Lecture

“A larger community of fugitives” A Conversation With Anton Dolin

Type: 
Saturday, July 8, 2023 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Event Location: 
4130 Posvar Hall

Anton Dolin is a widely known Russian television and radio host, film critic, journalist, and podcaster. From 2017 until the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was the Editor in Chief of Russia’s most prominent cinema journal Iskusstvo Kino; from 2012 to 2020 he regularly appeared on television as film reviewer for Evening Urgant. For an interview with Anton Dolin, see Deutsche Welle, as well as his YouTube channel Radio Dolin.

Angola on Trial in Cuba: The Hidden History of Race in el caso Ochoa

Type: 
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Event Location: 
Baker Hall, CMU

The presentation explores the case of Arnaldo Ochoa, a top-ranking general in the Cuban military who once rivalled Fidel Castro in popularity and esteem across the island. News of Ochoa’s arrest, conviction and execution on grounds of corruption and drug-smuggling in 1989 shocked both Cuba and the globe. This talk explores what happened to Ochoa through the lens of his military leadership in Angola, the southern African nation whose independence Cuba had been supporting since 1975.

Imperial Russia's Most Successful Port

Type: 
Monday, April 3, 2023 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Event Location: 
3703 Posvar Hall

With the recent developments in Ukraine and Putin's talk on restoring the Soviet aor the Russian Empire, newly independent territories and cities at the former imperial periphery are again in focus. Riga, today's capital of Latvia, belonged to the Russian Empire (1710-1917) and used to be one of imperial Russia's main ports. In the decade before World War I, Riga was the port with the highest turnover, surpassing both Odessa and the capital St. Petersburg. But Riga was never really a "Russian" city: before World War I, only 18 percent of its inhabitance were native Russian speakers.

Islam, Repression, and Memory

Type: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Event Location: 
Zoom

Soviet ideology treated religion as an enemy, a tool of oppression and an expression of backwardness. Militant atheism, the prohibition of religious rituals, and the repression of religious communities aimed to create a secular, rational, and scientific society. Yet, religion mattered in Soviet people’s lives. And with institutional religion restricted, many people expressed their spirituality through “lived religion” - the practice of religion and spirituality in everyday lives. What were the practices of lived religion in the context of state socialism?

Useable Pasts? Shamans, Spirituality & Resistance

Type: 
Thursday, May 25, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Event Location: 
Zoom

Soviet ideology treated religion as an enemy, a tool of oppression and an expression of backwardness. Militant atheism, the prohibition of religious rituals, and the repression of religious communities aimed to create a secular, rational, and scientific society. Yet, religion mattered in Soviet people’s lives. And with institutional religion restricted, many people expressed their spirituality through “lived religion” - the practice of religion and spirituality in everyday lives. What were the practices of lived religion in the context of state socialism?

Theology After Gulag

Type: 
Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Event Location: 
Zoom

Soviet ideology treated religion as an enemy, a tool of oppression and an expression of backwardness. Militant atheism, the prohibition of religious rituals, and the repression of religious communities aimed to create a secular, rational, and scientific society. Yet, religion mattered in Soviet people’s lives. And with institutional religion restricted, many people expressed their spirituality through “lived religion” - the practice of religion and spirituality in everyday lives. What were the practices of lived religion in the context of state socialism?

Lived Religions in China

Type: 
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 9:00am to 10:30pm
Event Location: 
Zoom

Soviet ideology treated religion as an enemy, a tool of oppression and an expression of backwardness. Militant atheism, the prohibition of religious rituals, and the repression of religious communities aimed to create a secular, rational, and scientific society. Yet, religion mattered in Soviet people’s lives. And with institutional religion restricted, many people expressed their spirituality through “lived religion” - the practice of religion and spirituality in everyday lives. What were the practices of lived religion in the context of state socialism?

Old Religion in the Making of the Modern Nation

Type: 
Thursday, April 6, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Event Location: 
Zoom

Soviet ideology treated religion as an enemy, a tool of oppression and an expression of backwardness. Militant atheism, the prohibition of religious rituals, and the repression of religious communities aimed to create a secular, rational, and scientific society. Yet, religion mattered in Soviet people’s lives. And with institutional religion restricted, many people expressed their spirituality through “lived religion” - the practice of religion and spirituality in everyday lives. What were the practices of lived religion in the context of state socialism?