On his 70th Birthday, Russian Institute Alumnus Stephen F. Cohen Receives Tributes from Gorbachev and Yevtushenko
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
In connection with his "Jubilee" birthday later this year, thirty-five of Cohen's Russian friends and colleagues contributed to a book in his honor, Stiven Koen i Sovetskii Soiuz/Rossiia (Stephen Cohen and the Soviet Union/Russia), which has just been published in Moscow. Contributors include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who wrote the foreword, and the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Here are their tributes, translated by George Shriver.
Stephen Cohen is Professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University and a contributing editor to the NATION.
Link to full article
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Voices of the Russian-Jewish Diaspora: An Autobiography Contest for the 21st Century
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
This past year marked the 40th anniversary of the Let My People Go campaign, a political movement started by a handful of dissidents and Zionists in the Soviet Union that sought free Jewish emigration. This group attracted supporters in Israel, the United States and Western Europe. Through the tireless work of human rights workers throughout the world, refuseniks and prisoners of Zion forced the Soviet government to allow increasing numbers of Jews to emigrate. But what made emigration a true mass movement was ordinary Jewish families—and many non-Jews—in Riga, Kiev, Moscow, Odessa, Novosibirsk and other cities and towns across the Soviet Union. They made the often risky decision to leave their native country and to face an uncertain future abroad. They applied for an exit visa despite the danger of being left for years in limbo, without a job or a means of subsistence, if they were refused permission to emigrate.
Following examples set by early-twentieth century scholars such as Max Weinreich of the Yiddish Institute for Jewish Research and Boris Bakhmeteff of Columbia University, Rebecca Kobrin, a member of Columbia University’s History Department and Harriman Institute, seeks to collect autobiographical accounts of Russian-Jewish émigrés, before their crucial personal recollections that provide “full and free picture” of this era are lost. These autobiographies will serve as a time-capsule for today’s and tomorrow’s scholars concerned with Jewish life in the former Soviet Union as well as immigrant Jewish life in the age of mass migration and globalization.
We encourage everyone to write up their stories with honesty and accuracy. Not only will each submission be eligible for a monetary prize but those judged to be of the greatest historical and literary value will be published in a volume for world-wide distribution.
Follow link for more information and contest guidelines.
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Professor Padma Desai Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award from "India Abroad"
Thursday, 01 May 2008
Padma Desai and husband Jagdish Bhagwati were honored by "India Abroad" magaginze with Lifetime Achievement awards, presented by Salman Rushdie, at a ceremony held on March 28th in New York. Bhagwati, University Professor at Columbia and a leading free-trade economist, and Desai, the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems, are credited with helping create a blueprint for India's modernization through their book, "India: Planning for Industrialization" (1970).
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Lynn Garafola, Recipient of Barnard College's 34th Emily Gregory Award, Curates Exhibit on Jerome Robbins
Thursday, 01 May 2008
Lynn Garafola, Professor of Dance, is the Recipient of the 34th Annual Emily Gregory Award. The award recognizes one Barnard College professor for outstanding performance in the classroom. Nominated by a Barnard student through a formal essay, the recipient is honored for having made a significant contribution to the academic community through her teaching.
In other news, Garafola curated the exhibit "New York Story: Jerome Robbins and His Word" for the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts. The exhibit runs through June 28, 2008.
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Harriman Institute hosts 13th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities
Friday, 18 April 2008
Reported by Camilla Louise Lyngsby
The crown jewels of the study of nationalism, ethnic conflict, and ethnic conflict resolution in the post-communist world were on display last week at Columbia University.
The Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) kicked off its 13th annual world convention, hosted by the Harriman Institute, on April 10, 2008. The three-day convention drew more than 500 international scholars from 40 countries, and about 40 percent of the delegates had to cross the Atlantic or the Pacific oceans before checking-in on the Upper West Side.
For full text, see link or PDF:
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Kimberly Marten, Member of the Harriman Delegation to Turkmenistan last month, Writes in the DAILY STAR that the West Should Encourage Turkmenistan's Tentative Steps
Thursday, 17 April 2008
"Turkmenistan, a country rich in natural gas and strategically located on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan, may be on the brink of transformation. By reforming its educational system and giving its citizens access to global sources of information, the country could emerge as a leader of change in post-Soviet Central Asia, setting an example of openness for other closed societies, including North Korea."
"Turkmenistan's president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has repeatedly and publicly announced his reformist intentions. The world needs to welcome this possibility and back his efforts."
