The Slavic Connexion

From the ASEEES Conference in San Francisco, Professor Chad Bryant of UNC Chapel Hill speaks with us about Czech cultures and in the second half of the episode, Professor Laura Todd of the University of Nottingham lets us in on her research on early 1980s MTV and the Yugoslavian rock scene. ABOUT THE GUESTS: CHAD BRYANT (UNC Chapel Hill) Chad Bryant is Associate Professor of History at UNC Chapel...

In this episode, Lera talks with anthropologist Craig Campbell talks about his interest in the river life of Siberia, the age of the Anthropocene, and how "time is profoundly weird." ABOUT THE GUEST: Dr. Craig Campbell is associate professor of anthropology and Slavic studies at UT Austin. A Canadian, he received his PhD from the University of Alberta. His academic work has most recently...

During the ASEEES conference, Ukrainian history expert Dr. Magosci talks with Cullan about Carpatho-Rusyn nationality and his pivotal role in forming this movement as a specialist in this region of the world. ABOUT THE GUEST: Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto, where since 1980 he also holds the John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies. He...

SlavX host Lera gets the chance to talk with Professor Vladimir Golstein from Brown University at the 2019 ASEEES conference in San Francisco. Check it out! ABOUT THE GUEST: Vladimir Golstein holds his M.S. in Computers from Moscow Institute of Management, his B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University, and his Ph. D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Yale University. Prior to coming to Br...

On this episode, Aigul Adzhieva (Айгуля Аджиева) a TV producer from Kyrgyzstan, joins Matt for a discussion about media challenges today, bride kidnapping, and the role of journalists in her country. Enjoy! ABOUT OUR GUEST: Aigul Adzhieva is a TV producer from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and 11 years of working experience in Broadcasting. She started working as a rep...

As Winter claims the Slavic world (much of it anyway), we thought we'd take a trip south of the equator with this episode on Venezuela with yet another special guest from the History department Latin American expert Marcus Golding. ABOUT THE GUEST: Marcus Golding is a doctoral student in History at the University of Texas at Ausin. He specializes on social and political movements in Latin Amer...

On this episode, we meet the wonderful Dr. Evgenia Wilkins, a native of St. Petersburg who now teaches Russian language, Soviet culture, and environmental studies here in the heart of Texas. She talks about her upcoming Maymester program in Siberia in which students of all disciplines will get to explore the beauty of Lake Baikal through hands-on environmental studies (no knowledge of Russian nece...

Kazakh journalists Aigerim Toleukhan and Yelnur Alimova, visiting Austin on a State Department exchange program, enlighten Matt and Tracy about their experiences as independent and international media practitioners, the challenges they face in a country they say whose government tolerates no opposition. We definitely learned a lot from their perspectives and personal anecdotes. Thanks to the Centr...

On this episode, Tom and Matt speak with two of our favorite EU experts on the upcoming December 12th vote in the UK which looms large and uncertainly on the European horizon. What exactly will become of the EU without Britain? Has its usefulness declined in the world? What does the EU today have to offer European states that might be lost without it? As Dr. Mosser so aptly put it: "The EU is...

Our guest today is Czech professor Petra Dominková, from Prague, who has stepped into our studio to talk about the upcoming demonstration led by Million Moments for Democracy against the current controversial Prime Minister who is both rich in controversy and currency. The demonstration will take place in just a few days on November 16th! Listen and also find out whether the country is branding it...

In the next few episodes, we are excited to have an intimate look into Central Asian countries thanks to a rare visit from several wonderful journalists who were competitively selected for a US State Department-sponsored exchange program, which was made possible through the Meridian International Center (see the press release here: https://www.meridian.org/news/texas-international-education-consor...

Returning to the studio, Tom Garza joins us to discuss not vampires but Russian rock, from the years prior to the fall of the USSR to today itself. And this is not just an academic subject for him, it's his lived experience. Featuring snippets with legendary music critic Artemy Troitsky, who launched the first discotheque in Soviet Russia, this episode (not to overstate the theme) truly ROCKS....

Александр Генис присоединяется к нам, чтобы обсудить русскую литературу, от Довлатова до Пелевина. RECORDING NOTE: Episode recorded September 30th, 2019 at the University of Texas at Austin. CREDITS Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew) Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: facebook.com/thomas.rehnquist) Associate Producer: Lera Toropin Supervising Producer: Kathryn Yegorov-C...

