REECAS NW Past Conferences

REECAS NW 2011

Land and Humanity in
Russia, East Europe and Central Asia

The Seventeenth Annual
Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies
Northwest Conference

Saturday, April 16, 2011
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Thomson Hall
University of Washington – Seattle, Washington

 

Hosted by:
Herbert J. Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures


The 17th Annual REECAS-NW Conference will be held on Saturday, April 16th, 2011, at the University of Washington – Seattle Campus. The conference is organized by the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Washington.

We welcome students, faculty and staff from institutions of higher learning from throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as K-12 educators and the general public. Admission to the conference is free. Advance registration is required by April 10th, if you would like to order a box lunch. On the morning of the conference, you will need to confirm your registration and pay $13 for your lunch at the registration table on the 1st floor of Thomson Hall between 9:15am-9:45am. Coffee, tea and pastries will be provided. The conference will be held in Thomson Hall on the UW-Seattle Campus. All conference participants are invited to attend a reception following the conference.

For further information or questions, please call The Ellison Center at (206) 543-4852 or email reecas@u.washington.edu. 



9:15am-9:45am REGISTRATION


10:00am-11:30am SESSION 1


Panel 1 A – Power and Periphery in the Multi-ethnic Empire: legacy and expansion

Chair: Elena Campbell, Assistant Professor, History Department, UW

Infrastructure and Empire: The development of the Russian railroads and its impacts on the Russian Empire 
Karl Starns, MAIS Candidate, REECAS, UW

Claiming the Pamiatnik: Transforming a National Monument into a Symbol of Local Identity in 1830’s Kazan
Eric Johnson, MA Candidate, Department of History, UW

The Mongol impact on state formation in Russia: From polycentrism to subordination to hyper-centralism
Robert Bedeski, Affiliate Professor, REECAS, UW


Panel 1 B – Rights, Disputes and State Policy

Chair: Marta Mikkelsen, Assistant Director, Ellison Center, UW

Alternative dispute resolutions in the Republic of Belarus
Tatsiana Bialayeva, Visiting Scholar

Post-Soviet Courts and the Rights of Religious Minorities
Sophia Wilson, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, UW

Stalin’s Intellectual? Ilya Ehrenburg, the State of Israel, and the Jewish Question in the Soviet Union
Sarah Zaides, MA Student, Department of History, UW


11:30am-12:00am BREAK


12:00pm-1:30 pm LUNCH/PLENARY SESSION

Legacies of Soviet Health and Nuclear Policies
Robert Smurr, Professor, Evergreen State College

Gender and Women in Central Asia
Diana Pearce, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, UW


1:45pm-3:15pm SESSION 2


Panel 2 A – Balkan Narratives: Preserving the Past, Molding the Future

Chair: Bojan Belic, Lecturer, Slavic Languages and Literatures, UW

Building National Anxiety: Macedonia’s ‘Skopje 2014’ Project
Sofia Harwell, MAIS/MPA Candidate, REECAS/Evans School, UW

Gender Equality in Kosovo: An Examination of ‘Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit’ Through a Feminist Lens
Elizabeth Zherka, MAIS Candidate, REECAS, UW

On the Border: National Construction in Finland and Slovenia, Minority Policy, and the Nationalism of Minor Difference
Andrew Mullins, MAIS Candidate, REECAS, UW


Panel 2 B -Filtering Culture: Central Asia through Western eyes

Chair: Ilse Cirtautas, Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, UW

Reflections of A Soviet Kyrgyz Writer in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan
Alva Robinson, MA Candidate, NELC, UW

Sacred Space in the Pamirs through the Eyes of European Travelers
Jennifer Webster, PhD Student,  Department of History, UW

Ethnography or Fine Arts – Curatorial Approaches to Central Asian Art
Rosemary Carroll, MAIS Candidate, REECAS, UW


Panel 2 C – Authoring Perception and Crafting Identity

Chair: James Augerot, Professor, Slavic Languages and Literatures, UW

The Interaction Between Visual in Linguistic Components in Russian TV Commercials
Veronika Egorova, PhD Candidate, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, UW

Liudmila Ulitskaia’s Medea and her Children: Medea, Stalin, and the Limits of Tolerance
Mary Childs, PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative Literature, UW

The Bronze Soldier: Alternate Perceptions of History and Identity Crisis in Estonia
Henrik Strand, BA Candidate, JSIS/Slavic, UW


3:15pm-3:30pm BREAK


3:30pm-5:00pm SESSION 3


Panel 3A – Post-Soviet Energy and Security

Chair: Nathaniel S. Trumbull, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Connecticut

The Pertinence of the Hypothesis “Knowledge Based Economy in Azerbaijan”: Case Study Oil Sector
Emin Aliyev, Visiting Scholar, Universite de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS-Gredeg

The Kharkiv Agreement and Black Sea Security
Derek Hom, MAIS Candidate, REECAS, UW

Cold Reality in the “Land of Fire” – Twenty Years of Geopolitical Wrestling around Azerbaijani Hydrocarbon Resources
Csaba Marosvari, MA Candidate, Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Panel 3B – Inconvenient People, Awkward Places, and the Threatened Majority

Chair: Glennys Young, Associate Professor, Department of History, UW

Eastern Residues and Western Influences on Political Memory: An Analysis of Museums and Memorials in Prague and Bratislava
Sara Tomczuk, MA Candidate, Department of Sociology, UW

“The Streets are Yours, the Tenements Ours”: The Changing Meanings of Urban Space in post-Holocaust Łódź
Travis Currit, PhD Candidate, Department of History, UW

Growing up Soviet?: History and Memory among the “Orphans of Stalin’s Revolution”
Andrew Stone, PhD Candidate, Department of History, UW


5:00pm-6:00pm CLOSING RECEPTION