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The Slavic Connexion
By ConnexionsSociety & Culture
The Slavic Connexion episodes
- Russia's Mercurial Role in Southeast Europe (with Dimitar Bechev)
Samantha chats with Dr. Dimitar Bechev on the geopolitics of the Balkans and the stratagems of Russia in the region. Dr. Bechev also discusses Russia's relationship with Turkey and Turkey's ties with the US and how these affect the countries nested in the Balkans which have fallen out of US foreign policy priority since the George W. Bush administration.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dimitar Bechev is the director of the European Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Previously, he held research fellowships at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and headed the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Dr. Bechev has written extensively on EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and Russia’s foreign policy. His book Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe (Yale University Press, 2017) explores Russia’s geopolitical role in the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, the American Interest, Politico, Foreign Policy, and Open Democracy.Check out Dr. Bechev's book "Rival Power: Russia in Southeastern Europe"
NOTE: This episode was recorded on September 30th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Host/Assistant Producer: Samantha FarmerCo-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer: Zach JohnsonAssociate Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Charlie Harper, Michelle DanielMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Dimitar Bechev.
29 min - "Mixed Messages": The Survival of the Buryat Language with Kathryn Graber
Амар мэндээ or hello and Happy New Year! Dr. Kathryn Graber of Indiana University Bloomington joins the show to talk about her research on the Buryat language and minority-language media in Russia’s Buryat territories, a multilingual region of eastern Siberia on the Mongolian border. Her fifteen years of research in this area is the foundation of her new book, Mixed Messages: Mediating Native Belonging in Asian Russia. Enjoy! Ехэ баярлаа!
ABOUT THE GUEST
Kathryn Graber, PhD, is a linguist, sociocultural anthropologist, and assistant professor of Anthropology and Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Dr. Graber’s geographic focus is on post-Soviet Eurasia, and her research lies at the intersection of two clusters of problems. The first is indigenous language shift, endangerment, and revitalization, which she has been studying in Russia’s Buryat territories, a multilingual region of eastern Siberia on the Mongolian border, since 2005. This research was the basis for her first book, Mixed Messages: Mediating Native Belonging in Asian Russia (Cornell University Press, 2020). Mixed Messages shows how language and the production, circulation, and consumption of media are practices by which residents of the Buryat territories perform and negotiate competing possible identities. The book integrates production data from Buryat media institutions with consumption/reception data from audiences and linguistic analyses of texts and transcripts, employing a novel holistic approach to elucidate how the language used in institutional settings circulates from and into other domains of daily life. The second, related cluster concerns materiality, technology, circulation, and notions of property. Dr. Graber isparticularly interested in how value is interactionally negotiated across different nodes in a global commodity chain, which she has been studying in the Mongolian cashmere industry since 2014. She is also currently working on a large collaborative project on the cultural afterlives and anticipatory pre-lives of infrastructural projects in Siberia.Mixed Messages: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501750519/mixed-messages/#bookTabs=3
As part of Cornell Press’ “Top 10 Most Viewed Books This Month" special, you can use the promo code 09TRENDING to save 44% on a copy of Mixed Messages. After this special promotion ends, you can use 09FLYER to save 30% (in the UK, Europe, Asia,Middle East, & Africa, use code CS09FLYER).Join the Siberian Collaborative Research Network: https://siberiannetwork.com/
Check out Golosa, Chicago's Russian folk choir with whom Dr. Graber first traveled to Buryatia in 2001: http://www.golosa.org/
Katya used Телекомпания АТВ’s Буряадаар дуугараял (“Let’s talk Buryat”) series to learn a little Buryat. You can find the 16-part lesson series (taught in Russian) here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRwkvBgxoEEmblwL2Z5-Ime8K_Ip5cflq
For folks without knowledge of Russian and knowledge of English, you can check out SRAS’s Folkways “Talking Buryat Phrasebook” here: http://folkways.today/talking-buryat-phrasebook/
NOTE: This episode was recorded November 20, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Host/Associate Producer: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateCo-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer: Zach JohnsonRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle DanielMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa,)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Kathryn Graber.
35 min - "How to Lose the Information War" with Nina Jankowicz (Wilson Center)
In this episode, Matt and Tom talked to Nina Jankowicz of the Wilson Center about her new book, How to Lose the Information War, and how it serves as a useful primer for understanding the disinformation challenges facing the US today, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 election. To read some of Nina's work, click the links below and do be sure to follow her on Twitter @wiczipedia . Thank you for listening!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessedamiani/2020/07/23/to-win-the-information-war-we-first-have-to-understand-what-it-is-and-how-were-losing-it-book-review/?sh=474cb0da762f
https://cepa.org/democratic-offense-against-disinformation/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/05/estonia-america-congress-online-pandemic/612034/ABOUT THE GUEST
Nina Jankowicz is a Washington DC-based writer and analyst who studies the intersection of technology and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and Beyond. Her first book How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict will be published by Bloomsbury’s IBTauris in Summer 2020. She currently serves as Disinformation Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Previously, she served as a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellow, a role in which she provided strategic communications guidance to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. She has also managed democracy assistance programs to Russia and Belarus at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a frequent target of Russian disinformation. Her writing has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News, Foreign Policy and others.Nina received her MA in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she was a Title VIII and FLAS scholarship recipient, and her BA in Russian and Political Science from Bryn Mawr College, where she graduated magna cum laude. She has lived and worked in Russia and Ukraine, and speaks fluent Russian and proficient Polish and Ukrainian. Nina was a 2017 Foreign Policy Interrupted Fellow. You can check out her website https://wiczipedia.com/ for much more on her publications, research, and media appearances.
NOTE: This episode was recorded on December 4th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Host/Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Host/Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer: Zach JohnsonAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle DanielMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, )
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Nina Jankowicz.
40 min - From the Russian Far East to the American West with Matthew Luxmoore (RFE/RL)
On this special episode, Zack speaks with English journalist Matthew Luxmoore. Matthew is the Moscow Correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Politico, and elsewhere. Zach and Matthew discuss a wide-range of issues, from the Russian Far East to the current state of the Russian opposition movement, to environmental concerns and other current affairs of the day. We hope you enjoy!
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Matthew Luxmoore is a Moscow-based correspondent for RFE/RL covering Russia and the former Soviet Union. Before joining RFE/RL in 2018, he reported for The New York Times in Moscow and has written for The Guardian, Politico, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy. He’s a graduate of Harvard’s Davis Center and a recipient of New York University's Reporting Award and the Fulbright Alistair Cooke Journalism Award. Read his latest for RFE/RL on Belarus here: https://www.rferl.org/a/exiled-defectors-belarus-police-holding-ex-colleagues-to-account/30976835.htmlFollow Matthew on Twitter: @mjluxmoore.
NOTE: This episode was recorded on October 16th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerHost/Assistant Producer: Zach JohnsonAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Blue Dot Sessions, Ketsa, and Scott Holmes)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Matthew Luxmoore.
34 min - "Writing Resistance": An Inside Look at Russian Carceral Literature with Sarah J. Young
In this episode, Matt talks with Dr. Sarah Young of University College London about her upcoming book "Writing Resistance: Revolutionary Memoirs of Shlissel’burg Prison, 1884-1906" and the genre of carceral literature. Where do Russian literary titans like Dostoevsky and Shalamov fit in and how are they perceived in the Russian imagination? Dr. Young also speaks about the uses and importance of spatially mapping historic and literary events and why she undertook such mapping projects in the course of her research. We hope you enjoy!
Some extras for those viewing this episode on our website are found below.
