Columbia University in the City of New York

Harriman Institute

Events
The book cover "Galvanizing Nostalgia?" by Marjorie Balzer.

Date

Location

Galvanizing Nostalgia? Indigenous Siberians in the Context of War
Reserve Your Seat Register for Zoom Webinar Watch on YouTube

Location Note

1219 International Affairs Building
420 W 118th Street, 12th floor

This is a hybrid (in-person/virtual) event. Registration required for attendance. Please note that all attendees must follow Columbia’s COVID-19 Policies and Guidelines. Columbia University is committed to protecting the health and safety of its community. To that end, all visiting alumni and guests must meet the University requirement of full vaccination status in order to attend in-person events. Vaccination cards may be checked upon entry to all venues. All other attendees may participate virtually on Zoom or YouTube.

Please join the Harriman Institute for a book talk by Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer. Moderated by Elise Giuliano (Harriman Institute).

Russia has entered a new period of instability, made especially precarious due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This talk builds on and updates the recently published monograph Galvanizing Nostalgia? Indigeneity and Sovereignty in Siberia(Cornell U. Press, 2021). It explores critical questions for the survival of Russia in its nominally federal form. Will Russia fall apart along the lines of its internal republics, as did the Soviet Union? Why have non-Russians been mobilized in numbers higher than their ethnic proportions? Are non-Russian peoples of Turkic and Mongolian backgrounds, far from Moscow, protesting? From the Arctic to Lake Baikal and the magnificent Altai mountains, Indigenous peoples are striving for degrees of self-determination. Despite curtailment of civil society under President Putin, many are defending their lands and rights without being secessionist. Some have fled into exile and formed politicized diasporas. Based on cultural anthropology research featuring major republics of Eastern Siberia– Sakha (Yakutia), Buryatia and Tyva (Tuva) — this talk highlights Indigenous concerns.

This event is supported by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

 

Event Video

logo