The Eurasian Knot

Debates about climate change and what to do about it occur a perilous political climate. It’s a problem that requires international cooperation. But elected politicians increasingly deny climate change, break global agreements, turn inward, and embrace authoritarianism. It’s a situation that both Eve Darian-Smith and Boris Schneider know well. Darian-Smith has written about the right-wing political responses to climate change, particularly to devastating fires, in the US, Brazil, and Australia. Schneider watches climate policy in Eurasia. What are some of the issues that intersect these regions? Are there shared ideological and policy actions? And what of resistance by climate groups hoping to stem the tide? These questions and more, are in this first episode of a six-part interview series “Eurasian Environments: Climate Justice and Sustainability in Global Context.” In each episode, experts on Eurasia are put in dialogue with those focusing on Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Guests:Eve Darian-Smith is a Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Global Studies and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her latest award-winning book is Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis published by Stanford University Press.Boris Schneider is a political economist. As co-host of The Eurasian Climate Brief podcast, he looks into underreported climate & energy stories in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In addition to that, he tracks Europe’s move to climate neutrality as European Programme Manager at Clean Energy Wire (CLEW).Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1916, the German anthropologist Rudolf Pöch and musicologist Robert Lach set out to the Eger prisoner of war camp with a unique research agenda: to record the language and folk songs of Georgian prisoners from the Russian Empire. The recording equipment was clunky and its recordings scratchy and faint. Nevertheless, Pöch and Lach were doing some innovative recordings, not just in terms of their ethnographic research, but using multi-channel recording to capture Georgian polyphonic singing. What were these recordings for? How did they fit into theories of race science of the time? And just who was Lavrosi Mamaldze, the Georgian singer these recordings documented? The Eurasian Knot wanted to learn more and sat down with Brian Fairley to talk about his deep dive into early twentieth century audio recording in WWI POW camps.Guest:Brian Fairley is the UCIS Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. He studies song, sound, and media across historical and ethnographic settings. His manuscript, “Separating Sounds: A Media History of Georgian Polyphony,” excavates a series of experimental recordings of Georgian music from 1916 to today, showing how prominent scholars and scientists repeatedly tried to capture this elusive musical tradition on record.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neoliberalism has so many meanings that some say it has no meaning. Nailing down a consensus is also hampered by the fact that no one calls themselves a “neoliberal.” There’s even calls to abandon the term altogether since it’s become more a slur than doctrine needing analysis. Enter Max Trecker. He took the debate over neoliberalism as an opportunity to investigate its intellectual origins in the 1920s and 1930s. What did it mean then? What was neoliberal thought a reaction to? And what would those neoliberals think today? Also, in this interview, Max talks about an additional project: How Ukraine has been imagined as an economic space. It’s an issue not only of historical import, but enormous relevance today as Ukraine plans its postwar future.Guest:Max Trecker is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department at the University of Pittsburgh and an economic historian and postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig, Germany. He’s the author of Red Money for the Global South: East-South Economic Relations in the Cold War published by Routledge.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1941, as Nazi forces laid siege to Leningrad, a group of Soviet botanists faced an unthinkable choice: eat their life’s work, a rare seed bank, or starve to death. This is the dilemma at the heart of Simon Parkin’s story about the world's first seed bank and its dedicated botanists. At the heart of this tale is Nikolai Vavilov, a brilliant botanist who traveled five continents collecting specimens before falling victim to Stalin's purges. Through meticulous research and newly accessed archives, Parkin reveals a vivid tale of the sacrifice of 19 scientists during the siege’s 900 days. The Eurasian Knot spoke to Parkin to learn more about Vavilov’s seed bank, the moral dimensions of choosing science over death, and how their legacy lives on in modern agriculture.Guest:Simon Parkin is a British author and journalist. He is contributing writer for the New Yorker, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and the author of three narrative non-fiction books, including The Island of Extraordinary Captives, winner of The Wingate Literary Prize. His new book is The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice published by Simon and Shuster.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vladimir Kozlov’s new book Shramy (Scars) explores street battles between anti-fascists and neo-Nazi skinheads in Moscow during the late 2000s. Kozlov is no stranger to these subcultures. He’s long been involved in Russian punk. And though he never participated in these street battles himself, his failed attempt to make a documentary about Antifa for Russian television gave him an inside look at the scene. Now, almost two decades later, Kozlov uses Shramy to reflect on the roots of Russian fascism in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How did elements of neo-Nazi subculture seep into the Russian mainstream? And how does the Putin regime manipulate “Nazism” and “anti-fascism” for its own domestic and geopolitical ends? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Kozlov about his punk past, how they shaped the writing of Shramy, and how violence, ideology, and the complexities of Russian society have led to public support for the war in Ukraine.Guest:Vladimir Kozlov is a writer and filmmaker born in Mogilev in the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. He spent his youth in the suburbs of that city, witnessing the collapse of the Soviet empire and a bizarre mix of unbridled freedom, wild capitalism and rampant crime in the early 1990s. He lived in Moscow until he went into exile in 2022 following his condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kozlov is the author of more than a dozen books that have been published in translation in the United States, France, Serbia and Slovakia. His most recent book is Shramy. You can read an English excerpt of Shramy here.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who speaks for whom within the Romani rights movement today? This is the question that drives Adriana Helbig’s investigation into the relationship between development aid and Romani musicians in her book, Resounding Poverty. Her findings are crucial as are provocative: NGOs unintentionally perpetuate narratives of Romani life that continue to marginalize the poorest among them. And while aid is crucial, it also fails to address issues of poverty, community, and health particularly in rural areas. The Eurasian Knot spoke to Helbig about the fraught and complicated presence of NGOs in postsocialist space, the tensions between aid and agency, the pressure Romani musicians face to perform "gypsiness" for non-Romani audiences, and her personal insights about conducting research in Ukraine and how her own family history intersects with her academic work. We even listen to some music by the Carpathian Ensemble, a University of Pittsburgh student group that Helbig directed. highlighting the challenges and rewards of representing Romani music in an academic context.Guest:Adriana N. Helbig is Associate Professor of Music and former Assistant Dean of Undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of Hip Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration. Her most recent book is ReSounding Poverty: Romani Music and Development Aid published by Oxford University Press.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) ended in late November in Baku. Two weeks of intense climate negotiations unveiled deep divides—particularly between the Global North and South over climate finance and contentious debates on the right wording of transitioning away from fossil fuels.In this episode Angelina Davydova and Boris Schneider dissect the outcomes of the conference, offering insights into the broader implications for climate action, both globally and in Central Asia. Joining the conversation is Kyrgyz journalist Anastasia Bengard, who attended COP29 as a fellow of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) programme. She shares her firsthand observations from the conference, shedding light on the positions and statements of her home country and Central Asia at large, as detailed in her reporting for 24.kg.Tune in as we delve into the complex narratives and challenges that will define the future of climate action across Central Asia - and beyond.The Eurasian Climate Brief is a podcast dedicated to climate issues in the region stretching from Eastern Europe to Russia down to the Caucasus and Central Asia.This episode is supported by n-ost & eurasianet and made by:Angelina Davydova, environmental/climate journalist. Editor of the magazine "Environment and Rights", co-host of the podcast The Day After Tomorrow ("Posle Zavtra"). Environmental projects coordinator with the Dialogue for Understanding e. V (Berlin). Fellow with the Institute for Global Reconstitution (Berlin). Observer of the UN climate negotiations (UNFCCC) since 2008. Expert/editor of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group.Boris Schneider, political economist. European Programme Manager at Clean Energy Wire CLEW (Berlin). Has worked as a specialist on Eastern European climate and energy topics, amongst others for n-ost and the German Economic Team.Reports cited in the episode:Open Letter on COP reformAfter a disappointing COP29, here’s how to design global climate talks that might actually workWe are not so naive anymore (Anastasia Bengard's interview with Edil Baisalov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan)Jingle: Natallia Kunitskaya alias MustelideSound editing & mixing: Angelo Tripkovsky Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who are those “experts” who sit in Washington DC and come up with policy toward China and Russia? You know, those academics, journalists, and think-tankers who generate the knowledge US officials rely on? David McCourt’s new book, The End of Engagement, takes a stab by examining American foreign policy expertise on China and Russia since 1989. His main focus is on the divide within the Russia and China watching community. For Russia, it’s between "Russia we havers" versus "Russia we wanters,” and for China, the "engagement" against the "strategic competition" partisans. Curious to hear more, The Eurasian Knot spoke to McCourt to get a social profile of these expert communities, including how personal cliques, academic cred, and resumes influence how we understand Russia and China.Guest:David McCourt is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. His new book is The End of Engagement: America's China and Russia Experts and U.S. Strategy Since 1989 published by Oxford University Press.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nationalists are not born. They are made. But how? That journey is far trickier. Fabian Baumann’s award-winning book, Dynasty Divided: A Family History of Russian and Ukrainian Nationalism, traces how one family in 19th-century Ukraine split into opposing branches–one embracing Ukrainian nationalism and the other Russian imperial nationalism. Shulgin/Shulhin family story shows how national identities form through the microcosms of family, private spaces, intellectual circles, and intentional choices rather than predetermined ethnicity. The Eurasian Knot asked Baumann to take us through the Shulgin/Shulhin family, their efforts to craft opposing nationalist identities, and how exile after the Russian Revolution led both branches to craft nationalist narratives of their experiences. The Shulgin/Shulhin story may be a century old. But their journey into Ukrainian and Russian nationalism has inescapable implications for us today.Guest:Fabian Baumann is a research associate at Heidelberg University working on the history of nationalism and empire in Ukraine, Russia, and East Central Europe. His award winning book is Dynasty Divided: A Family History of Russian and Ukrainian Nationalism published by Northern Illinois University Press.