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by The Eurasian Knot
To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes feature an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Eurasia will never appear the same.
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- 5 days ago52 min
The Shandeans of the Soviet Union
"I wrote not to be fed but to be famous." This is one of the many, many humorous and whimsical sayings attributed to the writer Laurence Sterne. This Anglican cleric became a sensation in mid-18th century Britain after publishing his irreverent, stream-of-consciousness novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Shandy was translated throughout Europe, eventually landing in the Russian empire. Sterne’s fandom continues there to this day. I knew nothing about Laurence Stearne. Then, I learned of Peter Burin’s book on the author’s reception in the Soviet Union. What did Soviet readers see in Sterne’s work? How did they relate to it, even for it to serve as a sort of lifestyle guide? And how did a sentimentalist author like Sterne square within an increasingly ideologically orthodox Stalinist society? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Budrin about Sterne in the USSR to learn more.Guest:Peter Budrin is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. He’s the author of Laurence Sterne and his Readers in Early Soviet Russia: The Secret Order of Shandeans published by Oxford University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago50 min
Dumplings!
They go by many names. Xiao mai. Samosa. Momo. Mani. Pelmeni. Vareniki. Khinkali. That’s right, dumplings! That delicious meat-wrapped-in-dough dish! The dumpling is one of the most transhistorical foods on the planet. Almost every culture has its own taste, shape and tradition. It’s a source of pride and pudge. The dumpling is a favorite of the anthropologist, Helen Faller. She’s embarked on a personal and cultural journey with the dumpling in Central Asia. How are they made? And why are they so damn difficult? Who does the labor? What kinds of community do dumplings create? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Faller about her love of the dumpling and its place in Kazakhstan family and society. And, of course, we talk about how yummy they are. Start drooling, dear listeners. Guest:Helen Faller is an anthropologist with expertise in Russia and Central Asia. She’s the author of Nation, Language, Islam: Tatarstan’s Sovereignty Movement published by Central European University Press. She’s now working on a book about the social and cultural life of the dumpling in Central Asia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 3 weeks ago47 min
Marriage and Family in Chechnya
The history of Chechens, or Nokhchi, is defined by war, occupation, and ethnic cleansing. Yet despite these repeated traumas, the Nokhchi have persisted, resisted and survived. But how? Chechens comprise such a relatively small population, almost 2 million today. This is the question Marat Iliyasov asked himself as he entered adulthood. Given this history of violence, and uncertain future, what has inspired Chechens to continue getting married and raising families? Marat set out to find answers, which eventually became a book, Reproducing Resistance: Chechen Demography in Times of War. Chechen survival, he argues, was the result of the collective identities born from their traumatic history. Knowing little about Chechnya, the Eurasian Knot spoke to Marat about his book, how he dealt with questions of marriage, family and sex, and Nokhchi identity in Chechnya and in the Chechen diaspora.Guest:Marat Iliyasov is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of the Holy Cross. He’s the author of Reproducing Resistance: Chechen Demography in Times of War published by Bloomsbury. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Oct 7, 202638 min
A Novel of Modern Russia
Maya, the heroine of Svetlana Satchkova’s The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, is an aspiring Russian filmmaker. And after fits and starts she finally gets a break when the producer Belov greenlights her project. Maya’s film is an art-house horror flick about a resurrected Lenin who seeks to take control of Moscow with an army of zombies at his back. Maya has no political intent with the movie. To her, it’s just a horror film. She’s also naive to what Russia has become. All art is politically infused. The artist’s intent is meaningless. Maya is eventually denounced to the authorities, who, in turn, see zombie Lenin as a political satire of Putin’s Russia. To her shock and distress, Maya’s life is quickly turned upside down. The plot of The Undead unfortunately has a long tradition. Think of Lydia Chukovskaya’s Sofia Petrovna or Milan Kundera's The Joke. It’s when ordinary, innocent people get sucked into the oppressive machine of the state. The Eurasian Knot spoke to Satchkova about The Undead, her English debut, and how Maya’s fate speaks not just to the realities of artists and art in Russia, but also, to art in other authoritarian states past and present. It’s a tale of shifting political sands, the meaning of collaboration, and how the system grinds up even the most unassuming people.Guest:Svetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and novelist. She’s the author of three novels in Russian. Her latest novel is The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, her English-language debut, published by Melville House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 30, 202653 min
Latvian Soldiers in WWII