Kimberly Marten is Professor of Political Science, Barnard College.
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Harriman Director Catharine Nepomnyashchy Co-Authors Report on Distance Learning
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Klaus Segbers of the Free University of Berlin and Catharine Nepomnyashchy have published an article on "Distance Learning: The Future of Regional Studies?" in AAASS NewsNet. The article is based on a roundtable held at the 2007 AAASS National Conference in New Orleans. Segbers is the Founding Director of East European Studies Online, run by the Center for Global Politics of Freie Universitaet Berlin; Nepomnyashchy has taught as a tutor in that program.
"It is important that we in regoinal studies view online learning as a promise rather than a threat. There is no reason to believe that traditional academic institutions will disappear, but adapt they must. The Internet is an extraordinarily powerful learning aid, and our students have already embraced it with enthusiasm. If we do not incorporate it into our own teaching as well, we will be left in the dust."
Follow the link to read more of the article.
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Cornell University Press Publishes "BASE POLITICS," New Book by Alexander Cooley
Monday, 14 April 2008
"BASE POLITICS: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas" Published by Alexander Cooley, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Barnard College
In "Base Politics," Alexander Cooley examines how domestic politics in different host countries, especially in periods of democratic transition, affect the status of U.S. bases and the degree to which the U.S. military has become a part of their local and national landscapes. Drawing on exhaustive field research in different host nations across East Asia and Southern Europe, as well as the new postcommunist base hosts in the Black Sea and Central Asia, Cooley offers an original and provocative account of how and why politicians in host countries contest or accept the presence of the U.S. military on their territory.
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Ohio State University Press Publishes "The Chekhovian Intertext: Dialogue with a Classic" by Lyudmila Parts
Wednesday, 02 April 2008
Studies of the Harriman Institute has added a new title--"The Chekhovian Intertext: Dialogue with a Classic" by Lyudmila Parts--just released by Ohio State University Press.
In "The Chekhovian Intertext," Parts explores contemporary Russian writers’ intertextual engagement with Chekhov and his myth. She offers a new interpretative framework to explain the role Chekhov and other classics play in constructing and maintaining Russian national identity and the reasons for the surge in the number of intertextual engagements with the classical authors during the cultural crisis in post-perestroika Russia.
The book highlights the intersection of three distinct concepts: cultural memory, cultural myth, and intertextuality. It is precisely their interrelation that explains how intertextuality came to function as a defense mechanism of culture, a reaction of cultural memory to the threat of its disintegration.
Lyudmila Parts is Assistant Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at McGill University. She received her Ph.D. in Russian Literature from Columbia University in 2002.
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Harriman Director Catharine Nepomnyashchy Weighs in on "Dumbing Russia Down" in the International Edition of NEWSWEEK
Monday, 31 March 2008
According to Director Catharine Nepomnyashchy, "The [Russian] government has effectively consolidated control over the mass media, while a popular entertainment culture of soap operas and game shows, detective novels and astrology has flourished, marginalizing the once respected and influential voices of the creative intelligentsia."
Follow the link to read the entire article by Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova.
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Professor Lincoln Mitchell Analyzes Presidential Elections in Armenia, Georgia and Russia for TRANSITIONS ONLINE
Monday, 31 March 2008
"Presidential races in Georgia, Armenia and Russia were not just bumps on the road to democracy, and that’s a big problem for democracy advocates."
"Georgia, Russia and Armenia have all held presidential elections this year, and in each case, the outcomes demonstrate that efforts to strengthen democracy are either stagnant or, more worryingly, failing."
Lincoln A. Mitchell is the Arnold A. Saltzman assistant professor in the Practice of International Politics.
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On eve of NATO Summit, HI Assistant Director Gordon N. Bardos and co-author argue for more NATO and EU engagement in Southeastern Europe
Thursday, 27 March 2008
In an op-ed piece in the UK’s Guardian, HI Assistant Director Gordon N. Bardos and Borut Grgic of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia argue "The current violence in the divided Kosovan city of Mitrovica - the flashpoint for Europe's newest frozen conflict - is a stark reminder of the potential dangers facing southeastern Europe after Kosovo's declaration of independence. But Kosovo is not the only place in southeastern Europe experiencing serious problems: Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia are all going through crises of their own. The EU and the US urgently need to confront these regional problems head-on if the Balkans' Euro-Atlantic integration efforts are to succeed."
