The Slavic Connexion

Wrapping up our ASEEES conference series, we have a super fun couple's episode with the dynamic duo of Alexander Prokhorov and Elena Prokhorova from Moscow State University who talk about their personal journeys and how they ended up at teaching at College of William & Mary. THE GUESTS: Elena Prokhorova and Alexander Prokhorov https://www.wm.edu/news/images/2017/content/prokhorova_content.jpg https://www.wm.edu/news/images... Read more

In this episode, we trek back in time to the late Habsburg Empire and post-World War I Eastern Europe with Dr. Hsia. And then we discuss Slavic Folklore in modern young adult literature with Dr. Martiniuk who talks about the romanticized Russian symbols used by authors everywhere of all backgrounds. We'll get into the issues behind using such symbols, and if it's cultural appreciation or appropriation. ABOUT THE GUESTS: Ke-... Read more

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) https://history.unc.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/804/files/2017/07/Chad-pic-150x150-wpcf_150x150.j... Read more

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 been concerned with the realm of e... Read more

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: https://history.utoronto.ca/sites/history.utoronto.ca/files/styles/people_single/public/field/images/Paul-Robert-Magocsi-Department-of-History.jpg?itok=VocK_ljD Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history... Read more

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 Brown he taught at Oberlin College (19... Read more

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 reporter of the morning program and mo... Read more

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 America during the Cold War. In particu... Read more

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 necessary). If interested in learning... Read more

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 Central Asian Journalist-in-Residence p... Read more

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 like a drunk, stumbling around, but... Read more

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 itself the Czech Republic or Czechia ... Read more

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-consortium-brings-u-s-state-departments-c... Read more

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. For more on the impact of rock an... Read more

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-Crate Music Producer: Charlie Harper... Read more

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 English from Saratov State University,... Read more

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, kinship systems, climate change in ... Read more

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 bestsellers in Russia. Genis, an A... Read more

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 multilinguial environment that inspired her... Read more