1) The Interior of Shlissel'burg Prison as found in the memoir by Ivan Iuvachev (image provided by Dr. Sarah Young)
2) Exterior view of Shlissel'burg Prison (image source: Wikimedia)ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Sarah J. Young is an Associate Professor at University College London. Her main areas of research are nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature, thought, and culture. She began studying Russian at school, and got hooked on Russian literature after an early encounter with Gogol's Nose. A degree in Russian and French at Trinity College, Cambridge, including a year studying in Moscow and Minsk, was followed by a brief period translating books on chess theory from Russian. After studying for her Masters in European Languages and Culture at the University of Manchester, she was supervised for her PhD by Malcolm Jones at the University of Nottingham, resulting in a thesis on the role of character in the structuring of the narrative of Dostoevsky's The Idiot. This later became her first book, Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' and the Ethical Foundations of Narrative.She is currently finishing up a book on narratives of prison, hard labour and exile, and on a new digital project on the geography of the Petersburg text in the nineteenth century. She writes a blog about her research and teaching at www.sarahjyoung.com.
Visit her on the web and follow her on Twitter @russianistA blurb about Dr. Young's forthcoming book Writing Resistance: Revolutionary Memoirs of Shlissel’burg Prison, 1884-1906 (to be released in 2021 by UCL Press): In 1884, the first of 68 prisoners convicted of terrorist offences and membership of the revolutionary organization the People’s Will, were transferred to a new maximum security prison at Shlissel´burg Fortress near St Petersburg, the Russian Empire’s most notorious penal institution. The regime of indeterminate sentences in total isolation, complete inactivity and constant surveillance, caused severe mental and physical deterioration among the prisoners, over half of whom died. But the survivors fought back to reform the prison, ultimately overcoming the system of solitary confinement and improving the inmates’ living conditions. The memoirs many survivors wrote enshrined their story in revolutionary mythology, and acted as an indictment of the Tsarist autocracy’s loss of moral authority. Writing Resistance features three of these memoirs, all translated into English for the first time. They show the process of transforming the regime as a collaborative endeavour that resulted in flourishing allotments, workshops and intellectual culture – and in the inmates running many of the prison’s everyday functions. Sarah J. Young’s introductory essay analyses the Shlissel´burg memoirs’ construction of a collective narrative of resilience, resistance and renewal. It uses distant reading techniques to explore the communal values they inscribe, their adoption of a powerful group identity, and emphasis on overcoming the physical and psychological barriers of the prison. The first extended study of Shlissel´burg’s revolutionary inmates in English, and the first in any language to assess their experience and memoirs as a collective, Writing Resistance uncovers an episode in the history of political imprisonment that bears comparison with the inmates of Robben Island in South Africa’s apartheid regime, and the Maze Prison in Belfast during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It will be of interest to scholars and students of the Russian revolution, carceral history, penal practice and behaviours, and prison and life writing.
NOTE: This episode was recorded on October 26th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Host/Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer: Zach JohnsonAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, and Jazzafari)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Sarah J. Young.
33 min - Russian Meme Culture, "Shirtless Putin," and Pussy Riot with Eliot Borenstein
On this fun episode, Dr. Eliot Borenstein from NYU joins us to talk about his research on memes and meme culture in Russia as well as his freshly-released book on Pussy Riot (available from Bloomsbury). This was a great time all around, and even if you don't consume memes or like them very much, this is still an enjoyable discussion. Thanks for joining us!
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Eliot Borenstein is a Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, Collegiate Professor at New York University, and Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network. Educated at Oberlin College (B.A., 1988) and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (M.A., 1989, Ph.D., 1993), Professor Borenstein was an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia (1993-95) before taking an appointment at NYU in 1995. His new book, Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism will soon be published by Cornell University Press; an earlier draft is available at plotsgainstrussia.org. Also, you can check out his book on Pussy Riot here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/pussy-riot-9781350113558/Follow Dr. Borenstein on Twitter: @eliotb2002
CREDITS
Co-Host/Associate Producer: Lera Toropin (Connect: Twitter @earlportion)Co-Host/Associate Producer: Cullan BendigCo-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Assistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Michelle Daniel Trio, and Nihilore)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com Twitter: @SlavXRadio)
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Eliot Borenstein.
