Children’s Literature and the War in Ukraine, Nov 14

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Children’s Literature and the War in Ukraine

When: 11/14/2024 2:15:00 PM
Where: Orkanen, E526, Nordenskiöldsgatan 10

https://staff.mau.se/first-page/calendar-for-staff/childrens-literature-and-the-war-in-ukraine/

Dr Aliona Yarova presents a Crafoord-funded postdoc project in which she has explored the societal and educational potential of Ukrainian children’s literature about the war. The talk, which is co-organized by the Faculty of Education and the University Library, will focus on her research in Ukrainian children’s literature, her collaboration with the NGO Poruch and her work with the “Schools of Peace”-project. The exhibition will feature some examples of children’s artworks – the result of creative writing workshops with three Ukrainian schools as well as an award-winning map of Ukraine made by the children which was displayed at the University of Tartu Art Museum. She will also discuss about the project’s future prospects, ideas of collaborative funding applications and a possibility to organize an exhibition showcasing children’s works.

RUCARR seminar with Prof. Irina Busygina, Oct 15

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Welcome to the seminar with Prof. Irina Busygina on October 15, the seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara:

Russia’s War against Ukraine: Implications on Russia’s Territorial Stability

Professor Irina Busygina is a Research Fellow at Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and Researcher at the Center of Eastern European and International Studies (ZoiS) in Berlin. She previously worked as Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Political Science and International Relations (Higher School of Economics at Saint Petersburg, Russia) and headed the Center for Comparative Governance Studies. Her research interests include comparative federalism and decentralization, Russian domestic and foreign policy, Russia-EU relations.

Her latest publications include “Center-regional relations in Russia”. In: Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society. Ed. by Graeme Gill. UK: Routledge, 2023 (with Mikhail Filippov); “Ready to Protest? Explaining Protest Potential in Russian Regional Capitals.” Regional and Federal Studies”, published online January 2023 (with Ekaterina Paustyan); “Pandemic Decentralization: COVID-19 and Principal–Agent Relations in Russia.” Problems of Post-Communism, Published online: 14 Sep 2022 (with Stanislav Klimovich). Her last book (coauthored by Mikhail Filippov) is “Non-Democratic Federalism and Decentralization in Post-Soviet States” (UK: Routledge 2024).

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Journalist Johanna Melén presents her new book “Imperiehunger”

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Welcome to a presentation in Swedish at RUCARR by Johanna Melén, foreign correspondent at Sveriges Radio:

Johanna Melén besöker RUCARR vid Institutionen för Globala politiska studier för att berätta om sin bok “Imperiehunger : Putins storryska drömmar och ett nyvaknat motstånd”.

När: 10 september, 15-17
Var: Seminarierummet, vån 9, Niagara, eller Zoom, https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/68024609948

Det här är en bok om de självständiga länder som genom historien dominerats av Ryssland och som fortfarande drygt tre decennier sedan Sovjetunionens fall kämpar för att ses som något annat än före detta sovjetrepubliker.

Vladimir Putin har byggt sitt politiska varumärke kring att återskapa bilden av Ryssland som en stormakt, därtill med en tusenårig historia. Länderna som tidigare levde under rysk hegemoni har behövt förhålla sig till det. När det storskaliga anfallskriget mot Ukraina inleddes väcktes en rädsla bland flera postsovjetiska länder för att stå näst på tur. Men också en växande insikt om vikten av att värna sin autonomi, sitt språk, sin nationella kultur som något oavhängigt den ryska.

I Imperiehunger rör sig Johanna Melén mellan Armenien, Azerbajdzjan, Belarus, Georgien, Kazakstan, Moldavien, Tadzjikistan och Ukraina. Hon beskriver utvecklingen i respektive land och hur relationen till Ryssland har förändrats sedan februari 2022. Boken ger också en historisk tillbakablick över både kommuniståren och den tidiga historien för att ge en djupare förståelse kring rysk imperialism då – och nu.

Johanna Melén är Sveriges Radios korrespondent i Östeuropa. Hon debuterade 2021 med Mina ryska vänner: en berättelse om Putins Ryssland.

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Visit to RUCARR by the board of Friends of Georgia Society, SWEDEN

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Seminar and networking meeting at RUCARR with the Friends of Georgia Society

On August 30 RUCARR hosted a meeting with members of the board of the Friends of Georgia, Society, SWEDEN. The expertise and experience of the members of the board in various fields of business, culture, politics and other perspectives of the Georgian society is quite unique. Among them Chairman Sven Holmström with expertise in Georgian agriculture,  advisor to the board Per Eklund, former EU ambassador to Georgia and Armenia, professor Joakim Enwall (Uppsala University), one of the founding members and Georgian expert, Anuki Sturua, former secretary to the ambassador of Georgia to Sweden, Eric Jönsson, CEO to the Fulbright Commission in Stockholm and former honorary consul in Tbilisi, Bengt Carlström, chair of the Swedish-Georgian chamber of commerce, Ulrica Söderlind, Senior lecturer at Umeå University, gastronomic expert and the author of several books in the field, historian Ann Grönhammar and Suzanne Menzel Persson, with special inerest in travel in the Georgian highlands..

It was a pleasure for the RUCARR reseachers to present their research and activities with a focus on Georgia (see program below), and to have very lively and good discussions and networking among all participants. 

