298 episodes

To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes drop weekly with an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Subscribe on your favorite podcasts app, grab your headphones, hit play, and tune in. Eurasia will never appear the same.

The Eurasian Knot The Eurasian Knot

    • History
    • 4.8 • 168 Ratings

To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes drop weekly with an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Subscribe on your favorite podcasts app, grab your headphones, hit play, and tune in. Eurasia will never appear the same.

    The Soviet Century

    The Soviet Century

    

    Karl Schlogel writes a different style of history of the Soviet Union. He makes no attempt at a grand narrative. Nor does he try to reconcile the USSR’s many contradictions. He eschews high politics, big events, and social and economic processes. Instead, he paints history as fragments. And many of them have to do with the minutiae of Soviet everyday life: shopping lines, perfume, wrapping paper, badges, staircases, buildings, and parks. In many ways, Schlogel is an anthropologist and archaeologist–a keen observer of what most of us take for granted and dedicated to excavating these objects to show their particular Sovietness and the world they left behind. Schlogel recently visited Pittsburgh, prompting the Eurasian Knot to pull him into the studio to talk about his recent and final book on the USSR: Soviet Century: An Archeology of a Lost World.

    Guest:

    Karl Schlögel is professor emeritus of Eastern European history at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder and a noted journalist. The English translations of his books include Moscow 1937, The Scent of Empires: Chanel No. 5 and Red Moscow, and Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland. His most recent book is The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World published by University of Princeton Press.

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    Website: https://euraknot.org/

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Black Skies Over Krasnoyarsk

    Black Skies Over Krasnoyarsk

    

    The bitter cold winters in the industrial town of Krasnoyarsk, Russia come with an added bonus–a phenomenon known by locals as “black sky.” This suffocating, chemically saturated smog emerges from the Yenisei River and blankets the city. Sometimes up to three months a year. Black sky is recent–since around 2012. But its causes reach back to the industrialization of the region in the 1950s and 1960s. The Yenisei hydroelectric dam and massive aluminum plant have irrevocably altered the landscape. What causes black sky? And what are the origins of Siberian industrialization? In what ways did conquering nature shape the local identities of the workers who built Krasnoyarsk? The Eurasian Knot turned to Mariia Koskina to talk about her scholarship, the Yenisei River, and the environmental degradation caused by the Yenisei hydroelectric dam.

    Guest:

    Mariia Koskina is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg. She is currently involved in a project on the history of Soviet glaciology in Central Asia, with a focus on Kazakhstan. Mariia’s book project narrates the transformation of the Yenisei River under Soviet development and explores how Siberian nature itself influenced environmental relations and subjectivities.

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    Website: euraknot.org/

    • 53 min
    Revisiting Nagorno-Karabakh

    Revisiting Nagorno-Karabakh

    

    The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nargono-Karabakh has been simmering since the collapse of the USSR. Since, Nagorno-Karabkah has stood for the quintessential “frozen conflict” in the region. But Azerbaijan made a decisive move in December 2022—it blocked the Lachin Corridor, the main conduit for supplying the disputed area. Then, last September, Azeri forces moved in and ethnically cleansed the Armenian population, roughly 100,000 people, and dismantled local governance. All while the international community stood idle as the “frozen conflict” was resolved. What is the history of this conflict? What forces in Armenia and Azerbaijan have stoked this conflict? And why did Azerbaijan decide to ethnically cleanse Karabakh of its Armenia residents?

    Guests:

    Kelsey Rice is an Assistant Professor of History at Berry College where she teaches courses on Middle Eastern, Soviet, and world history. She is a cultural historian of the Middle East and Central Eurasia whose current research focuses on gender, urbanization, and cultural experimentation in the Caucasus and Iran in the early twentieth century.

    Tigran Grigoryan is an analyst and the head of the Regional Center for Democracy and Security in Yerevan, Armenia. He is also a columnist and a political commentator at CivilNet.am. Tigran previously worked at the Office of Armenia’s Security Council from 2020 to 2021.

    This event supplements The Eurasian Knot’s episode on Nagorno-Karabakh in October 2022. Then, we turned to Rafael Khachaturian (University of Pennsylvania) and Richard Antaramian (University of Southern California) for their analysis of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the implications of the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

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    Website: euraknot.org/

    • 1 hr 5 min
    The Soviet Avant Garde

    The Soviet Avant Garde

    

    Natalia Krylova is many things rolled into one. She’s an interpreter. A Russian language instructor. A scholar in the Soviet avant-garde. And, most recently, the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs for the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. This latter title is just a long-winded way of saying she’s the academic advisor to students studying the region. This wearer of many hats has an interesting life story as a result. She grew up in Karelia in northwestern Russia. Studied Soviet literature in St. Petersburg. She lived through the twilight of the USSR and the turbulent 1990s. She’s an expert on the work of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Vladimir Vysotsky. The Eurasian Knot sat down with Natalia to learn about her many ventures and adventures. Tune into this wide-ranging discussion with Natalia about life, love, and literature and how she navigated post-Soviet life.

    Guest:

    Natalia Krylova is the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs at the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her Ph.D. in Russian literature from the St.-Petersburg State University. Her research focuses on gender in Russian culture, avant-garde art, and the legacies of the two prominent Russian poets – Vladimir Mayakovsky and Vladimir Vysotsky. She’s also a Russian language instructor, translator, and interpreter.

