Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has invited its faculty to submit proposals for the creation of new research initiatives on campus.Following the successful launches of the SPACE Initiative and the Society-Centered AI Initiative, the Trinity Research Initiative will support new directions for interdisciplinary research through seed funding for nascent research collaborations, community-building, and complementary educational and outreach activities.Open to all areas of research and… read more about Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Invites Proposals for New Research Initiatives »
I am fascinated by the clash between nature and human settlement. We dam rivers, form reservoirs, and protect against the elements using glass and steel. We push further outward, creating monuments to our development and standing in opposition to nature. My desire to better understand this dichotomy produced the photography exhibition “Steppe Geometry: nature and architecture in Kazakhstan,” which is currently on display in the Slavic and Eurasian Studies Department.Initially, I was interested in Soviet and Post-Soviet… read more about Steppe Geometry: A Photo Exhibition by Ravi Jain »
This workshop functions as a writerly laboratory where physical experience becomes the ground for textual practice. Through brief guided somatic prompts, participants will translate sensation directly into language and examine how political and legal regimes — especially authoritarian ones — shape our relationship to the body and to beauty as a social construct. In doing so, the session highlights the counter-intuition that embodied presence can generate autonomy, independent decision-making, and resistance to imposed… read more about Workshops • On Beauty — Writing Workshop, Letters to Political Prisoners »
Explore two key tactics of independent Russian art, blackout and found poetry through hands-on exercises and collective discussion on presenting the results. Led by exiled journalist and author Elena Kostyuchenko read more about Blackout Art and Found Poetry with Elena Kostyuchenko »
A presentation and discussion about the Feminist Anti-War Resistance movement (Russia), exploring how feminist networks organize against militarization and repression, and how feminist ethics shape strategies of solidarity, protest, and survival. With founder and member Sasha Starost, and other members of FAS.Moderated by Elena Kostyuchenko (Russian journalist and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Slavic & Eurasian Studies at Duke University) and Graeme Robertson (… read more about The Russian Anti-War Platform »
Jehanne Gheith (John West/Trinity Communications) Looking back, Jehanne Gheith is heartened by the strides Russian language study has made since her undergraduate days. She still remembers a moment from early in her language studies when an in-class conversation prompt asked: Tell me about your factory.“Thankfully, we’re moving past outdated, overly rigid methods of language instruction,” she says. “The focus now is on meeting students where they are and making the… read more about Pulling Back the Curtain on Russian Language Learning »
Join us for reading and discussuion with author Elena Kostyuchenko as she reads from her powerful book I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country. Through vivid and courageous reporting, Kostyuchenko offers a rare look inside contemporary Russia. read more about Reading & Conversation with Author Elena Kostyuchenko »
As a high school student in South Carolina, Michelle Schultze had certain standards when exploring colleges: a strong economics department, an established Russian language program and the chance to study political science with a public policy angle. She found her trifecta — as well as a pathway to her future — at Duke. Though she took Spanish throughout high school, Schultze began teaching herself Russian, and her mother’s native language, Greek, during her junior year while remote learning during the pandemic. “I had… read more about The Currency of Hope »
Jaeden Toy is a graduating senior with majors in Computer Science and Russian and a minor in Linguistics. He has served as a Trinity Ambassador for Computer Science. Trinity Ambassadors are student volunteers, nominated by their departments, to serve in this unique and important role.We asked a few of the ambassadors from the Class of 2025 to share their favorite memories from Duke. The below interview has been slightly edited for clarity. What was one of the most impactful classes you took during your time at… read more about Notes From the Class of 2025: Take a Chance and Say "Yes" »
Sabai GardeckiSabai graduated in December 2024 with his BA in Russian and Italian. Afterwards he plans to enroll in two MA programs: One in Russian at Middlebury College, and one in Specialized Translation and Conference Interpretation at the University of Trieste. Margarita KrylovaNext steps: Harvard Medical School Master's in Bioethics as a gap year and medical school after. … read more about Congratulations 2025 Graduates! »
