Events

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Date: 15 March 2018

Venue: 40 George Square

In brief: A screening of the play Evgenii Onegin staged and filmed before a live audience in Moscow's venerable Vakhtangov Theatre. The play was shown in Russian with English subtitles.

Date: 8 March 2018

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre

Guest speaker: Sheila Sim

In brief: An illustrated talk by translator and garden photographer, Sheila Sim, in collaboration with the Scotland-Russia Forum. Sheila discussed Russian garden history from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Date: 8 February 2018

Venue:  50 George Square

Guest speaker: Professor Peter France (former University of Edinburgh)

In brief: A talk by Professor Peter France to celebrate the launch of his latest publication, 'Writings from the Golden Age of Russian Poetry' (Columbia University Press). Professor France discussed one of the creators of modern Russian poetry, Konstantin Batyushkov, and illustrated his points by readings in Russian and English. The event was followed by an informal reception.

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Date: 25 January 2018

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Professor Mary Buckley (University of Cambridge)

In brief: A book launch for Professor Buckley's latest publication, 'The Politics of Unfree Labour in Russia: Human Trafficking and Labour Migration'. The talk (and the book) focused on human trafficking out of the Russian Federation since the collapse of the Soviet state, as well as labour migration into it from Central Asia, and some internal movement.

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Date: 18 January 2018

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre

Guest speaker: Dr Andrea Liebschner (Ural Federal University)

In brief: A talk by Dr Liebschner that examined words for food and drinks in the menu of nine coffee houses and fast-food chains in Russia. Using her most recent research, Dr Liebschner analysed formation of the lexical units, orthography and grammatical adaption to the system of the Russian language.

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Date: 22 November 2017

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre

Guest speakers: Mikhail and Viacheslav Durnenkov (playwrights), Maria Kroupnik (arts producer and translator) and Irina Lukyanova (writer)

Organisers: School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures; Department of European Languages and Cultures' Language and Violence research strand; Nicola McCartney and the Class Act project

In brief: A roundtable discussion with the four participants, pulling on their various areas of expertise to explore language and violence in Russian theatre and literature.

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Date: 2 November 2017

Venue: City of Edinburgh Methodist Church

Guest performer: Vera Pavlova

In brief: An evening of music and performance with Russian poet and pianist Vera Pavlova, who played Tchaikovsky's 'Childhood' cycle. This was interspersed with readings from her poetry which she read in Russian, but English translations of her poetry was provided on a screen.

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Date: 24 October 2017

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 19 Buccleuch Place

Guest speakers: Vladimir Sharov (author), Peter Bagrov (film historian) and Kristina Matvienko (theatre critic and practitioner)

In brief: A roundtable discussion with the three participants in Russian as part of the Dashkova Centre's series of events marking the centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Co-organised with the Moscow Institute of Translation, this event saw the audience hearing extracts from Sharov's work read by himself, and watching archival film footage.

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Date: 12 October 2017

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 19 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Dr Dina Khapaeva (Georgia Institute of Technology)

In brief: A lecture by Dr Khapaeva that examined the appropriations of medievalism by contemporary culture and politics, applying the concept of neo-medievalism to Russia.

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Date: 18 September 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Ludmila Ulitskaya

In brief: A talk in Russian with Ludmila Ulitskaya concerning contemporary Russian literature and her own work. It was organised by the Princess Dashkova Centre and the Moscow Institute of Translation.

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Date: 30 June 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

In brief: A screening of 'Chitai, chitai', the debut film from Evgenii Koriakovskii, prolific Russian actor. The film was shown in Russian, and was followed by a Q&A session.

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Date: 17 June 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Roman Borisovich

In brief: A talk with Roman Borisovich, an actor, political campaigner and anti-corruption activist who starred in the Channel 4 documentary ‘From Russia With Cash’. Mr Borisovich discussed the film and the perception of corruption in Russia and London.

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Date: 16 June 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Alexander Kan

In brief: A lecture by Alexander Kan, BBC World Service Arts and Culture Correspondent, on the growing community of Russians and Russian speakers in the UK capital. The talk explored the ever-changing Russian cultural landscape in London, and attempted to project its evolution into the future.

