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2022 Midwest Slavic Conference

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April 1 - April 3, 2022
6:00PM - 12:00PM
Columbus, Ohio

Date Range
Add to Calendar 2022-04-01 18:00:00 2022-04-03 12:00:00 2022 Midwest Slavic Conference Online registration is now closed. On-site registration will be available at the conference, but please note that only cash and check payments will be accepted. View conference panel schedule The Midwest Slavic Association and Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (CSEEES) at The Ohio State University invite you to attend the 2022 Midwest Slavic Conference which will be held at the Ohio State campus in Columbus, OH on April 1-3, 2022. Papers on all topics related to the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian world will be presented, including those that explore issues surrounding climate change: the usage and depletion of natural resources, climate policy, pollution, and other environmental issues from the past to the present. We encourage students, faculty, and the general public to come listen to and interact with presenters from across the country and even abroad as we explore these topics and more. This year’s conference will open on Friday, April 1 with a reception at the OSU Faculty Club from 5:30PM-7:00PM followed by the keynote address at 7:00PM by Dr. Ian Helfant (Colgate U.). A plenary panel with Dr. Matthew Birkhold (Ohio State U.), Dr. Andy Bruno (Northern Illinois U.), and Dr. Maria Fedorova (Macalester College) will follow on Saturday, April 2 from 8:30AM-10:15AM at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center. Panels by conference participants will follow on Saturday and Sunday at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center. Registration is required to attend all conference events and activities.  Special Events Opening Reception and Keynote Address Friday, April 1st, OSU Faculty Club, Main Dining Room on the 2nd Floor (181 S Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210) Opening Reception, 5:30PM-7:00PM Keynote Address, 7:00PM-8:30PM "Looking Across Species in the Anthropocene: Carnivores and Compassion"  Dr. Ian Helfant (Colgate U.) As we bear witness to the sixth extinction, the perspectives and insights of earlier eras provide sources of comparison and opportunities for reflection.  Imperial Russia’s attempts to eradicate its wolf populations diverge from modern attitudes toward large carnivores in the post-Soviet space and beyond, but also overlap in significant ways.  Focusing especially upon the human gaze and the ways in which we choose to look (and look away), I will utilize examples ranging from the Amur tiger, to the elusive snow leopard, to the polar bears who have encroached upon the remote Arctic Russian town of Ryrkaypiy, to explore the tensions and elisions in our ways of perceiving animals more generally and accepting our responsibility for their fates. Plenary Panel Saturday, April 2nd, 8:30-10:15AM, Blackwell Inn and Conference Center, Pfahl Hall Room 202 on the 2nd Floor (2110 Tuttle Park Pl., Columbus, OH 43210) Building on the keynote address, this year's plenary panel will include presentations from: "Who Owns Icebergs? Seeking Multidisciplinary Solutions in a Legal Vacuum"  Dr. Matthew Birkhold (Ohio State U.) Nearly 70% of the earth’s freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers. Much of this will be calved as icebergs and sent into the oceans, where it will slowly melt into the sea. Even as private companies have begun attempting to transport icebergs from the polar regions to the desert, the most fundamental legal question concerning this resource remains unresolved: who owns icebergs? As the planet warms and technology advances, it is not difficult to imagine future conflicts fought over icebergs, like the struggle for Arctic oil already occurring atop the globe. The fight over icebergs, however, will occur in a legal vacuum. No international law specifically considers the acquisition, transport, or use of icebergs. What would a ship have to do to claim an iceberg in international waters? Do we want private corporations to have control over this resource? Could a territory like Greenland attempt to control icebergs and sell them to the highest bidder? Like any legal problem, the issue is not just juridical – it is also philosophical and cultural. Most property questions depend, in part, on metaphor. What metaphor should we use? We have an opportunity to think about this issue from as many perspectives as possible. My research seeks to learn from indigenous studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, cultural studies, political science, and law. Because international law – when not based on a treaty – derives from custom, the practices that first develop around iceberg utilization will influence the future. The first States (and their corporations) that harvest icebergs thus have the potential to establish the laws and concepts governing icebergs. Before a custom can spring out of corporate and nationalist interests, however, this project proposes conducting thoughtful, multidisciplinary research to determine how we should conceptualize this resource. International law and the future of freshwater depends on it.  "What Can a Cosmic Collision Teach Us about Climate Change? The 1908 Tunguska Explosion and Environmental Perils of the Future" Dr. Andy Bruno (Northern Illinois U.)  In late 2021 a star-studded film, Don’t Look Up, used an impending collision of a comet as a parable for the stultifying inaction to address global climate change. Viewers would be forgiven, however, for failing to realize that the Earth had dealt with an explosion of an asteroid fragment powerful enough to take out Manhattan a little over a century ago. In 1908 the Tunguska blast decimated a huge swath of taiga forest in Siberia. While only a relatively small number of people died or got hurt, the event became a major mystery of twentieth-century science because of the failure of researchers to locate a meteorite or a crater at the site. Uncertainty about the blast helped produce wide-ranging theories about its cause: everything from antimatter to a crash of a nuclear spaceship operated by aliens has been proposed. This talk will reflect on the significance of the Tunguska explosion for understanding the environmental perils of the present and future. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the experience of an actual cosmic collision reinforces the need to embrace earthly embeddedness rather than fantasize about the possibility of escaping the planet through technology. "Fighting "Future Famines" after the First World War" Dr. Maria Fedorova (Macalester College) The First World War left a striking mark on the global agricultural economy. European countries directly involved in military actions, particularly Central and Eastern European countries, including Russia, suffered the most. After the war, many agricultural experts and policymakers across the globe engaged in debates about the future of agriculture. Of particular concern were droughts that posed threat to millions of people whose food supply had already been undermined by the four years of WWI and, in Russia’s case, by the Civil War (1918-1921). When the Volga region was hit by a series of consecutive drought years in 1919 and 1920, it experienced one of the worst famines in its history. While drought was not the single factor in what caused that famine, it became an issue that Soviet agricultural experts and scientists sought to address. To do so, they organized an extensive exchange of ideas and technologies with their foreign colleagues, particularly the United States. This talk will examine how, during the early 1920s, Soviet agricultural experts and scientists collaborated with their American colleagues to find a cure for future famines. For more detailed information about the 2022 Midwest Slavic Conference, please visit the conference webpage. Columbus, Ohio Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies cseees@osu.edu America/New_York public