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"THE PITFALLS OF AID," co-authored by Lincoln Mitchell and David Philips, Published in TOL (Transitions Online)
Sunday, 23 March 2008
According to Mitchell and Philips, "America’s next administration needs to rethink how it advocates democracy.... President George W. Bush has, however, discredited democracy assistance by using Iraq’s democratization as justification for military action after the fact. In addition, America’s moral authority has been undermined by the Bush administration’s apparent disregard for the rule of law at Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo and by the rendition of suspects to countries that practice torture."
Lincoln A. Mitchell is the Saltzman Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Politics at the School of International and Public Affairs. David L. Phillips is a visiting scholar at Columbia University and a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. This column was condensed from their report, “Enhancing Democracy Assistance,” published in January by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Columbia University and the Atlantic Council.
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PENGUIN CLASSICS UK Publishes Robert A. Maguire's Translation of Dostoyevsky's DEMONS
Wednesday, 05 March 2008
Penguin Classics UK has announced the publication of Dostoyevsky's DEMONS in a new translation by the late Robert A. Maguire, long-time member of the Columbia Slavic Department. Robert Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages, provided the introduction; Ronald Meyer, Harriman Institute Publications Editor, prepared the manuscript for publication and wrote the editorial notes and commentary.
The U.S. edition is scheduled for June 2008.
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Special Guest Colummnist Padma Desai writes on "Freedom and Order" in NEWSWEEK's International Edition.
Tuesday, 04 March 2008
In her column published on February 29th in NEWSWEEK, Padma Desai (Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems) writes that the "West underestimates the prospects for the gradual emergence of a democracy in the land of Stalin and Lenin."
"The laserlike focus on Vladimir Putin and Kremlin maneuverings from most Western commentators on Russia has overlooked a critical fact: the lives of ordinary Russians today are far better than ever before. The economy has grown at an average of 6.5 percent annually for the past seven years, giving Russians occupational mobility, higher earnings and an improved standard of living reflected in housing, cars, telephones and travel. The poverty rate has declined from 30 percent in the early '90s to nearly 10 percent now. Russian households now deposit rubles, not dollars, in their bank accounts and hold them at home."
Follow the link to read the entire column.
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"POETIC AFFAIRS," New Book by Michael Eskin, Published by Stanford University Press
Monday, 25 February 2008
Stanford University Press has just released "Poetic Affairs: Celan, Grünbein, Brodsky," by Harriman Institute faculty member Michael Eskin (Associate Professor, Germanic Languages).
"Poetic Affairs" deals with the complex and fascinating interface between literature and life through the prism of the lives and works of three outstanding poets: the German-Jewish poet and Holocaust survivor, Paul Celan (1920–1970); the Leningrad native, U.S. poet laureate, and Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996); and Germany's premier contemporary poet, Durs Grünbein (born 1962). Focusing on their poetic dialogues with such interlocutors as Shakespeare, Seneca, and Byron, respectively—veritable love affairs unfolding in and through poetry—Eskin offers unprecedented readings of Celan's, Brodsky's, and Grünbein's lives and works and discloses the ways in which poetry articulates and remains faithful to the manifold "truths"—historical, political, poetic, erotic—determining human existence.
Link to full article
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Harriman Institute Delegation to Visit Turkmenistan in March
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
As a follow up to the visit of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan to Columbia University as part of the 2007 World Leaders Forum, a delegation of faculty members from the Harriman Institute will visit Turkmenistan in mid-March 2008 at the invitation of the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan. The delegation will consist of Catharine Nepomnyashchy (Director of the Harriman Institute), Kimberly Marten, Alexander Cooley, Rafis Abazov, and Jenik Radon. The goal of the visit, outlined in conversations with President Berdimuhamedov and Minister of Education Muhammetgeldi Annaamanov while they were in New York last September, will be to explore opportunities for future collaboration with Columbia University and the Harriman Institute. The officials of the government of Turkmenistan have indicated their interest in developing student and faculty exchanges and cooperating in various fields of research in the social sciences, the arts and humanities, the natural sciences, medicine, and energy. They have also expressed interest in discussing the implementation of a scholarship program, on the order of the Bolashak Program sponsored by the government of Kazakhstan, which would fund study abroad for Turkmenistani students. This government-sponsored program is projected to start in 2008 or 2009 and is to fully fund the education of Turkmenistani students at foreign universities. The program administrators have expressed keen interest in sending students to Columbia.
During their stay in Turkmenistan, Harriman faculty members will also visit several leading universities to study their curricula so as to be in a position to make informed suggestions on curriculum reform. While in Turkmenistan, Harriman faculty members will deliver presentations on their research and teaching to Turkmenistani students and faculty members.
