Ex uno plures: Post-Yugoslav Cultural Spaces and Europe
Friday, 26 March 2010–Saturday, 27 March 2010
1501 International Affairs Building
The goal of this conference will be to explore post-Yugoslav cultural spaces by bringing together and facilitating dialogue between an unprecedented concentration of leading intellectuals, both from the former Yugoslav territories and from the West. Alongside opening questions of difference and commonality, the conference will also address issues such as how can the post-Yugoslav spaces—and even micro-spaces—respond to the challenges of globalization?
Participants: Davor Beganovic (University of Konstantz); Marijeta Bozovic (Columbia University); Wayles Brown (Cornell University); Gordana Crnkovic (University of Washington); Dejan Djokic (Goldsmiths College, London): Robert Donia (University of Michigan); Radmila Gorup (Columbia University); Aleksandar Jerkov (University of Belgrade); Pavle Levi (Stanford University); Toma Longinovic (University of Wisconsin, Madison); Zoran Milutinovic (University College, London); Milorad Pupovac (University of Zagreb); Shinasi Rama (New York University); Jasna Dragovic-Soso (Goldsmiths College, University of London); Gayatri Spivak (Columbia University); Maria Todorova (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign); Mitja Velikonja (University of Ljubljana); Dean Vuletic (Columbia University); Andrew Wachtel (Northwestern University); Andrea Zlatar (University of Zagreb).
Further details TBA. For more information, please contact the conference organizer, Prof. Radmila Gorup at rjg26@columbia.edu
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Anthropologies of the South Caucasus
Friday, 09 April 2010, 10:00am–6:00pm
1512 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus for a workshop on the Caucasus.
Discussant: Bruce Grant, New York University.
Presenters: Lori Khatchadourian, Cornell University; Erin Koch, University of Kentucky; Philip Kohl, Wellesley College; Paul Manning, Trent University; Florian Muhlfried, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology; Lauren Ninoshvili, Columbia University; Adam T. Smith, University of Chicago; Adam Walker, City University of New York.
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Modernism in Georgia: Redrawing the Boundaries
Saturday, 10 April 2010, 10:00am–7:00pm
1512 International Affairs Building
This conference aims to cover multiple aspects of Georgian Modernism, including the birth of Modernist and avant-garde art in Georgia; the relationship between politics, art, architecture and culture in the beginning of the 20th century; Georgian Modernism and the avant-garde in relation to European discourse; Modernist artists and avant-garde groups in Tbilisi; the introduction of a new artistic language in all spheres of culture – art, theatre, cinema, and poetry among them; and the relationship of Soviet ideology to art and cultural practice. All presentations will be unified thematically and contextually under the theme: Georgian Modernism, the Avant-Garde and Modernity.
The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition of Georgian Modernist and avant-garde art at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, April 1- May 15, 2010. (These exhibition materials were previously presented at the highly successful show “The Fantastic Tavern: The Tbilisi Avant-garde” at Casey Kaplan Gallery NY in July 2009. That exhibition was curated by Daniel Baumann and AIRL.) The exhibition will be organized by the Harriman Institute in association with AIRL (Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory, Georgia) and Daniel Baumann (freelance curator, Switzerland).
Presenters: Catharine Nepomnyashchy (Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Russian and Department Chair, Barnard College, Columbia University), Lauren Ninoshvili (PhD student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University; Georgian Studies Coordinator, Harriman Institute, Columbia University), Harsha Ram (Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley), Francoise Le-Gris (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Quebec, Montreal), Pamela Renner (Arts Journalist; Adjunct Instructor in English, Empire State College, Harry Van Arsdale Center for Labor Studies), Nana Kipiani (Senior Research Fellow, G.Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation; Associate Professor, Ilia Chavchavadze State University; Director, Arts Interdisciplinary Research Lab - AIRL), Levan Chogoshvili (Artist; Program Manager, Arts Interdisciplinary Research Lab – AIRL), Giorgi Gvakharia (Professor, Shota Rustaveli State University of Theatre and Cinema; Radio Freedom Culture Critic), Ketevan Shavgulidze (Associate Professor, Grigol Robakidze Art University; Professor, Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts; Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University), Tea Tabatadze (Research Fellow, Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation; Professor, Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts), Nestan Tatarashvili (Architect; Head of the Art Nouveau Preservation Group in Georgia; Architect at the Society with Limited Responsibility GROSSO), and Mzia Chikhradze (Senior Research Fellow, Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation; Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University).
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The 15th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of
Nationalities (ASN)
Thursday, 15 April 2010–Saturday, 17 April 2010
Nations and States: On the Map and in the Mind
120+ PANELS on the Balkans, Central Europe and the Baltics, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, and Nationalism Studies
SPECIAL SECTIONS on History, Politics, Memory Interpretive and Cognitive Approaches in Ethnography, and The Resurgence of Russia: Domestic and Foreign Policy Implications
THEMATIC Panels on Islam and Politics, Genocide and Mass Killing, Ethnic Violence, Religion, Language Politics, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Autonomy, Gender and Identity, EU Integration, NATO Expansion, Diaspora and Transnational Networks, International Law and Tribunals, Political Economy and the Nation, History and Nation Building, and many more…
SCREENINGS of New Documentaries
SPECIAL ROUNDTABLES on New Books
AWARDS for Best Doctoral Student Papers
Link to website
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Russia's Expanding Engagement with Internationational Trade, Human Rights, and Energy Investments
Friday, 23 April 2010, 2:00pm–7:00pm
President’s Room 1, Faculty House
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, some policymakers and other observers have advocated encouraging Russia’s increased participation in international organizations as a way to promote its transition to democracy and political cooperation with its former adversaries. Others have contended that Russia’s integration in such organizations should await greater political cooperation and progress in Russian democracy and rule of law.
The relationship between Russia’s conduct in public international law, its transition to democracy, and its foreign policy will be examined in three areas: (1) Russia’s pursuit of, and reservations regarding, membership in the World Trade Organization, which compels states to abide by its dispute resolution panels; (2) Russia’s participation in the European Court of Human Rights, whose decisions have affected the actions of Russia’s government and courts; and (3) the Energy Charter and other investment protection treaties, in particular Russia’s positions on jurisdiction of their dispute resolution bodies.
Registration: rsvp@harrimaninstitute.org
Directions to Faculty House
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After Communism: Achievement and Disillusionment Since 1989
Saturday, 27 February 2010, 2:00pm–7:30pm
Faculty House, Presidential Room
Presented by The Harriman Institute at Columbia University in association with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, and Austrian Cultural Forum as part of Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe, a performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009 - March 2010.
This symposium brings together scholars and officials from across the Atlantic to assess the meaning of the revolutions of 1989 for Eastern Europe and the world. Panels will explore the demise of communism, the nature of postcommunism, the legacy of dissent, the promise of democracy in the region, and the creation of narratives about the communist past. Confirmed participants include Adam Michnik, Alfred Gusenbauer, Erhard Busek, Ira Katznelson, Archie Brown, Katherine Verdery, Stephen Kotkin, Stephen Sestanovich and Vladimir Tismaneanu among others.
Registration for this event is required. Click Here to Register
Link to website
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After Communism: Achievement and Disillusionment Since 1989
Friday, 26 February 2010, 2:00pm–9:00pm
Faculty House, Presidential Room
Presented by The Harriman Institute at Columbia University in association with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, and Austrian Cultural Forum as part of Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe, a performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009 - March 2010.
This symposium brings together scholars and officials from across the Atlantic to assess the meaning of the revolutions of 1989 for Eastern Europe and the world. Panels will explore the demise of communism, the nature of postcommunism, the legacy of dissent, the promise of democracy in the region, and the creation of narratives about the communist past. Confirmed participants include Adam Michnik, Alfred Gusenbauer, Erhard Busek, Ira Katznelson, Archie Brown, Katherine Verdery, Stephen Kotkin, Stephen Sestanovich and Vladimir Tismaneanu among others.
Registration for this event is required. Click Here to Register
Link to website
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Formulations: Teaching 19th-Century Russian Literature
Friday, 12 February 2010, 2:00pm–Saturday, 13 February 2010, 7:00pm
717 Hamilton Hall
Please join the Harriman Institute for a conference celebrating the teaching and scholarship of Robert Belknap.
Robert L. Belknap, award-winning teacher and renowned scholar of Russian literature, has challenged generations of students to make sense of the material at hand by posing provocative questions and formulating insightful, productive approaches. This conference draws together former students, colleagues, and others to celebrate Professor Belknap's teaching legacy. Papers are on classics of 19th-century Russian literature from the perspective of those who teach them.
Participants: Elizabeth Beaujour, Ellen Chances, Andrew Durkin, Boris Gasparov, Jefferson Gatrall, Svetlana Grenier, Richard Gustafson, Hilde Hoogenboom, Valentina Izmirlieva, Robert L. Jackson, Liza Knapp, Gina Kovarsky, Marina Ledkovsky, Deborah A. Martinsen, Olga Meerson, Maude Meisel, Robin Feuer Miller, Gary Saul Morson, Marcia A. Morris, Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy, Cathy Popkin, Irina Reyfman, Tatiana Smoliarova, Rebecca Stanton, William Mills Todd III, Nancy Workman.
Sponsored by The Harriman Institute, Columbia College, the University Seminar on Slavic History and Culture, and the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia.
Conference website is currently under construction here.
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The International Workshop on Lysenkoism
Saturday, 05 December 2009, 8:30am–6:30pm
International Affairs Building Room 1501
Please join the Harriman Institute, the City University of New York, and the Bronx Community College for a conference on science and Trofim Lysenko.
Day 2 at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University:
8:30-9:00—Coffee
9:00-9:30—Welcome, Introductory remarks Harriman Institute Director Timothy Frye
9:30-10:50 (Panel 1): Lysenko and Genetics
Chair: Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Barnard College; Harriman Institute
-Audra Jayne Wolfe, University of Pennsylvania, “Commemoration as Political Weapon, Or, Why We Think of Mendel as the Father of Genetics”
-Luis Campos, Drew University, “Dialectics Denied: Muller, Lysenko, and the Fate of Chromosome Studies in Soviet Genetics”
11:00-12:15 (Panel 2): Western Europe
Chair: Bruno J. Strasser, Yale University
-Francesco Cassata, University of Turin, “The price of obedience: Italian marxist biologists front of PCI‟s Lysenkoism (1948-1953)”
-Leo Molenaar, Stichting Huis van Erasmus, “Dutch Treat: The Reaction to Lysenkoism in Holland”
1:15-2:30 (Panel 3): Germany
Chair: Philipp Rothmaler, Bronx Community College, CUNY
-Alexander von Schwerin, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, “Lysenkoism and the Reform of Postwar West German Genetics”
- Ekkehard Höxtermann, Free University of Berlin, “Lysenkoism in East Germany”
2:45-4:30 (Panel 4): Asia & Latin America
Chair: Joe Dauben, Lehman College; The CUNY Graduate Center
-Laurence Schneider, Washington University, St. Louis, “Lysenkoism in China 1950-1957: Party Authority vs. the Autonomy of Science”
-Arturo ArguetaVillamar, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México &
Quetzal Argueta Prado, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, “Lysenko and Vavilov in Mexico and Latin America”
-Hirofumi Saito, Tokyo Institute of Technology, “Geneticist Hitoshi Kihara and his paticular role in the period of Lysenkoism in Japan”
4:45-6:30: Concluding Discussion
-Elena Levina, Institute for the History of Science and Technology Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
-Nikolai Krementsov, University of Toronto
-Loren Graham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-Douglas Weiner, University of Arizona
wrl4@columbia.edu
Link to website
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The International Workshop on Lysenkoism
Friday, 04 December 2009, 8:30am–5:30pm
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., Room 9204/9205
Please join the Harriman Institute, the City University of New York, and the Bronx Community College for a conference on science and Trofim Lysenko.
