Dear Colleagues,
The Transnational Approaches to Modern Europe Workshop would like to announce an upcoming extraordinary workshop session that will take place in slightly less than two weeks, on Wednesday, May 26th from 4:30-6:00pm CDT. For TAMEW’s fifth and final session of Spring Quarter 2021, we will be discussing the brand-spanking-new book Utopia’s Discontents: Russian Émigrés and the Quest for Freedom, 1830s-1930s (Oxford University Press, 2021), from our workshop’s very own Faith Hillis, Associate Professor of Russian History at the University of Chicago. Departing from our workshop’s usual format of discussing works-in-progress, this session will use Faith’s second monograph as a vehicle for a more informal discussion. Aside from addressing the work’s content and argument, the hope is to have a conversation on a variety of issues related to the historian’s craft, ranging from the practices of research and methodology to the twists and turns ideas take in their evolution from inception to end-product. Gregory Afinogenov, Assistant Professor of History at Georgetown University, will be zooming in to lend us his Imperial Russianist insights and season the discussion with his quick wit. Since this will be a more open-form, free flowing conversation rather than a panel, we encourage attendees to read or familiarize themselves with the work in advance if possible and prepare questions or comments. For those who do not manage to digest the book entirely in advance, and even those who do, we highly recommend checking out the book’s digital companion. It boasts many lovely photographs and inspiring maps!
TAMEW would also like to encourage everyone to support our local bookstore by purchasing your copy through the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore on 57th Street, which has great pick-up and delivery offerings.
Our meeting will be held over Zoom. For assistance accessing the meeting link, contact either benvanzee@uchicago.edu
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Kind regards,
Ben Van Zee & Abigail Bratcher