon contemporaryRussiannewsmedia; Ivana Polic (History) received a FISP award to researchChildren’s Literature inSerbiaandCroatiaduringthe2017-18year;andJuliaFermentto-Tzaisler(Literature)receivedascholarshiptostudyYiddish inTelAvivthissummer.Also,theRussianClubatUCSDhasbeenactivethisyear,holdingregularconversationtablegatheringsandscreeningsofRussianfilmsandtelevisionserials.
REEESispleasedtobeanaffiliategroupofthenewIAH(InstituteofArtsandHumanities)atUCSDand tohaveorganizedoneof the IAH “ChallengingConversation” panels thiswinter, featuringhistoriansTimothySnyder,Marci Shore, StevenSeegel,andPatrickPatterson,whodiscussedthelegaciesoftotalitarianisminEasternEurope.InApril,REEEShostedtheUkrainianpoetSerhiyZhadan,whoread fromhispoetryandprose for theUCSD community. InNovember,REEES, in collaborationwith theUCSDDesignLabandLiteratureDepartment,hosteda lecturebyarchitecturalhistoriananddesignerVladimirPapernyon“HotandColdWarArchitecture.Iwasverypleasedtohost,aspartofaSixthCollege“Culture,Art,andTechnology”course,thepoetandtranslatorProfessorIlyaKaminsky
(SDSU),whospokeabouthisbookofpoetry,DancinginOdessa,andUCSDalumnusAnyaEzhevskaya,whospokeaboutherworkasanEnglish-RussianinterpreteratNASA. Next year, the Literature Department is hosting visiting lecturer, AinsleyMorse, to teach a new course inPost-Soviet Literature. I amespecially pleased toannouncethattheCaliforniaSlavicColloquiumwilltakeplaceatUCSDnextAprilof2018.
Iwant to thankmy colleagues in the REEES program, our graduate andundergraduate students, and thecommunitymemberswhohave supportedus throughdonations andby attendingour events. Special thanks go toTeresaKurucfordesigningandeditingthisnewsletter,andtoMitzyMartinez,ourREEEScoordinator.
Спасибовсем,AmeliaGlaser
AssociateProfessorofRussianandComparativeLiteratureDirectorofRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies,UCSD
LetterfromtheDirector
SerhiyZhadanVisitsUCSDOn April 24, the Literature Department hosted poet, novelist, translator, activist, andmusician,SerhiyZhadan;theeventwasco-sponsoredbyUCSD'sREEESProgramandtheNewWritingSeries.OriginallyfromUkraine’snowwar-tornDonbas,Zhadancurrentlylivesin Kharkiv. He graduated from and taught Ukrainian and World Literature at KharkivUniversity, and in 2014, he was one of the best-known participants in the protestmovementagainsttheYanukovychgovernment.Zhadanistheauthorofseveralvolumesofpoetry, fivenovels,and threeshort storycollections.Hisbooks, includingVoroshilovgrad(2010),DepecheMode(2013), andMesopotamia(2014),havebeentranslated to severallanguages and appear on theRussian bestseller list. RecentEnglish-language articles aboutZhadanhaveappeared in theNewYorker, the London Review ofBooks,andtheLosAngelesReviewof Books. Zhadan has been amemberof twoKharkiv-basedskabands–LukandSobakyvKosmosi- forwhich hewritesmany lyrics.Zhadan read from his poetry andprose in Ukrainian,
andProfessorAmeliaGlaser(Literature,UCSD)andPhD candidate Teresa KurucreadEnglishtranslations.TheeventdrewalargecrowdfromtheUCSDcommunity.
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2016-2017NewsletterUCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies
This spring, several PhD students represented the REEES Program atacademicconferences.InApril,OlgaLazitsky(Communication)andJuliaFermentto-Tzaisler (Literature) - both pictured - participated in theCalifornia Slavic Colloquium atUCBerkeley, accompaniedbyProfessorAmelia Glaser (Literature). In March, Teresa Kuruc (Literature)presented at the University of Virginia’s Slavic Forum. Lazitsky’spresentation,entitled“AgenealogyforcontemporaryRussiannationalistsentiment: themedia asmythmaker,” examines how Putin, through theRussianmainstreammedia,manipulatesdiscourseabouttheRussianpastin order to create amythofRussian nationhood.Fermentto-Tzaisler’sresearch,“RussianJewishRiotsontheStreetsofNewYorkCity,”readsthe1902NewYorkCityKoshermeatboycottasanexampleoftheemerginglaborandwomen’ssuffragemovementsamongEasternEuropeanJewishimmigrants. Kuruc’s work, “Memory as Antidote to Nostalgia inVoroshilovgrad,”argues thatSerhiyZhadan’s2010novel offersanethicsof memory as a tool for negotiating cultural conflict in the Russian-Ukrainianborderlands.
