Harriman Institute at Columbia University

Reg by 5 pm today for tomorrow's talk on"Nuclear Colonialism in Kazakhstan," examining the consequences of nuclear weapons tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. Speakers: Shyngys Zipatolla, Tuleova Bakhytgul & Zarina Kakenova. Mod by Elizabeth Wishnick https://ow.ly/7uC450V7VB0

Meet Bojana Joki?, President of the Board of Directors of LGBT Forum Progress (Montenegro) — the current Harriman-sponsored Human Rights Advocate (2024-25) at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. Joki? has been the President of the Board of Directors of LGBT Forum Progress since 2016. The mission of LGBT Forum Progress is to create a safe, inclusive, and stimulating environment in Montenegro for all LGBTQI+ people through community development, social and health protection, political and economic participation, representation and advocacy. Bojana has been a member of the National Team for Coordinating the Implementation of the Strategy for Improving the Quality of Life of LGBTI Persons in Montenegro, the Trust Team of the LGBT Community and the Police Directorate, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights’ Commission for Allocating Funds for Financing NGO Projects/Programs in the area of “protection and improvement of human rights of LGBTI persons,” and the team for monitoring hate speech on the internet. You can read about the Advocates Program and the Current Advocates here: https://ow.ly/nGyV50Vax7b

Solenoid by Mircea C?rt?rescu (Harriman Writer in Residence Fall ’24), translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter (Deep Vellum), has been nominated for the International Booker Prize. The prize, which is awarded annually, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. It recognizes the vital work of translators, with the ￡50,000 prize money divided equally between authors and translators. Read more about the honor here: https://ow.ly/OgUq50V9J6Z

Student Spotlight: Alena Struzh (MARS-REERS ’25). Read our interview with Alena to learn about her research looking at war-induced migration from Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and her experience doing fieldwork in Georgia and Lithuania https://ow.ly/txb550UZNIn

"What I like to do is give students access to the historical context through things like mapping and survivor testimonies, even perpetrator testimonies, and then give them the cultural products of individuals to hang on to. Music and culture and poetry, this is something that’s understandable within the aesthetics of horror and it’s much better than trying to look at grim statistics" - Alexandra Birch, Mellon Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in History. Read our Postdoc Spotlight with Alexandra Birch to learn about her research and how her background as a violinist influences her work: https://ow.ly/ZoHy50UZNlq

In April 2024, Mikhail Shishkin (Harriman Writer in Residence ’13) joined forces with leading Slavists in Switzerland to create the Dar (Gift) Literary Prize. Since that time leading scholars and authors from Europe and the U.S. have joined the Dar Foundation. The shortlist of 12 books for the inaugural award has been published, with the winner to be announced in May. Read more about the award here: https://ow.ly/EvA050UZN3F

"There’s a certain legacy of the 19th century that’s still with us. The struggle between democracy and autocracy is a very modern struggle. Even the relationship between Russia and Ukraine — if you study the 19th century, you would understand more, much, much more why things are the way they are today" - Serhiy Bilenky, Visiting Assistant Professor in History. Read our latest Visiting Faculty Spotlight with Professor Bilenky to learn more about his research and the courses he's teaching at Columbia this semester: https://ow.ly/cN5F50UZLP8

"The war in Ukraine — and whatever comes next — will leave a tangible legacy for the Black Sea and its hinterlands," our Mellon Teaching Fellow Taylor Zajicek writes in the latest issue of Harriman Magazine https://ow.ly/yHr250USLrh

"Only when I turned out the light did I truly feel like myself. At that moment, phosphorescent blue and green stripes would rotate across the walls, electric sparks from the trams that clattered on the streets five stories below; immediately, I became aware of the terrible din of the traffic, and my loneliness and the sadness without end that was my life." Read an excerpt from Sean Cotter's translation of Mircea C?rt?rescu's Blinding: The Left Wing in the latest issue of Harriman Magazine https://ow.ly/cBrv50URhj3

Since 2011, we've been hosting Paul Klebnikov Civil Society Fellows at the Institute. Masha Udensiva-Brenner caught up with five of them, independent Russian journalists now working from exile, to see what they've been up to since the fellowship. Read the story in the latest issue of Harriman Magazine https://ow.ly/NVXM50URgOZ