Session 2:

Culture, Language and the Power of Representation

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Time: 1:00-2:30 pm

Chair and Commentator: Jeff Sahadeo

Presenters:

Sladjana Grmas (Carleton University, Canada) – Media Manipulation in Russia: Censorship in Putin’s Russia Through Wrong Translation

Sladjana Grmas is a second-year MA student at Carleton University’s Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. She received a BA in Russian Language, Literature and Culture from the University of Belgrade (Serbia), and a MA in Cultural Linguistics of Great Britain and the USA from St. Petersburg State University (Russia). She is interested in media freedoms, methods of media manipulation, cybersecurity, and ethnic extremism.

Precious Oluwasanya (Carleton University, Canada) – Ballerinas, Spies, and the Motherland: The Sociocultural Limbo of Hollywood’s Russia

Precious Oluwasanya is a second-year MA student at Carleton University’s Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. She received a BA in History from Ohio University. She is interested in historical and contemporary societies, cultural impacts of media and art, and information politics.

Jessi Gilchrist (University of Toronto, Canada) – The Killing of George Floyd: Are we really having a global conversation?

After completing a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in history and a Bachelor of Music (performance) at Brandon University, Jessi Gilchrist went on to study international history at the University of Western Ontario under the supervision of France McKenzie. In the summer of 2020, Jessi successfully defended her MA thesis entitled “Global Governance and Imperial Entanglements: Cooperation, Conflict, and Catastrophe in Anglo-Italian Relations, 1922-1940.” Jessi is currently an MA Candidate at the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Margaret MacMillan. Her current research focuses on the international-imperial intersections of peacebuilding after the First World War. She has spent significant time researching in government archives across Europe to support her research on global order and how states cooperate despite profound tension.

Leah Rasmussen (Carleton University, Canada) – Curating Russia: The Shchukin Collection, Nationalism, and Border-Crossing from Lenin to Putin

Leah Rasmussen is a second-year MA candidate at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at Carleton University. Leah received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial Studies from the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U). Her current research focuses on the role of culture in Russia’s national security and foreign policy as it exists within the collections of four Russian museums.