REEESGraduateStudentActivities
CelebratingUCSD’sRussianProgram
UCSDStudentStudiesAbroadinRussia
REEES student MerylPress,aPoliticalScienceand Literature/Writingdouble major andRussian Literatureminor,attendedtheCIEERussian LanguageProgram in St.Petersburg during thesummer of 2016. CIEEstudents complete 8weeks of intensivelanguagestudyandlearnabout Russian culturethrough regularexcursions, local
volunteer opportunities, and living with host families. Merylconsidersdeveloping friendships, connectingwithherheritage, andforming anew perspective on Russia through language study tobethemostimportantpartsofherexperienceinSt.Petersburg.
UndergraduatePeerAdvisor
This year,senior REEESmajor IsaacSyverson hasserved as theREEESProgramundergraduatepeer advisor.Isaac, a long-time languagestudent,becameinterested inRussianbecause of itsuniquenessfromotherlanguageshe’spracticed.Now,asapeeradvisor,hestrivestoprovideguidancetostudentsin his field and to remind them: Russian never getsboring!Currently,IsaacistranslatinganinterviewwithaHolocaust survivor from Odessa in conjunction with aresearchprojectaboutpropagandaanddisinformation.
CongratulationstoREEESGraduates
Tucker CecilgraduatedwithadegreeinInternationalStudieswithaRussianandSovietStudiesminor.HewillattendOfficerCandidate School for the US Marine Corps and plans tocomplete Naval Aviation School. REEES major AlexandraSadovnikova will be working at UCSD after graduation andplanstoenrollinagraduateprogramatGeorgetownUniversityin the next academic year. Kate Panian, a Political Sciencemajorand InternationalStudiesandREEESdoubleminor,willwork in theCongressionalRelationsProgramat theWoodrowWilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC.REEES student Alexander Mitrushina also graduated thisspringandisspendingthesummerinSt.Petersburg,Russia.
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UCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies 2016-2017Newsletter
This year, the Russian Club at UCSD became an officialuniversitystudentorganization, increasingitsresources forcultural activities including film screenings, cuisine nights,and Kapustnik, the quarterly student talent show. Thisspring,Russian language instructorRebecca Wells leadscreenings of Kukhnya, a popular Russian sitcom about amodern Moscow restaurant; second-year Russian studentsperformedanepisodeofKukhnyaat theendofthequarter.Meanwhile, first-yearRussian students read “Taman’” fromMikhail Lermontov’s famous novel, A Hero of Our Time.Russian language TA Teresa Kuruc hosts a weeklyconversation table, which offers Russophiles of allbackgroundsRussian-languagespeakingpracticeinacasualand supportive environment. During finals week, theRussian Club hosted a celebration at the Price Center,featuring Russian music, games, and a potluck of Russiansnacks prepared by language students. For moreinformation, join the “UCSDRussian Party” onFacebook athttps://www.facebook.com/groups/ucsdrussianparty/.
TheRussianClubatUCSD
Rootedinitssimplenarrativepremiseoffollowingthelifeof Ivan,a farmerfromaHutsulvillageintheCarpathianmountainsofUkraine,SergeiParajanov'sShadowsofForgottenAncestors(1965)restsattheintersectionofethnographyandpoeticexperimentation,afilmsoinvestedinexploringHutsulcustoms that its divergence from contemporary cinematic conventions led tomassive governmentdisapprovalandhardship foritsdirector.Alittleoverhalfacentury fromits initial release, thefilmremains inscrutable, yet striking; Parajanov's rejection of realism and de-privileging of narrativeseemstomakewayforadeeper,moreslipperysubjectivitythatdirectlytapsintotheviewer'ssensesandemotions.Aforgottenclassicbyoneof theSovietUnion'smostacclaimed--andpersecuted--filmdirectors,ShadowsofForgottenAncestors isnecessaryviewing foranyone interested incinemathatpushes the medium's artistic limits and conventions. (Dan-tran Cong-huyen is a fourth-yearLiterature/WritingandLiteraturesoftheWorlddoublemajor.)
