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The Eurasian Knot

The Eurasian Knoteuraknot.org
To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes drop weekly with an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Subscribe on your favorite podcasts app, grab your headphones, hit play, and tune in. Eurasia will never appear the same.

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Episodes

Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter

Guest: Brian Milakovsky with a grim update on Ukraine, the war, and the shrinking prospects of even a lousy peace. The post Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 09, 202454 min

A Century Without Lenin

Guest: Christopher Read on Vladimir Lenin's legacy 100 years since his death. The post A Century Without Lenin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 02, 202440 min

Genealogy in Russia

Guest: Maria Lotsmanova on her genealogical journey to find information about her repressed great-grandfather, Jacob Jansen. The post Genealogy in Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 26, 202442 min

The Black Russian

Guest: Vladimir Alexandrov on The Black Russian published by Grove Press. The post The Black Russian appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 12, 20241 hr 6 min

Recording Russia

Guest: Gabriella Safran on Recording Russia: Trying to Listen in the Nineteenth Century published by Cornell University Press. The post Recording Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Jan 05, 20241 hr 1 min

Making the Soviet Jew

Guest: Sasha Senderovich on How the Soviet Jew Was Made published by Harvard University Press. The post Making the Soviet Jew appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 01, 20231 hr 10 min

Defection and the Cold War

Guest: Erik Scott on defection, the Cold War, and the regulation of borders and movement in a globalizing world. The post Defection and the Cold War appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 17, 20231 hr 1 min

Ainu Fever

Roma Shatrov is the founder of the Silent Cape Nature Park in Sakhalin. Irina Grudova is Ainu, the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin. Roma is obsessed with Ainu history and culture and has dedicated the Silent Cape to revitalizing their tradition. Irina is a local Ainu activist and is skeptical of such outsiders looking to exploit her heritage. Yet Roma and Irina instantly hit it off and formed a strong bond over their mutual love of the Ainu. Rusana Novikova brings us a story about the romanti...

Nov 10, 202357 min

Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds

Guest: Ilya Vinitsky on the persistence of fakes, forgeries, and frauds in Russian literary culture. The post Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 03, 202352 min

The Cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh

Guests: Rafael Khachaturian and Richard Antaramian on Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. The post The Cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 27, 202359 min

Islam, Repression, and Memory

Guests: Elmira Muratova and Michael Kemper on Islam in the Soviet and Post-Soviet contexts. The post Islam, Repression, and Memory appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 21, 202355 min

Useable Pasts? Shamans, Spirituality and Resistance

Guest: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer on the evolution of indigeneity and religion across the Soviet and post-Soviet divide. The post Useable Pasts? Shamans, Spirituality and Resistance appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 13, 20231 hr

Theology after Gulag

Guest: Katya Tolstaya on theology, belief, and the remaning spiritual scars after Gulag. The post Theology after Gulag appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 06, 202339 min

Christianity in China

Guests: Fenggang Yang and Kung Lap Yan on Christianity, worship, and religious persecution in China. The post Christianity in China appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 22, 20231 hr 9 min

REEES Faculty Spotlight: Anna Kovalova

Guest: Anna Kovalova, Pitt's new Visiting Assistant Professor in Slavic Languages and Literatures, on her work on early Russian cinema. The post REEES Faculty Spotlight: Anna Kovalova appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 15, 202346 min

Catholicism in Poland

Guests: Geneviève Zubrzycki and Jose Casanova on the place of the Catholic Church in Polish politics and national identity. The post Catholicism in Poland appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 08, 202353 min

Secret Police Archives as Depositories of Faith

Guests: Anca Sincan and Tatiana Vagramenko discuss the how secret police files document religious belief and worship in communist Romania and Ukraine. The post Secret Police Archives as Depositories of Faith appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Aug 18, 20231 hr 18 min

Lived Religion in Ukraine

Guest: Catherine Wanner on lived religion in Ukraine, belief, belonging and community, and the impact of the war on religion. The post Lived Religion in Ukraine appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 04, 20231 hr

The Nivkhi of Sakhalin

Guest: Bruce Grant revisits his book, In the Soviet House of Culture: A Century of Perestroikas , on the Nivkhi of Sakhalin, their Soviet experience, and the complexities of indigeneity. The post The Nivkhi of Sakhalin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Jul 17, 20231 hr 9 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Queer Under Communism

It’s Pride month! Misha Appeltova, Irina Roldugina, and Kate Davison join us to talk about their research on gender, sexuality and queer under state socialism. The post Queer Under Communism appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 29, 202348 min

Red Whaling

The Soviet Union was a latecomer to the whaling industry. But after a bumbling start, by the 1960s, Soviet whalers were slaughtering over 20,000 whales a year. The decimation of the world’s whales in the 20th century, a genocide in which the Soviets played no small part, has had catastrophic results on the world’s ocean environments. Ryan Tucker Jones tells us about the Soviet whaling industry, the lives of Soviet whalers, their attitudes toward their craft, and the lasting trauma of the hunt th...