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2020, Russian-American filmmaker Michael Lockshin and his co-writer, Roman Kantor, were offered an impossible task: to adapt Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita for the big screen. It was a daunting task to rewrite such a beloved novel, with its complicated and overlapping narratives. Lockshin and Kantor hoped to succeed where others failed. After a period of touch-and-go, the film was released in Russia in January 2024 to critical and viewer acclaim. It also received fierce scorn, particularly from Russian state propagandists. To date, the film remains unreleased internationally due to complex rights issues following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How has Lockshin dealt with all this personally and professionally? What does he make of the controversy surrounding the movie essentially cosplaying its plot. Lockshin recently visited Pittsburgh to screen the film. The Eurasian Knot jumped at the opportunity to interview him about it and its fallout.Guest:Michael Lockshin grew up in Russia and the United States. He began working in film while studying for a Masters in psychology at Moscow State University. He moved to London after graduating and directed several award-winning commercials and his first Russian language feature film, Silver Skates in 2020. Most recently, he co-wrote and directed an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita.Send us your sounds! https://euraknot.org/contact/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/euraknot Knotty News: https://eurasianknot.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Bryan Gigantino, co-host of the podcast Reimagining Soviet Georgia, on the context and causes for the current political crisis in Georgia.The post Georgia in Crisis appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Soviet dissidents have long been objects of fascination. Who were they? What made them dissent? What did they believe? And what did they endure at the hands of a repressive Soviet state? We now have a clearer picture thanks to Benjamin Nathans’ new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Soviet dissidents, or as they preferred to be called “rights defenders,” navigated a complicated choreography between the movement, the police, and its supporters abroad. Their approach was a strategy of “civil obedience,” that is pressuring the Soviet government to follow its own laws. Though amounting to around a thousand active participants, their influence grew, especially as they were lionized in the Western media. In this conversation with the Eurasian Knot, Nathans recounts this history, highlighting the often-overlooked role of women, dissidents’ complex relationship with Soviet society, and what their experience can teach us today.Guest:Benjamin Nathans is the Alan Charles Kors Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia. His latest book is To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement published by Princeton University Press.Send us your sounds!Become a patron! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Ian Lanzillotti guides through the history of Kabardino-Balkaria in his book Land, Community, and the State in the Caucasus published by Bloomsbury.The post A Deep Dive into Kabardino-Balkaria appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Erin Hutchinson on her award-winning article, “Gathering the Nation in the Village: Intellectuals and the Cultural Politics of Nationality in the Late Soviet Period” in the January 2023 issue of the Russian Review.The post Soviet DIY Folk Museums appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Maurice Casey on the “lost world” of international communism in his book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals published by Footnote Press.The post Intimate Lives of International Communism appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Tyler Kirk on After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia's Far North published by Indiana University Press.The post Gulag Memory in Russia’s Far North appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Pavel Khazanov on The Russia That We Have Lost: Pre-Soviet Past as Anti-Soviet Discourse published by the University of Wisconsin Press.The post The Russia That Was Lost appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Ambassador Eric Rubin on the efforts to free Marc Fogel, an American serving 14 years in the Russian prison for possessing 17 g of medical marijuana.The post Free Marc Fogel! appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Marina Mogilner and Ilya Gerasimov on their new textbook, A New Imperial History of Northern Eurasia, 600–1700: From Russian to Global History published by Bloomsbury.The post A New History of Northern Eurasia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Andrea Bohlman on the curious history of the sound postcard in People's Republic of Poland.The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 3 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Valeria Umanets on women in municipal governance in the Soviet Union and under Putin.The post Women in Russian Politics appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Daniel Mikecz on Civil Movements in an Illiberal Regime: Political Activism in Hungary published by Central European University Press.The post Illiberalism and Civil Society in Hungary appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Matthew Kendall on his article “Room for Noise in Soviet Sound Recording” in the Winter 2023 issue of the Slavic Review.The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 2 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Gabrielle Cornish on the sound of Lenin's voice and other sounds of socialism.The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 1 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Masha Kirasirova on The Eastern International: Arabs, Central Asians, and Jews in the Soviet Union's Anticolonial Empire published by Oxford University Press.The post The Eastern International appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Sergey Radchenko on To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power published by Cambridge University Press.The post The Soviet Bid to Run the World appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Anna Arutunyan and Mark Galeotti on their new book Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin, and the New Fight for the Future of Russia published by Penguin.The post The Rise and Fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Kevin Platt on Border Conditions: Russian-Speaking Latvians Between World Orders published by Cornell University Press.The post Russians in Latvia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Lisa Kirschenbaum on Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists: Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip published by Cambridge University Press.The post Ilf and Petrov’s American Road Trip appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Vassily Klimentov on A Slow Reckoning: The USSR, the Afghan Communists, and Islam published by Cornell University Press.The post Soviet Afghan War and Islam appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Alexandar Mikhailovic on the unlikely convergence of the American and Russian far-right.The post Populist Elitism in Russia and the US appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Elena Kochetkova on wood, forests and industrial ecology in the Soviet Union.The post Soviet Industrial Ecology appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Greta Uehling on the ethics of care in Everyday War: The Conflict over Donbas, Ukraine published by Cornell University Press.The post Everyday War in Donbas appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Artan Hoxha on his new book, Sugarland: The Transformation of the Countryside in Communist Albania published by Central European University Press.The post Sugarland appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Russian poet Dmitrii Bykov on the War in Ukraine, the role of art in politics, satire, his poisoning in 2019, protest, love and family.The post Citizen Poet appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Sara Brinegar on her book The Power and Politics of Oil in the Soviet South Caucasus: Periphery Unbound, 1920-29 published by Bloomsbury.The post Baku Oil and the Soviet State appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Xenia Cherkaev on her book Gleaning for Communism: The Soviet Socialist Household in Theory and Practice published by Cornell University Press.The post Gleaning for Communism appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Andy Bruno on his new book Tunguska: A Siberian Mystery and its Environmental Legacy published by Cambridge University Press.The post The Tunguska Mystery appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Natasha Lance Rogoff on making Sesame Street in Russia in the turbulent 1990s.The post Sesame Street in Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Paula Chan on the Extraordinary State Commission and its investigations in the Nazi atrocities in the Soviet Union.The post Soviet Investigation of Nazi War Crimes appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Karl Schlogel on the lost world of Soviet civilization.The post The Soviet Century appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Mariia Koskina on Siberian industrialization, the environment and the black skies over Krasnoyarsk.The post Black Skies Over Krasnoyarsk appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Tigran Grigoryan (The Regional Center for Democracy and Security) and Kelsey Rice (Berry College) revisiting the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.The post Revisiting Nagorno-Karabakh appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Natalia Krylova on life, love, language, and the Soviet Avant Garde.The post The Soviet Avant Garde appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did generations of Russian revolutionaries communicate in prison? Especially under strict surveillance, censorship and enforced silence? One way was through the sound of tapping. Prisoners used purposeful “tuks, tuks, tuks” in a coded pattern to communicate through their cells' thick granite walls. This syntax of taps developed in the 1820s and continued well into the 20th century. How did this tapping language develop and spread? How did it help concretize a collective revolutionary identity? The Eurasian Knot talked to Nicholas Bujalski to learn more about his prize winning article “Tuk, tuk, tuk!” A History of Russia’s Prison Knocking Language” published in the July 2022 issue of the Russian Review.Guest:Nicholas Bujalski is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Oberlin College. His writing has appeared in The Russian Review, Modern Intellectual History, and the Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, and his current book project is a cultural, intellectual, and spatial history of Russia’s revolutionary movement through the prison cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. His article, “Tuk, tuk, tuk!” A History of Russia’s Prison Knocking Language” won best article in Russian Review in 2023.Send us your sounds! PatreonKnotty News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Brian Milakovsky with a grim update on Ukraine, the war, and the shrinking prospects of even a lousy peace.The post Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Christopher Read on Vladimir Lenin's legacy 100 years since his death.The post A Century Without Lenin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Maria Lotsmanova on her genealogical journey to find information about her repressed great-grandfather, Jacob Jansen.The post Genealogy in Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Vladimir Alexandrov on The Black Russian published by Grove Press.The post The Black Russian appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Gabriella Safran on Recording Russia: Trying to Listen in the Nineteenth Century published by Cornell University Press.The post Recording Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.