World War II casts a long, dark shadow over eastern Europe. Especially in those nations caught between the Wehrmacht and Red Army. Some locals joined the Nazis, others served in the Red Army, and some others fought against both. Many more simply fled or hunkered down hoping just to survive. Regardless, the memory of the war doesn’t tolerate nuance. If you fought, you were either on the Nazi or Soviet side, even if the goal was to liberate yourself. Reality was much more complicated, says Harry Merritt in Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service. Both Soviet and Nazis created special Latvian regiments to fight for their side. Why? What did it mean to Latvian in the service of the occupiers? And how does the experience of these Latvian soldiers complicate the war, its meaning, and memory then and now? The Eurasian Knot hasn’t given the Baltics its due, so we jumped at the opportunity to talk to Harry Merritt to learn more about this complex and controversial aspect of war on the eastern front.Guest:Harry C. Merritt teaches in the Department of History at Rhode Island College. He’s the author of Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service published by Oxford University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 23, 202649 min
Los Rusos
An overlooked destination for thousands immigrating out of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union was Mexico. The reasons were many. Jews fled anti-semitic violence. Religious groups like the Molokans left because of persecution. Many more left in the wake of war, revolution, famine, and political repression. Regardless, Mexico was a viable alternative with the US borders closed to immigration in the interwar period. Collectively known as Los Rusos, these “Russians” built new lives, integrated into Mexican society, or eventually ended up in Los Angeles with the help of some dubious “ethnopolitical entrepreneurs.” Who were the Los Rusos? What was their immigrant experience like? How did the weather during the years of anti-communist hysteria, spy mania, and xenophobia? And why has Mexico eluded our attention as a destination for refugees from the Russian empire? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Andrew Jenks about his new book, Los Rusos: The Russian Departure to Mexico and Southern California, 1900-1965, to learn more.Guest:Andrew Jenks is a professor of history at California State University Long Beach. He has published books on the history of space exploration, folk art, the environment, and migration. He’s the author of Los Rusos: The Russian Departure to Mexico and Southern California, 1900–1965 published by Cornell University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 16, 202654 min
The Origins of the Ukraine War
When did Putin decide to invade Ukraine? Was it shortly after 2012 when he returned as President? In 2014, after the seizure of Crimea and clashes in the Donbas? Or was it when Russian forces began massing at the Ukraine-Russia-Belarus borders for a full-scale assault? The answer to when, Michael Kimmage says, is important because that would tell us what drove Putin and what might be necessary to bring a diplomatic solution. The Ukraine War has been raging longer than WWI and WWII with no end in sight. And Kimmage argues that the global context and ramifications need analysis. The Ukraine War is the most documented war in history and we might not have all the information to answer “why?” for years, maybe decades. Kimmage recently gave a talk at the University of Michigan on the origins of the Ukraine War, and Rusana, the Eurasian Knot’s Midwest correspondent, sat down with him for a wide ranging interview.In the interview, Rusana and Michael discussed the Kennan Institute’s project on the origins of the Ukraine war. You can watch the available videos here. Also, check out the Kennan’s Dispatches for reports from Ukraine.Guest:Michael Kimmage is the Director of Kennan Institute. He’s also a professor of history at the Catholic University of America. He publishes widely on international affairs and on U.S. policy toward Russia. His latest book is Collisions: The War in Ukraine and the Origins of the New Global Instability published by Oxford University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 9, 202646 min
The Soviet Death Penalty
The fact that the USSR executed its citizens with little jurisprudence is well known. The word “troika” is synonymous with Stalinist repressions of the 1930s. What is less known is that the Soviet Union’s death penalty regime changed significantly in the postwar period. After a brief moratorium adopted by Stalin(!) in 1947, Khrushchev revived capital punishment in 1954 as part of his war on crime. Homicide became a capital offense. The application of the death penalty became professionalized with lawyers, forensics, psychologists, and an appeals process. The narrative of appeals for clemency also changed. Whereas those from the prewar generation often cited a convict’s service to the Soviet state, supplicants after the 1960s portrayed themselves as abandoned by the welfare state. In Fate in My Hands, Yana Skorobogatov looked at about a hundred of these death penalty cases and clemency appeals from 1954-1991 to understand this new regime. What were the circumstances of the crimes and their adjudication? How did those on death row make their appeals? And how did the Soviet system correspond with the death penalty in, say, the United States? Knowing nothing about the Soviet death penalty, the Eurasian Knot spoke to Skorobogatov about her book, Fate in My Hand: The Death Penalty in the Soviet Union, and what it means for the postwar USSR and for us as the death penalty once again appears on the political agenda.Guest:Yana Skorobogatov is the Gladys and Roland Harriman Assistant Professor of Russian and Soviet History in the Department of History at Columbia University. She’s the author of Fate in My Hands: The Death Penalty in the Soviet Union published by the University of Chicago Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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About The Eurasian Knot
To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes feature an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Eurasia will never appear the same.
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