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22. Russian-Turkish Relations: Past & Present
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- As Istanbul hosts Russian and Ukrainian negotiators for peace talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, and Turkey balances between Ukraine and Russia, Russian-Turkish relations may be entering a new phase. Relations between the two states have grown increasingly fraught in recent years, as the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Russia’s role in Syria and the Middle East come up against Turkey’s growing influence in the region. Panelists will discuss relations between Russia and Turkey by analyzing the historical legacies of the Russian and Ottoman empires, and by situating current policies in the broader context of Turkish and Russian relations with NATO, Europe, and the U.S.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, and Alliance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Turkey
23. How Did Left-Wing Print Culture Experiment with Capitalism?
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- While many avant-garde periodicals enthusiastically embraced various aspects of the booming post-WWI economy and technology of the core countries, their imagined readership remained the proletariat or “the masses.” Although the predominantly left-wing avant-garde outlets were overflowing with articles exploring the perspectives opened up by Fordism, Taylorism, standardization, and rationalization, not only did their intended working-class readership experience the everyday regime of “scientific management,” but many of them, especially Hungarian organized workers in the industrial centers of the East Coast, actively fought it. Adopting the approaches of periodical studies, book history, and the cultural history of social life, this presentation has a twofold ambition. First, to understand what kind of political economy was envisioned by the avant-garde journals of the 1920s, especially concerning their interpretation of the distinguishing characteristics of the capitalist economic order. Second, to explore how working-class readers—either trade unionist social democrats or revolutionary communists—understood, re-created, or performed some of the techniques promoted by avant-garde journals: using tactics like speaking choirs, “living journals,” political collages, and workers’ photography to critique that same economic reality of post-WWI capitalism. Through the study of hitherto largely unexplored primary sources, including avant-garde periodicals and leaflets, editorial material, secret police accounts, Comintern documents, and annotated pages of avant-garde and labor movement publications, this lecture investigates how the avant-garde radical imagination about capitalism resonated in the larger ecosystem of workers’ culture. It also explores the significant role of centers like New York City—a global hub of avant-garde periodicals, the heart of surging Fordist capitalism, and a battlefield for multi-ethnic organized workers, including a large number of Hungarian immigrants—played in the formation of a Hungarian-language counter-hegemonic public sphere.
- Topic:
- Media, Work Culture, Leftist Politics, and Identity
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Hungary, North America, and United States of America
24. The Parallels of Russian Bellicosity in the Balkans in the Example of Ukraine
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Just last month, the Russian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina issued issued a startling threat to the Bosnian government’s aspirations to join NATO. “Bosnia and Herzegovina have the right to decide whether to be a member of NATO, but Moscow reserves the right to respond to such an opportunity,” he said. Russia warned Bosnia and Herzegovina that it could be the Kremlin's next target following Ukraine. This is not the first time Russia has threatened Bosnia. The parallels to Russia’s threats to Ukraine are unerringly uncanny. Bosnia’s significance to Western powers and to Russia stems from the same fact: The country is located squarely at the intersection of NATO and Russian influence. The West recognizes some of the potential Bosnia could have if it were brought into the NATO bloc, but seems not to understand the ramifications of the country slipping into Kremlin-induced disarray. For its part, Russia is just being consistent: Just as it unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Montenegro and North Macedonia from joining NATO, so too is it trying to halt Bosnian aspirations toward the same goal. Bosnia and threatened Balkan states North Macedonia and Montenegro remain fragile to Russian manipulation of its proxies in all of these countries and in the Balkan neighborhood.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, NATO, Regional Cooperation, Military Strategy, and Hegemony
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
25. Eyes that Lead: The History of Guide Dogs for the Blind in East Central Europe and Beyond
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- The lecture explores a hitherto overlooked episode in the history of the human-animal relations: the establishment of professional guide dog training after the First World War, which had its origins in Central Europe. Under this scheme, dogs became helpers, and, furthermore, equal partners to disabled soldiers and soon thereafter also to blind civilians. The lecture shows how the resultant cooperation between guide dogs and their owners placed the human–animal bond on a new footing. It also reveals how an idea initiated by veterans of the German and Austro-Hungarian army spread across the world and what adjustments were necessary to make the scheme suitable for different economic, cultural and social settings. In a broader context the lecture seeks to call attention to the potentials of the burgeoning fields of animal studies and disability histories for the study of East Central Europe.
- Topic:
- Culture, Disability, and Animals
- Political Geography:
- Europe
26. Byzantium as Seen by the White Russians in Constantinople
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- or the broad public in pre-revolutionary Russia, Byzantium belonged to religious discourse; it also became a battle cry for Russian imperialism. And, by an irony of history, it was that long-coveted Byzantium that greeted the White Russians as they, orphaned refugees, disembarked in Constantinople following their defeat in the Civil War. What sentiments did the Byzantine monuments inspire in them? It appears that their attitudes were more nuanced than pure nostalgia or dismissal. Sergey A. Ivanov is a member of the British Academy. He has published more than 200 scholarly works on Byzantine culture and the relations between Byzantium and the Slavs. Among his monographs are Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond (Oxford, 2006), “Pearls Before Swine:” Missionary Work in Byzantium (Paris, 2015) and "Византийская культура и агиография" (Moscow, 2020, Byzantine Culture and Hagiography). His guidebook "В поисках Константинополя" was first published in Russian in 2011, went through three editions and was translated into Bulgarian and Turkish. It was published in English as In Search of Constantinople. A Guidebook Through Byzantine Istanbul and Its Surroundings in March 2022.
- Topic:
- Culture, Urban, Cities, and Monuments
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Turkey, and Istanbul
27. A Conversation with Polish Basketball Legend Kent Washington
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Join the East Central European Center at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University for a conversation with Kent Washington, the first African-American and first American to play professional basketball in Cold War Eastern Europe. Recruited into the top Polish league in 1979, Washington went on to play five seasons in the Solidarity-era communist country. His story told for the first time in his new memoir, Kentomania: A Black Basketball Virtuoso in Communist Poland, is unprecedented, weaving together professionalism, race, and politics in powerful and daring ways. Washington will appear in conversation with Columbia University Lecturer in Polish Christopher Caes.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Communism, Race, and Sports
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Poland
28. Russia’s War on Ukraine: A New Phase
- Publication Date:
- 06-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has entered a new phase. The Kremlin’s initial plan to seize Kyiv with a lightning strike failed due to spirited defense by the Ukrainian military. In response, Russia has concentrated forces in the Donbas, and to a lesser extent southern Ukraine. Fighting remains fierce in these areas and experts disagree about the trajectory of the conflict. Some argue that Ukraine’s superior morale and greater international support will be decisive, while others point to Russia’s sheer advantage in numbers. Our panel of experts will discuss the implications of this new phase of the war. Can Ukraine gain back territory lost in recent weeks? Have Russia’s war aims changed? Should the US and NATO change course? Is it time for all sides to seek a negotiated settlement?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, War, Military Strategy, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
29. Journalism During Wartime: A Conversation with The Kyiv Independent
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- The Kyiv Independent is a leading English-language media source based in Ukraine. Olga Rudenko (Chief Editor, Kyiv Independent) and Daryna Shevchenko (CEO, Kyiv Independent) will talk about the Kyiv Independent’s work in Ukraine and about the challenges of reporting in a country that is at war. Lili Bivings (Contributing Editor, Kyiv Independent) will then lead a discussion with the two presenters which will be followed by a Q & A with the audience moderated by Mark Andryczyk (Harriman Institute). This event is cosponsored by Razom for Ukraine.
- Topic:
- War, Media, Journalism, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Ukraine
30. "Sugihara Chiune and the Soviet Union: New Documents, New Perspectives" by David Wolff
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- In 1940 with Europe already at war, Japanese diplomat-spy Sugihara Chiune (often called the "Japanese Schindler") ignored direct orders from Foreign Minister Matsuoka and issued over 2000 Japanese transit visas to Jews stranded in Lithuania after the invasion of Poland. But these visas would have been worthless without Soviet transit visas to cross from Kaunas/Kovno to Vladivostok. Why did Stalin approve this transit, supervised by Molotov, Mikoyan and Beria? How did nearly 4000 Jews travel on 2000 visas? Documents from Soviet and Japanese archives collected, edited and published by Japan's Slavic-Eurasian Research Center and the Holocaust Research Center in Moscow provide answers to these questions and more. Sugihara remains the only Japanese citizen designated a Righteous among the Gentiles by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
- Topic:
- Genocide, Migration, Holocaust, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Europe, and Asia
31. Navalny and Russia's Opposition During the War: A Conversation with Maria Pevchikh
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Please join the Harriman Institute at Columbia University for a discussion with Maria Pevchikh, head of the investigation department at the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Moderated by Elise Giuliano, Senior Lecturer in Political Science.
