April 25, 2024

A Cold War in Academia


A Cold War in Academia
Where the learning happens. The Russian Life files

In an interview with Meduza discussing his new book on American hegemony, historian Ivan Kurilla commented on the differences between Russians' perceptions of Americans and Americans' view of Russians within the context of academic and research institutions. 

Kurilla found that study of Russia increases in America during times of conflict; for example, while "Sovietology" was studied consistently through the Cold War, enrollments and interest dropped when relations between the two countries improved in the 1990s. In Russia, it is the reverse: Russian universities and research organizations turned toward the study of the United States during times of detente, and the 1990s saw a rise in the number of regional institutions focused on American Studies.

Kurilla argues that while the US primarily finds it necessary to study Russia in the sense of knowing the enemy better, Russian institutions avoid study of the US during conflict to prevent the influence of American ideology from entering Russian culture and thought. He also notes that China has gradually replaced Russia as the main "Other," or perceived threat in the eyes of Americans, giving study of Russia in American academia a lower level of importance, while the United States remains central to Russian interest.  

Institutions facilitating academic exchanges between the US and Russia suffered when the Kremlin put restrictions on organizations protesting Russia's War on Ukraine. One such institution was Smolny College, a liberal arts faculty of St. Petersburg State University, which was closed after its partner university in the US, Bard College, was named an "undesirable organization" and banned from the country. 

Kurilla was a professor at the European University in St. Petersburg until March 5, when he was dismissed over alleged "absenteeism." Last year, his name was found on a leaked government list of alleged "foreign agents." He is currently a visiting professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

You Might Also Like

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955