It is hoped that this trip will not only facilitate durable academic ties between Turkmenistan and Columbia University and strengthen Columbia University’s international research and pedagogical goals both at home and abroad, but that it will also serve as a model for Harriman Institute-sponsored outreach to other countries in the Eurasian region.
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Catharine Nempomnyashchy discusses Alexander Pushkin's African heritage in The Root
Friday, 08 February 2008
Catharine Nempomnyashchy, Director of the Harriman Institute, explores Pushkin's African roots in The Root, a daily online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today's news from a variety of African-American perspectives. Nempomnyashchy examines the historical legacy of Pushkin's African heritage and its perception among Russians then and now.
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Alexander Cooley Examines "Central Asia: U.S. Bases and Democratization"
Thursday, 07 February 2008
In his article published in the latest issue of ORBIS (Winter 2008), Alexander Cooley (Assistant Professor, Political Science) examines the local political and economic impact of the U.S. military basing presence in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Cooley explores how initial basing arrangements, concluded shortly after Sept. 11 to support U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, became increasingly controversial politically for these base hosts and entangled in their domestic politics.
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Emigration, Displacement and Loss in Polish Poetry: An Interview with Anna Frajlich
Monday, 04 February 2008
Cynthia Haven talks to Anna Frajlich (Senior Lecturer, Dept. Slavic Languages) about exile, aesthetics, ethics and more, in the work of Zbigniew Herbert. The interview is published on the Words Without Borders Forum, along with another interview regarding Herbert's "Apollo and Marsyas."
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"Dreaming of a Democratic Russia" by HI Alumna Sarah Mendelson Published in "The American Scholar"
Monday, 28 January 2008
The Winter 2008 issue of The American Scholar features an article by HI alumna Sarah Mendelson (Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC) entitled “Dreaming of a Democratic Russia.” Mendelson’s piece is a personal and political essay about what it was like to work in Moscow in the early 1990s on democracy promotion, and a comparison of where we are in Russia and the U.S. today.
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Stephen Sestanovich Is Quoted in TIME Magazine's Profile of Vladimir Putin as Person of the Year 2007
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Stephen Sestanovich, Davis Professor for the Practice of International Diplomacy, recalls the economic conditions in Russia when Putin came to power:
"The '90s sucked," says Stephen Sestanovich, a Columbia University professor who was the State Department's special adviser for the new Independent States of the former Soviet Union under President Bill Clinton. "Putin managed to play on the resentment that Russians everywhere were feeling." Indeed, by the time Putin took over in late 1999, there was nowhere to fall but up. (Time)
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Lincoln Mitchell, Saltzman Professor in the Practice of International Politics, is Interviewed by RIA Novosti on the Presidential Elections in Georgia
Thursday, 10 January 2008
According to Mitchell, "Saakashvili is no longer the presidient with 96 % of the vote. He is the president with 52% of the vote... His claim on a mandate is much weaker. It will be much more difficult for him to govern without input from people outside his party."
See the article for the full interview.
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In "RUSSIA BY THE NUMBERS," Published in Wall Street Journal, Stephen Sestanovich Questions Putin's Claims for the Future of Russian Economy
Monday, 17 December 2007
In his commentary, "Russia by the Numbers," published in the December 17th
issue of the "Wall Street Journal," Stephen Sestanovich (Davis Professor for the Practice of International Diplomacy) Questions Putin's Measurements for his Forecast of Russia's Economic Future.
Link to full article
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Emily Johnson Awarded the 2007 Antsiferov Prize by the Likhachev Fund
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Emily Johnson, Harriman Institute Alumna and Associate Professor of Russian at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded the 2007 Antsiferov Prize for Best Contribution to the Study of St. Petersburg by a Foreign Author for her book "How St. Petersburg Learned to Study Itself: The Russian Idea of Kraevedenie," published in Studies of the Harriman Institute by Penn State University Press (2006). The Antsiferov Prize, named for the "kraeved" and historian of Petersburg, Nikolai Antsiferov (1889-1958), is awarded every two years by the Likhachev Fund (St. Petersburg). The award ceremony took place on December 7th in the concert hall of the Anichkov Palace.
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Harriman Institute to Inaugurate new “Ambassador’s Forum”
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
On Tuesday, December 11th, the Harriman Institute will host the first in a new series of events entitled “The Harriman Institute Ambassador’s Forum.” The first speaker in the series will be H.E. Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.