Jun 08, 202337 min

Harbin

Guest: Mark Gamsa on Harbin: A Cross-Cultural Biography The post Harbin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 05, 202340 min

Conquering Nature in Sakhalin and the Arctic

Guests: Paul Josephson and Sharyl Corrado on conquering nature, settlement, and Russian expansion in the Arctic and Sakhalin. The post Conquering Nature in Sakhalin and the Arctic appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 21, 202354 min

The Far East

Ed Pulford and Soren Urbansky on the cross-cultural and diverse past and present of the Russian Far East. The post The Far East appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 15, 202351 min

A Gift for Stalin, Part Two: The Accursed Share

It all started with a letter to Stalin in 1935. And when a Kremlin clerk opened it, there was a piece of shit inside. Was the turd an insult? A way of saying to Stalin, “You’re a shit. Here’s some shit”? Perhaps. But I ended Part One of a Gift for Stalin on a different note: that the turd addressed to Stalin was no slight at all. It was, in fact, a gift. A little brown present for Comrade Stalin. The post A Gift for Stalin, Part Two: The Accursed Share appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hoste...

Apr 10, 202353 min

A Gift for Stalin, Part One: Dear Comrade Stalin

It’s Sunday, October 13, 1935, and someone, we don’t know who mails a letter from the outskirts of Moscow. It’s addressed: “Kremlin. To Comrade Stalin.” It arrives a few days later. And when Comrade Sentaretskya, one of the secretaries sorting Stalin’s mail, got to this letter, she had no reason to worry . . . . that is until she opened it. The post A Gift for Stalin, Part One: Dear Comrade Stalin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Mar 31, 202340 min

Trailer: A Gift for Stalin

It’s Sunday, October 13, 1935, and someone, we don’t know, who mails a letter. It’s addressed: “Kremlin. To Comrade Stalin.” Now, there was nothing odd about people writing Stalin. They wrote to him a lot. So, when Comrade Sentaretskaya, one of the secretaries sorting Stalin’s mail, got to this letter, she had no reason to worry . . . . that is until she opened it. Just what was in this letter? Find out March 31 when The Eurasian Knot debuts with A Gift to Stalin , two episodes about a letter ma...

Mar 20, 20232 min

Ep 6 Cold War Colored Glasses

Teddy Goes to the USSR explored American tourism, KGB surveillance, consumerism, race, and daily life through Teddy Roe’s trip to the USSR. And many of Teddy’s observations were inevitably informed by the Cold War and American tropes. So, what to make of Teddy’s journey and what it says about Soviet life? In this final episode, TGU host Sean Guillory and historian Leah Goldman highlight key moments in the series to tease out the contradictions and reflect on America’s and the Soviet Union’s enta...

Dec 29, 20221 hr 3 min

Ep 5 Teddy Meets The Soviet People

American tourists expected few chances to meet Soviet people. You’d only see what Soviet officials wanted to show you. Touring the USSR, many assumed, was nothing more than a front row seat at a big show. And real Soviet life was hidden under layers upon layers of propaganda. So, if you wanted to see the truth of Soviet life—avoid officials and seek out “regular people.” Teddy wanted to seek out “regular” Soviet people. And he had a few chances to visit people’s homes. What did Teddy discover ab...

Dec 29, 202258 min

Ep 4: Teddy Talks about Race

Teddy had few “official” meetings in the USSR. A factory here. A collective farm there. Maybe a school or two. And there was one question Teddy’s hosts always asked: “Why are you still lynching Blacks?” American racism was a global issue during the Cold War. And pointing to it was a strike at America’s Achilles heel. Soviet media devoted a lot of time to the Civil Rights Movement. And Teddy arrived in the USSR just when Martin Luther King was assassinated. So, just what was this Soviet concern f...

Dec 29, 20221 hr
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