IRES at ASEEES Annual Convention

On December 6-9 IRES took part in the 50^th ASEEES Annual Convention in Boston, USA. Held during the fall term, the convention takes place each year in a different city and is hosted by one of the Association's regional affiliates. This international forum makes possible a broad exchange of information and ideas, stimulating further work and sustaining the intellectual vitality of the field.  

The Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies was represented by six colleagues who took part in the panels presenting individual papers as well as participating in roundtable discussions.  

Professor Li Bennich-Björkman, an expert on political developments in post-Communist Europe and the post-Soviet space, presented a paper entitled “Just do it!: Reforming Away Corruption in Georgia and Estonia”.

Dr. Julie Hansen, specializing in 20^th and 21^st Century literature, acted as discussant on the panel “Translation and Performance III: Performing the "Ideological Other"” and chaired the panel “Translation and Performance Roundtable I: Performing Translation Studies in the Slavic Studies Context”.

Dr. Zakhar Ishov whose special expertise is on the poetry of Joseph Brodsky presented a paper entitled “Poetics Performed: Joseph Brodsky Reciting his English Self-Translations” and was discussant for the panel “Translation and Performance II: Translators in the Soviet Context”.

Dr. Irina Karlsohn whose scholarly interest deals with 19^th and 20^th Century Russian literature, Russian religious philosophy and the history of ideas presented a paper entitled “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Making of History as a Conservative Project?”

Dr. Michael Loader whose research interests include nationality politics, Soviet centre-periphery relations and Soviet Latvia gave a paper entitled “‘Opening the Floodgates’: The 1958 Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Dam Affair in Soviet Latvia”

Dr. Kåre Johan Mjør, specializing in Russian philosophy, Russian historiography and the intellectual history of late Imperial Russia presented a paper entitled 'Russia’s Thousand-Year-Old History': The Claim for a Past in Contemporary Russian Conservative Thought and took part in a roundtable discussion on “The Boundaries of Russian Philosophy”

For the fifth consecutive year, IRES hosted a reception where all convention delegates were welcome. The reception was well attended with approximately 70 delegates enjoying light refreshments in a relaxed atmosphere.