Faculty of Arts and Humanities

School of Modern Languages and Cultures: Dr Viktoria Ivleva discusses Catherine the Great of Russia on BBC World Service Radio

Famous for her lovers and satirised for her colourful personal life, Catherine the Great was in many ways one of Russia’s most progressive and moderate rulers, modernising 18th century Russia, improving educational standards and creating a flourishing arts and literature scene. But she also turned Russia into the biggest Empire on earth since the Roman Empire, which included the annexation of Crimea. So how far has her imperial mind set influenced Russia’s modern rulers, like President Putin?

Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the life and legacy of Catherine II of Russia, is Professor Andrei Zorin, cultural historian and Chair of Russian at the University of Oxford, Simon Dixon, Professor of Russian History at University College London and author of the biography “Catherine the Great”’ and Dr Viktoria Ivleva, who specialises in Catherine’s role as a woman ruler and her use of uniform and costume.

Link to the broadcast here

(20 May 2018)

School of Modern Languages and Cultures: Adam Talib to lecture in Berlin on new research project

Adam Talib of MLAC will give a lecture on 13 June 2018 at the Freie Universität Berlin's Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies on his current book project. The lecture entitled "Rape and the Reader: Classical Arabic Poetry Comes to Light" will be a provocative re-examination of scholarly methods that erase or overlook the predominance of coercion and violence in Arabic erotic poetry.

http://www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de/en/dates/lecture_2018_talib.html

(27 Apr 2018)