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Dates: 16 to 17 June 2017

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Global Russians: Transnational Russophone Networks in the UK

In brief: Part of the AHRC-funded research project, 'Global Russians', this two-day workshop concerned the imaginaries of 'Londongrad' - the British spaces populated and inflected by Russians, with a particular focus on cultural and media productions on the Russian presence in the UK.

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Date: 30 May 2017

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Dr Ilya Kalinin (St Petersburg State University)

In brief: A lecture by Dr Kalinin on the subject of energy resources in the Soviet Union, how they were used to advance the socialist cause, and how to to reveal some interconnections and correlation, as well as some mutual translatability, between Soviet power and electric power.

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Date: 24 May 2017

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Dr Katya Rogatchevskaia (Lead Curator, East European Collections at the British Library)

In brief: A lecture and virtual tour by Dr Rogatchevskaia concerning a new major multimedia exhibition by the British Library. The exhibition re-examined the Russian Revolution in light of recent research, using physical tools such as posters, maps, postcards, letters, newspapers, and ephemera.

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Date: 9 May 2017

Venue: Scottish Parliament

Guest speakers: Floriana Fossato (Centre for Media and Society, Russia and Oxford); Jakub Kalensky (East StratCom Task Force, EU) Professor Luke March (University of Edinburgh); Ben Nimmo (Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab); Andras Racz (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest); Dr Lara Ryazanova-Clarke (University of Edinburgh)

In brief: A panel discussion between selected academics and professionals. In it, they examined the origin, transmission and promotion of narratives directed at the international community by Russia. This event was hosted by the Cross-Party Group on Russia, based in the Scottish Parliament.

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Date: 28 March 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Tatyana Tolstaya

In brief: An in-conversation event with Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian contemporary writer and public intellectual. She discussed her work, shared memories of life under the Soviet regime, and answered audience questions. This event was organised in partnership with the University of Glasgow Russian Speaking Society.

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Date: 14 March 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest performers: Grigory Kruzhkov; Lev Oborin; Marina Boroditskaya; Christine De Luca; Jen Hadfield; Stewart Sanderson

In brief: A reading of poetry by three of Russia's leading contemporary poets, as well as three of Scotland's. The poems used Shakespeare's sonnets as a stepping-off point, and the Scottish poets translated the work of their Russian counterparts into Scottish and Shetlandic. Guests received a complimentary copy of a pamphlet of the poems and translations produced by the project. The exchange was organised by the British Council in co-operation with The Scottish Poetry Library, and supported by the Edwin Morgan Trust.

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Date: 9 March 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Professor Kataryna Wolczuk (University of Birmingham)

In brief: A lecture by Professor Wolczuk, organised in collaboration with the Edinburgh Europa Institute. This talk analysed EU-Ukraine relations by looking at different types of boundaries of order.

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Date: 9 February 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Dr Derek Averre (University of Birmingham)

In brief: A lecture by Dr Averre that examined recent international developments and analysed the opportunities and constraints Moscow faces in its foreign policy.

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Date: 25 January 2017

Venue: Appleton Tower

Guest speaker: Dr. Ilya Yablokov (University of Leeds)

In brief: A joint lecture between LLC and the School of Social and Political Science, this event saw Dr. Ilya Yablokov (University of Leeds) investigate the phenomenon of conspiracy theories, and demonstrate how journalists became one of the main drivers to their popularity in contemporary Russia.

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Date: 24 October 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Language and Violence

Guest speakers: Professor Oleg Lekmanov (National Research University, Moscow), Professor Peter France (University of Edinburgh), Dr Andrew Reynolds (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and poet, writer and translator Maxim Amelin.

In brief: A workshop marking the 125th anniversary of the birth of Russian poet, Osip Mandelstam. This event was held in association with the 'Language and Violence’ research strand, and in partnership with the Russian Rudomino State Library of Foreign Literature and The Institute of Translation.