Day 1 at CUNY Graduate Center:
8:30-9:00—Coffee
9:00-9:30—Welcome, Introductory remarks CUNY Vice Chancellor for Research, Gillian Small
9:30-11:15 (Panel 1): Lysenko and Agriculture
Chair: Deborah Coen, Barnard College
-Jenny Leigh Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology, “Lysenko‟s Legacy: Ignorance, Bliss, and the Persistence of Proletarian Science”
-Stephen Brain, Mississippi State University, “Lysenko and the Transformation of Nature”
-Alexei Kouprianov, State University Higher School of Economics, St Petersburg, “Networking potato vernalisation: understanding the modes of the "unity of theory and practice" in the Soviet agricultural science of the 1930s”
11:30-12:50 (Panel 2): The Reaction in the United States
Chair: Chris Robinson, Bronx Community College, CUNY
-Michael Gordin, Princeton University, “How Lysenkoism Became Pseudoscience: Theodosius Dobzhansky and the Evolutionary Critique”
-Rena Selya, Independent Scholar, “Defending Scientific Freedom and Democracy: The Genetics Society of America‟s Response to Lysenko”
1:50-3:35 (Panel 3): The New Biology in Central Europe
Chair: Frances Bernstein, Drew University
-Miklos Muller, Rockefeller University, “Lysenkoism in Hungary”
-Michael Simunek, Charles University, “Lysenkoism in Czechoslovakia”
-William deJong-Lambert, Bronx Community College, CUNY; affiliate faculty, Harriman Institute, “Lysenkoism in Poland”
3:45-5:30 (Panel 4): Lysenko, Stalinism and Lamarckism
Chair: Daniel Kevles, Yale University
-Jonathan Brent, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, “Lysenko and the Plot Against the Jewish Doctors”
-Eduard Israelovich Kolchinsky, Director of St. Petersburg Branch of the S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, “The cultural revolution in the USSR (1929-1932) and the beginning of the union of Prezent and Lysenko”
-Nils Roll-Hansen, University of Oslo, “Lamarckism and Lysenkoism Revisited”
wrl4@columbia.edu
Link to website
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A SNEAK PEEK AT
PERFORMING REVOLUTION IN EASTERN EUROPE
"AS IF COMMUNISM NEVER HAPPENED:
CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE 1980S AND BEYOND"
Thursday, 05 November 2009, 6:00pm–8:00pm
President's Room 1, Faculty House
64 Morningside Drive (at 116th Street)
Directions to Faculty House
As if Communism Never Happened:
Culture and Politics in the 1980s and Beyond
Presented by The Harriman Institute at Columbia University in association with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, and Austrian Cultural Forum.
Registration for this event is required. Registration Email
This Sneak Peek at Performing Revolution in Eastern Europe brings together intellectuals to discuss the role of the performing arts in the region in the wake of the revolutions of 1989. What were the driving forces illuminating and directing intellectual and cultural dynamics in Eastern Europe in the 1980s? How have the events of 1989 changed the role of artistic communities in shaping society and politics? How have communist-era legacies influenced current intellectual and cultural practices? These are some of the questions to be tackled during the two-hour interactive panel.
This special pre-festival event is a preview of a larger symposium scheduled for February 26-27, 2010. Both are organized as part of Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe, a performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009 - March 2010.
Sneak Peek participants include: Jeffrey Goldfarb, Professor of Sociology at the New School for Social Research, author of eight books, including The Politics of Small Things: The Power of the Powerless in Dark Times (2006) and The Persistence of Freedom: The Sociological Interpretation of Polish Student Theater (1980); Elzbieta Matynia, Associate Professor and Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies at the New School for Social Research, author of Performative Democracy (2009), and Furnishing Democracy at the end of the Century: Negotiating Transition at the Polish Roundtable & Others (2001); Robert Misik, Austrian journalist and author of eight books, including Politics of Paranoia (2009), two-time winner of the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the Political Book, regular contributor to the Austrian periodicals Der Standard, Profil, and Falter, and the Berlin-based Die Tageszeitung; and Professor Nic Ularu, writer, director, Head of Design at the University of South Carolina's Department of Theater and Dance, and one of Romania's most important set designers in the 80s and 90s. The panel will be moderated by Bradley Abrams, who has taught modern Eastern European history in Columbia University's Department of History and served for several years as the Associate Director of the Harriman Institute; he is currently President of the Czechoslovak Studies Association.
Link to website
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 - Theatre of the Eighth Day, Poland
A Sale for Everyone (1977)
Photo: Joanna Helander
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The Second Annual Russia/Eurasia Forum: A Globalizing Russia?
Thursday, 29 October 2009–Friday, 30 October 2009
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sponsored by the Davis Center, Harvard University, and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University
Globalization is taking place in a myriad of sectors including culture, business and energy, the environment and public health, security, telecommunications and the internet, human rights, and migration. Our next forum will examine such vexing questions as, Is Russia itself globalizing, and if so, how and why? Is this a phenomenon of leadership policy, citizen behavior, or underlying social forces? As a result of these trends, will Russia become more integrated with the rest of the world, or will it endeavor to forge its own path? An understanding of how Russia is responding to globalization must inform businesspeople, policymakers, scholars of Eurasia, and the interested public alike.
ar2052@columbia.edu
Link to website
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Brussels and the Western Balkans: Next Steps for the EU Integration Process
Monday, 26 October 2009, 9:00am–6:00pm
Kellogg Conference Center,International Affairs Building
Since the EU committed to enlarge to the Western Balkans at its 2003 Thessaloniki Summit, the countries of the region have made little progress in their efforts to join the European Union. This Harriman Institute/East Central European Center-Wilson Center conference will address the following questions:
1 Can the Western Balkan countries fulfill EU accession requirements as they now stand?
2) If not, does the EU need to come up with a new accession mechanism for the Western Balkan countries (and can it do so)?
3) If it is not realistic for the EU to come up with a new accession mechanism for the Western Balkans, what alternatives are there for accelerating the Western Balkans' accession process?
Participants:
Marie-Janine Calic, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich
Milica Delevic, Director, European Union Integration Office, Belgrade
Vladmir Drobnjak, Chief Negotiator for Accession Negotiations with the EU, Government of Croatia
Venelin Ganev, Miami University of Ohio
Nida Gelazis, Wilson Center, Washington, DC
Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent, The Economist
Erion Veliaj, Mjaft, Tirana
Presented by the Harriman Institute, the East Central European Center, and the Wilson Center of Washington, DC.
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Georgia at the Crossroads of European and Asian Cultures
Monday, 04 May 2009, 10:00am–7:00pm
Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, 15th floor
The Harriman Institute presents a series of symposia, entitled "Georgia at the Crossroads of European and Asian Cultures: Culture as a tool for the mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue."
Program TBA
Georgian culture, an integral part of Caucasian civilization, has been and is created at the crossroads of European and Asian influences. Over the centuries this culture has represented tolerance and mutual understanding, and while keeping its national identity it emphasizes the potential breadth and depth and rewards of intercultural relations maintained with understanding and integrity.
Today, such understanding is a central and urgent issue, given the cultural and ethnic situation in Georgia’s conflict regions – Shida (Inner) Kartli, the so-called “South Ossetia” and Abkhazeti, especially in terms of analysis and awareness from the historical point of view.
In addition to the political and humanitarian problems there is also great danger for these two regions’ cultural identity and their historical monuments. Academic knowledge in this field is very limited and therefore raises the importance of the scholarly work and discussion in the fields of culture, history and ethnicity in these territories.
The different historical epochs provides the best historical documentation and evidence of the formation of these regional identities and provides proof of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between these regions and the nations adjoining them. The conference’s thematic timeframe will not be limited to any of periods but will cover all cultural epochs including nowadays.
Confirmed and invited speakers from Georgian institutions:
- Temur Yakobashvili, Vice Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of Georgia;
- Iulon Gagoshidze, Dr. History and Archeology, Georgia’s State Minister on Diaspora Affairs;
- Giorgi Otxmezuri, Dr. History, Tbilisi State University;
- Gio Gagoshidze, PhD, Art History, Georgian National Museum;
- Mariam Didebulidze, Professor, PhD, Art History, Director of G.Chubinashvili National Center;
- Giuli Alasania, Professor, Tbilisi State University vice-Rector, International Black Sea University;
- Gigi Tevzadze, Professor, Rector of Ilia Chavchavadze State University;
- Giga Zedashia, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies, IIlia Chavchavadze State University;
- Mzia Chikhradze PhD, Art History, Senior Research Fellow at G.Chubinashvili National Center;
- Tinatin Bochorishvili, Professor, PhD Sociology, Director of Rustaveli Foundation for Georgian Studies;
With support from:
Embassy of the United States of America in Georgia; the Georgian Government; the Rustaveli Foundation for Georgian Studies, Humanities and Social Studies, Tbilisi State University; and Ilia Chanchavadze State University.
This event is organized by the Georgian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute in cooperation with the International Initiative for Georgian Cultural Studies (www.symposiumgeorgia.org). Organizer: Prof. Maka Dvalishvili, makaD@symposiumgeorgia.org”
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- Conference Program
- Download PDF
- Giuli Alasania, "Georgia as a Bridge between the West and the East (Advantages and disadvantages)"
- Download PDF
- Mzia Chikhradze, "Integration/Expansion, Georgian-Russian Cultural Relationship in 1910-1980s"
- Download PDF
- Mariam Didebulidze, "Cultural Heritage of Abkhazia (Apkhazeti)"
- Download PDF
- George Gagoshidze, "Medieval Art and Architecture on the Territories of Conflict Regions of Georgia – Shida (Inner) Kartli"
- Download PDF
- Iulon Gagoshidze, "Abkhazians and Ossetians in Georgia: History and Nowadays"
- Download PDF
- George Otxmezuri, "Administrative Status and Ethnic Composition of Shida (Inner) Kartli (according to historical sources)"
- Download PDF
- George Otxmezuri, "Abkazia – Indispensable Part of Georgia (according to historical records)"
- Download PDF
- Gigi Tevzadze, "At the crossroads of European and Asian Cultures: How identity construct was transformed into a geopolitical constant"
- Download PDF
- Yakobashvili, "Georgia after August War with Russia"
- Download PDF
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The 14th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of
Nationalities (ASN)
Thursday, 23 April 2009–Saturday, 25 April 2009
Imagined Communities, Real Conflicts, and National Identities
International Affairs Building,
Columbia University, NY
Sponsored by the Harriman Institute
23-25 April 2009
Link to website
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Between Neoclassicism and Surrealism: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the
Context of the Russian-French Connection, 1900s-1920s
Thursday, 23 April 2009–Saturday, 25 April 2009
523 Butler Library (enter at Broadway and 116th Street)
See attached conference program for details.
Click Here to Register
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CONFERENCE: The Architecture of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Export System of the Caucasus and Central Asia: Now and in The Future
Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 8:30am–8:00pm
Kellogg Center, Room 1501 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute for a conference, entitled “The Architecture of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Export System of the Caucasus and Central Asia: Now and in The Future.”
Please RSVP by clicking here.
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Where is Russia Headed? Perspectives on Society, Economics and Politics
Friday, 17 April 2009, 9:15am–1:45pm
701 International Affairs Building, The Lindsay Rogers Room
Please join us for a discussion on current trends in Russia organized by the Harriman Institute and the Columbia-Paris Alliance Program.
Participants:
Nadezhda Azhgikhina
Executive Secretary, Russian Union of Journalists, Ph. D., Moscow State University;
Eliot Borenstein
Professor, Russian & Slavic Studies
Director, Morse Academic Plan
New York University;
Padma Desai
Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems
and Director, Center for Transition Economies Columbia University;
Timothy Frye
Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy
Department of Political Science and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University;
Marie Mendras
Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Research Fellow at CERI-Sciences Po, and author of "Russie. L'envers du pouvoir" (Paris, Odile Jacob, 2008).
CERI-Sciences Po;
Catharine Nepomnyashchy
Director Harriman Institute
Ann Whitney Olin Professor and Chair, Slavic Department, Barnard College;
Thomas F. Remington
Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science, Emory University
Senior Fellow, Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
Visiting Professor of Government, Harvard University.
Click here to submit the required RSVP.
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Challenges of Education Reform: Central Asia in Global Context
Friday, 23 January 2009–Saturday, 24 January 2009
1501 International Affairs Building
The Harriman Institute hosts "Challenges of Education Reform: Central Asia in Global Context" a conference on the path to education reform in Central Asia.
Please Register for this Event by following the link below:
Click Here to Register
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Screened Sexuality: Desire in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Cinema
Friday, 10 October 2008, 2:00pm–Saturday, 11 October 2008, 6:30pm
501 Schermerhorn Hall
The Columbia Society of Fellows and the Harriman Institute Present:
Screened Sexuality: Desire in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Cinema, a two-day conference on the ways sexual desire is articulated in and constituted by cinema, organized by Andrey Shcherbenok, Columbia Society of Fellows.