43 min - On Russia's War in Syria with Colonel (ret.) Robert Hamilton
From the Foreign Policy Research Institute comes a fantastic, dispassionate resource on Russia's intervention into Syria. Here to speak with us about the book and the process of compiling this insightful tome written by both American and Russian experts is Associate professor of Eurasian Studies at the US Army War College Robert E. Hamilton. Enjoy!
Please do check out and download the book here: https://www.fpri.org/research/eurasia/russias-war-in-syria-assessing-russian-military-capabilities-and-lessons-learned/)
ABOUT THE GUEST
Colonel (Retired) Robert E. Hamilton, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Eurasian Studies at the U.S. Army War College and a Black Sea Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. In a 30-year career in the U.S. Army, spent primarily as a Eurasian Foreign Area Officer, he served overseas in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Germany, Belarus, Qatar, Afghanistan, the Republic of Georgia, Pakistan and Kuwait. He is the author of numerous articles and monographs on conflict and security issues, focusing principally on the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. He is a graduate of the German Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Army War College and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy, a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Russian Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science, both from the University of Virginia.NOTE: This episode was recorded on October 2nd, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Soularflair, Kevin MacLeod, Ion Romania, The Polish Ambassador, John Bartmann, Axeltree)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Additional DoD Disclaimer: The views expressed on this episode by retired Colonel Robert Hamilton are his own and do not represent the policy or position of the US Army War College, the US Army, or the US Department of Defense.
Special Guest: Robert E. Hamilton.
45 min - The Eurasia Downbeat with Alex Kokcharov
On this whirlwind episode, Tom visits with London-based journalist and risk research analyst Alex Kokcharov on an impressive array of events and current conflicts across the CIS region. This is hardly a boring episode and we don't sit on one topic for too long, so if you're looking for a quick, but in-depth Eurasia fix (while we in the US patiently, calmly wait on those election results), look no further! And as always, thanks for listening.
NOTE: This episode was recorded on October 12th, 2020 via Zoom. Thus, some of the information is outdated, primarily with regards to Ukraine's local elections which have already taken place.
While the world is waiting for the outcome of US #election, here is a map with outcomes of #Ukraine's local elections on 25 Oct. Pro-Russian OPFL did well in southern and eastern regions, while many local parties dominated city votes in regional centres:https://t.co/Kt0ZL1NIwW pic.twitter.com/7moQ3rDL4e
— Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) November 4, 2020ABOUT THE GUEST
Alex Kokcharov is the Principal Country Risk Research Analyst on Europe and CIS region for IHS Markit. He is a Principal Analyst with the Country Risk team responsible for analysis of political, operational and security risks in Russia, Ukraine and CIS. Alex is responsible for country risk analysis of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia and Tajikistan. He provides in-depth political and security risk analysis including producing regular publication of risk forecasts and analysis, advisory briefings, and tailored reports. Alex has over fifteen years of experience in data-driven business and political journalism and country risk analysis. He has particular expertise on Russian and Ukrainian political, business and energy developments. He has lived in Belarus, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Russia, Germany and the UK. Alex speaks English, Russian, German and Belarusian fluently, has a working knowledge of Ukrainian and speaks basic Polish. He has a Masters in Geography and Economics from Belaruski Dziarzhauny Universitet in Minsk and studied for a PhD in Human Geography at the University of Oxford. https://ihsmarkit.com/experts/kokcharov-alex.html++Follow Alex on Twitter: @AlexKokcharov
CREDITS
Host/Co-Producer: Thomas Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Revolutions, Kai Engel)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Alex Kokcharov.
36 min - "Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans" with Jasmin Mujanovic
Dr. Jasmin Mujanović, a political scientist focused on democratization and social movements in the Western Balkans and a host of the podcast "Sarajevo Calling", joins Samantha and Cullan for an in-depth discussion on the state of democracy in the region in 2020. This is a great walkthrough of the elite maneuvering and politics in the Western Balkans and which nuclear powers hold sway and influence in the region. We hope you enjoy!
ABOUT THE GUEST
Jasmin Mujanović is a political scientist and analyst of southeast European and international affairs with a PhD from York University. His career background is a unique blend of global academic and professional engagement, having worked as a scholar, policy analyst, consultant, researcher, and writer in both North America and Europe. His academic research concentrates primarily on the politics of contemporary southeastern Europe, with a particular focus on the politics of the non-EU states of the Western Balkans. More broadly, his academic fields of interest and expertise are split between international relations, global political economy, and political theory. He is interested in democratization processes, state development (including the process of state failure), and post-conflict and peace studies, in particular as these topics relate to southeastern Europe. These concerns likewise keep him invested in debates on social movements and organized labor, regionally and globally. His commentary has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The America Interest, as well as a host of other international media, including regular appearances for all major Balkan news networks as a current affairs analyst.Connect with him on Twitter: @JasminMuj and listen to the podcast "Sarajevo Calling" wherever you get your podcasts. https://sarajevo-calling.simplecast.com/
Visit him on his website: http://www.jasminmujanovic.com/ and check out his book "Hunger and Fury" avilable with Oxford University Press https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hunger-and-fury-9780190877392?cc=us&lang=en&
NOTE: This episode was recorded on September 16th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Co-Host/Associate Producer: Cullan BendigAssociate Producer: Lera ToropinCo-Host/Assistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer: Katherine BirchAssistant Producer: Zach JohnsonAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperMusic Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Blue Dot Sessions, Demoiselle)
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Jasmin Mujanovic.
52 min - "Dance of Compromise": Putin's Russia, Disinformation, and the Wily Man with Joshua Yaffa
The New Yorker's Moscow correspondent, Joshua Yaffa, joins us from Moscow in fact to talk about the conditions in Russia during the pandemic, his latest book Between Two Fires, and the oft-debated Russian interference in US elections. Additionally, Yuri Levada's work and coining of the term "Wily Man" figures prominently into this discussion having played a role in Yaffa's attempt to understand the characters he sought to portray in his book. This is a fascinating conversation, and we hope you enjoy!
Be sure to follow Joshua Yaffa on Twitter: @yaffaesque !
ABOUT THE GUEST
Joshua Yaffa is a correspondent for The New Yorker, based primarily in Moscow, Russia. He is also the author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia, published in January 2020 by Tim Duggan Books. He has also written for the Economist, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs. For his work in Russia, he has been named a fellow at New America, a recipient of the American Academy’s Berlin Prize, and a finalist for the Livingston Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and master’s degrees in journalism and international affairs from Columbia University, where he was a visiting scholar at the Harriman Institute and taught at the journalism school for several years. He is originally from San Diego, California.Check out his archive of work on the New Yorker here: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/joshua-yaffa
Also, watch Yaffa's interview on Putin with Frontline here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sm_0o7l0AoCheck out Yaffa's excellent book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555637/between-two-fires-by-joshua-yaffa/NOTE: This episode was recorded on September 28th, 2020 via Zoom.
CREDITS
Co-Host/Associate Producer: Lera ToropinAssociate Producer: Cullan BendigAssistant Producer: Samantha FarmerAssistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-CrateRecording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie HarperCo-Host/Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)
Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom)Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Demoiselle, Soularflair, Polish Ambassador, )
Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.
Special Guest: Joshua Yaffa.
36 min
About The Slavic Connexion
From the publisher's feed
An international chat show on the politics, history, current events, and peoples of the Slavic world, sponsored by The University of Texas at Austin's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian…
Studies and Clements Center for National Security. Whether you're a Slavophile, a foreign affairs junkie, or simply a curious mind, The Slavic Connexion offers insightful, accessible, and even fun discussions on the sprawling region in the context of our hyperconnected world. "It's not typical Texas..."