Category Archives: Politics

Area Studies, Caucasus, Conferences, Politics

KU/Fort Leavenworth Conference: “China and Russia: Architects of a New Global Order?”

Last week, I had the good fortune to participate in the conference “China and Russia: Architects of New Global Order” organized by the Kansas University Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies (CREEES) and the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth. The wide spectrum of research presented (more on this in a moment) was well complimented by the diversity of panelists with academia, the Defense Department, and various thinks tanks all well represented.
Continue reading KU/Fort Leavenworth Conference: “China and Russia: Architects of a New Global Order?” →

Area Studies, Art & Culture, Central Asia, History, Politics, Religion, Teaching about Central Eurasia

Framing Central Asian Art…

At a time when Central Asia seems to have ominously emerged from obscurity into the western political consciousness as a “Middle East in Training,” it is worth considering how broader western audiences acquire information about Central Asia beyond the constructions of policy analysts and Borat. One enduring and traditional source is that of museums, whose explicit institutional intention is to put art and culture on display to create a specific narrative for consumption.  Continue reading Framing Central Asian Art… →

Art & Culture, Caucasus, Politics

The Battle over Stalin’s Statues and the Ascent of the Georgian Dream Coalition

The ascent of the Georgian Dream coalition over Mikheil Saakashvili’s pro-Western United National Movement in the country’s October 1 parliamentary elections has reignited the battle in Georgia over public monuments bearing the image of Josef Stalin, “the great son of the Georgian people.” These developments have inspired a fresh slew of panic-inducing headlines in western media, blending alarm over the ‘revival of the cult of Stalin’ with disappointment over the country’s ‘turn toward Russia.’ Continue reading The Battle over Stalin’s Statues and the Ascent of the Georgian Dream Coalition →