For the full conference program, please click on the link below:
Link to website
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Translation and Tradition in Slavia Orthodoxa
Saturday, 27 September 2008, 9:00am–Sunday, 28 September 2008, 5:00pm
Room 1512 International Affairs Building
Both Old Church Slavonic and the written culture of the Orthodox Slavs began with translations. In the Slavic beginning, we may say, was a word translated, a word in transit, moved by the effort to "make Slavic" the Greek logos of Scripture and liturgical books. This privileged status of translation in Slavia Orthodoxa was hardly limited to its early days. Translating texts remained a central cultural practice for the Orthodox Slavs throughout the medieval period. The results appear odd to the modern eye. In sharp contrast with the modern emphasis on originality that compels us to define a native culture by its original works, the medieval Slavic literary canon was ruled almost exclusively by translated texts. Translations outnumbered the works composed in Slavonic, outweighed them in significance, and, what is more, shaped the Orthodox Slavic cultural tradition as no original work ever did.
This conference seeks to encourage a discussion of tradition and translation as dynamic and interrelated categories, while exploring specific historical issues of medieval Slavic translation practices and their theoretical underpinnings.
Please see the PDF agenda on right for more details.
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Georgia's Intellectual Heritage: Georgian Language and Literature throughout the Centuries
Monday, 28 April 2008, 10:00am–6:00pm
Room 1501 International Affairs Building
The Georgian language remains an enigma for many linguists. Some debate whether it belongs to the Iberian-Caucasian family of languages; others suggest that Georgian together with its relative languages Svan, Mengrelian, and Laz creates South Caucasian family of languages; and a few still adhere to the idea of its linguistic ties with the equally enigmatic Basque language. Through the centuries the Georgian language has remained a steadfast symbol of national identity, beauty and hope for the people who consider it their native tongue.
Georgian literature boasts a history of well over a thousand years. From the oldest written texts of the early 5th century to the works of contemporary writers, the Georgian literary heritage presents an impressive body of religious and secular writings. Its masterpieces are equal to the most admired creations of world literature. Although the study of the Georgian language has been expanding, Georgian literature is still relatively little explored outside the land of its origin.
The conference will present the papers that explore various aspects of Georgian language and literature in their historical development and wide cultural context, such as the following:
• The origins of the Georgian language, its connection with other Kartvelian (Svan, Mengrelian and Laz), North Caucasian or Indo-European languages
• Medieval Georgian Hagiographic and Historical texts
(Chronicles) Georgian folklore
• The development of secular genres in Georgian literature
• Georgian prose and poetry - past and present
• Attitudes of Georgians to Georgian Language
• The methodology of teaching Georgian as a second language
This event is co-sponsored by the Georgian Studies Center at Harriman Institute at Columbia University in collaboration with Georgian Ministry of Education and Sciences.
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EMPIRE, CONQUEST AND FAITH: THE RUSSIAN AND OTTOMAN INTERACTION, 1650-1920
Thursday, 24 April 2008, 6:00pm–Saturday, 26 April 2008, 3:30pm
Kellogg Center, Room 1501 IAB
Please address all inquiries to Mark Mazower at mm2669@columbia.edu
Conference Program
Thursday 24 April, 6pm
Exotic Peoples at Imperial Russian Coronations A Lecture by Richard Wortman (Columbia University)
Location: 523 Butler Library
Friday 25 April
10am-12.00
Location: 1501 International Affairs Building
Session 1: the Danubian Principalities and the Crimea
Commentator: Robert Crews (Stanford Univ.)
A View from the Edge: Observing Istanbul's Nizam-i Cedid from Bucharest
Christine Philliou (Columbia U)
Bearing Arms for the Empire: Crimean Tatars as Soldiers and Subjects
Kelly O’Neill (Harvard Univ.)
1.30-3.30pm
Session 2: the Caucasus and Central Asia
Commentator: Stephen Kotkin (Princeton U.)
The Empire in Practice: Islam and Russian Colonists in Tsarist Azerbaijan
Nicholas Breyfogle (Ohio State Univ.)
The Ottomans and Russians in the North Caucasus: Why the Latter Succeeded Where the Former Did Not
Michael Khodarkovsky (Loyola University Chicago)
Religion and Subjecthood in the North Caucasus in the Age of Catherine II
Sean Pollock (Columbia U.)
Alchemy as a Mode of Colonial Governance in the Russian Caucasus, 1840-1865
Dana Sherry (Stanford)
4-6pm
Session 3: Russo-Ottoman Geopolitics
Commentator: Rashid Khalidi (Columbia U)
An Unorthodox Protectorate: British Policy towards the Ecumenical Patriarchate during the Crimean War
Jack Fairey (National University of Singapore)
The Impact of the Crimean War on Ottoman non-Muslim Religious Communities
Candan Badem (Okan University, Istanbul)
How Russia Became a Muslim Power: Imperial Russia, the Hajj, and Great Power Rivalries
Eileen Kane (Columbia U)
Saturday 26 April
10.00am-12.00
Location: 1501 International Affairs Building
Session 4: Imperial Reform of Religious Institutions
Commentator: Jane Burbank (NYU)
Toleration Through Establishment: The Domestication of the 'Foreign
Confessions' in Imperial Russia, 1810-1857
Paul Werth (University of Nevada)
Learning from Confrontation: the Struggle of Muslim Peasants and Russian Bureaucrats over Muslim Education in the Late Russian Empire
Mustafa Tuna (Princeton University)
The state, the spiritual assemblies, and Muslim community leadership in late imperial Russia
James Meyer (Columbia U)
1.30-3.30pm
Session 5: War and Religious Identities
Commentator: Gulnar Kendirbai (Columbia University)
Disputes between the Ottoman and Romanov Empires over Naturalization and Loss of Subjecthood
Eric Lohr (American University)
A Nation of Generals and Assassins: Rethinking the North Caucasian Diaspora in the Late Ottoman Empire
Ryan Gingeras (Long Island Univ.)
Obligation or Opportunity: the Ottomans and Russia's "Muslim Question"
Michael Reynolds (Princeton University)
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Odd Bedfellows: Sierra Leonean Diamonds, Ukrainian Arms
Friday, 18 April 2008, 8:45am–Saturday, 19 April 2008, 4:00pm
International Affiars Building, Room 1501
The Odd Bedfellows: Sierra Leonean Diamonds and Ukrainian Arms conference seeks to explore topics such as the journey of arms, particularly simplified lightweight arms from Eastern Europe, to the hands of child soldiers and rebel warriors in Sierra Leone during the 1990s civil conflict. This conference seeks to understand the lessons learned from NGO workers, scholars, governments and the global community, as they struggled to confront the violence associated with the illicit trade of arms and how students of international relations can explore new approaches to peace and security in conflict zones.
Panelists include:
**Ambassador Bockari Stevens, Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the United States
**Taras Kuzio, University of Toronto, Expert on Illicit Arms in Eastern Europe, Kuchma Era
**Prosecutor Stephen Rapp, Prosecutor for President Charles Taylor Trial
For more information, please contact Keisha Toms via email at oddbedfellows@harrimaninstitute.org, or via telephone at 347-285-1271
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Graduate Student Workshop: Russia and the Ottoman Empire: Transregional and Comparative Approaches
Saturday, 05 April 2008, 10:00am–6:00pm
Graduate Student Lounge, Philosophy Hall, Room #301
Presented by the Harriman Institute, Project on Russia and Islam
See attachment for full program schedule.
Papers for this conference will be pre-circulated. Presenters will discuss their work for 10-12 minutes, but will not be reading their papers. Persons interested in attending this workshop who would like to receive copies of papers in advance should contact James Meyer at jhm2133@columbia.edu.
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Frontiers of Humanitarianism: Concepts and Cases
Thursday, 03 April 2008, 9:00am–6:00pm
Room 1501, International Affairs Building
The Consortium on Security and Humanitarian Action is a joint endeavor of research centers at four New York area universities: the Humanitarian Affairs Program at Columbia University’s The School of International and Public Affairs; the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, the Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University, and both the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the Center for Global Affairs at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University.
The Conference is meant to examine the limits of humanitarian action, and in particular how political paralysis after conflict perpetuates human suffering. Many violent crises of the past have left a legacy of humanitarian needs that no longer make the headlines, and that defy a solution. Is humanitarianism no more than a fig leaf for political cowardice? Or has the time come for a political approach to humanitarian action, exploring new frontiers?
Panels include:
“Knowledge is Power: Social Science and Humanitarian Action”
Organized by the Ralph Bunche Institute, CUNY Graduate Center, with Michael Barnett, Craig Calhoun, Peter J. Hoffman, and H. Roy Williams
“Left Behind in the Caucasus"
Organized by SIPA, Columbia University, with Dirk Salomons, Dr. Arif Yunusov, David L. Phillips, Jennifer Sime, and Alexander Coole
“Politization of Humanitarian Aid in Colombia”
Organized by Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Fordham University, with Arancha Garcia del Soto, Monsignor Hector Fabio Henao, Renata Segura, and Ana Maria Gomez
“Lessons Learned About Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Iraq”
Organized by the Center for Global Affairs at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York University, with Michael Oppenheimer, Major General William Nash, Paul Hughes, and Thomas Hill
Concluding Remarks: John Coatsworth, Acting Dean, SIPA.
Reception to follow
RSVP is requested by April 2, 2008. Please respond via: the conference invite
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Russia under a New President: Domestic Change and the International Environment
Friday, 28 March 2008, 10:00am–4:00pm
Randolph Room, Faculty House, Columbia University
The Harriman Institute of Columbia University and Russia Profile.ORG (RIA Novosti) present
RUSSIA UNDER A NEW PRESIDENT: DOMESTIC CHANGE AND THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
10am - 12Noon PANEL 1
Rossiyane or Russkie? The Clash of Civic, Ethnic and Imperial Nationalisms in the Formation of the Russian Nation-State
Emil Pain, General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political and Regional Studies and professor of Higher School of Economic (Moscow)
Jack L. Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University
Alexander J. Motyl, Professor of Political Science and Deputy Director of the Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University
Chair: Andrei Zolotov, Editor, Russia Profile magazine (Moscow)
2pm - 4pm PANEL 2
Russia's Foreign Policy Outlook After the Presidential Elections - Change in Style, Change in Substance or No Change At All?
Fedor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief, Russia in Global Affairs Journal (Moscow)
Nina Khrushcheva, Associate Professor, Graduate Program of International Affairs, New School and Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute
Andrei Zolotov, Editor, Russia Profile magazine (Moscow)
Chair: Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University
To register for this event, please contact Alla Rachkov at ar2052@columbia.edu.
For more information, please visit Russia Profile.
Link to website
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THE CULTURE OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY: Conference in Honor of Richard F. Gustafson
Friday, 14 March 2008, 1:00pm–Saturday, 15 March 2008, 1:00pm
Room 1512 International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY
This Conference in Honor of Richard F. Gustafson is co-sponsored by the Barnard and Columbia Slavic Departments
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The First Annual Columbia-Harvard Russia/Eurasia Forum: Does Leadership in Russia Matter?
Thursday, 21 February 2008–Friday, 22 February 2008
The Century Association
7 West 43rd Street
New York, NY
To what extent does leadership, as opposed to underlying factors and forces, drive events in Russia and the surrounding region? Do leaders—not only in the realm of politics, but also in business, culture, and grassroots organizations—make a difference? Do they make more or less of a difference than they would in other places, including the United States?
On the eve of the 2008 Russian presidential elections, the Harriman Institute and the Davis Center—the country’s leading centers for the study of Russia and the surrounding area—are launching a joint project to foster in-depth comparative discussion of the region and of the big intellectual issues surrounding it. We aim to consider and debate how best to understand trends in this strategically important region of the world by going beyond conventional wisdom and tired stereotypes that often pass for analysis. We invite you to join with professionals, scholars, and other interested citizens for the Columbia-Harvard Russia/Eurasia Forum on February 21–22.
Thursday, February 21, 6–9 PM
OPENING DEBATE Does Leadership in Russia Matter?