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Date: 17 October 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Nina Dashevskaya

In brief: An informal discussion and book reading event with writer and musician, Nina Dashevskaya, particularly aimed at children. Nina read extracts from her books in Russian, and answered questions.

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Date: 29 September 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Pam Wardell

In brief: The launch of Pam Wardell's new book, A Very Private Affair – a Soviet Dissident’s “English Wife”, a memoir about her aunt's love affair with Russian writer Boris Pilniak.

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Date: 24 September 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Ekaterina Eremenko

In brief: A screening of the new film 'The Discrete Charm of Geometry' (2015) by Ekaterina Eremenko, a Russian film director. The event began with an introduction from Ekaterina, and ended with a Q&A session.

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Date: 14 September 2016

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Alicia Kozameh (Chapman University)

In brief: A bilingual reading in Spanish and English by Alicia Kozameh (Chapman University) from one of her books. An author, editor and Creative Writing teacher, Alicia discussed the fictionalisation of her experience as a political prisoner, and as a political exile.

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Date: 3 May 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Professor Marianna Shakhnovich (Saint-Petersburg State University)

In brief: A presentation by Professor Marianna Shakhnovich (Saint-Petersburg State University) that aimed to contextualise the activity of Semyon Desnitsky, a prominent figure in the philosophical circle formed in Moscow in the late 1760s, in the early history of religious studies in Russia. Professor Shakhnovich was invited to the University by The Princess Dashkova Centre as a Visiting Dashkova Fellow in May 2016.

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Date: 30 March 2016

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest speaker: Alexei Kudrin (Honorary Professor, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures)

In brief: A public lecture by Alexei Kudrin (Honorary Professor, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures) organised by The Princess Dashkova Centre, entitled ‘The Russian Economy: Structural Problems and Perspectives on Economic Growth’.

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Date: 24 March 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Guest speaker: Professor Sergei Zenkin (Russian State University for the Humanities)

In brief: A presentation by Professor Sergei Zenkin (Russian State University for the Humanities) that explored four aspects of the formalist externalism – the formal, the mimetic, the nomothetic and the historical. It demonstrated that the ideas of Russian theorists converged with some aspects of 20th century European philosophy, but in a different intellectual context.

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Date: 18 March 2016

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Participants: Peter Davies (German); Kate Dunn (Hispanic Studies); Barbara Fernandez (Hispanic Studies); Rose France (Russian); Andrea Gullotta (University of Glasgow); Lara Ryazanova-Clarke (Russian)

In brief: A roundtable discussion, as part of the Language and Violence research stream. Topics included defining 'prison/camp', spaces and boundaries, aestheticisation, and voice.

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Date: 17 March 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Title: Towards a New Understanding of the Gulag and of its Literature through the Prism of Auto-Biographical Studies

Speaker: Dr Andrea Gullotta (The University of Glasgow)

In brief: A research seminar from Dr Andrea Gullotta on finding a new understanding of the literature of the Gulag by considering a wide corpus of texts, including those which have been less studied to date (e.g. oral poems composed within the camps). In this event, Dr Gullotta discussed some of the features he has identified over the years in this corpus, and towards the end he also highlighted other aspects related to non-literary texts.

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Date: 4 March 2016

Venue: 50 George Square

Organisers: The Dashkova Centre and the Calvert 22 Foundation

In brief: A presentation of Calvert 22’s London-based exhibition "Things Fall Apart", curated by scholar of art and film Mark Nash. The exhibition was named after Chinua Achebe’s 1958 classic of post-colonial fiction, and used the association to focus on a similar loss of utopian perspective following the end of the cold war and collapse of the Soviet Union and eastern bloc. Mark Nash’s presentation was accompanied by screening of Abderrahmane Sissako’s “October” (1993).

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Date: 2 March 2016

Venue: 40 George Square Lecture Theatre B

Speaker: Yelena Khanga

Organisers: The Dashkova Centre and the Calvert 22 Foundation

In brief: A conversation with popular chat show host and possibly the most recognisable face of black Russia, Yelena Khanga. She discussed her life and career as a black journalist in the Soviet Union, the United States and modern Russia. This was one of a series of joint events between the Princess Dashkova Russian Centre and Calvert 22 Foundation.

