02/10/2026
SRC Seminar with Marina Balina | October 15, 2026
We are delighted to welcome Marina Balina, Professor Emerita of Russian Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University, to the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center for a seminar on young adult historical fiction and the teaching of history in contemporary Russia.
"Teaching History as Oppositional Enlightenment: Challenges of Young Adult Historical Fiction in Contemporary Russia"
Date & Time: October 15 (Thu), 2026, 16:30–18:00 (JST)
Venue: Room 403, Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University / Online via Zoom
Speaker: Marina Balina (Illinois Wesleyan University)
Language: English
Online registration:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/vMLFLBtrSG6Byu6BWH_7Qw
Professor Balina has also been a key participant in our collaborative research project on melodrama and contemporary Russian culture, launched at the SRC in 2022. One of the major outcomes of this collaboration is the forthcoming volume "Melodramatic Imagination in Russian Culture: New Perspectives," co-edited by Daisuke Adachi and Marina Balina and scheduled for publication by the University of Toronto Press in December 2026.
During her visit to Japan, Professor Balina will also participate in a workshop at the 76th Annual Conference of the Japan Association for the Study of Russian Language and Literature at Kobe University on October 17. Building on the collaborative research that led to the forthcoming volume, the workshop, "От истории мелодрамы к мелодраматизации истории: аффективный менеджмент исторической памяти в современной России" (“From the History of Melodrama to the Melodramatization of History: Affective Management of Historical Memory in Contemporary Russia”), will explore how melodramatic discourse intersects with the affective construction and reinterpretation of historical memory in contemporary Russia. The workshop brings together Daisuke Adachi, Satoko Kitai, and Marina Balina, with Junna Hiramatsu as moderator.
On October 23, Professor Balina will also give a special lecture at the University of Tokyo, "Необыкновенные приключения Пиноккио в СССР: тексты и подтексты «Золотого ключика» Алексея Толстого, 1935," hosted by Junna Hiramatsu.
We warmly invite you to join us in Sapporo or online on October 15!
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