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External Events

We promote events pertaining to Russia and Eurasia that are conducted in the Boston area and online. Please check out the links below for more information about upcoming events at affiliated institutions. Scroll further to find information about upcoming external events that might be of interest to the Fletcher community.

Please check out the list below to find events about Russia and Eurasia organized by affiliated institutions.

Greater Boston Area

The Davis Center
World War II, Patriotic Memories, and the Russian Question in the USSR
Monday, November 18, 2024 | 2:30 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. ET
Memories of the Second World War became politically important during the Brezhnev era in the USSR.  The speakers will address numerous aspects of public memory and official memories of the war. Register here.

The Davis Center
Eurasia From the East, 2024
Monday, November 18, 2024 | 4:30 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. ET
As we approach the third year of the war in Ukraine, the ripples from the conflict go deeper and further into the fabric of international relations. Today’s seminar brings together three scholars from Japan to analyze the war’s impact and meaning outside Eastern Europe. Their expertise includes Russia and other world areas, including the Middle East and Northeast Asia. Issues to be addressed include Japan’s policies, historical contexts, borderlands, energy security, and China’s perspective on the war. Register here.

The Davis Center
The Real-Life Gulag
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 | 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. ET
A Cambridge University-trained historian, Vladimir Kara-Murza, came to Russian political activism as a protégé of the late Boris Nemtsov. Kara-Murza has become known as a promoter of the Magnitsky Act aimed at punishing the corrupted Russian judges, prosecutors, and policemen. In April 2022, he was arrested in Moscow; a year later, in April of 2023, he was sentenced on trump-up charges to 25 years in the Russian maximum-security prison. Join this session to hear Kara-Murza speak about his experience of the Russian Gulag. Register here.

The Davis Center
Resettlement of Displaced Soviet Persons After May 1945
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 12:30 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. ET
Millions of Soviet citizens were displaced by the Second World War. The status of these people became controversial in the early postwar period because many of them did not return to the Soviet Union. Although some were forced to return under various international agreements, others were eventually resettled in the West. This seminar recounts how and why the fates of displaced Soviet citizens diverged so markedly. Register here.

The Davis Center
Paradoxes of Proximity: Geography and Identity Expression in Georgia
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 2:00 P.M. – 3:30 P.M. ET
How do individuals’ experiences of violence and their geographical proximity to theaters of war affect their identity expression? Are they more likely to express exclusivist values versus inclusivist ones with regard to their own ethnic understanding? In this seminar, we consider the case of Georgia, which established its independence amidst a series of conflicts, some with ethnic overtones, this study examines how experiences of violence and one’s proximity to previous theatres of conflict affect ethnic identity expressions. Register here.

The Davis Center
Russia’s Gamble: The Domestic Origins of International Assault, February 2022
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 4:30 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. ET
In February 2022, Russia launched a military assault on Ukraine, aiming to re-establish control over the Ukrainian state, economy, and society in ways reminiscent of the Soviet period. However, this goal has not been achieved, and it is unlikely to be achieved in the future. Instead, the Russian “special military operation” has led to extraordinary disasters and losses for Russia, Ukraine, and for the entire world. This presentation will explore the origins of Russia’s assault on Ukraine and provide an explanation for its failure to achieve its objectives. Register here.

Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University
The Return of Ihor Ševčenko: Interviews with a Cofounder of Ukrainian Studies at Harvard
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 5:00 P.M. – 6:30 P.M. ET
Born in Radość, Poland, as the son of emigres from the Ukrainian People’s (National) Republic, Ševčenko grew up in the circles of the Ukrainian emigration in Warsaw while at the same time attending institutions of the Polish elite. Lidia Stefanowska, professor of Slavic Literatures at the University of Warsaw, will recount her experiences in engaging with the eminent scholar to reveal his visions and insights from his times and career. Frank Sysyn, professor of the University of Alberta and formerly associate professor of history at Harvard, will recount his contacts with both the interviewee and the text. Register here.

The Davis Center
The Silk Road After The Russo-Ukraine War: A New Vision for Eurasian Integration
Monday, November 25, 2024 | 4:30 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. ET
What will be the durable impacts of Russia’s attempted recolonization of Ukraine on Eurasia’s economic and supply chain integration? The pre-2022 framework of China’s New Silk Road treated Russia and Belarus as the essential conduit for Asia-Europe overland trade. After the war, the roles and functions of each Eurasian state’s connection to the Silk Road must be re-examined. Looking beyond statecraft, this book talk will examine the key variables and false assumptions that the invasion has exposed, as well as the potential of coalitions of transnational industrial stakeholders to eclipse and counter the aims of Eurasia’s current political leaders. Register here.

The Davis Center
Sanctity, Gender, and Power in the Medieval Caucasus
Monday, November 25, 2024 | 5:30 P.M. – 6:30 P.M. ET
From the early 4th century, the veneration of saints and relics spread rapidly across Christendom from the British Isles to Iran. In late antique Caucasia, the cult of the saints was immediately integrated into Armenian and Georgian identity and political discourses. It was used to legitimize royal rule, sanctify domains and dynasties, define political realms, and justify political decisions. Nikoloz Aleksidze’s book Sanctity, Gender, and Power in the Medieval Caucasus is the first systematic study of this history. Register here.

Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University
Borders in Revolution: The 1917 Struggle Over the Russian-Ukrainian Divide
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | 12:00 P.M. – 1:30 P.M. ET
Russia’s war against Ukraine and the extreme forms of historical manipulation that accompany it create a context in which attempts to critically deconstruct national narratives become considerably more difficult. However, it is evident that both Russian and Ukrainian dominant historiographies tend to obscure the complex, non-linear processes through which these two states began—and continue—to constitute themselves as distinct socio-historical entities. Hanna Perekhoda’s research sheds light on the hegemonic struggles over the meaning of “Ukraine” and the definition of its border with Russia in the context of the 1917 revolution. This lecture aims to contribute to the development of a new scholarly agenda, one that captures the relational, hybrid, and dynamic nature of the empire’s social reality, as well as the fundamentally open, non-deterministic character of revolutionary transformations. Register here.

Online Events

Harriman Institute
Election Debrief: What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for US-Russia Relations?
Monday, November 18, 2024 | 12:15 P.M. – 1:30 P.M. ET
What do the November 5th election results mean for US-Russia relations? Join us for an insightful panel discussion with foreign policy experts and academics as they explore the potential impact of a second Trump presidency on US foreign policy toward Russia. Key questions include: How could these results shape US support for the war in Ukraine? Might Donald Trump transform US sanctions policies? What implications could there be for NATO? This timely event will provide essential insights into what lies ahead for the US and Russia on the global stage. Register here.

The Wilson Center
Book Talk | The Post-Soviet Human
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 | 1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. ET
In his new book, The Post-Soviet Human: Philosophical Reflections on Social History after the End of Communism, Mykhailo Minakov argues that the post-Soviet period (1989–2022) was an unprecedented era in human history. Minakov describes how the post-Soviet Human attempted to establish free politics and economy and gain collective emancipation and personal freedom during this era. Even though these attempts failed in most cases, the post-Soviet Human’s political creativity—with its democratic and autocratic achievements—was an intriguing phenomenon worth deeper study and understanding. Register here.

Russia Matters
A Conversation with Mikhail Zygar
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | 5:00 P.M. – 6:30 P.M. ET
Mikhail Zygar is an acclaimed Russian writer, journalist, and filmmaker known for his coverage of Russian history and politics. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of TV Rain, Russia’s only independent TV channel, and the creator of Project 1917: Free History, an innovative digital archive of the Russian Revolution used in university courses worldwide. His bestselling books, including All the Kremlin’s Men, The Empire Must Die, and War and Punishment, offer profound insights into Russia’s power dynamics and turbulent history. Register here.

The Wilson Center
Book Talk | Putin’s Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 | 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. ET
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a bloody escalation of a conflict that had begun eight years earlier. What drove Vladimir Putin to launch Europe’s largest land war since World War II? Kennan Institute Advisory Council member Lucian Kim offers a gripping, definitive account of Russia’s path to war, from Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Maidan uprising right up to the full-scale invasion. Putin’s Revenge features insight from Kim’s first-hand reporting on key moments, such as Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the beginning of the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine. Register here.