Saturday, April 30, 2022
Time to be announced
Join UCLA Russian Flagship in welcoming students from each of the other 7 Flagship schools at the Undergraduate Conference on Slavic & East/Central European Studies hosted by UCLA. This annual event will showcase papers presented on a wide variety of topics concerning Russia, Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Learn more here.
Conference Program
Saturday, April 30, 2022
(**All times are in Pacific Standard Time**)
9:00-9:10 am Opening Remarks: Ronald Vroon, Chair of the Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures, UCLA
9:20-10:20 am Session 1 Panel A: The Contemporary Russian State & Character
Chair: Yana Demeshko
Camille Lanese (she/her, UCLA), “The Role of the Soviet Union in the Atmosphere of Corruption in Putin’s Russia.”
Yueun Kang (she/her/hers, UNC Chapel Hill), “Russian Stoicism: Toward a Critical Perspective.”
Oleksandra Stogniy (she/her, University of Georgia), “Health and Health Seeking Behaviors in Modern Russian Reproductive Healthcare.”
9:20-10:20 am Session 1 Panel B: Russian Literature of the Long 19th Century
Chair: Polina Varfolomeeva
Akela Spears (she/her, USC), “Hope Unrealizable, Ideal Undesirable: An Intertextual Analysis of Alyosha Karamazov and Sonya Marmeladovna.”
Mollie Brown (she/her/hers, UCLA), “Literary Responses to the Legal Reforms of Tsar Alexandr II: A Progressive Move for Russia, But Was It Enough?”
Charles Smith (Columbia University), “Zero Is a Bomb: Time and Historical Development in Lenin and Bely.”
10:20-10:40 BREAK
10:40-11:40 am Session 2 Panel A: 21st Century Activism & Politics
Chair: Cate Hwang
Alexis Hill (she/her, UCLA), “A Comparison of LGBT Activism and its Effects in Russia and the Czech Republic.”
Nina Vukcevic (she/ her, UCLA), “The Struggle for Serbia: The Power of Grassroots Organizing for Environmental Justice in Serbia.”
Edna Bella Salčin (she/her, UCLA), “The Consequences of Genocide Denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
10:40-11:40 am Session 2 Panel B: Russian Music & Film
Chair: Lydia Roberts
Maria Torpey (she/her, UCSD), “‘Alexandra, can you breathe in Moscow?’: Nostalgia and the Soundtrack of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1979).”
Isana Raja (she/her, UCSD), “‘Your American Music is Shit’: How the Soundtracks of Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000) Play into Russian Nationalism and Anti-Foreigner Sentiment.”
Mark Berezov (he/him/his, UCSD), “Andrei Tarkovsky, Vadim Yusov, and Georgy Rerberg: a Case Study in the Cinematography of Ivan’s Childhood (1962) and Mirror (1975).”
11:40-12:30 LUNCH BREAK
12:30-1:30 pm Session 3 Panel A: Literature and Culture of the Soviet & Post-Soviet Periods
Chair: Catherine Pasternack
Jonah Lounds (they/them/theirs, UC Berkeley), “Clothing for Crocodiles and the Creation of a Parentless World in Late-Soviet Children’s Animations.”
Anastasia Izmailova (she/her/hers, UCLA), “Resisting Identity Suppression through the Act of Writing in Zamyatin’s We and Orwell’s 1984.”
12:00-1:30 pm Session 3 Panel B: The Putin Era
Chair: Jeffrey Riggs
Jack Hohn (UCSD), “‘Wars have not diminished’: An Analysis of Putin’s 2007 Munich Speech in a Contemporary Context.
Kyle Tucker (he/him/his, Indiana University), “The Evolving Nature of Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Doctrine.”
Kurtis Yan (he/him, UCLA), “Dyad of Vladimirs: The Eastern Orthodox Church as a Political Actor from Kievan Rus’ to Contemporary Russia.”
1:30-1:50 BREAK
1:50-2:50 pm Session 4: Russia and its Influence: Diaspora, Investment, Meddling
Chair: Cooper Lynn
Moriah Thomas (she/her, University of Georgia), “Russia’s Influence on Immigration and Immigration Practices in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Their Neighbors.”
Juliette Oliver (she/they, UCLA), “Angola Then and Now: Investigating Soviet and Russian Intervention in the Country.”
Max Hazerjian (he/him, UNC Chapel Hill), “The World of ‘Russian’ Harbin: Armenians in China’s Russian Diaspora.”
2:50 pm Closing Remarks & Presentation of Certificates: Larry McLellan, Department of Germanic, Slavic, & Semitic Studies, UCSB
Conference organizers: Cooper Lynn, Jeffrey Riggs
Faculty advisor: Susan Kresin
Sponsor(s): UCLA Russian Flagship Program, Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures