THE SPECTACLE: CULTURE AND POLITICS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND EURASIA

Undergraduate Conference

Macalester College

May 2, 2026

Location: Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, Markim Hall

9:30-10:00 am Registration and Light Breakfast 

10:00-10:10 am Welcoming Remarks by Dr. Julia Chadaga and Dr. Masha Fedorova

10:10-11:10 am  Panel 1: Imperial Spectacles: Culture, Diplomacy, and War in Tsarist Russia

• Daniel Wiltse, “Culture, Consumerism, and Circus in the Russian Empire”

• Spencer Mullen, “'She thinks only of Constantinople': Orthodoxy as a Spectacle in the Danube Campaign of the Crimean War"

• Cayden Mayer, "Nicholas II and the Role of Ceremonies and Celebrations"

11:10-11:30 am Break

11:30-12:30 pm Keynote Lecture by Dr. James von Geldern

12:30-1:30 pm Lunch

1:30-2:30 pm  Panel 2: Stages of Power: Music, Protest, and the Politics of Performance

• Alex Jin, “Spectacles of Sound: Russian Military Song and the Politics of Unity in the Late Imperial Era”

• Jeremy Roberts-Kleban, “The Transformation and Evolution of Musical Protest and Resistance in Russia, 1980-Present”

• Charlie Rhodes, "Screaming into the Void: Protest and Narrative in Putin’s Russia"

2:30-3:00 pm Break

3:00-4:00 pm   Panel 3: Performing Politics: Power, Humanitarianism, and Gender Representation in the 20th-21st centuries

• Liv Whitmore, "Seeing is Believing: Starvation, Humanitarianism, and Visual Media"

• Liam Klatsky, "The Role of Spectacle in Palingenetic Extremist Revolutionary Movements"

• Beja Puškášová, “Postcolonial gender/sex and sexuality in Eastern Europe: Re-imagining Slavic Traditions”

4:10-5:30 pm   Reception at the Russian House (1668 Princeton Avenue)