In the eight episode, we turn our attention to Uzbekistan. In this handy primer, MA students at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), James Bolton-Jones and Sophia Burna-Asefi, introduce you to some basic facts about Uzbekistan followed by a discussion of its history, culture, and current affairs, all while enjoying some delicious (in the case of Sophia at least!) homemade plov.

10

7/20/2021

In this seventh episode, we look at Latvia, the final of the Baltic countries to be covered in this series. MA students at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), Natalie Sauer and Tom King, discuss quirky Latvian idioms, battles for independence, and contemporary economic and environmental optimism in the region – all whilst savouring Latvian chocolate truffles and black balsam.

16

7/10/2021

A UCL SSEES Study of Central Europe Seminar Series Event with Professor Jernej Pikalo, University of Ljubljana Managing of the covid-19 epidemics brought back to the Slovenian political discourse metaphors of “fight”, “struggle”, “strategies of fight”, etc. Concepts and metaphors, mainly from the military vocabularies, were introduced and rapidly started to dominate the public discourse. The discourse was used to set the stage for political measures Slovenian government took, that were relevant to covid-19, but also at the same time reflected new political agenda of authoritarian tendencies already seen in some countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The aim of the seminar is to analyse the concepts and metaphors used by actors in the Slovenian political arena, their ontological creativity and production of knowledge about covid-19. The seminar will focus on linguistic, communicative, and political aspects of creative use of metaphors.

3

5/25/2021

A Russian Cinema Research Group seminar with Dr Anna Toropova (Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, University of Nottingham), convened by Rachel Morley and Philip Cavendish (UCL SSEES). Anna Toropova’s exploration of Stalinist cinema as a ‘laboratory’ of emotional revolution brings to light the medium’s vital role in cultivating the distinctive emotional values and norms of the Stalin era. Feeling Revolution shows how Soviet filmmakers were called on to help forge emotions and affects befitting the New Soviet Person, ranging from happiness and victorious laughter to hatred for enemies. This event took place on 10 May 2021.

17

5/25/2021

A UCL SSEES Research Student Seminar with David Rypel, PhD Candidate at SSEES This presentation is a part of David’s PhD research, which investigates ways in which the question of belonging is enacted in security practices of queer Georgians. How do efforts to make our lives secure employ and affect the sense of where we and others belong? Among critically-minded scholars, security is often thought to be inherently exclusionary: It needs (and so constitutes) “dangerous Others” who must be dealt with while reinforcing the boundary around the notion of “Us”. They thus see the concept with distrust, and some go as far as dismissing it altogether as they suspect it is an instrument of illiberal and undemocratic governance. Others contend, however, that this is not the case; they identify, on the contrary, an undivided common identity or freedom from oppression as the source of security. In this view, exclusion undermines security even if it might not seem to be so in the short term.

12

5/25/2021

Welcome to the Post-Soviet Press Pod’s "10 Minutes on…" series, which condenses the key information you need to know about each of the 15 countries of the former USSR into a bitesize 10 minutes. In this sixth episode, we look at Lithuania – a country at the geographical centre of Europe. MA students at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), Kristina Tsabala and Eleanor Evans, discuss the country's language, culture, history, and current affairs, whilst enjoying some medus – a Lithuanian drink made from honey.

11

5/20/2021

Welcome to the Post-Soviet Press Pod’s "10 Minutes on…" series, which condenses the key information you need to know about each of the 15 countries of the former USSR into a bitesize 10 minutes. In this fifth episode, we cover Estonia: a North-East European country with a strong national identity. MA students at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) Alasdair Anderson and Alex Figurski sample an Estonian snack, discuss the country's love of singing, and look into some modern-day social issues in the capital Tallinn.

10

5/6/2021