In this episode, Matt talks with Marina Alexandrova about her challenges coming to America from Russia, and the art of teaching Russian culture as a talented and creative professor at the University of Texas at Austin. ABOUT THE GUEST: Voted one of UT's Top Ten Professors (which is a big deal), Dr. Marina Alexandrova was born and raised in Saratov, Russia. She received her MA equivalent in Eng...

How does one wind up in Northeastern Siberia? Dr. Susan Crate recounts her almost 30 years conducting research in Russia, a journey that began with an interest in Russian folklore and a Bridges for Peace trip and resulted in a thirst to learn the Russian language and travel to Siberia. New Slavix host Lera sat down with Dr. Crate to talk about her research interests concerning cultural practices,...

Literary critic, broadcaster, and writer Alexander Genis privileges Matt and Tom with an interview on coming to America during the 70s, his impression of Texas, his longtime career in radio, and his take on the future. ABOUT THE GUEST: Alexander Genis (born February 11, 1953) is a Russian–American writer, broadcaster, and cultural critic. He has written more than a dozen books that are non-fiction...

Cultural geographer and linguist Bella Jordan returns to the SlavX studio to discuss languages, indigenous peoples of the former Russian Empire, and the process of "de-Russification" that is the tendency now of many societies in the post-Soviet space. ABOUT THE GUEST: A native of Sakha (Yakutia), an ethnic republic located in northeast Siberia, Bella grew up in a multicultural and multil...

В этом эпизоде ведущие Мэтт и Лера садятся с профессором Мариной Александровой, чтобы рассказать о своем опыте адаптации к жизни в Америке. Марина - очень любимый профессор Техасского университета в Остине. Послушайте и узнайте почему. ABOUT THE GUEST: Voted one of UT's Top Ten Professors (which is a big deal), Dr. Marina Alexandrova was born and raised in Saratov, Russia. She received her MA...

On this episode, hosts Tracy and Cullan sit down with geographer, anthropologist, food studies expert, Dr. Elizabeth Cullen Dunn. Dr. Dunn delves into her fascinating experiences studying abroad in Martial Law-ed China, working in a Communist-era baby food factory in Poland, and living and working in camps for victims of forced migration in the Republic of Georgia. Her recent work and activism cen...

Professor Keith Livers joins us as our somewhat reluctant Conspiratologist (yes, that's a word), that is to say, he studies conspiracies not out of a personal desire but because 21st century society demands it. Since the subject is in itself distasteful to him, he necessarily gets creative in the classroom -- hence, the X-Files. RECORDING NOTE: Episode recorded September 13th, 2019 at the Univ...

Our guest on this episode is Daniel Satinsky, a business professional and associate of the Davis Center at Harvard University who is an expert on the Soviet diaspora's impact and innovative success in the U.S. economy. His book HAMMER AND SILICON (2018), coauthored with Sheila Puffer and Daniel McCarthy of Northeastern University, covers in depth "of the contributions of Soviet and post-S...

Aleksej Demjanski continues regaling us with the saga of the Colorful Revolution in part 2 of his episode. His bottom line? "People should pay more attention to Macedonia and the region because" the political strife in the area "carries a lot of lessons" for all of us. Listen for a bonus 2 minute segment at the end with Kathryn Yegorov-Crate (Katya), a first year master's s...

Welcome to Season 2! To kick us off we have with us in the studio Fulbright-er (that's a word, right?) Aleksej Demjanski. Aleksej brings the riveting tales of protest movements in Southeast Europe to the microphone. Listen for a bonus 2 minute segment at the end with Tracy Heim, a dual-degree master's student in CREEES and the LBJ School of Public Affairs whom we are welcoming this new sea...

Илья Яблоков, профессор Университета Лидса, говорит с ведущим Мэттом о США, городах которые он посетил, и так далее. NOTE: Episode recorded April 24th, 2019 at the University of Texas at Austin. CREDITS Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: facebook.com/thomas.rehnquist) Co-Producer: Milena D-K (Connect: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010939368892 Instagram: @thedistantsea and @milena.d.k) Associat...

THIS IS PART 2 OF A 2-PART EPISODE. Conspiracy theory expert Ilya Yablokov joins SlavX host Matt to talk about... well... conspiracies: "When Notre Dame was on fire, you can't imagine how many of my Facebook friends were saying, 'oh my God this must be a sign', 'it must be a plan of Macron's to finance reconstruction'... Bloody hell! What kind of reconstruction plan is...