Cullum Lecture Series examines the people and culture of Russia

Russia will be the focus for the 2004-05 Cullum Lecture Series that gets underway Spring semester. Dr. Mikhail N. Epstein, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theory and Russian Literature at Emory University, will be the keynote speaker and will present two programs on Tuesday, January 11–Mournful Beauty: On the Spirit of Russian Literature at noon, and Between Asceticism and Aggression: Russian Religious Philosophy in Search of the Absolute at 7 p.m. in W1002 Science Building.

Dr. Epstein came to the United States in 1991. He is the author of 15 books and hundreds of essays on topics involving historical, linguistic, literary, political, and religious elements. He is the founder and former director of the Laboratory of Modern Culture at the Experimental Center of Creativity in Moscow.

“Epstein is probably the most important figure in Russian literary theory in the post-Bakhtin, post-Lotman era,” says Walter Laqueur of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “What he has to say is of great interest to everyone interested in cultural studies.”

Other January speakers include two presentations by Dr. Hubert van Tuyll titled Revolution, State, and People: The Origins of Soviet Communism and Revolution, State, and People: Does the Russian Revolution Have Meaning Today? Dr. van Tuyll, professor of history at ASU, is the North American liaison for the Center for World War I Studies.

Dr. Matthew J. Payne, associate professor of history at Emory University, will present Fat State, Thin People? – Russia and the Burdens of History and Whiter Rus’? – How Post-Communist Russia Finds Itself at the Crossroads.

The later presentations will feature Dr. Igor Kuzmin, ASU’s visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, who teaches American students studying abroad at St. Petersburg State Technical University. Dr. Kuzmin works in the field of distance learning for Russian students. He will present two lectures, one on Russian political history since Mikhail Gorbachev and a second on modern Russian society.

Mr. Craig Albert, a 2001 political science graduate of ASU, will present a program on the recent Chechnya school hostage situation including the reasons for the massacre. Mr. Albert is currently working on his dissertation at the University of Connecticut, where he won the university’s top teaching award last spring.

The Cullum Lecture Series is an interdisciplinary program that began more than 20 years ago to bring nationally and internationally known speakers to ASU. Supported by the Cullum Foundation of Augusta, ASU, and Gene and Lucille Fleischer, the series provides the campus and the community opportunities to hear experts in a variety of fields as well as to view performances, see films, and tour art exhibits.

Dr. Walter Evans, professor of English in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Communications, is chairing this year’s Cullum Committee. For more information, call 737-1500.

Cullum Lecture Series schedule
All events are held in 170 University Hall at 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
unless otherwise noted.

January 18 - Hubert van Tuyll, ASU           
Revolution, State, and People: The Origins of Soviet Communism and Revolution, State, and People: Does the Russian Revolution Have Meaning Today? (Held in W1002 Science Building)

January 25 - Matthew J. Payne, Emory University
Fat State, Thin People? – Russia and the Burdens of History and Whither Rus’? – How Post-Communist Russia Finds Itself at the Crossroads

January 27 - Film                                        
Magneto Gorsk

January 31 - Film                                        
Burnt by the Sun

February 1 - Alexei Kojevnikov, Russian Academy of Sciences                
Russian Science in the Imperial Era: from Frontier Explorations to Noosphere and The Phenomenon of Soviet Science

February 3 - Film                                        
Tycoon

February 8 - Mark Lipovetsky, University of Colorado              
Russian Postmodernist Literature: The Path of Explosive Compromises and Seeking Compromises, Getting Explosives: The Recycling of Socialist Realism

February 10 - Film                                        
Tycoon (last 20 minutes) and Russian Animation

February 15 - Stevan Clements, ASU               
Contemporary Russian Cinema and Society, Part I and first hour of the film Thief

February 17 - Stevan Clements, ASU               
Contemporary Russian Cinema and Society, Part II and second hour of the film Thief

February 22 - Paul Harris, ASU               
A Transnational Diaspora in the Making? Russian-Speaking Jews in Israel, Germany, and the United States

February 24 - Film                                        
A Place to Call Home

March 1 - Robert Kennedy, Georgia Institute of Technology           
Russian Security Policy in the Post-Cold War Era

March 10 - International Festival           
Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival

March 15 - Musical performance             
From Russia with Love, Russian Music Lecture and Music Trio (Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre)

March 22 - Marilyn Helms, Dalton State College           
Current Business Challenges in Russia and Supply Chain Challenges: A Case Study of Russia

March 29 - Igor Kuzmin, Saint-Petersburg State Technical University              
Changes in the Elite in Post-Communist Russia and Features of the Kremlin’s Modern World View

April 12 - Slava Yastremski, Buckness University               
Canvases in the Shadow of Fallen Idols: Contemporary Russian Art and In the Russian Ark from Repentance to the Return: New Cinema of the New Russia

April 19 - Craig Albert, University of Connecticut           
Chechnya: Russia’s War on Terror

April 26 - Anastasia Zolotova               
Youth of Russia: Problems and Perspectives after Perestroika

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