Timothy Colton Director, Davis Center, Harvard University
Stephen Kotkin Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University
Friday, February 22, 8 AM–7:30 PM
PANELS Politics * Culture & the Arts * Grassroots Organizations & NGOs * Economics
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Zbigniew Brzezinski U.S. National Security Advisor to President Carter (1977-1981)
FEATURED PANELISTS
Rawi Abdelal Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School * Timothy Colton author of forthcoming biography Yeltsin: A Life * Anna Gincherman Relationship Manager, Women’s World Banking * Marshall Goldman author of forthcoming Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia; Professor Emeritus, Wellesley College * Sergei Guriev Executive Director, Center for Economic and Financial Research, New Economic School * Sarah Lindemann-Komarova Cofounder, Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Center * Rory MacFarquhar Managing Director, Economic Research, Goldman Sachs, Russia * Catharine Nepomnyashchy Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University; Professor, Barnard College * Gleb Pavlovsky President, Foundation for Effective Politics * Thomas Remington Professor of Political Science, Emory University * Stephen Sestanovich Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor to the Secretary of State (1997–2001); Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations * Ole Solvang Executive Director, Stichting Russian Justice Initiative * William Taubman author of Pulitzer Prize–winning biography Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2003); Professor, Amherst College
VENUE
All events will take place at the Century Association, 7 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036.
REGISTRATION
The conference fee is $600 ($250 academic rate) for registrations postmarked by January 31. Includes reception and dinner on Thursday, and continental breakfast, lunch, and cocktail reception on Friday. Late registration: $750 ($300 academic rate). To register for the conference, please download the registration form.
LODGING
A special conference rate is available at the Club Quarters Hotel, Midtown. Booking details provided upon registration.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Please contact Irene Coffman at 212-854-5431 or ibc3@columbia.edu.
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Russo-Arab Ties in Historical Perspective: A Workshop on Imperial Russia, Islam, and the Ottoman Arab Lands
Friday, 15 February 2008, 9:00am–5:00pm
Lehman Suite, 406 International Affairs, 420 W. 118th Street
PROGRAM
9:00-9:30 Coffee and Welcome Remarks by Mark Mazower, Director of the Project on Russia and Islam at the Harriman Institute
Morning Session: Russian Interest in the Arab World in the Nineteenth Century
9:30 – 12:00
Moderator: Christine Philliou (Columbia University)
Alexander Knysh (University of Michigan)
“Arabic and Islamic Studies in Nineteenth-Century Russian Academia”
Efim Rezvan (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg)
“Abdel Aziz Davletshin and His Secret Mission in Arabia (1898)”
Svetlana Kirillina (Moscow State University)
“Islam and its Adherents in the Eyes of a Russian Monk: The Pilgrim-Writer Meletii in the Ottoman Arab Lands of the Late Eighteenth Century”
Afternoon Session: Using “Muslim Sources” to Write Russian and Soviet History
2:00-4:30
Moderator: Robert Crews (Stanford University)
Allen Frank (Independent Scholar)
"Islamic Sources of Imperial Russian and Soviet History: Some Typological and Methodological Issues"
Alexandre Papas (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS,
Paris) - Ohio State University)
"Islamic Literary Sources for the Modern History of Central Asia: The
Case of Poetry"
Shovosil Ziyodov (Beruni Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Tashkent)
"Muslim Sources on the History of Central Asia from the Period of the Russian Conquest"
This Workshop is part of the Harriman Institute Research 2007-2008 Theme, Russia and Islam: Religion, the State and Modernity during and after the Age of Empire.
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The Rose Revolution: Four Years Later
Friday, 30 November 2007, 9:30am–6:00pm
Room 1501 International Affairs Building
The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and The Center for Georgian Studies at The Harriman Institute
present:
The Rose Revolution: Four Years Later
November 23rd, 2007 marks the fourth anniversary of the day Mikheil Saakashvili led a group of Georgians into the parliament to disrupt attempts by then President Eduard Shevardnadze to seat a parliament which had been elected in a broadly understood to be fraudulent election. That event was the central moment in what has come to be known as the Rose Revolution.
Since the Rose Revolution, a great deal has happened in Georgia. The country has found itself in an ongoing conflict with Russia, its huge northern neighbor. This conflict has its roots in the issues of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the presence of Russian bases in Georgia, but has taken on additional complexity during the last few years. The completion of the BTC pipeline has made energy issues also very critical in post-Rose Revolution Georgia. Additionally, the development of democracy in Georgia, a country hailed as a major success story for democratization after the Rose Revolution, has proven to be a difficult challenge for Georgia?s new government, particularly in recent weeks as the government forcefully broke up demonstrations on the streets of Tbilisi, declared a state of emergency suspending freedoms of speech and assembly and scheduled a snap presidential election for January of 2008.
PROGRAM
9:30-Welcome and Introduction
9:45-11:15 Panel One
Energy and Economic Development
-Jonathan Elkind-EastLink Consulting, LLC and The Brookings Institution
-Vasil Rukhadze-Visiting Scholar, Harriman Institute
-Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff- Consultant, Business Climate Reform in Georgia
11:20-12:20PM
Keynote Address by Ambassador Richard Miles
12:20PM-1:45 Lunch
1:45-3:15 Panel Two
Georgia, Russia and Frozen Conflicts
-Ambassador Irakli Alasania-Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations
-Robert Legvold,-Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Soviet Foreign Policy, Columbia University
-Ambassador Ken Yalowitz-Director, John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College
3:30-5PM Panel Three
Democratic Development Since the Rose Revolution
-Christopher Walker-Freedom House
-Nicholas Gvosdev-Editor, The National Interest
-Stephen Jones-Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies, Mount Holyoke College
-Lincoln A. Mitchell-Arnold A. Saltzman Professor in the Practice of International Affairs, Columbia University
-Alex Sokolowski-Senior Political Process Advisor Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, USAID
5PM-6PM Reception
Advance registration is necessary. Please email SIWPS PA Molly D'Ambra mmd2137@columbia.edu with you full name and affiliation.
The conference will also include an exhibition of photographs of the Rose Revolution by Steve Weinberg and campaign posters from that period from the collection of Lincoln Mitchell. The exhibit can be viewed on the 4th Floor of the International Affairs Building.
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Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies
Monday, 12 November 2007, 2:00pm–Tuesday, 13 November 2007, 6:00pm
Kellogg Center, 15th floor International Affairs Building
Third Colloquium
The Pipeline Race to India and Pakistan - Is the so-called Peace Pipeline from Iran Prospective Reality or Wishful Thinking? Is the Turkmenistan Route Still an Option?
The 2006/2008 series of colloquia titled “Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies” hosted by Harriman Institute examines five (5) transnational gas and oil pipeline systems in or linked to the Eurasian space. After two colloquia in spring and fall 2006, the third colloquium entitled “Eurasia versus Iran in supplying energy to Pakistan and India via gas pipelines” will take place at Columbia on November 12 and 13, 2007.
India’s growing population clearly needs increased energy to maintain the country’s rapid economic growth. With Iran and Turkmenistan as possible energy suppliers a host of questions arise. Can Iran, a country with which India has historical cultural ties starting with the immigration of the Parsi over a thousand years ago,, be a peaceful and reliable supplier of gas at a time when it continues to challenge and defy the world with its questionable nuclear program and also remains an obstacle in and to the Middle East peace process? Can Turkmenistan, with its turbulent post-Soviet history, be a creditable supplier of gas? And how would such a pipeline reach Pakistan and India? Through Iran? Through Afghanistan, which has yet to find peace and may yet find itself in a new civil war? Can Pakistan and India trust and rely on each other, as well as Iran and/or Turkmenistan, to share a common energy pipeline? In short, can a gas pipeline, which requires parties to work together, create inevitable dependencies and deep ties, be a bridge to peace in a part of the world that has been struggling to find peace for well over 50 years.
Specifically, two pipeline projects are the centre of discussion, both politically delicate, economically promising , and associated with enormous security concerns.
The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline (IPIP), first proposed in 1994 and today even called the “peace pipeline”, would hold tremendous economic and political advantages for all three countries and ideally, hopefully stabilize the region. But this pipeline is strongly opposed by the United States. The US sees Iran, a country identified by President Bush as a member of the Axis of Evil, not part of the solution to a Middle East peace, let alone a durable peace, but as part of the problem. In fact the US has for many years (indirectly) imposed world-wide restrictions on investment in the Iranian energy sector.
The US supports the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline (TAP) despite Turkmenistan’s repressive non-democratic regime and notwithstanding that the gas has to be pumped through Afghanistan, the home of a resurgent warring Taliban. Russia, which has locked up Turkmen gas through profitable contracts, obviously has no interest in Turkmenistan having an outlet for its gas that bypasses Russian territory.
India and Pakistan continue to consider their options as they pursue their own and common interests in both projects. The advantages to India are obvious - a rapidly growing economy needs to lock up energy supplies. Pakistan would also lock up energy supplies and benefit from transit fees. Both countries would enhance and strengthen their energy security through these pipelines. But as noted, at what cost.
The aspirations and actions of all the players involved in or concerned about these projects are of pivotal importance to the geopolitical development in the Eurasian and South Asian space, as well as in the world, for years to come. The political, economic and strategic requirements and impact of these pipeline projects will be the subject of this major colloquium. What are the possible routes, the costs? How will these projects impact the Central/South Asian region? What does the international community have to expect from pipeline based alliances? Can the US see these pipelines as opportunities and a way to peace?
American, European and Asian experts and public figures will present and discuss the multiple impact of these energy routes from Turkmenistan and Iran to Pakistan and India, their challenges and implications and will give their views on whether pipelines, which require nations to work together, can be a hidden road to peace.
Date: November 12-13, 2007
Location: Kellogg Center, Columbia University, School for International and Public Affairs, Room 1501, 420 West 118th St., New York, 10027 NY
For more information please contact Professor Jenik Radon at jr2218@columbia.edu or Jasmine Henz at jh2698@columbia.edu .
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"Lost Worlds of Imperial Cities: From Sarajevo to Jaffa"
Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 10:30am–1:00pm
1501 International Affairs Building
Participants:
Robert Donia, Research Associate, Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Michigan; author of "Sarajevo, A Biography"
Adam LeBor, correspondent for The Times of London and the Economist; author of "Jaffa: City of Oranges"
Robert Geraci, Associate Professor of History, University of Virginia, author of "Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia."
Moderated by Mark Mazower, Professor of History, Columbia University; author of "Salonica, City of Ghosts"
Welcoming Remarks by Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy, Director, Harriman Institute
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AGENTS AND AGENCIES: THE (RE)MAKING OF IDENTITY IN RUSSIA TODAY
Thursday, 18 October 2007, 9:00am–Saturday, 20 October 2007, 6:00pm
Thursday- Room 1501 International Affairs Building
Friday and Saturday - Davis Auditorium, Schapiro Center
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
LOCATION: ROOM 1501 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUILDING
10:00 – 12:00 Group Identity: From Oppositions to Diversity
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 Identity and Mass Culture
3:00 – 4:00 Coffee Break
4:00 – 6:00 Nonverbal Communication and Visual Representations of Identities
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2007
LOCATION: DAVIS AUDITORIUM, SCHAPIRO CENTER
10:00 – 12:00 Identity as Process
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 Identity and Ethnicity
4:00 – 6:00 Ideology of Discourses and Discourses of Ideology
6:30 – 7:30 Keynote Address
Yoshiko Herrera, University of Wisconsin
“Identity as a Variable: Defining and Measuring Social Identities in Russia”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007
LOCATION: DAVIS AUDITORIUM, SCHAPIRO CENTER
10:00 – 12:00 Facets of Civic Identities
12:00 – 2:00 Lunch Break
2:00 – 4:00 Identity: Past, Present, and Future
4:00 – 6:00 Global Discussion
Link to website
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Between Languages - Translators: Symposium on Translating Poetry
Wednesday, 17 October 2007, 10:00am–1:00pm
Maison Française, Buell Hall
STEPHANIE SANDLER (Harvard University)
"Poetry Without Borders: Alexandra Petrova"
GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK (Columbia University)
"Ramproshad"
PAOLO VALESIO (Columbia University)
"A Poetry Journal Between New York and Florence:
'Italian Poetry Review (IPR)' "
DANIEL WEISSBORT (Warwick University)
"Ted Hughes Translates Pushkin"
Sponsored by the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, the Slavic Department, and the Harriman Institute
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International Symposium of Russian Ballet
Friday, 12 October 2007, 5:00pm–Saturday, 13 October 2007, 7:45pm
October 12th - Julius Held Auditorium (304 Barnard Hall)/Barnard College
October 13th - 1501 International Affairs Building/Columbia University
Scholars from Russia, England, the Netherlands, and Austria will join colleagues from the United States for the International Symposium of Russian Ballet taking place at Barnard College and Columbia University on October 12-13, 2007. Sponsored by the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, and the Slavic and Dance Departments of Barnard College, the Symposium will bring together senior and junior scholars working in the area of Russian ballet, broadly defined to include both ballet in Russia and Russian ballet elsewhere. Lynn Garafola, Professor of Dance at Barnard College, and Catharine Nepomnyashchy, the Chair of the Slavic Department at Barnard College and Director of the Harriman Institute, are the organizers.
Among the Symposium highlights are the keynote lecture by Elizabeth Souritz, Russia's most distinguished living dance historian, analyzing the differences between ballet in late nineteenth-century Moscow and St. Petersburg through the career of the choreographer Alexei Bogdanov, a paper by Sjeng Scheijen of Leiden University that draws on major new research for his forthcoming biography of Serge Diaghilev, Tim Scholl's discussion of Soviet ballet debates of the 1920s, and a presentation by Robert Greskovic featuring images from his well-known postcard collection of Russian dancers. Papers on Balanchine's correspondence with the Russian émigré community, his muse Lydia Ivanova, Akim Volynsky, the designers Sonia Delaunay and Natalia Goncharova, the ideologies of the Soviet ballerina, Russian dancers in Hollywood, the "thaw" of the late 1950s and its impact on "symphonic" ballet, Petipa performance traditions in Russia and the West, and the original happy ending of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet will round out the program. See the attached program for the full schedule of events.
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 - Maya Plisetskaya
- Conference Program
- Download PDF
- Paper given by Christina Ezrahi, "The Thaw in Soviet Culture and the Return of Symphonic Dance"
- Download PDF
- Paper given by Elizabeth Souritz, "Moscow vs Petersburg: The Ballet Master Alexis Bogdanov and Others"
- Download PDF
- Paper given by Simon Morrison, "Romeo and Juliet’s Happy Ending"
- Download PDF
- Paper given by Tim Scholl, "Piety of Blasphemy? or Taking Stock of the Soviet Ballet"
- Download PDF
- Paper given by Stanley Rabinowitz, "The Short and Fitful Life of Akim Volynskys School of Russian Ballet: 1920-1925"
- Download PDF
- A comment on Elizabeth Souritzs paper, by Lynn Garafola.
- Download PDF
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Georgian Culture -- Past and Present
Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 10:00am–8:30pm
1501 International Affairs Building
Thursday, April 26, 2007, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Grant Gallery
7 Mercer Street (between Grand and Canal Streets)
New York City
www.grantgallery.com
"For thousands of years, tiny Georgia… has served as a stopping place for travelers and a prize for conquerors."
– Ori Z. Soltes, National Treasures of Georgia
"Hidden behind the veil of the Soviet era for most of the 20th century, this enchanting land is now open for all to experience."
– www.oneworldjourneys.com/georgia
Despite Georgia’s frequent mention in the historical record, the country’s rich cultural heritage is less familiar to international audiences. Recent political and economic ventures undertaken by this Soviet successor state have piqued the curiosity of Westerners about the unique character of this tiny Eurasian nation. Accordingly, the one-day symposium "Georgian Culture – Past and Present" aims to acquaint an American audience with a broad spectrum of topics related to the cultural heritage of Georgia, as well as the importance of this heritage in contemporary Georgian life.
PROGRAM
10:00 am – 11:00 am: Morning Session A
-Opening Remarks
Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University
-Welcome
Irakli Alasania, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations
-Georgian Antiquity
Ana Kldiashvili, Professor of Art History, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
-A Highlight of Georgia's Prehistoric Past
Karen S. Rubinson, Research Scholar, Barnard College
11:00 am – 11:20 am: Coffee Break
11:20 am – 1:00 pm: Morning Session B
-The Glory of Byzantium: Recognizing the Importance of Georgian Art
Helen C. Evans, Curator of Byzantine Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
-Medieval Georgian Architecture: Key Moments in its Development
Tamara Tvildiani, Lecturer Art History and Theory, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
(The co-author of this article is Anna Shanshiashvili, Art Historian,Georgian Arts and Culture Center)
-Medieval Georgian Illuminated Manuscripts, Painted Icons and Cloisonné Enamel
Nino Gaganidze, Professor of Art History, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Mid-day Break
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Afternoon Session
-Genius of Medieval Georgian Art
Gary Vikan, Director, The Walters Art Museum
-Defining Georgia Inside and Out
Ori Z. Soltes, Lecturer in Theology and Art History, Georgetown University
-Medieval Georgian Mural Paintings
Ani Kldiashvili, Professor of Art History, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
-Medieval Georgian Relief Sculpture: Repoussé Icons and Architectural Decoration
Nino Gaganidze, Professor of Art History, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm: Coffee Break
5:45 pm - 7:00 pm: Evening Session
-Monuments at Risk: Preservation and Conservation Initiatives in Georgia
Maka Dvalishvili, President, Georgian Arts and Culture Center
Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Harriman Institute, Columbia University
-The Village of Chazhashi: Case Study of Georgian Svannish Vernacular Architecture
Mary Kay Judy, Architectural Conservator
-Georgia at the Crossroads: The Moorish Style in Georgian Secular Architecture of the 18th-19th Centuries
Irina Koshoridze, Senior Curator, Georgian National Museum
Visiting Scholar, Department of Art History, New York University
-Modern Georgian Art in the Context of Western Culture
Mzia Chikhradze, Senior Research Fellow, G. Chubinashvili National Center for Georgian Art History Research and Heritage Protection
-Closing Remarks
Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Reception
The reception will feature Georgian hors d'oeuvres and wine and the screening of "Art of Georgia," a documentary film by Maureen Ahern and Irina Koshoridze.
Wine will be provided by Georgian Wine House: www.georgianwinehouse.com
The symposium has been organized by Maka Dvalishvili, Fulbright Scholar at Harriman Institute at Columbia University and Stephanie Lovett, Washington University in St. Louis
The symposium has been made possible by the generosity of
-The Harriman Institute at Columbia University
-Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
-Georgian Arts and Culture Center
-Fulbright Scholar Program
For more information, please contact Maka Dvalishvili at md2540@columbia.edu or Kate Pickering at kmp30@columbia.edu.
ADMISSION TO THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ON A SPACE AVAILABLE BASIS. NO TICKETS ARE REQURED FOR THIS EVENT.
RSVP is appreciated but not required to kmp30@columbia.edu
Thursday, April 26, 2007
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Short Retrospective Review of the Contemporary Georgian Arts
Anna Kldiashvili, Professor of Art History, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
Gogi Chagelishvili
Solo Exhibition
Grant Gallery
7 Mercer Street (between Grand and Canal Streets)
New York City
www.grantgallery.com
Space is limited, RSVP by April 20th at 609 658 2179 or tatianagrant@grantgallery.com
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The 12th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of
Nationalities (ASN)
Thursday, 12 April 2007–Saturday, 14 April 2007
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
100 PANELS, MORE THAN 300 PAPERS ON CENTRAL EUROPE, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, THE CAUCASUS, EURASIA, TURKEY, THE BALKANS, AND NATIONALISM STUDIES
The preliminary program of the ASN 2007 World Convention is now available at http://www.nationalities.org/ASN_2007_Prelim_Program.pdf.
A registration form can also be downloaded at http://www.nationalities.org/ASN_2007_prereg_form.pdf.
The Convention, sponsored by the Harriman Institute, will be held at Columbia University, New York, April 12-14, 2007.
Link to website
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Povest' vremennykh let: A Preconference in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference
Friday, 30 March 2007, 9:30am–5:30pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Program
Session 1: Friday, 2007-03-30, 9:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
-Chair: Alan Timberlake, Columbia University
-David J. Birnbaum, University of Pittsburgh, “The e-PVL: An Electronic Edition of the Rus' Primary Chronicle”
-Donald Ostrowski, Harvard University, “The Nachal'nyi Svod and the Povest' vremennykh let”
Session 2: Friday, 2007-03-30, 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.
-Chair: David J. Birnbaum, University of Pittsburgh
-Francis Butler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Western Parallels to the Legend of Ol'ga’s baptism in the Povest' vremennykh let”
-Renee Perelmutter, University of California, Berkeley, “Establishing Narrative Point of View in ‘The Blinding of Vasilko’”
-Susana Torres Prieto-Hay, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and St. Louis University, Madrid Campus, “Princely Heroes or Heroic Princes: Uses of Heroic Literature in the Povest' vremennykh let”
Session 3: Friday, 2007-03-30, 3:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
-Chair: Valentina Izmirlieva, Columbia University
-Ines Garcia de la Puente, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, “Ol'ga’s Revenges and Indo-European Types of Punishment”
-Boris Maslov, University of California, Berkeley, “Greek Semantic Loans in the Domain of ethos/nomos in the Povest' vremennykh let”
-Alan Timberlake, Columbia University, “Orality in the Povest' vremennykh let”
Roundtable: Saturday, 2007-03-31, 9:00 a.m.–10:20 a.m.
-David J. Birnbaum, University of Pittsburgh
-Francis Butler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
-Ines Garcia de la Puente, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
-Boris Maslov, University of California, Berkeley
-Donald Ostrowski, Harvard University
-Renee Perelmutter, University of California, Berkeley
-Alan Timberlake, Columbia University
-Susana Torres Prieto-Hay, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and St. Louis University, Madrid Campus
This preconference will be continued with a roundtable discussion at the Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference on Saturday, March 31, 9:00am-10:20am.
Conference organized by David J. Birnbaum (University of Pittsburgh) and Alan Timberlake (Columbia University), in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference.
Link to website
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A Leap from the Temple of Culture into the Abyss:
Decadence in Central and Eastern Europe
Thursday, 15 March 2007–Saturday, 17 March 2007
Graduate Student Lounge, Philosophy Hall
The last phase of Romanticism and the first phase of Modernism, in the West Decadence is linked with the names of Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Oscar Wilde. It spread throughout Europe in the 1890s, intermingling with native elements in its new contexts. Serge Diaghilev described Decadence as a leap from the temple of culture into the abyss—that is, a dramatic fall from the heights of civilization into nothingness. Decadence thus creates a myth of culture at its peak in the final days before its sudden perdition. It is an aesthetic that worships art as the highest ideal—an aesthetic of erudition, allusion, artificiality, and literariness. Paradoxically, however, at the same time it also highlights the themes of culture in decline and the degeneration of humanity.
This conference seeks to foster a nuanced understanding of the manifestations of Decadence in central and eastern European literature, arts, and culture within a comparative context. Speakers at the conference will address questions such as how Decadence is to be understood in the region, how it differs from the Western movement, and how it is manifested in various arts, including literature, art, ballet, and music. The event will include papers on Russian, Czech, Polish, German, Austrian, and Ukrainian culture.
Thursday, March 15
6:00 PM
Victor Erofeyev, “Russian Decadence Is My Literary Motherland”
Julius Held Auditorium, Barnard Hall, Barnard College
Reception
Friday, March 16
Philosophy 301, Columbia University
9:00 - 10:00 AM
Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30 AM
Precursors of Decadence
Chair/Discussant: Jonathan Stone, University of California, Berkeley
- David Goldfarb, Barnard College, “Sacher-Masoch: Between the Romantic and the Decadent Sublime”
- Elizabeth Valkenier, Columbia University, “Russian Realist Painters on Decadence: The Xenophobic Factor”
- Michael Wachtel, Princeton University, “Vladimir Solovyov on Symbolism and Decadence”
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
Decadent Music and Drama
Chair/Discussant: Christopher Harwood, Columbia University
- Steve Downes, University of Surrey, “On Polish Musical Decadence”
- Anastassiya Andrianova, CUNY Graduate Center, “The Dionysian Lyre in Lesya Ukrainka’s Orgiya”
- Julia Przybos, Hunter College, CUNY, “Leopold Staff's Igrzysko (Game) in the European Context.”