“The Harriman Institute Ambassador’s Forum” will provide a forum for dialogue between the Harriman community and diplomats from Eurasia, and an opportunity for diplomatic representatives from the countries under the Harriman Institute’s mandate to discuss various aspects of their foreign policies, issues of regional and global importance, and their individual country’s relations with the United States.
Ambassador Churkin’s talk is scheduled for 12pm on Tuesday, December 11th, in Room 1512 of the International Affairs Building. Since seating is limited, attendance is by prior reservation only. If you wish to attend, RSVP to Masha Udensiva-Brenner at mu2159@columbia.edu
The co-organizers of the series are Ambassador Valery Kuchinsky, former Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations and currently Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at SIPA, and Gordon N. Bardos, Assistant Director of the Harriman Institute.
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Rafis Abazov Receives Award from Kazakhstan Journalism Academy
Wednesday, 05 December 2007
Dr. Rafis Abazov (Adjunct Assistant Professor, SIPA), received Kazakhstan's Journalism Academy Award (2007) for the best foreign publication on contemporary
culture, literature and mass media in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
Abazov's book "The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics," published in February 2007 by Greenwood Press, presents his research on the cultural changes that have taken place during the 20th century in this important region on the Great Silk Road
and the impact of globalization and independence on the cultural development since 1991.
Kazakhstan's Journalism Academy Award is presented annually to the best works in the area of journalism, literature and photo journalism.
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Lincoln Mitchell Gives Interview on the Successes and Failures of the Saakashvili Administration
Tuesday, 04 December 2007
Lincoln Mitchell, Saltzman Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Affairs, and Charles King of Georgetown University Assess the Successes and Failures of the Saakashvili Administration for "Washington Profile." (See Article for English version, and PDF for Russian.)
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HI Faculty Member John Anthony McGuckin to be installed as Union Theological Seminary’s first Ane Marie and Bent Emil Nielsen Chair in Late Antique and Byzantine Christian History
Friday, 30 November 2007
For a schedule of public events surrounding the Nielsen Chair dedication, please go to the following website:
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Professor Lincoln Mitchell Is Quoted in International Herald Tribune in article on "Georgian Parliament Confirms State of Emergency"
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Lincoln Mitchell, Saltzman Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Relations, tells C. J. Chivers of the International Herald Tribune that "many questions remained about the campaign and election ahead... To ensure a chance at a fair election [in Georgia] Imedi-TV would have to be allowed to broadcast an independent station" (Nov. 9, 2007).
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"Ni kholodnoi voiny, ni tesnogo partnerstva..." Robert Legvold Comments on the Current State of Russo-American Affairs
Saturday, 17 November 2007
In an Interview Published in NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA (Nov. 19, 2007) Robert Legvold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Political Science, Comments on the Future Course of US-Russian Relations and Some Factors that Will Influence Them, For Example, Iran, Kosovo, and Elections in Russia and the U.S.
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Emily Johnson Is Awarded the South Central MLA Book Prize in Cultural Studies for her book HOW ST. PETERSBURG LEARNED TO STUDY ITSELF
Wednesday, 07 November 2007
Emily Johnson, a Harriman Certificate holder and Associate Professor of Russian at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded the South Central MLA Book Prize in Cultural Studies for her book, "How St. Petersburg Learned to Study Itself: The Russian Idea of Kraevedenie," published in Studies of the Harriman Institute by Penn State University Press (2006).
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Richard Wortman Honored by AAASS for his Distinguished Contribution to Slavic Studies
Monday, 05 November 2007
The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies Honors Richard Wortman, Bryce Professor of European Legal History.
"An illustrious scholar and a generous and inspiring colleague, teacher, and mentor, Richard S. Wortman has changed our perspectives on imperial Russian history. Trained at Cornell University and the University of Chicago, Professor Wortman joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1963, moved to Princeton University in 1977, and then to Columbia University in 1988 where he is currently Bryce Professor of European Legal History.
Over a distinguished career spanning more than four decades, Professor Wortman has brought to historical studies innovative ideas and approaches, together with impeccable scholarship. His pathbreaking books and articles cross disciplinary boundaries (he draws from sociology, anthropology, psychology, political theory, legal studies, and many other sources) and he set a new standard for the application of cultural analysis to Russian history.