SummerFilmRecommendation:ShadowsofForgottenAncestors
In US media, Russian leader Vladimir Putin iswidely depicted as an indestructible nemesis, as strong as he is evil. However, thisinfernalportrayalisfarfromreality.Inthelastseveralyears,Putin’s formidablepowerhasshrunkdramatically.From2015to2017ratings forPutin’sadministrationwent from59 to43percent. This statisticshowsthatmore thanhalfofRussians areunwilling tocollaboratewithPutin’sgovernment,whichmakesbureaucraticfunctionsandinternallogisticsincreasinglydifficult.Thisrecentdecreaseinapprovalstemsmainlyfromincreasedpoverty,whichwascausedbytheEU’sandUS’ssanctionsfollowingtheannexationof Crimea, areactionary import ban, aswell as increaseddifficulty inobtainingsecuredebts. A growing reliance on the Internet, especially among younger people, which increased theavailability of independent news resources, has also contributed to this change. These favorablechangeswererecognizedandemployedbyoppositionleaders,mostprominentlybyAlexeiNavalny,whose independent Anti-Corruption Foundation created a movie based on an investigation thatconcerned the corruption of former President and current Prime-Minister of Russia, DmitryMedvedev.This film inspired awidespreadpeaceful protest all over the country and caused a10percent drop in Medvedev’s approval rating in one month. The US recognition of Putin’svulnerability isnowofprimary importance.Insteadofrecreating thescenariooftheColdWar,weshould consider supporting the opposition and thus contributing to the overthrowof the presentRussiangovernmentwithoutterriblebloodshed.(RevekkaGershovich isafirst-yearInternationalStudiesandPoliticalSciencemajor. AfullversionofthisarticlewasrecentlypublishedintheUCSDGuardian.)
PutintheVulnerable
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UCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies 2016-2017Newsletter
Dr. IhorLylo,AssistantProfessoroftheDepartmentofHistoryof the Middle Ages and Byzantine History at Lviv NationalUniversityofL.FrankoinUkraine,iscurrentlyaVisitingScholarattheCenterforHellenicStudiesatUCSD.HeholdsaPhDfromLviv National University and is the recipient of a FulbrightFellowship, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship, and afellowshipfromtheOpenSocietyinBudapest,amongothers.Dr.Lylorecentlypresented“AtHomeAmongStrangers,AStrangeratHome,”atalkthataddressedthemanyfacetsofthehistoryoftheGreekdiasporainUkraine.AlthoughthehistoryoftheGreekcommunitiesinCrimea,Mariupol,andevenKyivandOdessaarewellknown,thehistoryoftheGreekcommunityinLvivremainsobscure. Lviv has had an interesting Greek diaspora since the14th century. Dr. Lylo discussed the history of Greeks in thePolish-LithuanianCommonwealth,whowereparticularlyactiveinLvivinthe16thand17thcenturies.
RevolutionsandRebellionsWorkingGroup
Theworking groupRevolutionsandRebellionshostsmonthlymeetings that feature works in progress by graduate students,faculty,andscholarsbothwithinandoutsideUCSD.Theworkshopconvenes around important questions: Howhas the experienceofpolitical overturn affected thenotions of freedom, transparency ofgovernment, history, and revolutionary ideologies includingMarxism?Thegroup focusesonrevolutionarymoments inhistory,like the20thcenturyrevolutions inRussia,China,andCuba,whilealso featuring cross-cultural and interdisciplinarypresentationsbyscholars of area studies andpolitical, literary, and cultural theory,such as: Emily Bovino’s (Visual Arts, UCSD) Plastic Activism: ARoundAbouttheDestructionofBahrain’sPearlRoundabout; famousscholar of Russianhistory and literatureVladimir Paperny’sHotand ColdWar Architecture; Professor Jesse Driscoll’s (School ofGlobalPolicyandStrategy,UCSD)“Ukraine’sCivilWar”;ProfessorPatrickPatterson’s(History,UCSD)RiskyBusiness:SellingSocialistSuccess in the Retail Stores in Eastern Europe; Professor RaulCoronado’s (UC Berkeley) “A World Not to Come: A History ofLatino Writing in Print Culture”; Professor Gary Fields’(Communication,UCSD)Enclosures: Israeli SettlementsasObstacles
toMiddleEastPeace;andDr.CassandraHartblay’s(Communication,UCSD) “AlwaysaGuineaPig:theshiftingmilieuofdisabilityservicesinPetrozavodsk, from Perestroika to Putin’s Reconsolidating”. For more information about upcoming meetings, join the “Revolutions andRebellions”Facebookpageathttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1822765841338038/.
UCSDHostsVisitingScholarfromLviv
On March 14, UCSD’s new Institute of Arts and Humanitiessponsoredapanelon“TheEndoftheEndofHistory”.Theeventfeatured renowned scholars of Eastern European History fromacross the country. Professors Timothy Snyder (Yale), MarciShore (Yale), Steven Seegel (U. Northern CO), and PatrickPatterson (UCSD) each spoke about the lessons from EasternEurope’s 20th Century for our current era, discussing historianFrancis Fukuyama’s declaration that liberal democracythroughout the world may signal “The End of History” in thecontext of the recent rise in right-wing populism. Is liberaldemocracyitselfcomingtoanend?Isthepastrepeatingitself?Areterms like “fascism”, “autocracy”, and “totalitarianism” useful forour21stCenturycontext?AmeliaGlaserchairedthepanel.Afullvideoisavailableonlineat:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzkhlCy5lck&t=5157s.