Lunch Break
2:15 - 4:15 PM
History and Modernity
Chair/Discussant: Bernice Rosenthal, Fordham University
- Kevin M. F. Platt, University of Pennsylvania, “Russian History and Decadent Temporality”
- John McCole, University of Oregon, “Georg Simmel and the Central European Culture of Decadence”
- Michael du Plessis, University of Southern California, “Decadent Commodities and Narrative Objects in Gustav Meyrink’s ‘Strange Tales’ (Sonderbare Geschichte)”
- Evgenii Bershtein, Reed College, “Why is Larion Shtrup an Englishman? Mikhail Kuzmin’s Wings and European Decadence”
4:30 - 6:30 PM
The Visual and Performing Arts
Chair/Discussant: Catharine T. Nepomnyashchy, The Harriman Institute and Barnard College
- J. Trygve Has-Ellison, University of Texas at Dallas, “Janus-faced Decadents: Nobles and the Fine Arts in Fin-de-Siècle Germany”
- Otto M. Urban, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “In Morbid Colors (Part II): The Idea of Decadence and Art in the Bohemian Lands, 1880-1914”
- Lynn Garafola, Barnard College, “Decadence and the Iconography of the Male Body in Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes”
- Olga Matich, University of California, Berkeley, “Decadence and Dance: Synesthesia, Hysteria, Hybridity”
Saturday, March 17
Philosophy 301, Columbia University
9:00 - 10:00 AM
Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30 AM
The 1890s
Chair/Discussant: Kirsten Lodge, The Harriman Institute, Columbia University
- John Malmstad, Harvard University, “Breviary of Decadence: The Early Verse of Valery Briusov”
- Don La Coss, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, "Przybyszewski’s Psychic Naturalism, Berlin/Kraków 1894-1901"
- Neil Stewart, University of Bonn, “The Czech Journal Moderní revue and the Aesthetics of Decadence: The Uses and Usefulness of a Controversial Concept”
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
The Legacy of Decadence
Chair/Discussant: Carol Ueland, Drew University
- George Gasyna, University of Illinois, “When Decadence Met the Avant-Garde: Witkacy, the Dwudziestolicie, and the Atrocity Museum”
- Irene Masing-Delic, The Ohio State University, “Soviet Sophiology: Pil’niak’s ‘Trotskyite’ Struggle with Decadence”
- Polina Barskova, Hampshire College, “Against the Grain of Leningrad: Writing Decadent Petersburg of the 1930s”
This conference is sponsored by: The Harriman Institute of Columbia University, The Department of Slavic Languages of Columbia University, The Department of Slavic Languages of Barnard College, The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures of the University of California, Berkeley, and The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley
For more information, please contact Kirsten Lodge at klb57@columbia.edu or Jonathan Stone at jcstone@berkeley.edu
RSVP is appreciated but not required
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The Occult in 20th Century Russia / Оккультизм в России: Metaphysical Roots of Soviet Civilization
Sunday, 11 March 2007–Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Berlin (European Academy)
Conference “Fachtagung Slavistik”, organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Osteuropakunde (DGO)/ working group ‘Russian and East European Culture” (Prof. Birgit Menzel, University of Mainz/Germersheim), in cooperation with the Harriman Institute/Columbia University (Prof. Catharine Nepomnyashchy)
(languages: English and Russian)
Since the fall of communism, there has been a marked return of religion in post-Soviet Russia. This trend coincides with the revival of religious factors in international relations, especially after 9-11, when what Huntington has called “the clash of civilizations” has become a vital issue. The return of interest in religion can be seen in the sense of a reverence for the great established religions, but also in a wide range of quests for spiritual new orientations. This yearning has been manifested on all levels of society (in high culture as well as a yearning for the spiritual in popular culture and everyday life, expressed often in an interest in unconventional religious practices, in the humanities as well as in the natural and social sciences and politics). The search for some form of spirituality has become a vital issue for individuals as well as larger groups, both in private and public spheres. It reaches far beyond the institutionalized churches and established religions. One of the most fast-growing areas involved on all social levels, is an immersion in the ideas and practices of the occult and esoteric.
Soviet civilization, its claims to “scientific atheism” notwithstanding, was from the very beginning influenced by religion. It defined itself as a purely rational ideocratic society, a society based on work, on science, and an empirical knowledge, yet its cult of the rational was taken to such an extreme that one could talk in terms of a “rationalistic religion”.
Since the 1960 and 1970s, there has been a marked reaction against this “cult of the Rational” and countervailing concepts became popular both in artistic practice and in everyday life. Expressions of reaction against Soviet speak (such as the playful undermining of the official rituals of political self-representation by the Moscow conceptualists; neopagan underground circles; mystical sects and communes in the two capitals and in the ‘provinces’; a revival of eastern religious concepts and philosophy; experiments with drugs and transcendental practices that expand consciousness).
The main issue to be discussed at the conference is, if or how far today’s rejection of the rational and reference to irrational and antirational sources represents a radical break with the rational past of Soviet society or to what extent it represents a continuation of the anti-rational reaction to it, and thus a continuation or an ntensification of elements in Soviet civilization. Questions will include: In which areas and along which lines of conflict does a break occur? What are the effects of the specific Russian idiosyncratic expressions of reactions against the Soviet order and reality (to be found in such cults as an obsession with trash)? Should we view the current “cult of nihilism” that is becoming widespread as purely a negative reaction against the Soviet “cult of humanism”? Where can one pinpoint connections, and where breaks, between the “old (Soviet) cults and the various new ones”? How have the borders between established religions, such as orthodox Christianity, Buddhism/ Hinduism, Judaism and unconventional religious practices to be found in Shamanism and other esoteric beliefs, shifted in this recent turn to the religions?
The conference will bring together scholars from different countries (Germany, Russia, France, America) and different disciplines (anthropology, history, literary scholarship, medicine) to explore relational metaphysical aspects of Soviet and post-Soviet society, while also attempting to put its findings in a comparative context, by comparing trends in the West. The aim is to produce a book based on the conference material which will address this complex topic.
It is quite remarkable the extent to which little concretely is known about spiritual and occult practices and thought in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Hence at the conference itself a crucial aspect will be the sheer collection of information and exchange of ideas between scholars of different countries and disciplines in the aim of advancing this area of knowledge. There are four main topics which the conference will address:
- Material related to spiritual practices in late Soviet society (1960 - late 1980s);
- Influences of neopagan and esoteric concepts in literature and art and their function both within the works, themselves, and in society;
- The role and function of mystical, spiritual and occult ideas in the development of political ideologies;
- The impact of this thought on various sciences (astrophysics, cosmotechnology, eastern and oriental studies, medicine, (para-)psychology etc.).
Participants:
1. Mark Sedgwick (American University, Cairo; History of Religion)
Soviet Dissident Culture under Putin: Alexander Dugin
2. Bernice Rosenthal (Fordham University, New York, History)
Occultism in Fashion: A Historical Perspective (Keynote-Speech)
3. Mikhail Epstejn (Emory University, Atlanta)
Maternye korni sovetskogo materializma
4. Eliot Borenstein (New York University, New York, Literary & Cultural Studies)
The Porous Self: New Age Subjectivity in Post-Soviet Popular Culture
5. Marlene Laruelle (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, History)
Occultism in the Russian Neo-Pagan Movements: In Search of a National and a Natural Spirituality
6. Arkady Rovner (Moscow)
The Gurdjieffian Circles in Moscow – a Participant’s Recollections and Analysis
7. Valentin Nikitin (Moscow)
Ezotericheskie kruzhki i sekty v okrainosti pravoslavnoi cerkvi)
8. Annett Jubara (University of Mainz/Germersheim, Philosophy)
Hermetism and spiritual exclusiveness as communicative structures of post-Stalinist Soviet Science/
Die sowjetische Wissensgesellschaft als religiöse Gemeinschaft? Zum Charakter der alternativen „wissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung“
9. Michael Hagemeister (University of Basel, History)
The Occult Sources of Soviet Space Travel
10. Renata von Maydell (Universität Bochum/Heidelberg, Lit.&Cultural Studies)
Anthroposophy in Early Soviet Russia
11. Matthias Schwartz (Freie Universität Berlin; Lit.&Cultural Studies)
Guests from Outer Space. Science Fiction in the Thaw and its Impact on the Post-Soviet Present
12. Tatyana Meira-Kochetkova (University of Nijmegen/Netherlands; Philosophy)
Parapsychology and Transpersonal Psychology in Russia and in the West
13. Oleg Shishkin (Moskau)
Nachalo okkul’tnogo i paranormal’nogo proekta sovetskikh spetssluzhb: dekabr’ 1924 – avgust 1925 goda
14. Natalja Zhukovskaia (RAN, Moscow; Anthropology and Ethnology)
Shamanizm v srede rossiiskoi intelligentsii (postsovetskoe vremia i prostranstvo)
15. Rebecca Jane Stanton (Columbia University, New York)
Magical Discourses in Soviet Literature to the Thaw
16. Michael Eskin. (Harriman-Institute, New York)
Soul and Spirit: The Case of Bakhtin
17. Markus Osterrieder (Munich)
From Synarchy to Shambala. Political Occultism and Social Messianism in the Dealings of Nicolai Roerikh
18. Catharine Nepomnyashchy (Harriman-Institute, New York)
Closing Statement /Discussant
bmenzel@uni-mainz.de
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THE LJUBLJANA LACANIAN SCHOOL presents FREUD AND THE POLITICAL
Thursday, 01 March 2007, 4:00pm–9:00pm
The Italian Academy at Columbia University
1161 Amsterdam Avenue (between 116th and 118th streets)
New York, NY
PROGRAM
SESSION I: 4.00 – 6.30 PM
Catharine Nepomnyashchy
Welcoming Remarks
Mladen Dolar
“From Hegel to Beckett.”
Alenka Zupančič
“Evil and Comedy.”
Slavoj Žižek
Moderating
RECEPTION: 6.30 - 7.30 PM
SESSION II: 7.30 – 9.00 PM
Slavoj Žižek
“Fear Thy Neighbor As Thyself!”
Joan Copjec
Response
ADMISSION TO THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS. SEATING IS, HOWEVER, EXTREMELY LIMITED. THERE ARE NO TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT.
This conference is sponsored by the Consulate General of Slovenia, the Harriman Institute, the East Central European Center, and the Center for Comparative Literature and Society of Columbia University
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ONI UNESLI S SOBOI ROSSIU-THEY CARRIED RUSSIA WITH THEM INTO EXILE
Friday, 08 December 2006, 9:30am–9:00pm
Graduate Student Lounge, Philosophy Hall
Columbia University
Conference Dedicated to the 65th Anniversary of The New Review
Day 2
The New Review is the oldest Russian-language literary magazine of the Russian emigration that has been published quarterly since 1942 (founded by I. Bunin, M. Aldanov, M. Zetlin). The conference will be dedicated to the history of Russian emigration, to the history of Russian émigré literature/art/music, and to the contribution of Russian émigrés to the culture of Russia and various countries around the world.
Please see full program for details!
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ONI UNESLI S SOBOI ROSSIU-THEY CARRIED RUSSIA WITH THEM INTO EXILE
Thursday, 07 December 2006, 2:00pm–4:00pm
Harison Room (Faculty House, 2nd Floor)
Conference Dedicated to the 65th Anniversary of The New Review
Day 1
The New Review is the oldest Russian-language literary magazine of the Russian emigration that has been published quarterly since 1942 (founded by I. Bunin, M. Aldanov, M. Zetlin). The conference will be dedicated to the history of Russian emigration, to the history of Russian émigré literature/art/music, and to the contribution of Russian émigrés to the culture of Russia and various countries around the world.
Please see full program for details!
For Directions to Faculty House, please see: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/fachouse/directions.html
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Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies
Friday, 01 December 2006, 9:30am–5:30pm
Kellogg Center, 15th floor International Affairs Building
Second Colloquium:
Day 2 of a Two-Day Conference
Eurasian Pipelines and East Asia: A Path to Integration or A Marriage of Convenience?
The 2006/2007 series of colloquia titled “Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies“ hosted by Harriman Institute examines five transnational gas and oil pipeline systems in the Eurasian space.
The second colloquium entitled “Eurasian Pipelines and East Asia: A Path to Integration or A Marriage of Convenience?” on November 30 and December 1, 2006 will bring together American as well as international experts and public figures from a number of nations, including China, Japan, Central Asia and Russia. They will examine the Russian and Kazakh pipelines to the Far East, namely China, Japan, and Korea as well as their political, economic and social impact in the respective regions as well as in the world.
