Cambridge Slavonic Studies

11/05/2026

TOMORROW! Polish Cafe @ RFB 106-107

11/05/2026

We're hiring!

The Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge is seeking to appoint a Teaching Associate in Russian Studies. The

27/02/2026

MARCH 12: Soviet Kyrgyzstan: Artistic Freedom in the Soviet Periphery, a talk by Eugénie Zvonkine (Université Paris VIII)

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 5.30pm
Knox Shaw Room, Sidney Sussex College

The presentation will dwell on the tensions between the Soviet centre and national identity for Kyrgyz directors at their beginnings (Tolomush Okeev, for instance, with The Sky of our childhood) but also for directors who came to direct films in Kyrgyzstan while not being from Kyrgyz culture or upbringing and managed or failed to collaborate well with local artistic members and to get permeated by local culture and expectations (Znoy by Larisa Shepitko and First Teacher by Andrey Konchalovsky). The analysis of these three cases will allow us to better understand the specific challenges of directing in a small and "peripheral" Soviet studio, the "horizon of expectation" (Jauss) not only of the spectators but also of the industry members, in the Soviet Kyrgyzstan and in Moscow, whether it is Mosfilm or the Central Goskino. We will also observe how the directors and their artistic crew either search for pre-conceived images of Asia or try to shape a new cinematic language inside the Soviet frame.

25/02/2026

TOMORROW!
"Freedom Lost and Found? Revisiting the Crisis of Liberalism in Interwar Europe", a talk by Balázs Trencsényi (Central European University).
Thursday 26 February 2026, 5.30pm
Knox Shaw Room, Sidney Sussex College

Balázs Trencsényi is Professor of History, Central European University. A historian of East Central European political and cultural thought, he is the author of Intellectuals and the Crisis of Politics in the Interwar Period and Beyond. A Transnational History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025), as well as Crisis Discourses in East Central Europe, 1918-2020. A Never-Ending Story? (2024) and A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe (OUP, 2016-18).

This talk is co-hosted by the Modern European History Research Seminar and the 2025-26 Lecture Series on “Freedom” organised by the Slavonic Studies Section / Cambridge Committee for Central and East European and Eurasian Studies.

09/02/2026

THIS THURSDAY! Please join us for not one but *two* lectures, by Andrew Kahn (Oxford) and Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia), on the occasion of the publication of their critically acclaimed new volume, "All the Word on a Page: A Critical Anthology of Modern Russian Poetry" (Princeton UP).

WHEN: Thursday 12 February 2026, 5.30pm
WHERE: Knox Shaw Room, Sidney Sussex College

Andrew Kahn (University of Oxford): On Freedom in "All the World on a Page" in the Light of Vladimir Markov’s "O svobode v poezii" (1994) and Stephanie Sandler’s "The Freest Speech in Russia" (2025)

Drawing on a selection of lyrics discussed in the book, Andrew Kahn’s part of the seminar will discuss these poems as examples of of a four-fold typology of freedom and poetry defined broadly as: aesthetic practice; self-legislation; the symbolic; and the political.

Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia University): Where the Poem Happens: Contexts of Writing and Contexts of Reading

Despite Susan Sontag’s famous attack on interpretation, interpretations have prevailed, including in the field of poetry criticism. However, most contemporary interpretations try to avoid answering the high-school notorious question: what did the author want to say through their work? Engaging less with the poem's “content” and more with its form and context (whether biographical, historical, or philosophical), is the most accessible way to avoid reductionism suggested by such a question. Looking back at the essays included in the book ‘All the World on a Page, Lipovetsky reflects on the nature of various contextual links discussed in the book and their effect on the interpretation of poetic texts. Can a contextual reading be decoupled from the authorial intentions? How does the poem’s form correlate with its context? What are the limits of contextual interpretation? Can a contextual interpretation be violent, and when is such violence justified?

23/01/2026

NEXT THURSDAY: "Free Choice? A History of the Secret Ballot in Russia", a talk by Stephen Lovell (KCL).

When: Thursday 29 January 2026, 5.30pm
Where: Knox Shaw Room, Sidney Sussex College

Russia might look like an anti-constitutional and illiberal outlier in European history, but it was an early adopter of a practice that is often taken as a hallmark of liberal democracy: the secret ballot. Why did the Russian Empire and its successors need voting, and why were they so concerned to safeguard the role of the individual voter? How far did Russia's version of the secret ballot extend, how did it work, and what did it achieve?

23/01/2026

Join us for Russian Coffee Break!
Come to have fun informal chats in Russian with native speakers and fellow students of all levels.
When: Thursday 5 February 2026
Where: Lecturers' Common Room (106-107) Raised Faculty Building

23/01/2026

Join us for UKRAINIAN CAFE!
An informal event where students can enjoy a coffee or tea and practice Ukrainian
When: Wednesday 4 February 2026, 1.15pm
Where: Lecturers' Common Room (106-107), Raised Faculty Building

23/01/2026

Join us for POLISH CAFE!
Speak Polish with native speakers and fellow students at the Polish Cafe
When: Tuesday 3 February 2026, 11am
Where: Lecturers' Common Room (106-107), Raised Faculty Building

03/12/2025

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN! Constructing Soviet Difference: Culture and Society.
Summer School, June 29-July 8, Gyumri, Armenia

Curious about how Sovietness was constructed—and how its legacies still shape our world today? Our third summer school in the “Societies and Cultures Torn Apart” series invites graduate students and advanced undergraduates to explore “Constructing Soviet Difference: Culture and Society.”

Join us to discuss how categories of difference were conceptualized, produced, and lived across the Soviet century and how their legacies continue to shape the present. This program offers lectures, seminars, and hands-on workshops on academic writing and masterclasses in disciplinary frameworks (anthropology, history, and cultural studies), all led by leading scholars in the field.

📝 Applications are now open! To learn more about the summer school's program, thematic sections, list of instructors, and scholarship opportunities, visit the summer school website: https://summerschool.yerevancenter.org/

🗓 Dates: June 29–July 8, 2026
📍Location: Gyumri, Armenia
✏️ Application Deadline: January 18, 2026, 23:59 GMT+4

Become part of this engaging intellectual exchange!

*Photo Credit: Soviet mosaics in Armenia by Armenian Explorer.

26/11/2025

TOMORROW: Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East, a talk by Victoria Donovan (St Andrews)

Thursday, November 27, 5:30pm
Knox Shaw Room, Sidney Sussex College

The talk is part of our wider speaker series on the theme of "Freedom" with Cambridge Slavonic Studies.