News & Events

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

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.