Concurrent to the conference a photo exhibition of pictures of the Lake Baikal region by William Brumfield will be shown.
The event is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute as well as the Center of Energy and Marine Transportation and Public Policy, Columbia University.
This colloquium will be chaired by Professor Jenik Radon.
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- Conference Program
- Download PDF
- Jeremy Maxie - "The New Eurasian Energy Architecture: Will Russia Deliver?"
- Download PDF
- Keun-Wook Paik - "Sino-Russian Oil and Gas Pipelines - The Reality and Implications"
- Download PDF
- Lifan Li - "National Energy Securityand Sino-Russia-Kazakh-Japan Energy Interaction"
- Download PDF
- Tim Gould - " The Energy Charter Treaty - Can it Make a Contribution in East Asia and Eurasia?"
- Download PDF
- Juergen Braeuer - "When Pipelines Become Targets"
- Download PDF
- Gary Cook - "The Siberian Far East Asia Oil Pipeline - Connecting Russian Oil Fields with China and the Pacific"
- Download PDF
- Dimitry Lisitsyn - "Oil Extraction and Sustainable Development on Sakhalin: A Local NGO Perspective"
- Download PDF
- Richard Ericson - "Eurasian Pipelines - A Gordian Knot for Russia and Kazakhstan?"
- Download PDF
- Ailuna Utegenova - "Eurasian Pipelines - The Political and Economic Gordian Knot for Russia and Kazakhstan"
- Download PDF
- Sergei Shapkhaev - "Eurasian Pipelines: A Path to Integration or Degradation?
- Download PDF
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Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies
Thursday, 30 November 2006, 2:00pm–Friday, 01 December 2006, 6:45pm
Kellogg Center, 15th floor International Affairs Building
Second Colloquium:
Day 1 of a Two-Day Conference
Eurasian Pipelines and East Asia: A Path to Integration or A Marriage of Convenience?
The 2006/2007 series of colloquia titled “Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies“ hosted by Harriman Institute examines five transnational gas and oil pipeline systems in the Eurasian space.
The second colloquium entitled “Eurasian Pipelines and East Asia: A Path to Integration or A Marriage of Convenience?” on November 30 and December 1, 2006 will bring together American as well as international experts and public figures from a number of nations, including China, Japan, Central Asia and Russia. They will examine the Russian and Kazakh pipelines to the Far East, namely China, Japan, and Korea as well as their political, economic and social impact in the respective regions as well as in the world.
Concurrent to the conference a photo exhibition of pictures of the Lake Baikal region by William Brumfield will be shown.
The event is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute as well as the Center of Energy and Marine Transportation and Public Policy, Columbia University.
This colloquium will be chaired by Professor Jenik Radon.
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- Conference Program
- Download PDF
- Stephen Blank - "Can East Asia Dare to Tie Its Energy Security to Russia and Kazakhstan?"
- Download PDF
- Tatsuo Masuda - "Energy Security Ties Between East Asia and Central Asia - Power Games or Partnership?"
- Download PDF
- Nicolas Dutreix - "Cooperating with Nature - Going Beyond What is Done"
- Download PDF
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The Examined Life: The Literature and Politics of Václav Havel
Saturday, 11 November 2006, 10:00am–6:00pm
Room 1501 International Affairs Building
A Symposium in Honor of the Columbia University Residency of Václav Havel
Morning Session on Literature: 10:00-12:30
Welcome and Opening Remarks by Catharine Nepomnyashchy (Director, Harriman Institute)
Moderator: Christopher Harwood (Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University)
Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz
(Professor at the University of British Columbia, author of The Silenced Theatre: Czech Playwrights Without a Stage, and co-editor of Critical Essays on Václav Havel)
"Václav Havel's Theater: Plays for Our Times"
Paul Wilson
(Freelance writer, editor and translator of, among others, Havel, Škvorecký, Hrabal, and Klíma)
"Reading Havel: Remarks on a Life in Translation"
Peter Steiner
(Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Penn-in-Prague Program, and author, most recently, of The Deserts of Bohemia: Czech Fiction and its Social Context)
"The Power of the Image: Vaclav Havel's Visual Poetry"
Carol Rocamora
(Professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and author of the new biography Acts of Courage: Václav Havel’s Life in the Theater)
"Havel's Drama on the English-Speaking Stage"
Afternoon Session on Politics: 2:00-4:30
Moderator: Bradley Abrams (Associate Professor, History Department, Columbia University)
Ambassador Martin Palouš
(Czech Ambassador to the United Nations, former Czech Ambassador to the United States and former spokesperson of Charter 77)
"What Antipolitical Politics Is and What It Is Not”
Jiří Pehe
(Director, NYU in Prague, former Director of the Political Department of Havel’s Presidential Office)
"Václav Havel: From a Political Dissident to a Dissident Politician"
Petr Pithart
(First Deputy Chairperson and former Chairperson of the Czech Senate, former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, and leading dissident in communist Czechoslovakia)
"The Dissident and Intellectual in Politics: The Three Roles of Václav Havel"
Reception: 4:30-6:00
RSVP to havelsym@harrimaninstitute.org
For more information on the Havel residency, please see: http://www.havel.columbia.edu
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1956 and Its Impact on the Soviet Bloc
Thursday, 02 November 2006, 9:00am–Friday, 03 November 2006, 4:00pm
1501 International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St., NYC
Sponsored by Columbia University’s East Central European Center, the Harriman Institute and the Institute for the Study of Europe
Welcome Remarks by Volker Berghahn and Donald Blinken
Keynote Lecture by Charles Gati (Johns Hopkins University)
Panel I: The Secret Speech and its Impact in Russia
Panel II: Events in Poland
Feature Film: Freedom’s Fury
Panel III: Events in Hungary
Concurrent exhibits: The Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw
This conference was made possible by the generosity of the Semper Polonia Foundation (Warsaw), the Kosciuszko Foundation (New York), the Bito Fund of the East Central European Center, and the Harriman Institute.
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Commemoration of Nadiya Svitlychna, a heroine of the human rights movement
Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 9:00am–3:35pm
Room 1501, International Affairs Building (15th floor), Columbia University, 420 W. 118th St.
The Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University,
and the General Petro Grigorenko Foundation,
invite you to an event about past and present human rights:
“The 6th Annual Grigorenko Readings:
A Commemoration of the Life of Nadiya Svitlychna,
Heroine of the Soviet, Ukrainian and Russian Human Rights Movements"
SCHEDULE:
9:00-9:30am: Breakfast buffet (outside Room 1501)
9:30-9:40am: Introductory words by Prof. Mark von Hagen (Columbia University)
9:40-10:00am: Slideshow remembering Nadiya Svitlychna, by photographer Irenaeus Yurchuk
10:00am-12:00pm: Panel Discussion #1: “The Life and Work of Nadiya Svitlychna”
Speakers:
ANDREW GRIGORENKO (General Petro Grigorenko Foundation): "Nadiya Svitlychna and Her Time"
ANNA PROCYK (City University of New York): "Nadiya Svitlychna through the Prism of Amnesty International"
PAVEL LITVINOV (General Petro Grigorenko Foundation) "Nadiya and Ivan Svitlychny and Russian Dissidents"
Moderated by Dr. Yuri Shevchuk (Columbia University)
12:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch buffet (outside Room 1501)
1:30pm-3:30pm: Panel Discussion #2: “The Contemporary Human Rights Situation in Ukraine and the Post-Soviet Sphere”
Speakers:
NINA OGNIANOVA (Committee to Protect Journalists): "The State of Press Freedom in Ukraine and Ukraine's Position among Post-Soviet Democracies"
MYROSLAVA GONGADZE (Gongadze Foundation): "Using International Pressure to Improve Human Rights and Media Freedom in Ukraine"
STEVE SESTANOVICH (Columbia University): "U.S. Government Leverage to Encourage Compliance with Human Rights Expectations in the Post-Soviet Region"
Moderated by Mark von Hagen
3:30pm-3:35pm: Closing words by Mark von Hagen
WHEN: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
WHERE: Room 1501, International Affairs Building (15th floor), Columbia University, 420 W. 118th St., New York, NY, 10027
Free and open to the public. RSVP requested. For more information, please contact Diana Howansky at ukrainianstudies@columbia.edu or 212-854-4697.
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29th Arden House Conference
Friday, 21 April 2006–Sunday, 23 April 2006
Harvard University
Davis Center
Cambridge, MA
After a rather harmonious 1st term relationship between George Bush and Vladimir Putin, their 2nd terms show signs of tension. Russians are critical of the U.S. role in Iraq, U.S. troops in Central Asia, U.S. pressure on Iran and North Korea and what they see as unfair U.S. interference and criticism of Russian domestic policy. At the same time, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have criticized the elimination of elections for Governor and curbs on freedom of the press. World business has also been shaken by the re-nationalization of Yukos and the cutoff of gas deliveries to Ukraine and Moldova. Some U.S. Congressmen want to keep Russia out of the G-7.
We will examine these and other issues on April 21-23, at our 29th annual Arden House Conference. Sponsored by both the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard and the Harriman Institute at Columbia, the sessions bring together practitioners and academic specialists from both Russia and the West in an atmosphere of informality, which facilitates the free exchange of ideas and differences of opinion.
In addition to specialists from Harvard University and Columbia, other confirmed specialists include two Russian legislators: Mikhail Margelov of United Russia and one of the founders of the Rodina Party, Sergei Glaziev. Thomas Graham—Condoleeza Rice’s special assistant for Russian policy—will deliver the keynote address. There will also be sessions on Russian energy policy and the prospects for Russian NGOs.
For the first time, the conference this year will be at Harvard University’s Davis Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The conference will begin Friday evening, April 21st and adjourn after lunch on Sunday. All meals (including the Friday night dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club) are included as part of the conference fee. For those needing hotel rooms we have arranged a special package with the nearby Sheraton Commander Hotel. We hope that you and your associates can join us for what promises to be one of the most interesting of the 29 such conferences.
For more information, contact Marshall I. Goldman at or telephone 617-495-4485, or Robert Price at rfprice@fas.harvard.edu or telephone 617-495-8900.
Link to website
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Russian-Jewish New York
Tuesday, 04 April 2006–Thursday, 06 April 2006
By the beginning of the 20th century New York had become the city with the largest Jewish community in the world. One hundred years later it continues to retain its importance as the city with the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora. The majority of Jews residing in New York are either the descendants of immigrants from the Russian Empire or people who came from the Soviet Union and the territories of the former USSR. For many decades the Jewish and the Russian languages were their main venue of communication and self-expression.
The conference will focus on a diverse number of problems related to the phenomenon of Russian-Jewish New York, from the time of its coming into existence at the end of the 19th century, when tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire set off in search of a better life across the ocean, to the present day. Among the topics to be discussed during the conference are the problems of adaptation and everyday life of immigrants, the development of a new identity and culture, including periodicals in Russian and Yiddish, participation in political activities, etc.
Link to website
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Orthodoxy and Identity in Post-Atheist Russia
Friday, 31 March 2006, 10:00am–5:00pm
Graduate Student Lounge, Philosophy Hall
In the decade and a half since the fall of the Soviet Union, religion has emerged as an undeniable force in Russia’s political, social and cultural life. The presence of religion, faith and spirituality can be traced in the most individual to the most public spheres in today’s Russia – from the sacralization of personal space and behavior, to religious discourse and controversy in the media and the arts, to ongoing debates about religious institutions’ role or responsibility in the country’s political, social and economic structures.
The flurry of religious enthusiasm in the immediate post-Soviet period has given way to a more nuanced and at times problematic role and function of religion in contemporary Russia. This is particularly true for Russian Orthodoxy, whose position as the majority religion affords it institutional and social influence as well as heightened responsibility and accountability. Against the backdrop of the political and social culture of the Putin presidency, Orthodoxy finds itself negotiating a variety of internal and external forces as it defines itself and its place in today’s Russia.
The aim of this conference is to bring together experts from various disciplines and perspectives – journalists, political scientists, scholars of literature, history and theology – to discuss the role of religion in Russia’s public and private spheres. In doing so, the conference will assess where the Orthodox Church, religion and spirituality fits in our understanding of Russia’s present and future.
