LECTURE- D. Northrop and S. Kotkin, 4/24 and 5/2, GMU

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies

LECTURE- D. Northrop and S. Kotkin, 4/24 and 5/2, GMU

Posted by: Eric Max Mcglinchey <emcglinc@gmu.edu>

George Mason's Focus on Central Asia Program is pleased to announce
public lectures by Douglas Northrop (April 24) and Stephen Kotkin (May
2). All are welcome.

Douglas Northrop, "Earthquakes and Empire: Remembering Disaster in
Central Asia"

Tuesday, April 24, 3:00-4:30 pm, SUB I, Room C

Over the last two centuries, Russian and Soviet governments have
repeatedly attempted to build a new political and social world in
Central Asia. What happens, though, when that world collapses?
Cultural encounters in Central Asia took many forms -- but efforts to
establish Moscow's authority faced particular challenges in extreme
climactic conditions and "natural" hazards.

This talk considers the impact of one such hazard, earthquakes, in
shaping the actions and outlook of Russian officials and local
populations, and it asks how the recurrent experience of seismic
calamity shaped efforts to remember and commemorate disasters in the
imperial periphery.

Douglas Northrop is Associate Professor of Modern Central Asian
Studies at the University of Michigan and author of Veiled Empire:
Gender and Power in
Stalinist Central Asia.

Stephen Kotkin, "Empire without Nostalgia"

Wednesday, May 2, 4:30-6:00 pm, Research I, Room 163

"Eurasia" as a term has suddenly become ubiquitous from scholarly
journals and foundation programs to journalism and everyday speech.
But is the idea
of "Eurasia" the disease masquerading as the cure? How are we to
understand the history and possible future of the vast space that lies
between Germany
and Japan? Could it be that we have it all wrong? This talk will
examine practices of exchange and governance, from the imperial
Mongols to Vladimir
Putin and Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Stephen Kotkin is Professor of Russian History and Director of the
Program in Russian Studies at Princeton University. His books include Magnetic
Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization and Armageddon Averted: The
Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000.

Eric M. McGlinchey
Assistant Professor of Government and Politics

Department of Public and International Affairs
George Mason University
Robinson A201 - MSN 3F4
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030

Tel: 703-993-2960, Fax: 703-993-1399
http://mason.gmu.edu/~emcglinc/
http://mason.gmu.edu/~cenasia/

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