Past Events

Studying water infrastructure is an excellent entry point to examine the nexus between the utilization of natural resources and technologies on the one hand, and of politics and everyday life on the other. The talk will first address important findings of a study on irrigation systems and cotton cultivation in Central Asia. Here, the Russian colonizers of the nineteenth century implemented ideas of modernity and transformation that lived on in the Soviet context. Second, the talk presents the outlines of an ongoing project on water on public display, comparing the relevance of artificial lakes, fountains, and drinking wells in cities like Berlin and Tashkent. Both cases combine cultural studies‘ approaches with the history of infrastructure and technology.
Julia Obertreis is Professor for Eastern European modern history at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. In her teaching and research, she focuses on water infrastructures in the Soviet Union in a global perspective. She has an interest in the Soviet Union as a multiethnic empire and in oral history as a critical method in Eastern European history. Her first book is Living in Leningrad Between Everyday Life and Utopia, 1917-1937 (Böhlau Verlag, 2004). Her second book is titled Imperial Desert Dreams. Cotton Growing and Irrigation in Central Asia, 1860–1991. REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O8xyvhLYTBazBGIUjjeIwQ?fbclid=I...

We will examine a representative Safavid Persian miscellany of the mid-seventeenth century, MS Majlis 12575. Significant for the history of science, it comprises occult-scientific works by Iranian philosophers of various periods, including Suhravardi, Fakhr al-Din Razi and Sadr al-Din Dashtaki, as well as a lettrist work by Mahmud Dihdar Shirazi, teacher to Shaykh Baha'i in the occult sciences. Our focus will be on 'Ali Safi Kashifi's (d. 1535) Gift for the Khan (Tuhfa-yi khani), an early Safavid simplification of a Timurid Persian grimoire dealing with illusionism and conjuring, both of which we now dismiss as stage magic. Its Safavid-era expansion to include other, more serious occult sciences? alchemy, talismanry, astral magic? and the magico-political feats of eminent
Safavid philosophers will also be discussed with examples, as a window onto how Safavid philosophical culture worked in political practice. PLEASE NOTE that registrations are limited and will be confirmed on a first-come, first-serve basis for Ph.D. students and faculty who work on Eurasia and can meet the language prerequisites specific to each topic. PREREQUISITE
Advanced Persian INSTRUCTOR
Matthew Melvin-Koushki
Associate Professor of Islamic History
University of South Carolina COLLABORATORS
Aziza Shanazarova
UCIS Postdoctoral Fellow of REEES
University of Pittsburgh REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYofuyhrTwjEtS-vEx0Wu98a9kr5_SMb9ry

In recent years, the EU has adopted far-reaching legislation and policies to support LGBTIQ and women’s rights across a broad range of issues from the gender pay-gap through accession to the Istanbul Convention on violence against women to gender equality in culture and foreign affairs, biodiversity, and digital policy. Yet, several member states have resisted such transnational efforts and have not only removed the word “gender” from official documents and eliminated the field of gender studies in higher education but also rolled back gender rights within their boundaries, sparking sustained protests most notably in Poland and Hungary. Join us for this interdisciplinary panel of scholars, policy-makers, activists, and politicians to explore the history and the future of gender equality in the EU. Moderator:
Müge Kökt en Finkel
Assistant Professor, GSPIA
University of Pittsburgh Speakers:
Laura Albu
Vice President, European Women's Lobby Lenka Bustikova
Associate Professor, Political Science
Arizona State University Malgorzata Fidelis
Associate Professor, History
University of Illinois, Chicago Alice Kuhnke
MEP, European Parliament
Vice Chair, Group of Greens/European Free Alliance REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d25lT5TKTwSUN_sbWMXxiw

From Academy Award-nominated director David France ("How to Survive a Plague," "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson") comes "Welcome to Chechnya," a powerful and eye-opening documentary about a group of activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. With unfettered access and a commitment to protecting anonymity, this documentary exposes Chechnya's underrepresented atrocities while highlighting a group of people who are confronting brutality head-on. The film follows these LGBTQ+ activists as they work undercover to rescue victims and provide them with safe houses and visa assistance to escape persecution. "Welcome to Chechnya" is a Public Square Films production, directed by David France and produced by Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov, and David France. This documentary has received numerous international awards, including at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale. Moderator: Nancy Condee, Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures
Speakers: David France, Director, "Welcome to Chechnya"
Frank Karioris, Lecturer, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program https://www.welcometochechnya.com REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE: https://tinyurl.com/y2la43za

Mastering LinkedIn for Future Global Affairs Careers
Wednesday, March 3rd, 3:30-4:15pm Alyson Kavalukas joins us from Career Services to discuss successful generation of a LinkedIn account in seeking positions, learning from professionals and alumni, and increasing networking potential in global affairs. Question and Answer session to follow. Register:
https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMldemprT4uGNGoE4BN_XfFP4nPb0mGEDi5

While the Black Lives Matter Movement has revived global conversations about racism and systemic inequality, its reception in our region manifested not only in anti-racist solidarity protests but also in pro-nationalist activism, most notably in Russia. Join us to discuss whether the Black Lives Matter movement will have a lasting impact on the struggle against racism and for civil rights and social equality in our region. 2:00-3:30 pm (ET) | 1:00-2:30 pm (CT) | 12:00-1:30 (MT) | 11:00 am-12:30 pm (PT) MODERATOR:
Sibelan Forrester, Swarthmore College SPEAKERS:
Angéla Kóczé, Central European University
Diana Kudaibergenova, University of Cambridge
Maxim Matusevich, Seton Hall University
Jakobi Williams, Indiana University, Bloomington This event will be recorded and streamed live on the ASEEES Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/slavic.e.european.eurasian.studies/) REGISTER IN ADVANCE: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/race-in-focus This event is part of the series "Race in Focus: From Critical Pedagogies to Research Practice and Public Engagement in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies." This series is designed to elevate conversations about teaching on race and continued disparities in our field while also bringing scholars from underrepresented minorities and/or research on communities of color to the center stage.