Contact ne99@columbia.edu for further details and registration information
The event is sponsored in part by the Columbia University Graduate Student Advisory Council
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ASN 2006 World Convention
Thursday, 23 March 2006–Saturday, 25 March 2006
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
100 PANELS, MORE THAN 300 PAPERS ON CENTRAL EUROPE, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, THE CAUCASUS, EURASIA, TURKEY, THE BALKANS, AND NATIONALISM STUDIES
The preliminary program of the ASN 2006 World Convention is now available at http://www.nationalities.org/ASN_2006_Prelim_Program.pdf. A registration form can also be downloaded at http://www.nationalities.org/ASN_2006_REGISTRATION_FORM.pdf. The Convention, sponsored by the Harriman Institute, will be held at Columbia University, New York, March 23-25, 2006.
The program features 100 panels, not yet including up to ten film screenings to be announced later. As usual, the Convention boasts the most international lineup of panelists of North American-based conventions, with more than half of the 307 scholars who will be delivering papers (54 percent, from 42 countries, the same numbers as last year) currently based outside of the United States. More than 600 panelists and participants are expected at the convention.
The Convention will be hosting six special panels featuring new major books by Rogers Brubaker (Ethnicity Without Groups, Harvard 2004), Yuri Slezkine (The Jewish Century, Princeton 2005), Jack Snyder (Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War, MIT, 2005, co-written with Edward D. Mansfield), V. P. "Chip" Gagnon, Jr., (The Myth of Ethnic War, Cornell 2004), Francine Hirsch (Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union, Cornell 2005), and Yoshiko Herrera (Imagined Economies, Cambridge 2005).
The Brubaker book panel is part of the section "Theories of Nationalism," now in its third year at the ASN Convention, which offers a platform for the latest trends in nationalism studies worldwide. "Nationalism" features eleven panels, such as "The Causes of Violent Conflicts," "Nationalism and Self-Determination," "Asymmetric Federalism Unrivalled: The Institutional Design of Peace Settlements," and "Nationalism in the Middle East." Charles Tilly, Paul Brass, Michael Hechter, Roger Petersen, Andreas Wimmer and John McGarry will be among the panelists.
The Convention is also introducing a "Romania Day" (Saturday March 25), featuring four consecutive Romania-related panels, and the annual meeting of the Society for Romanian Studies, which will be held at ASN for the first time. These panels are part of a record number of seventeen panels for the Central Europe section, six of which involving historians, a growing constituency at ASN. The American Association of Ukrainian Studies will also hold its annual meeting at ASN, amidst the large offering of Ukraine-related panels (thirteen). A special roundtable on the March parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which will take place the day after the convention closes, will be of the numerous highlights of the Ukraine section.
As always, the Convention offers a strong lineup of panels in all regions of the former Communist world and Eurasia: Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia/Turkey, the Balkans and, as mentioned above, Ukraine and Central Europe. Every year, the Program Committee has to be more selective in devising the lineup, due to the increasing number of proposals. Russia and the Caucasus will have a combined 13 panels, Eurasia and Turkey - a combined 15, the Balkans -a dozen. Thirteen panels appear in the "Thematic" section. Three panels on Oil Politics, a panel and a new documentary on Chechnya, two panels on the Kurds, panels on Kosovo and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, three panels on the Roma, three panels on the "Colored Revolutions," and a panel on "Nationalism and Islam" are among the highlights of the program.
The Convention will also feature a film lineup, which will be announced in late February.
Since 2005, the ASN Convention is acknowledging excellence in graduate studies research in offering Awards for Best Graduate Student Papers in five sections: Russia/Ukraine/Caucasus, Central Asia/Eurasia, Central Europe, Balkans, and Nationalism Studies. The winners at the 2005 Convention were Lisa Koriouchkina (Brown U, Anthropology, Russia/Ukraine/Caucasus), Evangelos Liaras (MIT, Political Science, Central Asia/Eurasia), Shannon Woodcock (U of Tirana, Anthropology, Central Europe), Jessica Greenberg (U of Chicago, Anthropology, Balkans), and Bijita Majumdar (Rutgers U, Sociology, Nationalism Studies). Several dozens doctoral students will be eligible for awards at the 2006 Convention.
We look forward to seeing you at the convention!
100For practical information regarding the convention, please contact Gordon Bardos (gnb12@columbia.edu, 212 854 8487). For information on panels, please contact Dominique Arel (darel@uottawa.ca) or Sherrill Stroschein (s.stroschein@ucl.ac.uk).
Link to website
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Nepal Conference
Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 2:00pm–6:30pm
Kellogg Center 15th floor International Affairs Building
The Southern Asian Institute and The South Asian Graduate Students Association of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs present:
Nepal: The Himalayan Hotspot from Shangri-la to ... ?
This half-day conference will focus on the possibilities, as well as the problems and challenges, in the strategically located kingdom of Nepal today and look at the prospects for the future.
Nepalese and foreign experts and public figures from different professional fields will present their views and analyses of the political, economic, and social situation in this landlocked South Asian country embedded between China and India, discuss the issues, and hopefully conclude with recommendations for the way forward.
Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepal’s Prime Minister from 1995-1997, 2001-2002, and from 2004-2005, who was released from prison last month by an order of Nepal’s Supreme Court after being sentenced to two years in prison in July 2005 under corruption charges, will make a key presentation.
This colloquium will be hosted by Professor Jenik Radon, Harriman Institute, SIPA, Columbia University, with the support of Khagendra Gharti-Chhetry, Esq., Chhetry & Associates, P.C. Professor Catherine Nepomnyashchy, Director of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University will open the conference.
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"From My Wondrous, Beautiful Far-Away": Modern Russian Literature in Retrospect - A Conference In Memory of Robert A. Maguire
Friday, 17 March 2006–Sunday, 19 March 2006
NEW LOCATION: Social Hall, Union Theological Seminary (3041 Broadway at 121st Street)
Rus! Rus! I see thee, from my wondrous, beautiful far-away, thee I see: all is poor, scattered and comfortless in thee; the gaze will be neither gladdened nor awe-struck by bold marvels of nature crowned by bold marvels of art…
--Gogol, Dead Souls (trans. Robert A. Maguire), Part I, Chapter 11
Panels:
Gogol and Self-Fashioning
Defamiliarizing Formalism
Joys of High Stalinism
Sickness, Rehabilitation, and Death
The Narrative of Space and Space of the Narrative
Neither Iron nor Ironic: Russian-Western Metabolism Reconsidered
Metaphysical and Ethical Legacies of Russian Realism
The Dionysian Element
Reconfiguring Narrative Perspectives
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Crossing Boundaries, Spanning Regions: Movements of People, Goods and Ideas
Friday, 10 March 2006, 10:00am–6:00pm
301 Philosophy Hall
Graduate Student Conference Presented by Center for International History
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Assessing Social Change in Central
Asia
Thursday, 09 March 2006, 9:00am–5:00pm
Kellogg Center 15th floor International Affairs Building
Panels:
1. Defining Some Parameters for Social Change in Central Asia
2. Women and Development in Central Asia
3. The State as the Agent of Social Change
For details, please see the full program.
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Uzbekistan and the Andijon Massacre One Year Later: The Politics of Tragedy
Monday, 06 March 2006, 1:00pm–5:00pm
Kellogg Center 15th floor (Room 1501) International Affairs Building
On May 13, 2005, a week that had begun with rows of relatives and friends of a group on trial in Andijon sitting in support had within a few days drawn crowds of several thousand onto the Babur Square and into the streets culminated in a sudden attack by troops of Uzbekistan’s army and special forces that fired into the crowd. The pretext was that there were armed Islamist militants among the crowd. The resulting deaths were estimated at close to a thousand by local residents, but placed at less than two hundred by the government. The call for an international investigation into the event by many human rights organizations and European countries continues to be rejected by the Uzbekistan government. This conference will explore the actions of many participants on that day with insights from survivors and the analysis of specialists on the region.
PROGRAM:
PRESENTERS:
Galima Bukharbaeva
(Press Freedom Group Andijon 2005 and Columbia School of Journalism)
“Andijon and the Evidence of Massacre”
Peter Sinnott
(Lecturer, Harriman and Middle East Institutes, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University)
“The Andijon Massacre: Karimov’s Uzbekistan and the Politics of Morality”
Alisher Ilkhomov
(Research Associate, SOAS, University of London)
“Are the “Akromia” an Extremist Movement or the Beginning of an Islamic Social Democracy?"
Lutfullo Shamsuddinov
(Chairman, Andijon branch of the Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan)
“An Eyewitness Account of the May Events in Andijon”
Acacia Shields
(Senior Researcher on Central Asia, Human Rights Watch)
“The Government’s Crackdown Following the Andijon Massacre”
DISCUSSANT
Sergei Kalamytsau
(Central Asian Program Researcher, International League of Human Rights)
Program is subject to change.
Refreshments to follow.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
CO-SPONSORED BY THE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIOANL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
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Identity and Social Change in Russia
Friday, 03 March 2006, 9:00am–6:00pm
Room 1512 International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10027
This conference is co-sponsored by the Harriman Institute and ISE (Information. Scholarship. Education.) Center (Russia)
Panels:
Imperial Legacies Affecting Identities
Identity and Social Change
Russian Identity and Globalization
Transforming Identities: A View through the Lens of Language
Papers available upon request. Please contact Kevin Laney at kel1@columbia.edu.
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Rationalist Approaches to Empire: Theoretical Contributions and Limits
Friday, 10 February 2006, 10:00am–4:00pm
Kellogg Center 15th floor International Affairs Building
This two-session conference - hosted by Columbia University's Harriman Institute – will bring a group of recognized scholars and critics from various social science disciplines to present their work on rationalism and the study of empire, imperialism and international hierarchy. In the morning session, Alexander Cooley (Barnard College and Harriman Institute member) will present the main argument from his new book Logics of Hierarchy (Cornell U. Press, 2005) that forms of hierarchical organization are more important for determining imperial and post-imperial political outcomes than prevailing ideologies and/or identities. In the afternoon session, Michael Hechter (Global Studies, Arizona State), David Lake (Political Science, UCSD) and Daniel Nexon (Government, Georgetown) will present their current theoretical work on topics. Joining the panelists at both sessions will be discussants Jane Burbank (History, NYU), Fred Cooper (History, NYU), and Alexander Motyl (Political Science, Rutgers). Among the issues that the participants will consider are: Can rationalist paradigms and incentive-based theories be fruitfully applied to empires that span different cultures, geographical settings and historical eras? What are the comparative strengths of rationalist versus identity-based understandings of imperial legacies and post-imperial institutions? And how far can concepts formulated in one discipline travel across other disciplines? Both panels will allow time for comments and questions from the audience. We hope you will join us at Columbia University on February 10th for what promises to be a stimulating set of presentations and interdisciplinary dialogues.
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- Conference Program
- Download PDF
- Daniel Nexon
"Empires and International Relations Theory"
- Download PDF
- David Lake
"Hierarchy in International Relations: Authority, Sovereignty, and the New Structure of World Politics"
- Download PDF
- Michael Hechter
"Alien Rule and Its Discontents"
- Download PDF
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Caspian Conference
Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 10:00am–5:00pm
Kellogg Center 15th floor International Affairs Building
The Caspian Project of the Middle East & Harriman Institutes of
Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs
Thanks to a generous gift from Corsair Partners LLC presents a conference: Reassessing the Caspian: Development and its Impediments
10:00-11:30 Panel I The Changing Geopolitics of the Caspian
Peter Sinnott, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University
“The Caspian within its Central Asian and Caucasus context”
Anu Panil, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University
“India’s Quest for Energy Security in Central Asia”
Leila Alieva, President, Center for National and International Studies
“Azerbaijan in the Geopolitics of the Caspian”
11:30-1:00 Panel II Economic Development and Energy Systems
Najia Badykova-Shaimardan, George Washington University
“Gas in the economic strategies of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan”
Leila Kulbaeva, AES, Almaty
“Overview of Power Sector of Central Asian Countries and RAO UES”
1:00-2:00 Lunch Break
2:15-2:45
Nikolas Gvosdev, The National Interest
“America’s Caspian Dilemmas”
2:45-4:00 Panel III Environmental and Legal Issues
Barbara Janusz, Freie Universitaet, Berlin
“New Prospects for the settement of the legal status of the Caspian Sea”
Shannon O’Lear, University of Kansas
“Resource wealth and human security in Azerbaijan”
4pm Keynote Address
Magzhan Auezov, Managing Director, Kazkommerts Bank
“The Development Challenge for the Caspian”
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