2020 Podcasts
In the elective week preceding the start of MSSR 2020, nine MSSR fellows took part in a multi-day podcasting workshop with Professor Sean Guillory. The workshop covered the basics of podcasting, recording and scriptwriting as well as the art of interviewing. Fellows learned how to tell a story and make an effective argument using the medium of sound.
The following pieces were recorded and produced by MSSR 2020 fellows.
An Empty Pedestal: Ukraine after Leninopad
By Sabrina Beaver
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In this episode, Niels Ackermann and Sebastien Gobert discuss their project Looking for Lenin, a photojournalism book that documents the fate of Ukraine’s fallen Lenin statues following the decommunization laws of 2015. As Gobert and Ackermann explain, their travels and research exposed the complexity of decommunization and the diversity of perceptions of identity in post-Maidan Ukraine.
Remembering the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Mission: 45 years of US-Russian Space Cooperation
By Lisa Becker
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July 17, 1975. On earth, the Cold War pitted the US and the USSR against each other in an escalating arms race; meanwhile, in orbit, a Soviet Soyuz capsule successfully docked with an American Apollo module. What seems inconceivable was proof that even in times of high tension, cooperation between the two great powers was possible. In this episode, you will dive into US-Soviet relations in space and hear from stellar speakers about how the Apollo-Soyuz test project came to fruition in the first place, the challenges that had to be overcome and the legacy of the joint mission. Prepare for launch in 3, 2, 1…
A Brief Conversation on Biculturalism
By Sasha Diouk
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Having spent her whole life navigating her own bicultural Russian-American identity, Sasha Diouk decided to explore this important topic for her audio project. Through interviews with two other multicultural individuals, Sasha hopes to shed light on the experiences that shape bicultural identity and draw attention to both the benefits and the drawbacks of not fitting neatly into a singular cultural category.
The Great Russian Trash Crisis
By Seth Farkas
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In the late 2010s, a wave of protests swept across the greater Moscow region and other parts of western Russia. The cause of the protests was trash. In this podcast, we discuss why people took to the streets and what we can expect looking forward.
Yaroslavl
By Michael La Bella
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This podcast project is a profile of the Russian city of Yaroslavl through the eyes of two students who studied abroad with Middlebury’s School in Russia.
Existence in the Non-Existent State
By Lera Toropin
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In Russian
In English, they call it Transnistria, the non-recognized state in Moldova. In Russian, it’s Pridnistrovie. I call it my birthplace and my heritage. This episode is a personal project; my attempt as a first-generation immigrant to connect to a place I was born into but grew up never quite knowing. The story is told from the perspective of a native Transnistrian, Inna Kramarenko, who weaves together narratives of golden Soviet days and darker periods of conflict to explore her experience of living in one of the frozen conflict zones of the post-Soviet era: an existence within a state of non-existence.