News

The Dept of Slavic and Eurasian studies is excited to announce that we will be hosting three very special events during the Spring Semester. We are honored to bring the following guests to campus:   MARCH 19 Please join us on March 19 at 4pm in Rubenstein 349 for the Lecture “From Russian Studies to Donkey Rescue: Survival in Times of Extinction” to be presented by Dr. Robin Bisha. During this presentation, Bisha will discuss how she followed a creative career path that wove in and out of… read more about Spring 2024 Special Events »

Join us for the Book Talk: I Love Russia, Reporting from a Lost Country to be given by Elena Kostyuchenko on March 20 at 4pm in 249 Rubenstein.   Elena Kostyuchenko is a Russian independent journalist. For 17 years, she was a special correspondent of Novaya Gazeta untill the newspaper was shut down under the pressure of Russian authorities in March 2022. She reported on conflict, crime, human rights, and social issues. Kostyuchenko was among the first to prove the presence of Russian troops in… read more about Book Talk: I Love Russia, Reporting from a Lost Country  »

Please join us on March 19 at 4pm in Rubenstein 349 for the Lecture entitled “From Russian Studies to Donkey Rescue: Survival in Times of Extinction” to be presented by Dr. Robin Bisha. During this presentation, Dr. Bisha will explore how her career path in one of the premier Russian Studies programs in the United States formed how she responded to momentous shifts in global political and cultural history of the last three decades. Navigating the ups and downs of the field of Russian Studies, Bisha followed a… read more about From Russian Studies to Donkey Rescue: Survival in Times of Extinction »

Edith London, In Flight, 1995. Mixed media, 13 x 16 inches (33 x 40.6 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Museum purchase and partial gift of Lee Hansley Gallery; 1997.25.1. Courtesy Nasher Museum of Art “It’s fulfilling to have a collaborative public outcome born from a course,” Saskia Ziolkowski, associate professor in Romance Studies, admits. She’s referencing Mapping Jewish Modernism, an exhibit currently on view through August at the Rubenstein… read more about Charting the Landscape of Jewish Modernism »

African Americans and the Soviet Experience Russ 490S ("Special Topics") Spring 2024 Mondays & Wednesdays 1:25-2:40 Prof. JoAnne Van Tuyl jvtuyl@duke.edu   Learn, talk about write about: • African-Americans moving to the USSR in the 1930's • A Soviet film project about American race relations that included Langston Hughes as script consultant • African Americans influencing Soviet… read more about Spring 2024 Course Announcement »

New Spring 2024 Course Offering The Brothers Karamazov Russian 335 Fyodor Dostoevsky TTh 4:40-5:55 ICS 339; LIT 335 Taught in English; Russian readers welcome questions? carol.apollonio@duke.edu read more about One Great Book »

Please join us in welcoming our newest Professor, Jennifer Flaherty! Jennifer Flaherty received her PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from University of California, Berkeley in 2019. She's held academic appointments at the College of William & Mary, UC Berkeley, and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Flaherty's current book project, 'The Unsocial Society: Peasants and the Making of Russian Literary Modernity,' studies the role of class conflict in shaping nineteenth-century Russian literature. The project… read more about Welcome Jennifer Flaherty! »

Captain Nicholas Bruno, US Army, will be graduating with an MA in Russian Culture and Certificate in Slavic and Eurasian Studies. His thesis “Russian Diaspora Policy and the Near Abroad: An Indicator and Warning for Intervention” addresses the future ways and means of Russian foreign policy in Eurasia. After graduation, Captain Bruno will move to Garmisch, Germany as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Trainee and attend the Eurasian Foreign Area Officer Training Program at the George C.… read more about Congratulations to our Graduating Seniors »

Jennifer Nash, Jean Fox O'Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, minces no words summing up how care as a product is viewed in the United States.   “I think care isn’t valued because it's women's work. Anything that women do is devalued.”   From birth to death, everyone receives care at some point in their life. And the “care economy” is the economic activity generated by the provision of care services like childcare, elder care and health care. This includes both paid and… read more about Vital but Invisible: How Women Drive the Care Economy in the United States  »

