Workshop "Russia and its War(s): a Scholarly Audit and Political Implications"

The workshop 'Russia and Its War(s): Scholarly Audit and Political Implications' is a second public event within the framework of the project titled 'New Russia Studies in Estonia: a Roadmap for a Teamwork" and sponsored by the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The first workshop took place on October 6, 2023 and was hosted by the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. The project team is currently working on an edited volume to be published by Brill in early 2025.

When: June 7, 2024
Where: Tallinn, UT Office, Teatri väljak 3, 3rd floor

Programme:

10.00 – Opening of the workshop: setting the scene
(Andrey Makarychev, University of Tartu)

Panel 1, 10.15 – 11.15
The Future of Area Studies: Russia, Eurasia, Eastern Europe?

Katalin Miklóssy (University of Helsinki): Crises-mode of Area Studies: Competition of Knowledge Production in a Black-and-White World
Vladimir Gelman (University of Helsinki): Against the Grain: Russian Studies in the Times of War
Moderator and discussant – Olga Bogdanova (Ministry of Education)

Panel 2, 11.30 – 12.30
Identities, Civilizations and Postcoloniality

Session 2а
Yulia Kurnyshova (University of Copenhagen): The Rise and Fall of Innocence: Civilizational Narratives During the War
Siobhan Kattago (University of Tartu): More than déjà vu? The Russo-Ukrainian War and the Sediments of Time
Moderator and discussant: Andreas Ventsel (University of Tartu)

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

Session 2b
13.30 – 14.30
Aliaksei Kazharski (Charles University, Prague): Ontological insecurities and the Russo-Ukrainian identity antagonisms in a comparative perspective
Ivan U. Klyszcz (International Center for Defense and Security, Tallinn): Contra Tsygankov: the Irrelevance of Identity in Russian Foreign Policy
Moderator and discussant: James Sherr (ICDS, Tallinn)

Panel 3, 14.45 – 15.45
"Between Biopolitics and Necropower: War and Peace, Life and Death"

Marko Pajevic (University of Tartu): The Temptation of Biopolitisation in Times of Polycrisis
Andrey Makarychev (University of Tartu) Biopolitics at War
Moderator and discussant – Natalia Kovyliaeva (Reforum, Tallinn)

16.00 Summing up: Studying Russia Afresh: Academic and Political Lessons
(Andrey Makarychev and Alar Streimann, University of Tartu)