DavisCenter-list November 2009

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Maxim Shrayer book reading: Yom Kippur in Amsterdam

by Davis Center

Maxim D. Shrayer will read from and discuss his new book, YOM KIPPUR IN AMSTERDAM, The Harvard Coop Bookstore, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, on 1 December 2009 @ 7 pm. For more information, please visit www.shrayer.com <http://www.shrayer.com> Maxim D. Shrayer Maxim D. Shrayer Professor of Russian, English, & Jewish Studies Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages and Literatures Boston College _http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL-V/ShrayerM.html_

14 years, 4 months

Seminar Calendar, December 1-15, 2009

by Davis Center

*Davis** Center** for Russian and Eurasian Studies * *Seminar Calendar December 1-15, 2009__* *_ _**/For upcoming events not yet published in this calendar, please visit our website: http://thyme.hmdc.harvard.edu/davis/index.php./* *__** *** *Tuesday, December 1* *Historians' Seminar* /"The Nation That Wasn't There? The Rise and Fall of the Soviet People and 'Passport Ethnicity', 1953-1983"/ Sener Akturk, Postdoctoral Fellow, Davis Center 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Wednesday, December 2* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Women and Men Entrepreneurs in China, Russia, France, and the United States"/ Bat Batjargal, Center Associate, Davis Center; Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, China 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:30-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Tuesday, December 8* *Historians' Seminar* /"Soviet Jewish Officers' Encounter with Germany, 1945" /Oleg/ /Budnitskii, Senior Scholar, The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Professor of History, Department of Jewish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University// 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Wednesday, December 9* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Turkish-Russian Relations: The Role of Energy"/ Tuncay Babali, Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Counselor, Embassy of Turkey, Washington, D.C. 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:30-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Friday, December 11* *Early Slavists' Seminar* "/Where is Ashkenaz? Legacies of the Eurasian Trade System in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth"/ Cherie Woodworth, Fellow, Center for Comparative Research, Yale University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. *Monday, December 14* *Historians' Seminar* /"In the Vineyards of Medical Sociology and Sovietology: Revisiting One's Life"/ Mark Field, Center Associate, Davis Center 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. To purchase a parking permit for the Broadway Garage (located on Felton Street, between Cambridge Street and Broadway), please visit Harvard University Parking Services at https://www2.uos.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/permit/purchase.pl. If you need to register a new visitor login in order to purchase a parking pass, choose "Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies" and enter department code 2020 on the online registration form. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Parking Services Office at 617-495-3772. -- ---------------------------------------------------- Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor, Suite 301 Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617.495.4037 Fax: 617.495.8319 http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu

14 years, 4 months

Reception, Brandeis-Genesis Institute

by Davis Center

Dear Colleagues, The Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry cordially invites you to a reception celebrating the opening of our institute. Thursday, 19 November 2009 6.00pm to 8.00pm The Faculty Club Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts Entertainment, drinks, and kosher hors d'oeuvres will be served. Please RSVP to bgi(a)brandeis.edu by 12 November. We very much look forward to seeing you then. Warmest regards, Curt Dunagan Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry

14 years, 5 months

Book Launch Maxim D. Shrayer Nov. 11th

by Davis Center

YOM KIPPUR IN AMSTERDAM: BOOK LAUNCH AND READING BY MAXIM D. SHRAYER Please join us for an evening with Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer, as he reads from and discusses his new collection of short stories, "Yom Kippur in Amsterdam" (2009). Whether set in Shrayer’s native Russia or in North America and Western Europe, these stories explore emotionally intricate relationships that cross traditional boundaries of ethnicity, religion, and culture. Shrayer is Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies at Boston College and the winner of a 2007 National Jewish Book Award. A bilingual writer, he has authored and edited over ten books of prose, poetry, and translations. A book signing will follow the reading. “This intricate, thoughtful collection explores the inexorable complexities of relationships and religion….Shrayer’s eight delicate stories trace his characters’ diverse struggles against the limits of tradition and culture.”--Booklist Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m. in Devlin 101, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. Event URL: _http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/jewish/news.html <ttp://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/jewish/news.html%22>_ Sponsored by: Boston College Jewish Studies Program, English Department, Slavic and Eastern Languages & Literatures Department, McMullen Museum, Boston College Bookstore A book signing and a reception will follow the reading. Map and parking info: http://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-chestnuthill.html <ttp://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-chestnuthill.html%22>

14 years, 5 months

Barskova, Golynko, and Ostashevsky readings in Boston

by Davis Center

On Thursday, November 12, 2009, at 7:00 p.m., St. Petersburg Review and New England Poetry Club sponsor poetry reading with poets Dmitry Golynko and Eugene Ostashevsky in Common Room 136 of Harvard’s Yenching Library, 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 (off Kirkland, near Memorial Hall). Wine will be served. Free and open to the public. On Friday, November 13, 2009, at 7:45 p.m., St. Petersburg Review sponsors a poetry reading by St. Petersburg poets Dmitry Golynko and Polina Barskova (with Eugene Ostashevsky) in the Nantucket Room at the AAASS conference hotel, Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116. Again, wine will be served. No tickets required.

14 years, 5 months

Seminar Calendar, November 16-30, 2009

by Davis Center

*Davis** Center** for Russian and Eurasian Studies * *Seminar Calendar November 16-30, 2009__* *__* */For upcoming events not yet published in this calendar, please visit our website: http://thyme.hmdc.harvard.edu/davis/index.php./* *_ _**Monday, November 16* *Cold War Studies Seminar* /"Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment"/ Stephen Kotkin, Professor of History, Princeton University Charles Maier, Professor of History, Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Monday, November 16* *Committee on **Inner Asian and Altaic Studies Lunchtime Lecture* /"Between Reform and Revolution: Islamic Debates in Early Soviet Central Asia"/ Adeeb Khalid, Professor of Asian Studies and History, Carleton College// 1730 Cambridge Street, 2^nd Floor, Room S250 1:00-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Monday, November 16* *Occasional Seminar* /"Historicizing Violence against Women: Current Challenges for the Women's Movement in Russia"**/ Marianna Muravyeva, Associate Professor of Law and Political and Legal Theories, Herzen State Pedagogical University; Researcher, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki 1730 Cambridge Street, 1^st Floor, Room S153 4:15-6:00 p.m. * * * * *Tuesday, November 17* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Yukos: The Everybody Does it Defense vs. the State"/ Alan Siegel, Retired Senior Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. * * *Wednesday, November 18* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Integration and Disintegration in the Post-Soviet Area"/ Sobirjon Kurbonov, Fellow, Davis Center 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:30-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Thursday, November 19* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Quality of Institutions and Length of Presidential Terms"/ Maria Snegovaya, Fellow, Davis Center 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:30-2:00 p.m. * * * * *Friday, November 20* *Early Slavists' Seminar* Roundtable discussion:/ "Bureaucratic 'Modernization' in 18th-Century East Central Europe" / Peter Collmer, Visiting Scholar, Davis Center; Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Zurich Alison Frank, Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University Iryna Vushko, Shklar Fellow, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 12:15-2:00 p.m. *Monday, November 23* *Cold War Studies Seminar* /"Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Achievements and Limits of Non-Violent Action during the Cold War"/ Adam Roberts, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, Oxford University Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of Politics, Oxford University with commentaries by Merle Goldman, Professor Emeritus of History, Boston College Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies Project, Davis Center Charles Maier, Professor of History, Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3^rd Floor, Room S354 4:15-6:00 p.m. To purchase a parking permit for the Broadway Garage (located on Felton Street, between Cambridge Street and Broadway), please visit Harvard University Parking Services at https://www2.uos.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/permit/purchase.pl. If you need to register a new visitor login in order to purchase a parking pass, choose "Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies" and enter department code 2020 on the online registration form. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Parking Services Office at 617-495-3772. ---------------------------------------------------- Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor, Suite 301b Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617.495.4037 Fax: 617.495.8319 http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu

14 years, 5 months

Invitation: Documentary Film "My Perestroika" at AAASS in Boston

by Davis Center

Dear Colleagues, For those of you who are planning to attend the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Boston on November 12-15, the Davis Center is hosting a special sneak preview of the feature documentary film, My Perestroika, on November 13. The screening will be followed by a brief Q & A with filmmaker Robin Hessman. Afterwards, filmgoers are invited to attend the Davis Center’s reception for alumni and friends. If you miss this preview opportunity, please note that My Perestroika is slated for broadcast in 2011 on the PBS series POV to mark the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR. I hope you’ll be able to join us on the 13th. Sincerely, Lisbeth L. Tarlow Associate Director Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies Harvard University *** Sneak Preview of My Perestroika Q & A with Filmmaker Robin Hessman Friday, November 13 7:00 PM, Grand Ballroom Salons H and I Reception to follow in Grand Ballroom Salons J and K Both events take place in the convention hotel. The screening and reception are open to all registered AAASS convention-goers. *** ABOUT THE FILM: My Perestroika (running time ~90 minutes) tells the story of five people from the last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Just coming of age when the USSR collapsed, they witnessed the world of their childhood crumble and change beyond recognition. The film explores the lives and personal stories of a married couple, both history teachers, and three of their childhood friends, revealing how they are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality in today's Moscow. Using a wealth of footage rarely seen outside of Russia--including extensive home movies from the 1970s--My Perestroika intercuts an intimate view of the past with the contemporary lives of these former schoolmates, weaving their voices to map the contours of a nation still very much in transition. PRAISE FOR MY PERESTROIKA: My Perestroika is a wonderful film. It asks, "What has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union? Has anything really changed?" We get different answers from the people we've gotten to know well in the film. Because filmmaker Robin Hessman knows Russia and its people so well, the viewer strongly identifies with all the film’s central characters. A real view from inside, completely natural and real, it vividly portrays history up close and personal. The montaged juxtapositions of past and present are beautifully done. The home movies of the heroes’ childhood and the soundtrack music, composed of popular songs for children from the 70s and 80s, add to the authenticity of this fine documentary. -Jane Taubman, Professor of Russian, Amherst College ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Robin Hessman graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in Russian and film. She received her graduate degree in film directing from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow (with a “red diploma,” or honors). She received an Academy Award in 1994 (with co-director James Longley) for their student film, Portrait of Boy with Dog. During her eight years living in Russia, Robin worked for the Children’s Television Workshop as the on-site producer of Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian language Sesame Street. In 2005 she was named Filmmaker in Residence at WGBH, Boston, to develop My Perestroika. Robin is an associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since 2006, Robin has served as the director of documentary programming for Amfest, the American Film Festival in Moscow.

14 years, 5 months

Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police: Exhibition Opening 11/15

by Davis Center

The Cold War Studies Project at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Harvard University), in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and Security Services Archive in Prague, Czech Republic, is pleased to announce a special exhibition: *Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police* November 15 - December 21, 2009 Harvard University Center for Government and International Studies South Building, Concourse Level 1730 Cambridge Street *Opening reception: Sunday, November 15, 4:30 p.m.* Please circulate to anyone who may be interested. All are welcome. *Twenty Years After the Demise of Czechoslovakia's Communist Regime, an* *Exhibition of Secret Police Surveillance Photographs Opens at Harvard University* A one-of-a-kind exhibition of photographs and films taken by the surveillance unit of the Czechoslovak secret police in the 1970s and 1980s, "Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police," will soon make the second stop on its U.S. tour when it opens at Harvard University on Sunday, November 15. The exhibition, which had its U.S. premiere in Washington, DC, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars this summer and fall, will be on view at Harvard's Center for Government and International Studies, 1730 Cambridge Street, through December 21. The exhibition, sponsored by the Cold War Studies Project of Harvard's Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that led to the Communist regime's demise. "Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police" introduces the visual products of the activities of a special unit of the Communist secret police (/Státní bezpec(nost/, or StB) -- the Surveillance Directorate of the Interior Ministry -- which carried out surveillance of Czechs, Slovaks, and foreigners whom the Communist regime deemed hostile or suspicious in any way. The secret police succeeded in capturing on film not only these "subjects of interest," but also the likeness of the city of Prague during the period known as "normalization" that followed the Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and lasted through the collapse of the regime in late November 1989. The exhibition and accompanying bilingual English-Czech publication, which features a much more extensive selection of photographs as well as complementary texts, are the work of two Czech institutions created by the Czech government in 2008 to disclose and evaluate the repressive state mechanisms used by former regimes to sustain power -- the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR) and the Security Services Archive (ABS). The ÚSTR focuses on research and analysis, publication, exhibitions, and education, and the ABS concentrates and makes accessible to the public the state security documents themselves. The Archive holds roughly 280 million pages worth of documents, amounting to over 18 kilometers of material. The ÚSTR and ABS are further mandated by law to digitize all of the documents in their possession. Institutions with a similar mission exist in many of the other countries of the former East Bloc. One of the exhibition's aims is to show those who never experienced life in a Communist dictatorship what the secret police actually did at the behest of Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. The repressive functions of the secret police, carrying out arrests, beatings, and executions, are well known, but the surveillance function has often been unappreciated. "These photographs illustrate both the strength and the weakness of Czechoslovakia's Communist regime --- strength in being able to keep constant track of anyone who fell under suspicion, and weakness in being so obsessed by people who could not conceivably pose any threat," said Mark Kramer, Director of the Cold War Studies Project at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, who is also a member of the ÚSTR's Advisory Board. "Prague Through the Lens of the Secret Police" opens in the Concourse Gallery of the South Building of Harvard's Center for Government and International Studies, 1730 Cambridge Street, on Sunday, November 15, and will be on view through December 21. The exhibition is free and open to the public on weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. For further information about the exhibition, including information about how to obtain publication-quality reproductions of exhibition photographs, please contact Laura Beshears (daviscenter(a)fas.harvard.edu <mailto:lbeshear@fas.harvard.edu>), 617-495-4037, at the Davis Center. ** ---------------------------------------------------- Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor, Suite 301 Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617.495.4037 Fax: 617.495.8319 http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu

14 years, 5 months

11/4 addition to the seminar calendar

by Davis Center

/*Please note the following addition to the seminar calendar**:*/ *__** **Wednesday, November 4* *Comparative Economics Seminar* /"Quality of Institutions and Length of Presidential Terms"/ Maria Snegovaya, Fellow, Davis Center 1737 Cambridge Street, 2^nd Floor, Room K262 12:30-2:00 p.m. To purchase a parking permit for the Broadway Garage (located on Felton Street, between Cambridge Street and Broadway), please visit Harvard University Parking Services at https://www2.uos.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/permit/purchase.pl. If you need to register a new visitor login in order to purchase a parking pass, choose "Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies" and enter department code 2020 on the online registration form. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Parking Services Office at 617-495-3772. ** -- ---------------------------------------------------- Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor, Suite 301 Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617.495.4037 Fax: 617.495.8319 http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu

14 years, 5 months

Educational Bridge Project's 16th Annual Russian-American Festival

by Davis Center

* <http://www.educationalbridgeproject.org>*** The 15th festival held in Russia last May was our largest and most ambitious venture measured by the number of participants, events, venues, new contacts, and the outpourings of appreciation. More than two hundred people participated in the Festival, and more than twenty events took place over a period of sixteen days. Continuing our long standing tradition of involving former festival participants in new collaborative initiatives, we are most proud of the fact that a number of these participants who had met at previous festivals, met again. Young American composers Matt Van Brink and Ramon Castillo hosted young composers from St. Petersburg back in 2001. Now no longer students but teachers and recognized composers, they were reunited with their Russian counterparts. As in past years, Americans shared the concert stage with Russians, and American professors worked with the students of St Petersburg. Boston University violinist in Red Square, 2002 International collaboration in culture and education is the mission of the Educational Bridge Project <http://www.educationalbridgeproject.org> which was first established in 1997 by Professor Ludmilla Leibman to foster the exchange of music and musicians between Boston and St. Petersburg. Fifteen festivals have brought together more than 500 musicians, artists and educators to collaborate in performances, share ideas in discussions, and learn about new teaching methods in composition and interpretation. Through these initiatives the Project has contributed to building artistic, educational and humanitarian bridges between the United States and Russia. Their performances have delighted audiences of music lovers of both countries, from schoolchildren to college students to community groups. This fall the Educational Bridge Project's sixteenth Russian-American festival will begin on Tuesday, October 27th and continues through Thursday, November 12th in Boston. The festival plans to feature representatives of the prestigious artistic and educational institutions of St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia, and includes collaborative concerts, lectures, and multi-media presentations. Selected events: *November 3, **5 p.m*. Elena Kiyko's presentation on the history of the St. Petersburg Radio (Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, room 224) *November 10, **5 p.m*. "The Russian School of Literary Translation" - presentation by St. Petersburg University Professor Nina Zonina (Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, room 224)** *November 11, 7 p.m.* "Conversations on Russian Music" -- talk by Ludmilla Leibman on Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and performance of the masterpiece by St. Petersburg pianist Igor Uryash (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Elizabeth Parks Killian Hall, Rm. 14W-111, Hayden Library Bldg, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge) *November 12, 7 p.m.* Piano recital by Maestro Uryash -- Rachmaninov "Variations on Corelli's Theme" and "Variation on Chopin's Theme" and Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition." Pre-concert talk by Professor Margarita Ufimtseva, author of the book, "St. Petersburg Pianist Igor Uryash" (Harvard Musical Association, 57A Chestnut St., Beacon Hill) Russian chorus performing American composition, 2009 The list of American institutions which have participated in the Educational Bridge Project's festivals includes Boston University, Harvard University, Brandeis University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Tufts University, the New England and Boston Conservatories. Among their Russian counterparts are the St. Petersburg and Moscow Conservatories, St. Petersburg University, the Mariinsky Theater, the Hermitage Museum, and the Moscow Cultural Foundation. All programs of the Festival are free and open to the public. For an updated schedule of events and concerts visit: www.educationalbridgeproject.org/current festival Ludmilla Leibman <mailto:Ludmilla.leibman@gmail.com> Executive Director The Educational Bridge Project 65 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02215 Ludmilla.leibman(a)gmail.com <mailto:Ludmilla.leibman@gmail.com> -- Dr. Ludmilla Leibman Executive Director Educational Bridge Project 65 Bay State Road Suite 6 Boston, Massachusetts 02215 1.617.867.0017 1.617.512.1712 (c) www.educationalbridgeproject.org <http://www.educationalbridgeproject.org> ---------------------------------------------------- Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor, Suite 301b Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617.495.4037 Fax: 617.495.8319 http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu

14 years, 5 months

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DavisCenter-list November 2009