Carol Apollonio, Professor of the Practice of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, has declined a Dostoevsky medal from the Russian Ministry of Culture. Apollonio, the late Robert Louis Jackson (of Yale), and Bill Todd (of Harvard) were named as winners of the prestigious honor. Apollonio’s response and reasoning for declining was outlined in her Nov. 12 letter to the Cultural Section of the Russian Consulate (reprinted below): "Thank you for notifying me that the Russian Ministry of Culture has awarded me a medal (“The Great… read more about Professor Declines Prestigious Dostoevsky Award »

The Arts & Sciences Council’s Committee on Undergraduate Teaching has announced this year’s recipients of awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Each recipient was recognized at the council’s Sept. 8 meeting, where Committee Chair Connel Fullenkamp expressed appreciation for the many nominations across all three Trinity divisions that included “creative and inspiring” portfolios. “It made our decision very difficult because there are so many varieties of excellence that we see in our community at Duke,” he… read more about Four Trinity Faculty Honored with 2022 Undergraduate Teaching Awards »

Maggie Pan, a Class of 2022 graduate who studied Psychology and Russian Literature, has received an Honorable Mention in the 2021-22 North American Dostoevsky Society undergraduate essay competition. The annual contest is judged by a jury of Dostoevsky scholars from across the continent.  According to the Society, Pan's essay – “Master and Serf as Mind and Body: The role of Apollon in Notes from Underground” – offers an original and provocative interpretation of a minor character often neglected by… read more about Recent Graduate Recognized in Dostoevsky Essay Competition »

More than a month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s clear President Vladimir Putin’s hopes of a quick takeover were “wildly optimistic,” Professor Simon Miles said Monday. “Delusional strategies do not usually produce good outcomes. Strategies based on a pretty heady mix of lies and prejudice usually do not bear fruit,” said Miles, an assistant professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy who wrote a book about the end of the Cold War. Miles was one of several professors who offered their perspectives on the war… read more about Duke Professors Assess the Fallout from the Ongoing Devastation of Ukraine »

As the heavy Russian assault on Ukraine continued to target military and civilian sites alike, about 100 people gathered outside of Duke Chapel Tuesday to hear prayers, poems and reflections from faculty members and campus religious leaders. “We are gathered on this ground here to tell the people of Ukraine that you are not alone,” said the Rev. Kathryn Lester-Bacon, director of religious life at Duke Chapel. “We call attention to those who have suffered so much.” Representatives of the… read more about Community Gathers at Vigil for the People of Ukraine »

Despite its overwhelming superiority in numbers, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has thus far not unfolded as President Vladimir Putin would have expected, Professor Simon Miles said Tuesday. “This has not been an impressive showing for the Russian military,” said Miles, an assistant professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy who wrote a book about the end of the Cold War. Miles was one of several professors from who offered their perspectives on the war in Ukraine before an online and in-person Duke audience… read more about Does the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Herald a New Era of Global Competition? »

DURHAM, N.C. -- Though he teased a military assault for weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin still surprised many with his decision to invade Ukraine Thursday. And his behavior in the days leading up to the invasion suggested an erratic, unpredictable leader whose next moves won’t be entirely clear, two Duke scholars said Thursday. Speaking to media in a virtual media briefing, two scholars with vast expertise on Russia and the former Soviet Union discussed the nascent war, the role of sanctions, what the U.S. will do… read more about Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Reveals Leader ‘Disconnected In Many Senses From Reality,’ Expert Says »

When he was an undergraduate political science student, Kerry Haynie was never taught about the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Nor was there much discussion about the role of race in the founding political documents of this country or much examination of how race influenced public services such as sewer lines and zoning. In one sense, a lot has changed. In 2021, Duke’s faculty includes a strong lineup of leading scholars who examine how race is embedded in issues that cross all the schools of the university. This fall, many of… read more about University Course Raises Race as a Central Element of Undergraduate Education »