TheEndoftheEndofHistory
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UCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies 2016-2017Newsletter
SanDiegoRussianSchoolUpdates
Since 1998, the San Diego Russian School(http://www.sdrussianschool.com)haswelcomedkidsfromalloverSanDiegoCountyforSundayclasses.ThankstocontinuingREEES support the school has been able to offer a variety ofclasses for childrenwithdifferent levels of fluency inRussian.We provide instruction in basic grammar and reading skills,comparativeliterature,Russianhistory,geography,andarts,aswellaselectivecomputerprogrammingandmathcourses.Thisyear,westartedan“InsightintoProfessions”programinwhichprofessionalsfromtheRussian-speakingcommunitypresentedabout their work. For example, Dr. Natalia Rudakova(Communication,UCSD) talkedabout journalism inRussiaandin the US. Also, wewere lucky to have an intern – AlexandraSadovnikova –throughUCSD’sAcademicInternshipProgram. Weare veryhappy aboutthe growth ofSDRS in thepast year andlook forwardto anotherproductiveyear.
Dr. Ainsley Morse willjoinUCSD’sDepartment ofLiterature as a visitinglecturer inWinter2018 toteachacoursecalled“Post-Soviet Literature: Russiaand Beyond." This coursewill offer an introductionto contemporary Russianliteratureandculture,seenthrough the lens ofRussia’s recent history.Thequarterwill startwiththe late Soviet period(1970s)andfollowculturaldevelopments through the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaotic 1990s intowhatRussianliteraturehasbecometoday,bothwithinRussiaandinthepost-Sovietdiaspora.WearethrilledtobeabletobringDr.Morse, who received her PhD inin Slavic Languages andLiteratures from Harvard in 2016 and is, in addition to herscholarship,anaccomplishedtranslator.
NewCourseonPost-SovietLiterature2017-2018CourseList
Fall2017LTRU1A,2A,104B–First-YearthroughAdvancedRussianLanguage-Wells
LTEU158/LTRU123–SingleAuthorRussianLiteratureinTranslation–Dostoyevsky-Cassedy
HIEU178–SovietHistory:TheLastSovietDecade-Edelman
Winter2018LTRU1B,2B,104C–First-YearthroughAdvancedRussianLanguage-Wells
LTEU154–RussianCulture-Morse
CAT2–RussiaandtheUS-Glaser
Spring2018LTRU1Cand104A–First-YearandAdvancedRussianLanguage-Wells
POLI147B–Russian-AmericanRelations-Roeder
LTTH150–TopicsinCriticalTheory-Glaser
HIEU156–HistoryoftheSovietUnion,1905-1991-Edelman
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UCSanDiegoRussian,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies 2016-2017Newsletter
FacultyResearchandPublicationHighlights
Professor Natalia Roudakova (Communication) ispublishing Losing Pravda: Ethics and The Press in Post-TruthRussia(CambridgeUniversityPress, forthcoming inJuly of 2017). Professor Amelia Glaser(Literature)traveledtoKyivduringthesummerof2016totakepartina symposiumon the life andworksof theYiddishwriterSholemAleichem.Shewillbetakingpart ina colloquiuminSeptemberof2017onTranslationalRussianStudies.InOctoberof2016,postdoctoralfellowCassandraHartblay(Communication) staged I Was Never Alone, anethnographicplay about living with mobility impairmentsin
Russia, at the Shank Theater at UCSD (photo by Jim Carmody).Hartblay, whose research focuses on Disability Studies,recently published an article,“GoodRamps,BadRamps:Centralized
design standards and disability access in urban Russian infrastructure” in the journalAmerican Ethnologist. In September of 2017 Professor LeraBoroditsky (Cognitive Science) will deliver a keynote address
at the 10th annual Embodied andSituated Language ProcessingConference in Moscow, Russia. ProfessorBoroditsky’s research focuses on therelationship between mind, world, andlanguage. Professor Deborah Hertz(History), who is currently writing about radical Jewish women inEasternEuropeandPalestine,tookatriptoOdessathispastspring.YoucanreadmoreaboutherimpressionsofOdessaintheupcomingJewishStudies Program Fall Newsletter. Jesse Driscoll's (School of GlobalPolicy andStrategy) bookWarlordsandCoalitionPolitics inPost-SovietStateswasrecognizedwith2017EdgarS.FurnissBookAward,awardedannually to an author whose first book makes an exceptionalcontributiontothestudyofnationalandinternationalsecurity.
GivetoREEES
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