Discussion with Michal Racyn, Filip J. Scherf, Alexander Dmitriev and Martina Mecco as a part of the “Slavic Intersections. A Forum for Books and Ideas in Slavic Studies” series.
“Slavic Intersections. A Forum for Books and Ideas in Slavic Studies” is a project designed to create a hybrid space for dialogue, bringing together academic and non-academic audiences around recent publications in the field of Slavic Studies. The project aims to foster critical
discussion and create opportunities for exchange on issues that are particularly relevant to the discipline today. It explores the possibility of developing a critical space that is both international and interdisciplinary, approaching “Slavic Studies” in the broadest possible sense and bringing together literary and cultural, historical and political, as well as sociological perspectives. Each event centers on a recently published book and brings together its author with some discussants who approach the subject from different disciplinary perspectives and areas of expertise. Rather than following the conventional format of a monograph presentation, the events are conceived as open-ended conversations in which the book serves as catalyst for broader discussions about the transformations of the field, its contemporary concerns, and its role in understanding the cultural, political and social dynamics of the Slavic world.
The first event will focus on Michal Racyn’s recent publication, The Transformation of Eurasianism in the Soviet Intellectual Milieu, 1950s–1990s: Blurring the Lines and Establishing Artificial Continuity (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026). Together with discussants Filip J. Scherf, Alexander Dmitriev, and Martina Mecco, the author will explore the evolution of Eurasianist discourse from the interwar émigré period to contemporary Russia. The discussion will examine the continuity and discontinuity of the movement over the course of its century-long history, asking how the modernist conception of “Eurasia” survived and transformed during the Cold War and how it became ideologised in the post-Soviet Russian context.
Organisers: Department of East European Studies (Faculty of Arts, Charles University), Department of Slavonic Studies (Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University), National Library of the Czech Republic – Slavonic Library