East European and Russian Studies at Cornell offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural, historical, and linguistic richness of Eastern Europe and Russia. Students are invited to explore the diverse societies of these regions, engaging with topics ranging from literature, LANGUAGE and history to contemporary political issues. Language courses include Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian, among others.
Faculty
Ewa Bachminska (Polish Program/Romance Studies/will CHANGE to Comp Lit in Fall 2025):
https://romancestudies.cornell.edu/ewa-bachminska
Cristina Florea (History):
https://history.cornell.edu/cristina-florea
Krystyna Golovakova (Comparative Literature):
https://ukrainian.as.cornell.edu/about-us/
Mari Jarris (German Studies):
https://german.cornell.edu/mari-jarris
Raissa Krivitsky (Comparative Literature)
https://complit.cornell.edu/raissa-v-krivitsky
Olga Litvak (History):
https://history.cornell.edu/olga-litvak
Valzhyna Mort (Creative Writing):
https://english.cornell.edu/valzhyna-mort
Slava Paperno (Comparative Literature):
https://complit.cornell.edu/slava-paperno
Sophie Pinkham (Comparative Literature):
https://complit.cornell.edu/sophie-pinkham
Nancy Pollak (Comparative Literature):
https://complit.cornell.edu/nancy-pollak
Bryn Rosenfeld (Government):
https://government.cornell.edu/bryn-rosenfeld
Maria Taylor (Landscape Architecture):
https://cals.cornell.edu/maria-taylor
Viktoria Tsimberov (Comparative Literature):
https://complit.cornell.edu/viktoria-tsimberov
Patricia Young (Einaudi Center):
Courses
Russian Language Courses courses (Krystyna Golovakova, Raissa Krivitsky, Slava Paperno, Viktoria Tsimberov):
Russian Literature and Culture Courses (Krystyna Golovakova, Raissa Krivitsky, Nancy Pollak):
Russian literature and culture courses
Ukrainian Language and Culture Courses (Krystyna Golovakova):
Ukrainian language and culture courses
Ukrainian language and culture courses
Polish Language and Culture Courses (Ewa Bachminska):
Events
- Monday, February 3, 2025 3:30-5:00 pm, 401 Physical Science Building
STS Colloquium with Eunice Blavascunas
Outbreaks of Bark Beetle and Nationalism at the Forested Polish/Belarusian Border: Resurgent Syndromes and Ecological Gaps
An unsuspecting insect, ips typographus, has played a key role in the way people experience temporality at the forested Polish/Belarusian border. In the ancient Białowieża Forest, the spruce bark beetle is both a superhero “rewilder” that can allow the forest to continue deep time evolution and an “insect enemy” that will unleash dystopian futures if left unchecked. The communist past and Polish nationalism share a recursive tension that plays out as a performance with the bark beetle, one that sets the stage for the current humanitarian crisis of asylum seekers enduring a gauntlet of pushbacks between Polish and Belarus in the forest. My analysis hones in on anti-communist partisan ecology, a phenomena of WWII anti-communist memory being tied to forest management, to open an ecological gap in the expected trajectory of historical occurrences. I explore the complex ecologies of a drying forest, in what some want to call a dying forest.’ By using the narrative and agency of the bark beetle I show how radical difference can be something that is more than toxic for the future of this forest.
Eunice Blavascunas is an environmental anthropologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Whitman College. She is the author of Foresters, Borders and Bark Beetles: The Future of Europe’s Last Primeval Forest (Indiana University Press 2020). Her work looks at how memory politics enter into ecological debates with a focus on temporality, postsocialism, and nationalism.
https://events.cornell.edu/event/sts-colloquium-with-eunice-blavascunas