News & Events

Come to the Russian House on Sunday, April 2 at 2:00pm for a Pashka Celebration. Dye Easter eggs, eat Kulichi (a sweet popover), and learn about Russian Orthodox Easter traditions.

Visit a real Russian dacha this Friday (April 23, 2021 at 9:10am))! We are going live via zoom, and our friend and cultural guide, Sergey, and our amazing colleagues Zhenya and Lena will be there too!  The experience will be in English, with a few Russian words peppered in for spice.

Inhabited Island: It's dystopian. Post-apocalyptic. The planet of tough regime and strange tongues: planet Saraksh. Come watch a movie adaptation of Strugatsky Brother's novel (authors of Stalker). Dark, strange, Russian! 
There will be English subtitles! Credit for Russian class awarded. April 22 at 7:00pm at Spencer Lawn Tent

On Wednesday, March 30, Sasha talked about queer & gender issues in contemporary Russia and touch on a few questions specific to her unique experience:
-How is lesbian sex ed different from general sex ed?
-How do you work to promote LGBTQ rights in a country where it is technically illegal?
-What is queer culture like in Russia?
-How is the Russian language adapting to be more inclusive?
-How does vulnerability build up resistance?

LinguaPolis, a language learning game created by the Linguistics researcher Dr. Vita Kogan, was incorporated into Dr. Weygandt's RUSN 312 course in March.  The game is designed to alleviate speaking anxiety in a foreign language, and it was effective! Playing good, old-fashioned board games was a refreshing change from the remote digital landscape of teaching these days. 

Post your best photo from Carnivals past on our Photo Contest Wall by March 20. We will vote and award prizes on March 24. Include a caption in both English and in the language you are studying.

In many parts of the world, some form of Carnival is celebrated, combining Christian and pre-Christian traditions indigenous to the region. This celebration goes by many names: Maslenitsa Масленица in Russia; Mardi Gras in the Francophone world; Carnaval in Spain/Latin America, Carnevale in Italy, Fasching in Germany-to name a few. Common threads include celebrating the end of winter darkness, sometimes parades, often outrageous costumes, role reversal, consuming pancakes, or marking the beginning of Lent.  We include the Lunar New Year in this category since it honors the end of winter and the return of the light.

In honor of International Women's Day on March 8, Nessie Kurganova led a discussion about gender roles in contemporary Russia.

Students gathered at Cravens Hall for the The 6th Annual International Karaoke Night on Saturday, October 24.  It was a little different from past International Karaoke Nights when students sang live in front of a panel of judges and an audience.  Instead,  they submitted videos of themselves singing in the language that they are studying.  The videos representing Chinese, French, German, Latin, Russian, and Spanish were screened at the

The book launch of New Drama: An Anthology (Columbia University Press) that Dr. Susanna Weygandt co-edited was hosted by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University on October 2, 2020. The event was organized as a panel with other researchers and translators of contemporary Russian drama from the US and UK. A video of the presentation and play-reading during the book launch can be found here:

Meet at the Russian House for Russian music, games, and food (pelmeni).  Meet your friends in the Russian Department.

Maslenitsa, the pre-lent butter week, celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of spring and of Lent. Last Saturday (February 29), The Russian House celebrated with bliny and tea, played folk games, and burned a scarecrow that symbolizes winter.

Students gathered at the Russian House on February 20th to watch a film depicting underground culture in Soviet Russia featuring the popular Russian music artists, Victor Tsoi and Kino.

In many parts of the world, some form of Carnival is celebrated, combining Christian and pre-Christian traditions indigenous to the region. This celebration goes by many names: Maslenitsa Масленица in Russia; Mardi Gras in the Francophone world; Carnaval in Latin America, Carnevale in Italy, Fasching in Germany-to name a few. Common threads include celebrating the end of winter darkness, sometimes parades, often outrageous costumes, role reversal, consuming pancakes, or marking the beginning of Lent. On Sunday, February 16, various language houses hosted a progressive festival starting at the Russian House, continuing on to the Spanish House, the German House, the Italian House, and ending at the French House.

Dr. Susanna Weygandt organized a teleconference between her advanced Russian students and acclaimed Russian artist, curator, and author, Ilmira Bolotyan. The event was made possible by a mini-grant from Sewanee's Center for Teaching.

Dr. Susanna Weygandt has recently published 2 new articles: Susanna Weygandt interviews playwrights Ivan Vyrypaev and Sasha Denisova in "Playwriting without Borders: Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarussian New Drama in the 21st Century," ed. Julie Curtis (London: Bloomsbury Academic). "New Russian Drama: An Anthology," edited by Maksim Hanukai and Susanna Weygandt was released this fall. The volume features 10 plays by contemporary playwrights writing in Russian—framed by an Introduction by Susanna Weygandt and Maksim Hanukai with a foreword by the eminent Richard Schechner.

The 5th Annual International Karaoke Night took place on November 7, 2019 at the Tiger Bay Pub. There were songs in 8 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.