Prof. Derek Hutcheson, vice dean and RUCARR researcher, thanked chairman Sven Holmström and the Society on behalf of the Faculty Culture and Society nd RUCARR. (photo below).

Program

Prof. Karina Vamling, RUCARR och Sven Holmström, Chairman of  Friends of Georgia society: Welcome and introductory words
 
Karina Vamling, Prof: Presentation of Caucasus Studies and RUCARR
The online course in Georgian. “Swedish-Georigan contacts in the early years”
Dr. Manana Kock Kobaidze: “Literary translations Swedish-Georgian”
Dr. Revaz Tchantouria: “Two Georgian-Swedish art exhibitions”
Dr. Katrine Gotfredsen: “Everyday experiences and effects of occupation and borderization in Georgia: Displacement, precarity and social rupture”
PhD Candidate Nick Baigent: “Hydropower development and its political and social challenges in Georgia”
Dr. Michel Anderlini: ”EU and the Georgian dilemma”
Dr Tom Nilsson: ”Summer Academy for Young Professionals”
Dr Mariia Tyshchenko: “Empowering Civil Society in Eastern Partnership Countries”
Dr Svitlana Babenko: “Gender Studies and Russia’s War Challenges: Networking for Excellence in Teaching and Institutional Development”
Lecturer Teresa Tomasevic: “Teaching of Swedish at Tbilisi State University Exchange and cooperation”
 

Seminar May 21, 15:15-17:00: The inefficiency of EU leverage in Serbia during the Russia-Ukraine war

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The inefficiency of EU leverage in Serbia during the Russia-Ukraine war, Branislav Radeljić

When: May 21, 15.15-17:00 CET
Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69865873540

The war in Ukraine has exposed a rift between Serbia and the Brussels administration. Serbia has been accused of aligning itself with Russia as opposed to the strictly pro-Ukrainian EU. In this talk, Prof. Radeljić will look at the nature of EU–Serbia relations, with a particular focus on (a) the relevance of EU norms and values as policy tools, (b) the foreign policy of Serbia under the Progressivists and the regime of Aleksandar Vučić, and (c) the rising influence of Russia and China in the Western Balkan region, which has been undermining the EU’s push for democratization and Europeanization.

Branislav Radeljić is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Government and Society, United Arab Emirates University. In addition, he serves as Visiting Professor of European Politics at Nebrija University. His scholarly interests focus on European and Middle Eastern political and socioeconomic developments. 

Seminar May 14 – The Georgian-Byzantine literary interaction in the 11th century

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The Georgian-Byzantine literary interaction in the eleventh century

— Christian Høgel, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lund University

Welcome to this joint seminar with RUCARR and CEMES-network “Thinking the European Academy of Letters”!

When: May 14, 15.15-16.30 CET
Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/67115473647

After the Georgian nobleman Ioane Tornike supported the young Byzantine emperor Basil II against pretenders to the Byzantine throne, Georgians became much closer connected to Byzantine politics and to Byzantine text culture. The establishment of the Iviron monastery in mount Athos turned out a most productive translation center but also became an aristocratic setting of Georgians within the Byzantine world. Our extant text material witnesses both this Byzantine-Georgian literary exchanges and gives us valuable information on different text cultures along the Silk Road.

Bio

Christian Høgel is professor of Greek and Latin at Lund University since 2023. He has published widely on Byzantine hagiography and on translations – on the early Greek translation of the Qur’an and on translations from Georgian. He is co-director of the Retracing Connections research programme (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

RUCARR Seminar, April 23, 15:15-17:00: Civil society in the South Caucasus: Resource dependencies, organizational behaviors and shifting environments

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Civil society in the South Caucasus: Resource dependencies, organizational behaviors and shifting environments

When? April 23rd, 15:15-17:00

Where? On Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69994454484

Abstract

Civil society developments in the Eurasia region have been under scholarly scrutiny since the early 1990s, particularly due to their presumed actorness in political and societal transitions. In the meantime, a growing number of challenges, including limited trust and participation, lingering legitimacy, agency and accountability issues, external aid dependence, precarious professionalization, and governments’ increased regulative and political assaults, have faced civil society organizations (CSOs). This talk will draw on research into cases of the South Caucasus countries – Azerbaijan and Georgia – from neo-institutional and resource dependence perspectives. The Azerbaijani case will highlight the transformation of organizational behaviors of CSOs in the wake of government-imposed restrictions over the past decade, focusing on the trend of de-NGOization under entrenched authoritarianism. The Georgian case will discuss the effects of foreign funding on self-regulation in civil society, focusing on agency and accountability practices against the background of government allegations and legislative proposals deeming CSOs as “foreign agents.”

Bio

Najmin Kamilsoy is a doctoral candidate at Charles University Department of Public and Social Policy, where he received a master’s degree in 2019. His current research area is civil society development and organizational behaviors in non-democracies, with a regional and comparative focus on the South Caucasus. Kamilsoy is a co-founder and policy analyst of Agora Analytical Collective, a think tank that has been dealing with the analysis of social and economic policies in Azerbaijan since 2022. He held a visiting Ph.D. fellowship at the University of Zurich in 2021 and he is an upcoming research fellow at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.