Category: Seminar

The Case of the Georgian History Textbooks

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Silence as a Narrator: The Case of the Georgian History Textbooks

Guranda Bursulaia, PhD Candidate at Free University in Tbilisi (Georgia) and Swedish Institute visiting researcher at Caucasus Studies, Malmö University, will give the presentation: “Silence as a Narrator: The Case of the Georgian History Textbooks” at the Caucasus Studies web & campus seminar on May 7.

Where: Glocal Classroom C0502 (http://bit.ly/2UKX1fg), 5th floor, Niagara Building. Please, write to caucasus.studies@mau.se in case you are interested in following the seminar online.
When: 15.15–17.00, May 7.

The seminar is about the construction of collective memory about the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia in the Georgian school history textbooks. Guranda will discuss the transformation of the textbooks throughout the last 25 years marked with major political and social changes in the country. Besides, silencing, as an instrument of major narrative formation, and masterminds behind it will be analyzed using the example of the Georgian textbooks.

RUCARR seminar March 26

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The RUCARR seminar on March 26 will welcome three presenters from the Department of History, Lund University:

  • Klas-Göran Karlsson: “The Armenian genocide: An interpretive framework”;
  • Maria Småberg: “Giving voice to Armenian and Yazidi women – the transnational life stories of Alma Johansson and Maria Anholm”
  • Maria Karlsson: “Genocide denial: the Armenian example”

 Klas-Göran Karlsson is Professor of History, working with genocide studies and several other areas within international contemporary history. Maria Småberg, PhD in History and Assistant Director of Studies at the National Graduate School of History, works with a project on the Swedish missionary and genocide eyewitness Alma Johansson. Maria Karlsson has written a PhD thesis on genocide denial, “Cultures of Denial: Comparing Holocaust and Armenian Genocide Denial”, and works within the research project “The Lessons of Communist and Nazi History”, conducted by Klas-Göran Karlsson. They all represent the Department of History, Lund University.

When: March 26, 15-17 (for external participants, please come to the reception at 14.45)
Where: Room C0929, Niagara building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1, Malmö

 

Armenian Genocide Memorial complex of Tsitsernakaberd, Yerevan, Armenia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Flickr David Stanley

 

Seminar with Mikhail Suslov

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RUCARR seminar on February 14

Dr. Mikhail Suslov: Fantasy and Politics in Contemporary Russian Science Fiction
When: February 14, 13.15
Where: Niagara Building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1, Room: NIC:1029

Abstract
This talk inquires into the ways in which utopian narratives interact with political discourses and facilitate identity-making in post-Soviet Russia. The paper brings together various academic perspectives, including literature studies, cultural studies, and studies of ideologies and politics in order to comprehensively analyze the syncretic genre of science fiction. Works of science fiction condense political myths, metaphors, concepts and emotions, thereby giving us a better understanding of Russian political culture. I argue that the study of sociopolitical science fiction and utopias exposes the ideational tracks on which Russian society in Putin’s third presidency glided smoothly into the annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbas, and confrontation with the West. At the same time, post-Soviet science fiction addresses such issues of international pertinence as the rise of nationalism, right-wing populism and imperial revanchism and attempts to strike a balance between modernization and cultural authenticity.

Mikhail Suslov is Assistant Professor of Russian History and Politics at the University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on Russian intellectual history, conservative, right-wing and religiously-motivated political ideas, geopolitical ideologies and socio-political utopias. His most recent papers dealing with (geo)political imagination include “The “Russian World” Concept: ‘Spheres of influence’ in the post-Soviet geopolitical ideology,” Geopolitics 23, no. 2 (2018) and  “The Production of ‘Novorossiya’: A Territorial Brand in Public Debates,” Europe-Asia Studies 69, no. 2 (2017). Recently he edited Digital Orthodoxy in the Post- Soviet World: The Russian Orthodox Church and Web 2.0 (Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag, 2016) and co- edited (with Mark Bassin) Eurasia 2.0: Post-Soviet Geopolitics in the Age of New Media (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2016).