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Date: 29 February 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Speaker: Dmity Vodennikov

In brief: An evening of poetry and performances from Dmity Vodennikov, an acclaimed Russian poet and essayist. This event took place in Russian.

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Date: 23 February 2016

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Organisers: The Russian department and Princess Dashkova Russian Centre

In brief: A performance of Anton Chekhov's 'The Marriage Proposal' by three undergraduate Russian Studies students: Deana Davis, Anastasia Lopoukhine and Robin Veale. This 30-minute sketch was one of Chekhov's famous 'Шутки' (Jokes), and was performed in Russian.

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Date: 18 February 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Speaker: Professor Nancy Ries (Colgate University)

Organiser: The Dashkova Centre in collaboration with Language and Violence Research strand (DELC)

In brief: A public lecture from Professor Nancy Ries (Colgate University) based off her anthropological field research in Russia. The talk used Guy Debord's concept of 'the spectacle' to analyse a collection of military news and entertainment videos, some of which highlight contemporary tools and forces (Tupolev bombers over Europe, opolchentsy in Ukraine, bombing in Syria, Russian nuclear modernisation) and some of which warn of the coming 'Third World War' started by the US and NATO.

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Date: 28 January 2016

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Speaker: Professor Mika Lähteenmäki (University of Jyväskylä)

In brief: A public seminar by Professor Mika Lähteenmäki, organised by the Dashkova Centre. In this talk, Professor Lähteenmäki discussed language ideological discourse in contemporary Russia and its role in the promotion of national unity.

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Date: 21 January 2016

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Billy Kay

In brief: Scottish writer and broadcaster Billy Kay presented and discussed his new BBC Radio Scotland series “The Scots in Russia”. He discussed the substantial contribution to Russia made by Scots from the 17th century to the time of the Revolution, and illustrated his talk with clips from the series.

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Date: 8 December 2015

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Speaker: Professor Alexander Nakhimovsky (Colgate University)

In brief: A lecture organised by the Dashkova Centre, given by Professor Alexander Nakhimovsky (Colgate University). It investigated how class struggle and interpersonal relationships are represented in dialects of characters of Lydia Seifullina's novella ‘Перегной’ (Humus).

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Date: 28 November 2015

Venue: 50 George Square

Title: The "Last address": how the idea of the public memorial becomes the basis to civil movement

Speaker: Sergei Parkhomenko

In brief: A public lecture organised by the Dashkova Centre from acclaimed Russian journalist, broadcaster, publisher and founder of several initiatives aimed at promoting civic activism in Russia. The lecture was given in Russian.

Date: 27 November 2015

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Global Russians: Transnational russophone networks in the UK

In brief: This workshop developed the ‘Global Russian’ research strand and is part of the research project ‘Travelling Cultures: Discourses of Russian Tourism in Scotland’. It brought together international scholars examining tourism from the linguistic, historical and cultural perspectives, and the practitioners who produce tourist discourses. The workshop explored tourist narratives as a product of cross-cultural interaction, and addressed the questions of how globalisation affects the narratives produced for and by Russian tourists, and what meanings are attached to the newly emerged phenomenon of the Russian globe-trotter.

It also featured an evening with Dmitry Krylov, a travel journalist and author of ‘Neputevye Zametki’, chaired by y Lara Ryazanova-Clarke and Vera Zvereva (University of Edinburgh).

Dates: 26 November 2015

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Global Russians: Transnational russophone networks in the UK

Keynote speaker: Diane Koenker (University of Illinois)

In brief: Part of a two-day workshop entitled 'The Global Russian: International Travel as Cultural and Linguistic Practices', which itself is part of the research project ‘Travelling Cultures: Discourses of Russian Tourism in Scotland’ within the Global Russians research strand. This lecture was given by Professor Diane Koenker, who was at the time Professor of History at the University of Illinois, specialising in modern Russian and Soviet history.