This semester at CREES, we continue our theme of regionalism, which is coordinated with our partners in the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, as well as the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. A highlight this semester is a series looking at Russia and the North Caucasus. U-M faculty experts Pauline Jones and Alexander Knysh will be joined by Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director at Human Rights Watch, for a panel discussion about this complex relationship. This panel will provide some context for the related UMS performance of Us/Them, a dramatic work about the 2004 siege of a school in Beslan by Islamic militants that resulted in the death of hundreds of hostages, many of them children.

We are also presenting events about contemporary politics, the arts, and other interesting topics. For our full calendar, please see below or visit the CREES Events page.

Tue, Jan 9, 4-5:30 pm
WCED Lecture. "The West’s Democratic Challenge: Central Europe’s Variant and What America Can Do." Daniel Fried, Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council; and former National Security Council Senior Director, Ambassador to Poland, and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe. Sponsors: WCED, CES, CPPS. 1010 Weiser Hall.

 
Wed, Jan 10, 12-1:30 pm
CREES Noon Lecture. "European Regions: Ethnopolitical Mobilization in Upper Silesia." Magdalena Dembinska, associate professor of political science, Université de Montréal. Sponsors: CREES, CPPS. 555 Weiser Hall. 

Tue, Jan 23, 6-7:30 pm
CREES/WCED Panel. "Russia’s Complex Relationship with the North Caucasus: Past and Present." Moderator: Geneviève Zubrzycki, WCEE director. Pauline Jones, professor of political science, U-M; Alexander Knysh, professor of Islamic studies, U-M; Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director, Human Rights Watch. Sponsors: CREES, WCED, UMS. 1010 Weiser Hall. 

Wed, Jan 24, 12-1 pm
CREES Noon Lecture. "Crackdown in Chechnya: Ramzan Kadyrov’s Brutal Rule and International Human Rights." Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director, Human Rights Watch. Sponsors: CREES, Donia Human Rights Center. 110 Weiser Hall.

Wed, Jan 24-Sun, Jan 28
Performance. Us/Them. Carly Wijs, writer and director. For ticket information, call 734.764.2538 or see ums.org. Sponsor: UMS. Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin Ave. 

Tue, Feb 6, 7-9 pm
CREES Film and Discussion. The Constitution. Rajko Grlić, director. In Croatian with English subtitles (93 min., 2016). Post-screening Q&A with the director. Sponsors: CREES, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures. Stern Auditorium, U-M Museum of Art, 525 S. State.

Wed, Feb 7-Mon, Mar 12
Exhibition. Ruth Gruber, Photojournalist. Photographs by Ruth Gruber, first correspondent to travel to the Siberian Gulag and Soviet Arctic. Sponsors: WALL, CPPS, CREES. Duderstadt Center Gallery, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd.

 
CANCELLED
Wed, Feb 21, 12-1:30 pm
CREES Noon Lecture. “Siege Mentalities and Borderland Personalities: The Construction of National Identity in German Königsberg and Soviet Kaliningrad.” Nicole Eaton, assistant professor of history, Boston College. Sponsors: CREES, CES. 555 Weiser Hall. 

Wed, Feb 21, 7-9:30 pm
Film. Luna Papa. Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, director. In Russian and Tajik with English subtitles (109 min., 1999). Sponsors: ISP, CREES. 455 Weiser Hall.

 
Wed, Mar 7, 12-1:30 pm
CREES Noon Lecture. "'The Housing Question’ in Eastern Europe Today: Gentrification in Post-Socialist Cities." Liviu Chelcea (PhD anthropology ’04), professor of sociology, University of Bucharest. Sponsor: CREES. 555 Weiser Hall. 

Fri, Mar 9, 7-9 pm
WCED Lecture. “Never Remember: Searching for Stalin’s Gulags in Putin’s Russia.” Masha Gessen, Russian-American author, journalist, and activist; Misha Friedman, photographer. Book signing will follow the lecture. Sponsors: WCED, CREES, WALL. 1010 Weiser Hall. 

Mon, Mar 12, 9 am-5 pm
Conference. "Being Muslim: Arts and Expression." Sponsors: II, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Center for South Asian Studies, CMENAS, CREES, CSEAS, Department of Afroamerican & African Studies, ISP, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies. 1010 Weiser Hall.

Tue, Mar 27, 3:30-5 pm
Workshop. “The Socialist University: Higher Education, Modernization, and Working Classes in Postwar Poland.” Agata Zysiak, fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University. Sponsors: Department of Sociology, CPPS. 4154 LSA, 500 S. State.

 

Regionalism Series
What is the meaning of regionalism at the twin age of nationalism and European Unionism? Speakers will discuss the political and academic formation and transformation of regions like “Europe,” “Eastern Europe,” or “the Balkans,” and reflect on the implications of reframing regional boundaries for our understanding of various European societies.