Katya
Co-Host of The Slavic Connexion
Katya grew up in Northern Virginia and frequently spent summers in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), her paternal homeland in Northeastern Siberia. Her current research interests include revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures in Russia, current tensions relating to Russian (ethno)nationalism and minority group (ethno)nationalism, effects of globalization on rural populations, and impacts of state-sanctioned environmental racism. Her non-research interests include tending to her plant children, collecting insects, eating pickles, and giving strangers unsolicited podcast recommendations.
Katya has hosted eight Episodes.
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Black Widows: Female Terrorists in Chechnya
August 29th, 2022 | Season 4 | 41 mins 19 secs
caucasus, religion, russia, terrorism, war
Recent dual-degree CREEES and LBJ Global Policies Studies MA graduate Lucia Winkeler returns to the podcast to discuss her research and report “Chechen Chernie Vdovi: The Most Lethal Human ‘Black Widows’” in which she examines the motivations and explanations for Chechen women’s involvement in extremist organizations and actions.
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An Intimate Look at Prostitution in Late Imperial Russia with Siobhán Hearne
September 10th, 2021 | Season 4 | 49 mins 23 secs
culture, imperial russia, prostitution, society, soviet union
Dr. Siobhán Hearne joins Katya to talk about her new book, Policing Prostitution: Regulating the Lower Classes in Late Imperial Russia, a social history of prostitution in last decades of the Russian Empire. Dr. Hearne uses archival research conducted in Moscow, St Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Riga, Vilnius, Minsk, Kyiv and Tartu to examine how prostitution and its regulation functioned in different parts of the empire. We hope you enjoy!
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"Mixed Messages": The Survival of the Buryat Language with Kathryn Graber
January 5th, 2021 | Season 3 | 34 mins 59 secs
buryat, culture, siberia
Амар мэндээ or hello and Happy New Year! On this episode, Dr. Kathryn Graber of Indiana University Bloomington joins us to
talk about her research on the Buryat language and minority-language media in Russia’s Buryat territories, a multilingual region of eastern Siberia on the Mongolian border. Enjoy! Ехэ баярлаа! -
Siberian Overtones: Stories and Songs from Tuva with Dr. Susan Crate
October 6th, 2020 | Season 3 | 32 mins 57 secs
culture, musical heritage, siberia, throat singing, tuva
Dr. Susan Crate returns to the show to share her 1990 journey to Tuva, the geographic center of Asia. She shares with us original recordings of Tuvan throat singing, labor songs, ovaa prayers, a bear dance ritual, and much more. We hope you enjoy!
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Voices of the Past: Songs from Rural Ukraine (with Susan Crate)
May 13th, 2020 | Season 2 | 32 mins 31 secs
anthropology, ethnomusicology, folklore, ukrainian culture, ukrainian language
Dr. Susie Crate returns! This time, Dr. Crate spoke with SlavX host Katya about her experiences collecting ethnomusicological material from 1989–1990 in the Kharkiv oblast in Eastern Ukraine, then still part of the Soviet Union. This work was part of a larger project to collect and preserve songs unique to particular villages. Hope you enjoy!
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Journey to Lake Baikal with Dr. Evgenia Wilkins
November 27th, 2019 | Season 2 | 49 mins 59 secs
environmental studies, irkutsk, lake baikal, russian professors in the us, siberia, study abroad programs
On this episode, we meet the wonderful and charming Dr. Evgenia Wilkins, a native of St. Petersburg, who talks about her upcoming Maymester program in Siberia which will explore the richness of Lake Baikal (no knowledge of Russian necessary!)
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"Take Me to Siberia" with Susan Crate
October 14th, 2019 | Season 2 | 24 mins 4 secs
anthropology, climate change, people stories, siberia
How does one wind up in Northeastern Siberia? Dr. Susan Crate recounts her almost 30 years
conducting research in Russia, a journey that began with an interest in Russian folklore and a
Bridges for Peace trip and resulted in a thirst to learn the Russian language and travel to Siberia. -
Tongues on Fire: The Struggle for Language Survival in Eurasia
September 30th, 2019 | Season 2 | 31 mins 49 secs
eurasia, irkut, languages
Cultural geographer and linguist Bella Jordan returns to the SlavX studio to discuss languages, indigenous peoples of the former Russian Empire, and the process of "de-Russification" that is the tendency now of many societies in the post-Soviet space.