In this series of four stories, we are highlighting students whose “Why I Learn Languages” essays have been selected as winners of the Trinity Language Council’s 2024 Best Essay competition. Sarah Gorbatov is a junior majoring in Biology and Russian, with a minor in Computer Science, who reconnected with her native Russian through her time at Duke. Read and let Gorbatov tell you, in her own words, how learning languages gave her the tools to reconcile a language of hurt with a language of love. … read more about In Their Own Words: From Hurt to Love, with Nothing Lost in Translation »
Please join us in congratulating Carol Apollonio who was presented with the Richard Sites Senior Scholar Award at the Southern Conference on Slavic Studies which took place from February 27-March 1, 2025. Established in 1962 the conference annually recognizes individuals for their scholarly contributions to Slavic Studies. Congratulations Carol!!! Source: https://southernconferenceonslavicstudies.com/ read more about Carol Apollonio Awarded as Richard Sites Senior Scholar »
Please join us for the talk "Thinking Like A Planet: Geological Time and the Soviet Cultural Imaginary" to be presented by Dr. Mieka Erley. This talk will take place on February 24, 2025 in 359 Gravatt - Perkins Library at 4:00pm. read more about February 24 Talk »
Slavic and Eurasian Studies has invited a wonderful speaker, Zachary Hicks (University of California, Berkeley) and we invite you all to come! Talk title: “Soviet Cinema after Growth: Objective Form and Economic Downturn in Gleb Panfilov’s «Прошу Слова» (I Wish to Speak)”Time: Feb 12, 4:00Place: 249 Carpenter - Perkins read more about February 12 Talk »
Please join us for the talk "Performative Publishing: Ad Marginem and the (Un-)Making of a Post-Societ Canon" to be presented by Dr. Fabrizio Fenghi. This talk will take place on February 3, 2025 in 349 Breedlove - Perkins Library at 4:00pm. read more about February 3 Talk »
Please join us at 4pm on January 30 in 359 Perkins for the talk "Against Empathy: Nikolai Nekrasov and a New Literary Politics" to be presented by Dr. Jennifer Flaherty. read more about January 30 Talk »
Please join us on November 6 at 5pm in the Smith Warehouse, Room A266, Bay 10 for the talk Threads That Bind: Textiles, Labor, and National Identity in Soviet Propaganda Posters. This will be presented by Professor Mollie Arbuthnot. read more about Talk: THREADS THAT BIND »
A teenage Jennifer Flaherty loved ideas so much that among her criteria for the perfect college was an idyllic setting where she could sit under a tree and read history and philosophy. “That was really my vision when I went to college,” Flaherty recalled. “Who knew you could make a career out of it?” She must have had at least an inkling, because Flaherty is now doing just that. She is a new assistant professor of the practice in Duke’s Slavic and Eurasian Studies department, teaching courses in Russian folklore… read more about Jennifer Flaherty and the Long Game of Understanding Russian Culture »
Please join us in welcoming our newest Instructor, Liubov Kartashova! Originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia, Liubov Kartashova received her bachelor’s degree from LCC International University in Lithuania, Klaipeda, in 2016. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she worked as an instructor of the English language and Literature at Lezha Academic Center in Albania and then in her hometown. She earned her MA in Comparative Literature from the University of South Carolina in 2020, where she also pursued her PhD,… read more about Welcome Liubov Kartashova »
Congratulations to Jaden Rodriguez who received an honorable mention from the North American Dostoevsky Society for his essay entitled "The Life of a Great Sinner: Kolya Krasotkin". read more about Honorable Mention Recipient: Jaden Rodriguez »
Manon FuchsAfter Duke, Manon will pursue a Master of Science in Foreign Service with a certificate in Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University. As a Rangel fellow, she is on a fast track to a career in the foreign service, which she will begin once she receives her degree and completes two summer internships on Capital Hill and at a US embassy of her choosing. Manon hopes to focus her career as an FSO on Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where… read more about Congratulations 2024 Graduates! »
Please join us in the Griffith Film Theater on April 5 for the feature film Navalny starting at 8pm. Please join us in the Griffith Film Theater on April 6 for a double feature of the film Beanpole starting at 7pm and 10pm read more about Freewater Films Double Header »
Please join us in Rubenstein 153 on April 3 at 4pm for the talk: The Mediated Navalny: A Rhetorical Analysis of Russia's First Digitally Networked Politician Presented by Michael Gorham Michael Gorham is a Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Florida and currently Archie K. Davis Fellow at the National Humanities Center. He received his PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Stanford University and served for 12 years as Associate Editor in charge of… read more about The Mediated Navalny »
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 »