    • 57 min
    Russia’s Prison Knocking Language

    Russia’s Prison Knocking Language

    

    This episode opens with the following statement on the murder of Alexey Navalny:

    They finally killed Alexey Navalny. The relatively quick, agonizing death by poison failed. So, the slow, drawn-out horror of Russian prison did the job instead. No one was ever under the illusion that it wouldn’t come to this. And perhaps its inevitability is what makes it so hard to muster any outrage. That, and the fact that we are surrounded by so many horrors. We are living in dark times, indeed.

    Make no mistake. Navalny was a victim of Putin’s Terror. Perhaps THE victim. OVD-Info, the Russian human rights group, reports that since February 2022, almost 20,000 people have been arrested for antiwar activity. Over 800 have been convicted. And though antiwar activism was never at the center of Navalny’s politics, he nonetheless stood for them all.

    The Eurasian Knot has a handful of episodes related to Navalny. They stand as our record of who he was, his talents as a politician, his tenacity, his mistakes, and the complexities and controversies of his movement. Navalny’s politics were never our politics. But we admired him. It’s hard not to.

    It’s difficult to imagine that Putin allowed him to run for mayor of Moscow a decade ago. And that he got 27 percent of the vote. It was a different Russia. And a different world.

    Finally, we open with Navalny not just because of his murder. He’s also mentioned in the interview you’re about to hear about Russian prison knocking language. It would be strange not to note the irony that we are releasing an episode about the Russian revolutionary tradition on the day of Navalny’s death. It’s fitting and tragic that he now belongs among that crowded pantheon. Like them, Alexey Navalny dedicated his life to a better Russia. And only to get crushed for it. 



    How did generations of Russian revolutionaries communicate in prison? Especially under strict surveillance, censorship and enforced silence? One way was through the sound of tapping. Prisoners used purposeful “tuks, tuks, tuks” in a coded pattern to communicate through their cells’ thick granite walls. This syntax of taps developed in the 1820s and continued well into the 20th century. How did this tapping language develop and spread? How did it help concretize a collective revolutionary identity? The Eurasian Knot talked to Nicholas Bujalski to learn more about his prize winning article “Tuk, tuk, tuk!” A History of Russia’s Prison Knocking Language” published in the July 2022 issue of the Russian Review.

    Guest:

    Nicholas Bujalski is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Oberlin College. His writing has appeared in The Russian Review, Modern Intellectual History, and the Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, and his current book project is a cultural, intellectual, and spatial history of Russia’s revolutionary movement through the prison cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. His article, “Tuk, tuk, tuk!” A History of Russia’s Prison Knocking Language” won best article in Russian Review in 2023.

    Send us your sounds! https://euraknot.org/contact/ 

    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/euraknot 

    Knotty News: https://eurasianknot.substack.com/

    The Knot’s Nest: https://eurasian-knot.sellfy.store/ 

    Website: https://euraknot.org/

    • 48 min
    Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter

    Ukraine’s Gloomy Winter

    

    News from Ukraine is increasingly grim. Reports of shortages in ammunition and manpower. Political sniping in Kyiv and a reset of its military command. Uncertainty about continued American support. And reports of Russian forces massing for a push. This, of course, doesn’t address the instability of Ukraine’s economy, its fragile safety net, and its reliance on EU grants and loans to keep afloat. To get a fuller look at the state of the war, The Eurasian Knot turned to Brian Milakovsky for an update. Brian’s a five-time guest on the show. He closely monitors the intricacies of the conflict, particularly around economic assistance and recovery. How does he see things today? And what are the prospects of peace, even a lousy peace? And how does Ukraine recover from all of this death and destruction?

    Guest:

    Brian Milakovsky has worked in forest conservation in Russia and Ukraine from 2009-2015 and then in economic recovery in international projects in Ukraine. He was based in Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine but moved to Latvia with his family after Russia’s second invasion. He writes about socio-economics of Ukraine for publications like Foreign Affairs, the Guardian, openDemocracy and the Wilson Institute.

    Past interviews with Brian Milakovsky:

    Life and Death in the Donbas

    Social-Economic Life in the Donbas

    The Perils of Donbas Fatigue

    Ukraine’s Refugee Crisis

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    Patreon: www.patreon.com/euraknot

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    Website: euraknot.org/

    • 54 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
168 Ratings

168 Ratings

sclb71 ,

ROCOR

Great to see evangelicals looking outward in Appalachia; unfortunately they are not considering the Catholic Church closely enough. Secular atheism is the natural progression of Protestantism. It’s understandable that adherents are moving away from it.

zxxcb. ,

Last Episode-Mental Health Crisis

I can thoroughly understand why you require a “Winter Break” most deserving!
Epigenetic trauma generationally exposed by subversive Stalin himself a truly evil person who imposed his iron fisted rule far to long unfortunately.
This is the first time I’ve listened to your Podcast and I’ll bel looking for you in February 2023.

KF-Albuquerque, NM

lkalanda ,

Excellent podcast on USSR, Russia and broader region

I’m very fond of this long form podcast - great interviews and very well informed interviewers who rightfully challenge and investigate their guests’ analysis

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