Decolonizing Disability Studies in Countries of the Former USSR

Workshop at the IU Europe Gateway in Berlin organized by Dr. Phillips (IU) and Dr. Borodina (Harriman Instutite) to provide a forum for scholars of disability from the region (particularly those studying in Ukraine, Central Asia, Caucasus, the Baltics, and Russia) in which to explore decolonizing disability studies in the shadow of Russia’s war on Ukraine, develop their ideas, establish networks, and plan future projects. 

Read more about the "Decolonizing Disability Studies in Countries of the Former USSR" workshop.

 

Svetlana Borodina: "On Making Populations Available For Injury: Debilitation, Austerity, and Violence in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia"

A lecture given by Svetlana Borodina, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Harriman Institute, Columbia University, during her visit to Bloomington in March 2022.

"On Making Populations Available For Injury: Debilitation, Austerity, and Violence in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia"

 

“The Non-Loneliness Train: Internal Inclusion"

Following up on the previous semester's screening of "Setting off with Malcom," the RSW Disability Studies Working Group screened a subsequent film by Russian film director and activist Jerry Mercury.

Read more about “The Non-Loneliness Train: Internal Inclusion"

 

"Setting off with Malcolm"

The RSW Disability Studies Working Group screened of the short documentary film "Setting off with Malcolm" (22 min.), by the Russian film director and activist Jerry Mercury. The director joined via Zoom to introduc the film and lead a Q&A with the audience after the screening.

 Read more about "Setting off with Malcolm" 

 

Russian Textbook Workshop: "Teaching about Disability Issues through Flim"

In mid-May, 2021, members of RSW’s Disability Studies Working Group met via Zoom with Dickinson College Russian Department faculty Alyssa DeBlasio and Izolda Savenkova to workshop Unit 2 of DeBlasio and Savenkova’s textbook for advanced Russian language learners, Pro-Dvizhenie: Advanced Russian through Film and Media. The textbook (Georgetown University Press, 2023) uses an inquiry-based curriculum based around contemporary film. 

Read about the workshop on the RSW blog 

 

Inclusion Today: Body Think Tank in support of Yulia Tsvetkova and the youth activist slapstick theater "Merak"

Researchers, artists, and instructors took part in a Booudy Think Tank in support of Yulia Tsvetkova, Anna Khodyreva and the youth theater "Merak." The discussion was accompanied by viewing scenes from the play "Pink and blue" and commentary about the inclusive work of "Merak." Participants included Anna Khodyreva, Anton Ryanov, Vera Berlinova, Alexandra Kurlenkova, Svetlana Borodina, Sarah Phillips, Kristina Pokrytan, Sofia Savina, Anna Kilina, and Kira Shmyreva. 

feminist translocalities, 16:52, 05 June 2021:

Inclusion Today: Body Think Tank

 

Film Screening of "VOY" ("БОЙ")

The RSW Spring 2021 Film Series, Power, Poetics, and Play: Documenting Soviet Legacies, will screen the 2019 documentary "VOY" ("БОЙ"), directed by Maxim Arbugaev. The screening will be introduced by the director/producer and followed by a conversation and Q&A with them and IU Professor Sarah Phillips.

RSW Spring 2021 Film Series: "VOY" ("БОЙ")

 

Promoting Inclusion and Appreciating Diversity in Today's Russia: Global Trends and Local Realities

RSW Series Critical Conversations in Russian Studies panel discussion focusing on how ideologies and practices around “inclusion” and “diversity” are being understood, implemented, and reshaped in contemporary Russia.

Promoting Inclusion and Appreciating Diversity in Today's Russia: Global Trends and Local Realities

 

REEI Series: О России по-русски! Anna Komarova

As a part of the REEI Series, "О России по-русски! On Russia in Russian!,"  Anna Komarova presented the lecture: «Русский жестовый язык и American Sign Language: родство и различие культуры глухих» / “Russian Sign Language and American Sign Language: Affinities and Distinctions in Deaf Culture,” March 29, 2021.

View Lecture

 

Bitter Access’: studying accessibility and creating an interactive map of Gorky Park for users of mechanical and electric wheelchairs

Presented by the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research, the participants of an independent project “Bitter Access” (part of the utopian group “Body, Technology, Environment”) - Ksenia Nifontova, Denis Redkin, Nikolay Belov, Alina Zhekamukhova and Sasha Kurlenkova - talked about their (ongoing) experience of studying accessibility of Gorky Park, based on walks with users of mechanical and electric wheelchairs. Researchers presented their methodological reflections and shared what they have already learnt about park accessibility. March 1, 2021

’Bitter Access’: studying accessibility and creating an interactive map of Gorky Park for users of mechanical and electric wheelchairs.

 

REEI Series: О России по-русски! Svetlana Borodina

As a part of the REEI Series, "О России по-русски! On Russia in Russian!," Svetlana Borodina presented the lecture: «"Мы, конечно, только за, но уточните, что это такое": о ценности и неопределенности инклюзии в современной России» / "We're all for it, of course, but what is it exactly: on the value and indeterminacy of inclusion in contemporary Russia," March 1, 2021.

 View lecture

 

Phillips Guest Lecture at Utopian Kruzhok

Sarah Phillips was a guest of the online interactive Russian-language seminar Utopian Kruzhok, “Body, Technology, Environment: Disability Studies. She discussed her research on the disability rights movement in Ukraine and her book Disability and Mobile Citizenship in Postsocialist Ukraine. August 29, 2020

Read about lecture on RSW blog

 

Breaking down barriers 2.0: A colloquium in disability studies

In November 2018, REEI Director Sarah Phillips of Indiana University's Department of Anthropology collaborated with Iarskaia-Smirnova, Klepikova, and other colleagues to convene with RSW/CCNY support an international conference at HSE-Moscow on “Breaking Down Barriers 2.0: A Colloquium in Disability Studies.” The colloquium brought together 25 academics, activists, and PhD students studying disability issues in Russia. Many participants were from Russia’s “regions,” including higher education institutions and organizations in Saratov, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, and others. One, and possibly more, special issues of the Journal of Social Policy Studies are planned as the result of this colloquium.

 Breaking Down Barriers 2.0: A Colloquium in Disability Studies

 

Zhanna Chernova: "Professionalization of Foster Parenting in Contemporary Russia"

Zhanna Chernova was a visiting scholar at IU in the Fall of 2017 and presented a lecture on the organization of orphan care in contemporary Russia.

Professionalization of Foster Parenting in Contemporary Russia

 

Anna Klepikova: "Social Construction of Disabilities in Russian Residential Care Institutions"

Anna Klepikova was a visiting shcolar at IU in the Fall of 2017. She lectured on the situation of mentally disabled people, especially those with congenital intellectual and development disabilities, who live in long-term residential institutions in present-day Russia.

Social Construction of Disabilities in Russian Residential Care Institutions