We are pleased to announce the (re-)launch of the CUNY Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies Kruzhok. Join us this fall on select Fridays at 12:30 pm via Zoom.
We invite researchers working on the history, politics, societies, and cultures of Eastern and Southeastern Europe and Eurasia, whether you are in the United States or abroad, to participate in this workshop. Not only are scholars from New York-based institutions welcome, but so are scholars from anywhere in the world. This includes independent scholars.
Several years ago, there was a Balkan/Eastern European history Kruzhok in New York City, organized by CUNY Faculty and housed at Columbia’s Harriman Center. At different points, there was a good group of scholars from Columbia, CUNY, New York University, and Rutgers, as well as graduate students from those institutions. In order to rebuild interest in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and Eurasia and provide a forum for researchers to present their work for discussion, the time is ripe to restart the Kruzhok.
We have an interesting lineup of papers from fall, representing scholars working with different political, cultural, social, and economic methods:
SCHEDULE – RSVP for all sessions via Zoom
Sept. 30, 12:30 p.m.
Gabriel Lataianu and Dr. Eugen Bruno Ștefan
Refugees from Ukraine and the perception of war in Romania
Gabriel Lataianu, Queensborough Community College, and Dr. Eugen Bruno Ștefan, Bureau for Social Research in Bucharest, join the CUNY REEES Kruzhok to discuss the results of the national survey “Refugees from Ukraine and the perception of war ” conducted this year in Romania. The study is focused on refugees in general with a special focus on the refugees from Ukraine and, also, on the Romanians’ attitudes toward the war in Ukraine. The research offers an image of Romanians’ dispositions and feelings towards a very large wave of war refugees, the largest one since World War II in Romania. Whenever the case the presentation will have a comparative outlook, contrasting the data on Ukrainian refugees to the results of a BCS survey carried out in October 2021. Last year research focused on the refugees from Afghanistan and, also, on the economic immigrants from South Asia in Romania. Last, but not least the presentation will examine Romanians’ attitudes toward Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, the threats and challenges of a war in close proximity, the role of NATO in the country’s security etc.
Oct. 7, 12:30 p.m.
Leslie Waters
Nationalization and Globalization in Competition: The 1992 Olympics and the New Europe
The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, were uniquely positioned to symbolically redefine the European continent. In the lead up to the games, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, wars of Yugoslav succession, Czechoslovak “velvet divorce,” German unification, and signing of the Treaty on European Union meant that the familiar post-World War II geopolitical order was over. Post-socialist states, especially those that had recently declared their independence, tried to use the Barcelona Games as an opportunity to make their case to be included in a new Europe. Meanwhile, the nascent European Union promoted a supranational version of Europeanness and the host city emphasized a “Europe of Regions” rather than one of nation states. This presentation examines competing conceptualizations of Europe in the 1990s through the lens of the Barcelona Olympic Games.
Oct. 28, 12:30 p.m.
Samuel D. Albert
The Hungarian National Fine Arts Commission and Exhibitionary Politics: 1920-1940
In the interwar period, the Hungarian government aggressively pursued a policy of cultural diplomacy, of which one significant element was “representative” art exhibitions. These exhibitions were hosted in a variety of European cities. They sought, through art, to present Hungary as a thriving, modern state, even as the government itself continually decried the terrible inequities of Trianon, which they said rendered Hungary untenable as a country. These art exhibitions, organized by the Országos képzőművészeti tanács (the National Fine Arts Council), a department within the Ministry of Religion and Education, reflect changes in Ministry policy, especially during the tenure of Kuno Klebelsberg as well as general changes in the conception of “Hungarian” art. In this paper, Dr. Albert will examine several of these exhibitions, relating them to earlier exhibitions, which occurred during the Habsburg Monarchy and showing how, in the 1930s, a competing narrative of Hungarian art emerged.
Nov. 18, 12:30 p.m.
Irina Marin
Vicious and Virtuous Circles in the Rural Economy of East European Borderlands at the End of the 19th, Beginning of the 20th Century
This work-in-progress paper provides a cross-border comparison between rural communities in the borderlands of Austria-Hungary, Tsarist Russia and the Balkan fringes of the Ottoman Empire. The aim is that of hammering out an explanatory framework that would account for disparities in modernization, innovation absorption and social agency, starting from factors such as the initial terms of peasant emancipation, legal framework, the edge given by historical privilege and, conversely, the long shadow of serfdom in the form of renewed dependence and neoserfdom.
RSVP for all sessions via Zoom.
For most of the sessions, we will pre-circulate unpublished papers so that we can read them in advance and have a fruitful discussion with the authors. We hope this will help expand the horizons of our knowledge beyond our specializations and help authors develop their ideas.
If you are interested in presenting an unpublished work-in-progress at a future point, please write to cunyreeeskruzhok@gmail.com. Please include a bio, a short summary of your project, and a working title of your paper.