His first book, The Crisis of Russian Populism (1967), focuses on the social and psychological circumstances that drove populists to protest in the nineteenth century. The Development of a Russian Legal Consciousness (1976) explores the ideological and institutional dimensions of legal history prior to the Great Reforms and raises issues that remain relevant for Russia today. In a two-volume study, Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy: From Peter the Great to the Death of Nicholas I (1995) and Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy: From Alexander II the Abdication of Nicholas II (2000), Professor Wortman turns his attention to the symbols, rituals, and mythologies instrumental in creating and sustaining tsarist political power. An abridged and revised one-volume version, Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy: From Peter the Great to the Abdication of Nicholas II, appeared in 2006. The Development of a Russian Legal Consciousness (2004) and both volumes of Scenarios of Power (2002, 2004) have been published in Russian translation. He was awarded the George L. Mosse prize of the American Historical Association in 2000 and the Efim Etkind Prize of the St. Petersburg European University in 2006 for these highly acclaimed volumes.
We bestow the 2007 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Slavic Studies on Professor Wortman in recognition of his extraordinary scholarly accomplishments and his lifelong dedication to the field of Russian history."
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"Central Asia: Rewind and Fast-Forward" by Rafis Abazov, Adjunct Assistant Professor, SIPA
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Rafis Abazov writes about how the Central Asian countries are rediscovering their traditional art forms and experimenting with new ones in article published in TRANSITIONS ONLINE.
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HARRIMAN INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF RUSSIAN BALLET (OCTOBER 12-13, 2007)
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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.
Link to full article
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Turkmen President Speaks at Columbia University
Monday, 24 September 2007
H. E. President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov of Turkmenistan spoke at Columbia's World Leaders Forum.
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Economic and Political Weekly (India) Reviews Padma Desai's "Conversations about Russia"
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
"The interviews in this book show the wide divergence of opinion between the Russians and western policymakers. This is especially marked on the foreign policy front, where Talbott dismisses he idea of multipolarity as a 'pretty stupid proposition.' [...]
The book is an everlasting source of evidence for a crucial period of Russian history. It provides key evidence from teh makers of contemporary Russian history and from some of its best analysts and scholars... Another of [Desai's] 'must read' books."
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Remembering Marshall Shulman
Monday, 10 September 2007
In Celebration of and in Thanksgiving for the Life of Marshall Darrow Shulman
The Harriman Institute publishes booklet of reminiscences by students, colleagues and friends about Marshall Shulman, former Institute Director, beloved colleague and friend.
Link to full article
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New Book by Anna Frajlich-Zajac Latest Addition to Studies of the Harriman Institute
Wednesday, 05 September 2007
"THE LEGACY OF ANCIENT ROME IN THE RUSSIAN SILVER AGE" by Anna Frajlich-Zajac, Senior Lecturer, Published by Rodopi
For poets throughout the world Rome was the world. This is particularly true for Russian poets, owing to the anagrammatical relation of the words Rome and mir (Rome and world). The legacy of ancient Rome has always constituted an important component of the Russian cultural consciousness. The revitalization of classical scholarship in nineteenth-century Russia and new approaches to antiquity prompted many of the Russian Symbolists to seek their inspiration in ancient Rome. Vladimir Solovyov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Valery Bryusov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Maksimilian Voloshin, Vasily Komarovsky, and Mikhail Kuzmin all made significant contributions to what is often referred to as the “Roman text.”
The Legacy of Ancient Rome in the Russian Silver Age analyzes the forms involved in creating the Roman image and explores its functionality within the given poetic system. In addition to the formal analysis, the background and the stimulus leading up to the composition of a particular poem are explored, as well as allusions to legends, myths and Rome’s geography and architecture. Moreover, this study considers the function of the Roman text in Russian Symbolist poetics and the works of the individual poets. Finally, the relation between the Roman and Petersburg texts of Russian literature is explored, since many of the Russian Symbolist poets found in Rome a perfect metaphor for their studies of the city and “urban” poetry.
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Columbia University Receives a $100,000 Donation from Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union to Endow Chair of Polish Studies
Friday, 10 August 2007
John S. Micgiel, director of the Columbia University East Central European Center, was recently presented with a $100,000 check from the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, based in Brooklyn, toward endowing a chair of Polish studies at the University.
Link to full article
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Harriman Institute to Honor Marshall D. Shulman (1916-2007) in Memorial Service, September 10
Thursday, 09 August 2007
On Monday, September 10, at 3:00 pm, the Harriman Institute will celebrate the life of Marshall D. Shulman in a memorial service at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, New York City. All are welcome to attend the Memorial Service.
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