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Thursday, December 3

Utopia's Discontents
Russian Émigrés and the Quest for Freedom
Time:
2:00 pm
Presenter:
Faith Hillis
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies on behalf of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, the Institute of Slavic East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, the Russian East European & Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University, the Center for Russian East European & Eurasian Studies at the University of Michigan, the Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center at Indiana University, the Center for Russia East Europe and Central Asia at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies at The University of Chicago and the Center for Slavic and East European Studies at The Ohio State University

In the last fifty years of the tsarist regime, large and boisterous settlements of Russian exiles emerged across the European continent. Called “Russian colonies” by their residents, these communities hosted the leaders of virtually every revolutionary party and produced most of the illegal literature that circulated in late imperial Russia. Safe havens for radical activity, the colonies were also revolutionary experiments in their own right, providing residents an opportunity to translate their utopian dreams of liberty, fraternity, and equality into reality through their quotidian activities. The first comprehensive account of the Russian revolutionary movement abroad, this project traces how the aspirations born of the colonies, as well as the explosive discontents they produced, reimagined radical culture and ideas. In the process, it provides a novel reassessment of the Russian revolution and of Russia’s relations with its European neighbors.

Zoom registration: https://uchicago.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qVCY_KzrTjKgn87pUe60Ig

This event is part of the Area Studies Lecture Series presented by the 2018-2021 U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies grant recipients for Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.