Online registration is now closed. On-site registration will be available at the conference, but please note that only cash and check payments will be accepted.

View conference panel schedule

The Midwest Slavic Association and Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (CSEEES) at The Ohio State University invite you to attend the 2022 Midwest Slavic Conference which will be held at the Ohio State campus in Columbus, OH on April 1-3, 2022. Papers on all topics related to the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian world will be presented, including those that explore issues surrounding climate change: the usage and depletion of natural resources, climate policy, pollution, and other environmental issues from the past to the present. We encourage students, faculty, and the general public to come listen to and interact with presenters from across the country and even abroad as we explore these topics and more.

This year’s conference will open on Friday, April 1 with a reception at the OSU Faculty Club from 5:30PM-7:00PM followed by the keynote address at 7:00PM by Dr. Ian Helfant (Colgate U.). A plenary panel with Dr. Matthew Birkhold (Ohio State U.), Dr. Andy Bruno (Northern Illinois U.), and Dr. Maria Fedorova (Macalester College) will follow on Saturday, April 2 from 8:30AM-10:15AM at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center. Panels by conference participants will follow on Saturday and Sunday at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center.

Registration is required to attend all conference events and activities. 

Special Events

Opening Reception and Keynote Address

Friday, April 1st, OSU Faculty Club, Main Dining Room on the 2nd Floor (181 S Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210)

  • Opening Reception, 5:30PM-7:00PM
  • Keynote Address, 7:00PM-8:30PM
"Looking Across Species in the Anthropocene: Carnivores and Compassion" 
Dr. Ian Helfant (Colgate U.)

As we bear witness to the sixth extinction, the perspectives and insights of earlier eras provide sources of comparison and opportunities for reflection.  Imperial Russia’s attempts to eradicate its wolf populations diverge from modern attitudes toward large carnivores in the post-Soviet space and beyond, but also overlap in significant ways.  Focusing especially upon the human gaze and the ways in which we choose to look (and look away), I will utilize examples ranging from the Amur tiger, to the elusive snow leopard, to the polar bears who have encroached upon the remote Arctic Russian town of Ryrkaypiy, to explore the tensions and elisions in our ways of perceiving animals more generally and accepting our responsibility for their fates.

