November, 21-24 – We’re thrilled to announce that seven Smolny Beyond Borders (SBB) participants will present papers at the 56th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) in Boston, November 21–24, 2024. Representing SBB are: Philip Fedchin, Danila Raskov, Ilya Kalinin, Artem Magun, Larisa Muravyeva, Natalia Fedorova, and Maria Chernysheva.

🔹 Key Highlights:

1️⃣ Panel: “Liberal Arts and Sciences Education in Russia: Past and Future”
This session will explore the history of the Smolny Institute of Liberal Arts in St. Petersburg and its partnership with Bard College, which has been declared “undesirable” in the Russian Federation; attitudes towards liberal education in Russian media and higher education; the future of the liberal arts model in Russia.

📅 When: Thursday, Nov. 21, 12:00–1:45 PM EST (6:00–7:45 PM CET)

2️⃣ Panel “Representing Trauma in Literature: Possibilities and Limits of Liberation”

The exuberant research into traumatic experience in literature, launched by C. Caruth and her immediate successors, now seems to have given place to the perception of trauma as a multifaceted and constantly redefined phenomenon. Not only is the traditional question of its representability no longer a pivotal issue, but also the a priori assumption that such a representation liberates is called into question. While contemporary theorists increasingly want to view literary narratives as therapeutic performances, even “the practice of care” (I. Galichon), rather than as mere representation, authors and readers of contemporary fiction often speak of “retraumatization,” caused precisely by intensified empathy and an eroding “aesthetic distance.” Autobiographical testimonies have acquired a prominent role for constituting collective memory, functioning as “counter-memory” (M. Foucault) to ideologies; however, they are also often powerless to compete with the indoctrination and propaganda of repressive regimes and thus to reshape the established memorial culture. These and other issues are highly relevant to the functioning of trauma and memory both in contemporary Russophone fiction, which has experienced an unprecedented rise of autofiction over the last decade, and in canonical, “classical” Russian literature of the last hundred years.

📅 When: Thursday, Nov. 21, 2:00–3:45 PM EST (8:00–9:45 PM CET)

3️⃣ Bard College’s ancillary event: “Beyond Borders: Russian Education, Research, and Media”

This event will showcase Smolny Beyond Borders Initiative, the Russian Independent Media Archive, and Bard-AUCA Programs in Bishkek. Bard College will share information on opportunities for students, faculty, and researchers.

📅 When: Friday, Nov. 22, 6:30–8:00 PM EST (Saturday, Nov. 23, 12:30–2:00 AM CET)

📍 Where: Boston Marriott Copley Place, 5th Floor, Vermont

🤓 Join us in Boston to connect, discuss, and collaborate with colleagues and students!