The Russian and East European Program, Department of German and Russian Studies, Department of Asian and Asian-American Studies and Harpur College Visiting Speaker Fund present
Dr. Edith W. Clowes
Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures,
Director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies,
University of Kansas
on
“Eurasia on Their Mind: Post-Imperial Nostalgia
and the Question of Russian Identity”
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
4:30pm
S1 140
Who is a Russian? What defines “Russian-ness” in the post-Soviet era – language? Ethnicity? Religion? Territory? In the years since the fall of the Soviet empire these have been most painful questions for some and have opened doors to new possibilities for others. This talk deals with the hot debate about Russian national identity in Moscow writing culture. It sets out the two dominant positions, the one – ultraconservative, neo-imperial and “Eurasianist,” and the other – tolerant, multicultural and “universalist.” Beyond encouraging outrageous articulations from the radical fringe, this discussion has spurred some of the most creative thinking and literary art in the period since 1991.
Please contact Prof. Nancy Tittler of the German and Russian Studies Department for a handout that Prof. Clowes has prepared to preview some of the literary material she will be covering. Please share this information with students and colleagues.
Edith Clowes' to speak on Post-Imperial Nostalgia and the Question of Russian Identity