Plenary Panel

Saturday, April 2nd, 8:30-10:15AMBlackwell Inn and Conference Center, Pfahl Hall Room 202 on the 2nd Floor (2110 Tuttle Park Pl., Columbus, OH 43210)

Building on the keynote address, this year's plenary panel will include presentations from:

"Who Owns Icebergs? Seeking Multidisciplinary Solutions in a Legal Vacuum" 
Dr. Matthew Birkhold (Ohio State U.)

Nearly 70% of the earth’s freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers. Much of this will be calved as icebergs and sent into the oceans, where it will slowly melt into the sea. Even as private companies have begun attempting to transport icebergs from the polar regions to the desert, the most fundamental legal question concerning this resource remains unresolved: who owns icebergs? As the planet warms and technology advances, it is not difficult to imagine future conflicts fought over icebergs, like the struggle for Arctic oil already occurring atop the globe. The fight over icebergs, however, will occur in a legal vacuum. No international law specifically considers the acquisition, transport, or use of icebergs. What would a ship have to do to claim an iceberg in international waters? Do we want private corporations to have control over this resource? Could a territory like Greenland attempt to control icebergs and sell them to the highest bidder? Like any legal problem, the issue is not just juridical – it is also philosophical and cultural. Most property questions depend, in part, on metaphor. What metaphor should we use? We have an opportunity to think about this issue from as many perspectives as possible. My research seeks to learn from indigenous studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, cultural studies, political science, and law. Because international law – when not based on a treaty – derives from custom, the practices that first develop around iceberg utilization will influence the future. The first States (and their corporations) that harvest icebergs thus have the potential to establish the laws and concepts governing icebergs. Before a custom can spring out of corporate and nationalist interests, however, this project proposes conducting thoughtful, multidisciplinary research to determine how we should conceptualize this resource. International law and the future of freshwater depends on it. 

"What Can a Cosmic Collision Teach Us about Climate Change? The 1908 Tunguska Explosion and Environmental Perils of the Future"
Dr. Andy Bruno (Northern Illinois U.) 

In late 2021 a star-studded film, Don’t Look Up, used an impending collision of a comet as a parable for the stultifying inaction to address global climate change. Viewers would be forgiven, however, for failing to realize that the Earth had dealt with an explosion of an asteroid fragment powerful enough to take out Manhattan a little over a century ago. In 1908 the Tunguska blast decimated a huge swath of taiga forest in Siberia. While only a relatively small number of people died or got hurt, the event became a major mystery of twentieth-century science because of the failure of researchers to locate a meteorite or a crater at the site. Uncertainty about the blast helped produce wide-ranging theories about its cause: everything from antimatter to a crash of a nuclear spaceship operated by aliens has been proposed. This talk will reflect on the significance of the Tunguska explosion for understanding the environmental perils of the present and future. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the experience of an actual cosmic collision reinforces the need to embrace earthly embeddedness rather than fantasize about the possibility of escaping the planet through technology.

"Fighting "Future Famines" after the First World War"
Dr. Maria Fedorova (Macalester College)

The First World War left a striking mark on the global agricultural economy. European countries directly involved in military actions, particularly Central and Eastern European countries, including Russia, suffered the most. After the war, many agricultural experts and policymakers across the globe engaged in debates about the future of agriculture. Of particular concern were droughts that posed threat to millions of people whose food supply had already been undermined by the four years of WWI and, in Russia’s case, by the Civil War (1918-1921). When the Volga region was hit by a series of consecutive drought years in 1919 and 1920, it experienced one of the worst famines in its history. While drought was not the single factor in what caused that famine, it became an issue that Soviet agricultural experts and scientists sought to address. To do so, they organized an extensive exchange of ideas and technologies with their foreign colleagues, particularly the United States. This talk will examine how, during the early 1920s, Soviet agricultural experts and scientists collaborated with their American colleagues to find a cure for future famines.

For more detailed information about the 2022 Midwest Slavic Conference, please visit the conference webpage.