Seminar – Declarations of Independence in the Caucasus 100 years

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Thank you to all presenters and participants for a very interesting and rewarding day with the whole Caucasus present – Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the North Caucasus Mountain republic.
RUCARR seminar May 22: “Declarations of Independence in the Caucasus – 100 years Anniversary”-

Programme: http://wpmu.mah.se/rucarr/2018/05/15/preliminary-programme-100-years-anniversary-seminar/
Photos: Elnur Aliyev

Preliminary programme for the 100 years anniversary seminar

Aside

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Declarations of Independence in the Caucasus – 100 years Anniversary, May 22. PROGRAMME

Following the disintegration of the Russian Empire and the turbulent political development during the end of the First World War, several entities that had been part of the Russian Empire, declared their independence in 1918. In the Caucasus this applies to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the North Caucasian Mountain Republic. Hundred years have passed since these events and RUCARR will devote a one-day seminar commemorating this period and discussing the contemporary role and importance of these short-lived periods of independence.

See the LIVE FEED from the event here

Compulsory registration no later than May 17 by https://form.jotformeu.com/72362326539358

For more information, please contact rucarr@mah.se 

Time
9:30 – 10:00 Greeting and introductory speech Prof. Karina Vamling, Malmö University
10:00 – 11:00

Chair:

Prof. Bo Petersson, Malmö University

 Georgia in focus

 

 Malkhaz Kakabadze,Ambassador of Georgia to Sweden and Finland

Natia Gamkrelidze, Executive Director, Special issue of the Diplomat magazine
11:00 – 11:15 Refreshments
11:15 – 12:15

Chair: Dr. Katrine Gotfredsen (TBC)

 Azerbaijan in focus Adish Mammadov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Sweden

Dr. Ziyad Amrahov, Baku State University
12:15 – 12:25 Information regarding afternoon sessions and lunch break
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch break
13:45 – 14:45

Chair: Dr. Aram Terzyan, Yerevan University

 Armenia in focus Artak Apitonyan, Ambassador of Armenia to Sweden

Prof. Alexander Markarov, Yerevan University
14:45 – 15:00 Refreshments
15:00 – 16:00

Chair: Dr. Minna Lundgren, Mid Sweden University

 North Caucasus Mountainous Republic in focus Dr. Lars Funch Hansen, Malmö University

Cem Kumuk, United Caucasus Association, Istanbul
16:00 – 16:15 Summation Dr. Katrine Gotfredsen, Malmö University (TBC)

Dr. Lars Funch Hansen, Malmö University
16:15 – 17:00 Mingling

Time: May 22, 09:30-16:15

Venue: Malmö University, Niagara building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1 (meeting-point on the 5th floor, in front of the C elevators).

Compulsory registration no later than May 17 by https://form.jotformeu.com/72362326539358

For more information, please contact rucarr@mah.se 

 

 

Seminar with Dr. Minna Lundgren

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Dr. Minna Lundgren, Mid Sweden University, Department of Social Sciences, TEMAG: Abkhazia: Migration Memories and Contested Belongings.

Abstract

Abkhazia, de jure an autonomous republic within the Georgan Republic, proclaimed independence in 1999 and is today functioning as a de facto independent state under Russian patronage. Abkhazia has been an object of study in numerous studies from several disciplines such as political science, peace and conflict studies, law, and economics. However, apart from reports from international organizations, only a few studies have a micro level focus on the people who are living in Abkhazia today. People whose lives are affected by unresolved conflict, unrecognized statehood, political isolation, economic blockade, and restricted mobility. In this presentation Minna Lundgren will therefore aim to explore three interconnected themes connected to everyday life experiences of people living in Abkhazia or claiming a right to do so: 1. Abkhazia as a migration nexus – a point of departure and of return; 2. Abkhazia as a locus of disputed belongings, and 3. Abkhazia as a riskscape, a landscape embedded with different layers of risk, that affects people differently depending on an unequal distribution of power. I will draw on material from fieldwork in the region from 2012 to 2017.

