Past Event

Please join us for an upcoming lecture given by Ivan Kurilla, Professor of History and International Relations at European University at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Abstract: 

Russia is a country where the talk about the Past plays a role of the political discussion, and the political affiliation is still defined by a person’s attitudes to Stalin or to the collapse of the USSR but not by association with “liberalism” or “conservatism” or the like. The state is trying to establish its version of a historical truth but faces multiple challenges from abroad, from its own regional elites and resistance from professional historians. The focal point of the historical politics in Russia is the history of the WWII.

About the speaker:

His major fields of research include history of Russian – US relations and use of history in contemporary Russia. Kurilla is an author of many articles in Russian and international journals, including Journal of American History, Demokratizatsia, Journal of Cold War Studies, Nationalities Papers, and several monographs. His latest coedited volume is Russian/Soviet Studies in the United States, Amerikanistika in Russia: Mutual Representations in Academic Projects