Fall of 2012 was the perfect time to conduct a class about American electoral politics - so it was taken up as the topic for Currents, a class offered to incoming Freshmen. The course explores the 2012 election from a variety of academic perspectives - including, but not limited to, philosophy, economics, history, and, of course, political science. In this podcast, five Currents students shared their experiences with the class.
Hanks' presentation will focus on the role that hyper-nationalism has played in archaeology since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The speaker has been leading collaborative field research since 2005 with several Russian universities at Bronze Age (2100-1700 BCE) sites in the Southern Ural Mountains region. These sites, and the archaeological evidence associated with them, have become a popular resource for what has emerged as a dynamic socio-political discourse on the prehistoric and mythic past (proto-Slavs and Indo-Aryans). Such views contrast sharply with the archaeological evidence from recent field research. The important question of how these issues may continue to influence politicized perspectives of the past, and the negative effect this may have on programs of education and cultural heritage, will be examined.
Houle's presentation will examine ethnographic and archaeological data gathered this past summer in the Altai region of western Mongolia and contrasting this with data from the Khanuy Valley region of north-central Mongolia, the region he worked in previously.
In this talk we explore who the Rusyns are, the language(s) they speak, and the complex interplay of issues that contribute to the construction of their ethnic and linguistic identities. Although we do not address the detailed workings of their language, we examine the position of Rusyn within the larger societies in which Rusyns live, and we also attempt to put it into perspective vis-à-vis its closest relative (Ukrainian) and other Slavic languages.
Equestrian art takes many forms, even poetic. In 1864 a band of Kirghiz nomads in Central Asia crossed into China and stole a herd of several hundred horses from their long-time Mongol enemies at the cost of many lives. This unprovoked act of violence, which was an episode in a major outbreak of unrest, soon became the subject of a Kirghiz epic-like narrative poem celebrating the heroism of the raiders. Literature traditions show us that stealing herds of horses and protecting them from theft has held worldwide fascination for millennia. Daniel Prior, in studying and translating the previously unpublished manuscript of the Kirghiz raid narrative, found an extraordinarily well-documented window on the complex relationship between such historical events and the stories people tell about them.
Directions to the venue:
1. Enter Keeneland Race Course at Gate 1
2. Take the first right on Entertainment Court.
3. At the top of the hill, veer left into the Keeneland Library parking lot.
http://www.keeneland.com/discover/visit (select “other facilities,” choose the Library)
In 1994 Daniel Prior and a Kirghiz assistant traveled 1,100 kilometers on horseback to trace the itinerary of the hero of a Kirghiz epic poem, Bok Murun. The six-week expedition, which passed through the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and the steppes of southern Kazakhstan, revealed that the nineteenth-century oral epic contained a wealth of precise information about the geography and practicalities of the nomadic life of the Kirghiz herders. Prior also experienced the resiliency of a population facing the stunning collapse of the Soviet Union and the uncertainties of independence. In his slide presentation Dr. Prior will talk about the traditions and adaptations of the herders he met, the challenges of doing ethnographic research on oral traditions in post-Soviet Central Asia, and how field ethnography relates to historical research on folklore traditions.
The rise of Islam and its classical development.
Lecture for the Year of Reimagining Russia's Realms, in the series "Languages of Russia's Realms", for more information, visit http://russia.as.uky.edu.
Reimagining Russia's Realms lecture, for more information, visit russia.as.uky.edu
Lecture for the Year of Reimagining Russia's Realms, in the series "Languages of Russia's Realms", for more information, visit http://russia.as.uky.edu.