When: May 21, 15.15-17.00

Where: Malmö University, Nordenskiöldgatan 1, Niagara building, Conference room on the 9th floor. Since this seminar will take place in a part of the building with limited public access, RUCARR personnel will be available in the lobby area on the bottom floor of the Niagara building (in front of the C elevators) at 15.00 sharp, to meet and accompany you to the location.

Declarations of Independence in the Caucasus – 100 Years Anniversary Celebration

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Following the disintegration of the Russian Empire and the turbulent political development during the end of the First World War, several entities that had been part of the Russian Empire, declared their independence in 1918. In the Caucasus this applies to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the North Caucasian Mountain Republic.

Hundred years have passed since these events and RUCARR will devote a one-day seminar commemorating this period and discussing the contemporary role and importance of these short-lived periods of independence.

The seminar includes presentations from researchers, politicians as well as representatives from the embassies of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sweden. The two morning sessions are devoted to Georgia and to Azerbaijan, and the two afternoon sessions will focus on Armenia and the North Caucasus Mountain Republic

Preliminary program:  http://wpmu.mah.se/rucarr/2018/05/15/preliminary-prog…iversary-seminar/ ‎

Time: May 22, 09:30-16:15

Venue: Malmö University, Niagara building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1 (meeting-point on the 5th floor, in front of the C elevators).

Compulsory registration no later than May 17 by https://form.jotformeu.com/72362326539358

For more information, please contact rucarr@mah.se 

Book release on Parliamentary Elections in Russia

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RUCARR is pleased to announce the launch of the book Parliamentary Elections in Russia: A Quarter- Century of Multi-Party Politics by Dr Derek Hutcheson, Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Global Political Studies, at Malmö University.

The launch will take place at 15.30 hours on Thursday, 19 April 2018 in the Niagara Building, Nordensköildsgatan 1, Malmö, with an introduction by Prof. Bo Petersson (Co-director, RUCARR), a brief talk by Derek Hutcheson, and a reception.

Because the event will take place in a part of the building where public access is limited, please register in advance with anastasia.egorova@mau.se, by 16 April. Arrangements will be made on the day to meet and and accompany you to the location.

 

                                                Synopsis of the book:

Russia is often in the news at the moment. As a nuclear power, permanent UN Security Council member, emerging Arctic hegemon and the largest state in the world, the country is of extreme importance in global politics. In the first long-term analysis of Russian parliamentary elections, Derek Hutcheson explores the country’s seven rounds of election since 1993, and also sets Russian politics into a wider context. Through the twists and turns of political reform, he combines official data, primary material and in-depth analysis to investigate the changes in Russia’s political system.

 

 

 

Seminar with Prof. Madina Tlostanova

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Prof. Madina Tlostanova, Linköping University, Department of thematic Studies, TEMAG: Decolonizing knowledge, being and sensing: Caucasian resistance and re-existence.
Abstract
We will focus on the trajectories of  Caucasian identities, sensibilities and subjectivities  in modernity/coloniality – Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet/global (neo)liberal. Starting and departing from the core decolonial concepts such as coloniality of being, of knowledge, of gender, of sensing, the geopolitics and corpo-politics of knowledge, the decolonial aesthesis, and re-existence, we will reflect on how they  are rethought and remade in art and/as activism of the contemporary Caucasus (and particularly in the works of Dagestani artist Taus Makhacheva and Chechen artist Aslan Gaisumov), and what is the potential liberating role of art and artivism in decolonization of knowledge, being, sensing and gender in the Caucasus.
When: March 13, 15.15–17.00

Photos: Elnur Aliyev

Guest lecture by Aram Terzyan

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Dr. Aram Terzyan, guest researcher at the Department of Global Political Studies (GPS), Malmö University, and Assistant Professor at Yerevan State University will give a lecture for staff and students on February 27. The title is: Explaining the evolution of Armenia’s foreign policy.

Welcome to attend on campus or online!

When: February 27, 15.15–17 (Swedish time).
Where: Niagara building, 5th floor, Glocal Classroom http://bit.ly/2lk3i1G
The lecture will also be available on streaming video/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhCcLkX6B2A&t=2s