In November 2021, the authors and editors of a special issue of the journal Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media gathered online for a panel hosted by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. A recording of the panel discussion is available on YouTube, and embedded below. The issue, “Digital Selves: … Continue reading Watch the virtual launch event for “Digital Selves”
Events
Elegy for Lyosha (and others)
July 2, 2021 Emergent Pandemic Strategies among Disabled Adults in Long Term Care An elegy for one disabled artist’s death from COVID-19 in Russia, as others seek alternatives to institutionalization. In July 2020, Alexei Dymdymarchenko, Lyosha or Dym-Dym to his friends, an artist whose work I had been following, died of complications from the COVID-19 … Continue reading Elegy for Lyosha (and others)
Disability Studies Lecture Series!
The University of Toronto Scarborough is emerging as an exciting place to think about disability studies. I've been excited to be part of discussions in classrooms and between faculty, and I'm particularly looking forward to a few upcoming events this fall. The dean's Great Explorations speaker series - a month of public lectures pitched to … Continue reading Disability Studies Lecture Series!
Disability Anthropology at the University of Toronto
In 2019, a group of graduate students in the department of anthropology at the University of Toronto founded the Disability Anthropology Working Group. Housed in the department's Ethnography Lab, the group extends and expands on conversations begun in my disability anthropology seminar the previous fall. The working group meets weekly, alternating between a public reading … Continue reading Disability Anthropology at the University of Toronto
Disability, Art & Ethnography in St Petersburg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZF1DW4Oyc8 Not long ago, I was in Russia, to take part in an event at European University at Saint Petersburg, DIS.ART – disability, ethnography & the arts on October 10, 2018. The event featured four creative works by a cohort of medical ethnographers working on disability at European University in Saint Petersburg. The evening started … Continue reading Disability, Art & Ethnography in St Petersburg
Toronto, Hello!
This summer brings the exciting news of a big move. As I pack up my things at Yale and house hunt in Toronto, I'm very glad to say that as of June 1, I am joining the faculty at the University of Toronto Scarborough. In my new role as Assistant Professor with a cross-appointment between … Continue reading Toronto, Hello!
I WAS NEVER ALONE at Yale
I'm very glad that a performance of my ethnographic play will be presented this March as part of the program of the 2018 Soyuz Symposium for Postsocialist Cultural Studies, this year hosted by the Department of Anthropology and the European Studies Council at Yale. Friday March 2nd at 7:30pm, with a talk back session at … Continue reading I WAS NEVER ALONE at Yale
Жизнь – игра, or, all the world’s a stage in ethnographic theater
I was touched this week to reread an article published online by a local news source in Petrozavodsk, Russia where I conduct my fieldwork. My dear friend and collaborator, Vladimir Rudak, a musician, filmmaker, writer, and disability activist from Petrozavodsk shared his impressions of the United States with reporter Asya Kosheleva. I was fortunate to … Continue reading Жизнь – игра, or, all the world’s a stage in ethnographic theater
New courses at UC San Diego
I am looking forward to teaching several new courses at UC San Diego in the coming months. This winter, I am teaching a course originally designed by Dr. Tom Humphries. The Problem of Voice takes the trope of "voice" as an important mode of understanding representation, recognition, and multivocality in contemporary cultural perspectives. The course, … Continue reading New courses at UC San Diego
ETHNOGRAPHY & DESIGN: MUTUAL PROVOCATIONS
Over the past year, in my role as postdoctoral fellow for the Collaboratory for Ethnographic Design (CoLED), it's been my great privilege to work with an outstanding array of scholars interested in the intersections and conundrums presented by thinking about ethnography and design. A little over a year ago, in September 2016, we launched the … Continue reading ETHNOGRAPHY & DESIGN: MUTUAL PROVOCATIONS
cassandra hartblay 