- Topic:
- War, Authoritarianism, Civil-Military Relations, Opposition, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Europe
32. Saludos desde Mariúpol: Covering Ukraine for the Spanish audience
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- In the Spanish media landscape, the shadow of Russia has always loomed large over the image of Ukraine: a confusion fueled by geographical distance and historical myth-making. The Russian-Ukrainian war that began in 2014 and the current large-scale invasion have created an opportunity for Spanish journalists to get to know Ukraine, challenge stereotypes and engage in a dialogue with the readers back home. An ongoing process that nevertheless has brought some change.
- Topic:
- War, Media, Language, Journalism, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Ukraine, and Spain
33. Narrating the War Everydayness
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- In early March 2022, the Center for Urban History and colleagues from Poland, the UK, and Luxembourg started to discuss the possibility of ethically well-grounded and methodologically reasonable emergency collecting and archiving of oral testimonies of Ukrainian refugees, IDPs, and volunteers. During the presentation, Otrishchenko will describe multiple decisions we made in this project concerning interactions within the team, sensitivity of recruitment, trauma-informed interviewing, and ethical preservation of collected stories.
- Topic:
- War, Media, Interview, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Ukraine
34. tarr Forum: An Update on Russia's War Against Ukraine
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What is the status of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Conflict, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
35. Starr Forum: Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine and Europe in Challenging Times
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- How has Russia weaponized energy in this war? What have been the effects? How have Europeans responded to this weaponization of energy and what may be their responses this winter?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Energy Policy, Military Strategy, European Union, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
36. European Islamophobia
- Author:
- Farid Hafez
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Islamophobia is on the rise at an alarming speed in Europe, a continent with tens of millions of Muslim citizens.
- Topic:
- Minorities, Discrimination, and Islamophobia
- Political Geography:
- Europe
37. Starr Forum: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire and the seeds of the new European war
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Vladislav Zubok is professor of international history, with expertise on the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Stalinism, and Russia’s intellectual history in the 20th century. His most recent books are Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union (2021), The Idea of Russia: The Life and Work of Dmitry Likhachev (2017), Dmitry Likhachev. The Life and the Century (in Russian, 2016) A Failed Empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007) and Zhivago’s Children: the Last Russian Intelligentsia (2009). Co-chairs: Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine. She is co-director of the MISTI MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Governance, Leadership, Conflict, and Empire
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Soviet Union
38. Starr Forum: Autocracy’s Assault on Press Freedom
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Experts discuss the threat to free media in Central and Eastern Europe and what it means for the West
- Topic:
- Media, Journalism, Freedom of Press, and Autocracy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe
39. Starr Forum: The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: A prologue to WWIII or another frozen conflict?
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Dmitry Gorenburg is a senior research scientist at CNA, where he has worked since 2000. Dr. Gorenburg is an associate at the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. His research interests include security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity. Olga Oliker is the program director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group. Her research interests include foreign and security policies of Russia, Ukraine, and the Central Asian and Caucasian successor states to the Soviet Union, domestic politics in these countries, US policy towards the region, and nuclear weapon strategy and arms control. She received her PhD from the MIT Department of Political Science. Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. His research interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is a research associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Dr Saivetz is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues, including an assessment of the “reset,” Russian policies toward the other Soviet successor states, and current US-Russian relations. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine (Woodrow Wilson Center and Columbia University Press, 2016). She is co-director of the MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, War, Military Strategy, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
40. Algeria & France: Untangling Past and Present
- Author:
- Intissar Fakir and Francis Gilles
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- French President Emmanuel Macron's recent visit to Algeria brought talks of cooperation and reconciliation to the fore in an otherwise frought relationship. France and Algeria share a long and painful history, including 132 years of colonial occupation and an eight year war of devastation. In an effort to unpack the motivations and context behind Macron's visit, MEI Senior Fellow and Director of the North Africa and the Sahel Program Intissar Fakir speaks with Francis Gilles, Senior Research Fellow with the Barcelona Center for International Affairs.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, History, Bilateral Relations, Colonialism, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Europe, France, Algeria, and North Africa