The Slavic Connexion

A fresh international chat show on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia from The University of Texas at Austin

About the show

A fresh international chat show on the Slavic world from the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin. "It's not typical Texas."

The Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies condemns the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine. We stand in support of the people of Ukraine who are fighting for their lives and sovereignty in the face of the unjustified invasion by Russian military forces.

TPN 2021
Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

The Slavic Connexion on social media

Episodes

  • Nord Stream 2 and You: More Than A European Problem

    November 22nd, 2021  |  Season 4  |  27 mins 27 secs

    Mark Temnycky, a Ukrainiain-American journalist, breaks down the Nord Stream 2 issue, timeline, and its relation to the energy situation in Europe. He expounds on the Biden administration's reversal on its position concerning the pipeline, and explains the security concerns that a working Nord Stream 2 that bypasses Belarus and Ukraine creates for America, NATO, and Europe in general. Thanks for listening!

  • Sports (History) Illustrated: Cold War Edition with Johanna Mellis

    November 13th, 2021  |  Season 4  |  53 mins 15 secs
    eastern europe, history, hungary, olympics, sports

    Dr. Johanna Mellis, a former D1 swimmer and current history professor at Ursinus College, joins Lera for a lively conversation on the history of sports in Hungary during the Cold War. They also touch on the Olympics (past and present), sport diplomacy, and the development of competitive sports on an international plane. We hope you enjoy!

  • "And Still We Rise": Uncovering the Story of the Bosnian Genocide

    November 5th, 2021  |  Season 4  |  38 mins 16 secs
    bosnia, education, ethnic conflict, genocide, post-communist, serbia, yugoslavia

    Author Jordan Steven Sher joins Lera and Cullan to talk about his new historical fiction novel which authentically and carefully explores the grossly overlooked Bosnian Genocide of Muslims and Catholic Croats during the Bosnian War of 1992-95, as carried out by Slobodan Milošević of Serbia. This was a great foundational and human-centric understanding of the conflict in the region for anyone who might be interested in Yugoslav history. Thank you for listening!

  • Mountains without Borders: Discovering the Carpathians with Patrice Dabrowski

    October 21st, 2021  |  Season 4  |  38 mins 26 secs
    environmental history, forest, geographic history, mountain ranges, poland, ukraine

    In this episode, Patrice Dabrowski takes us on a historical journey through the highly understudied Carpathian Mountains of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Her brand new book details the many forces at play in the mountainous region over the years from 1860 to 1980 and shows how this area gradually went from terra incongita to tourist attraction. We hope you enjoy!

  • "Frozen by the Thaw": The Soviet Masculinity Crisis of the Long Sixties with Marko Dumančić

    October 9th, 2021  |  Season 4  |  42 mins 32 secs
    culture, film, gender, history, soviet union

    On this episode, Marko Dumančić joins Lera and Cullan to talk about his recently published monograph entitled Men Out of Focus: The Soviet Masculinity Crisis in the Long Sixties wherein he unpacks the changing conceptions of men in post-Stalinist society by taking a deeper look at Soviet films made at the time. This is a fun conversation, riddled with film talk. We hope you enjoy!

  • The Unexplored History of the USSR, Afghanistan, and the Cold War with Timothy Nunan

    September 24th, 2021  |  Season 4  |  43 mins 30 secs
    afghanistan, cold war, international history, ussr history

    Dr. Timothy Nunan from the Free University of Berlin joins Cullan and new host Sergio to discuss his latest book, The Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan. With his research interests spanning from Soviet-Russian religious internationalism to the USSR’s relations with the global south, we are lucky to host such a knowledgeable resource on the pod! Take a listen!

  • 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!

  • Afghanistan: A Strategic Failure with Ret. Col. Robert Hamilton

    August 30th, 2021  |  Season 4  |  36 mins 50 secs
    afghanistan, georgia, security, us military operations, war

    For the first episode of Season 4, we asked Dr. Robert Hamilton of the U.S. Army War College to return to the show and speak about the current situation in Afghanistan and the fate of the region's security architecture. Currently on leave to serve as advisor to the Georgian Ministry of Defense, Dr. Hamilton discusses the role of the Georgian military in the Afghanistan War and what the U.S. withdrawal (and Taliban rule) means for Georgia's future as well.