This course examines successive generations of Russian and Russian Jewish writers and artists who brought the Soviet and post-Soviet century to North America, exploring diaspora, memory, and nostalgia in cultural production.

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Free

Event

Anarchist Thought, Art and Action

Fri, 28 Aug

The course examines anarchist conceptions of freedom, authority, and human nature through political essays, art, and autobiographical writing, with no prerequisites and all readings available in English.

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Free

Event

Cold War Reason: Cybernetics and the Systems Sciences

Fri, 28 Aug

This course traces the development and enduring influence of cybernetics, following concepts of information, systems, and feedback from the aftermath of World War II to the rise of Silicon Valley.

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Free

Event

Russian Formalism

Fri, 28 Aug

The course recontextualizes Russian Formalism in the cultural and political milieu of revolutionary and Civil War era Russia, connecting theories of form with their aesthetic, linguistic, and sociopolitical contexts.

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Free

Event

Experimental Cultures

Fri, 28 Aug

A seminar surveying experimental cultures of East Central Europe, including avant-gardes, experimental modernisms and postmodernisms, alternative film and visual culture, and avant-garde classical music. Taught in English, with material primarily from Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.

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Free

Event

The Black Sea in History

Fri, 28 Aug

A historical study of the Black Sea and surrounding lands, covering ancient civilizations, Greek colonization, Byzantine-Slav interactions, Ottoman dominance, Russian-Turkish rivalry, and decolonization and wars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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Free

Event

Culture in Polish Lands

Fri, 28 Aug

This seminar investigates changing meanings of cultural difference and sameness in Polish lands from 1918 to the present through visual arts, everyday objects, scholarly discourses, and urban and rural landscapes.

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Free

Event

Forced Labor in Modern Europe

Fri, 28 Aug

The course explores the history of forced labor in Europe over roughly the last 200 years, including its racial and class definitions, links to nationalism and economic development, and continued presence after World War II.

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Free

Event

Stalinism

Fri, 28 Aug

A deep study of the Stalin era and the historiographical debates surrounding Stalin’s rule, including its relationship to Lenin’s policies, totalitarianism, its consequences, and resistance.

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Free

Event

Modern Ukraine: An Eastern European History of a Borderland

Fri, 28 Aug

This course surveys Ukraine’s history from the nineteenth century to the present, covering imperial rule, the Revolution of 1917 to 1921, Soviet policies and the Holodomor, World War II, independence, the Orange Revolution, Euromaidan, and the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War. No prior knowledge of Eastern European history is required.

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Free

Event

Cold War Globalization: China and Eastern Europe

Fri, 28 Aug

The course examines interactions between China and Eastern Europe during the Cold War, including intellectual exchange, economic aid, geopolitical competition, global socialism, reform, and divergent developmental paths.

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About

Hours and details

East Central European Center is an academic hub offering courses and language study focused on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia. Its programming explores the region through literature, history, culture, politics, and diaspora studies.

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