Annual Newsletter of the Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University
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English News  No.16 , January 2009
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From the Director
Adoption of a New Project: Comparative Research on Major Regional Powers in Eurasia The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Selected the SRC
as an Operator Organization of the International Training Program

SRC Winter Symposium in 2007 (Dec.)
SRC Summer Symposium in 2008
International Workshop "Regionalism in
Poland: Approaches from Humanities Fields"

Foreign Visitors Fellowship Program
Mr. Nomachi Motoki as a New Faculty
Member of the SRC

Our Current Staff
Ongoing Cooperative Research Projects
Visitors from Abroad
Guest Lectures from Abroad
Publications (2007-08)
The Library
Website Access Statistics
Essays by Foreign Fellows
Mikhail Shkarovskiy
Sergey Vradiy
Gulmira Sultangaliyeva

SRC Winter Symposium in 2007 (Dec.)


The annual Winter International Symposium was held on December 5–7, 2007, under the title "Asiatic Russia: Imperial Power in Regional and International Contexts." This was the last regular winter symposium funded by the 21st Century Center of Excellence Program "Making a Discipline of Slavic Eurasian Studies," and was also held as a preparatory event for the new project, "Comparative Research on Major Regional Powers in Eurasia."

A scene from Session 4
A scene from Session 4

The study of the history of the Russian Empire and its interaction with Asian peoples has made remarkable progress since the fall of the Soviet Union. Historians have explored the rich nuances of religious and nationalities policy of tsarism, a variety of forms of interaction between the tsarist administration and local people, spatial representation and imperial geography, and other topics. This symposium was intended to summarize the recent historiography of the Russian Empire and to present a model of imperial studies from the standpoint of area studies.

The symposium consisted of the following seven sessions: "Comparative Imperiology," "Russia's Expansion and the Transformation of Its Eastern Policies," "Imperial Geography and Administration in Asiatic Russia," "The Russian Empire and Muslim Networks: Competition or Collaboration?" "Russian Strategies and Intrigues in Northeast Asia," "Social Change in Central Asia under Russian Rule," and "Asiatic Russia as a Space for National and Revolutionary Movements." Twelve foreign scholars from Russia, the United States, Kazakhstan, and Germany and seven Japanese scholars presented their papers. The paper presenters included both leading specialists who have contributed to theoretical innovation in this field of study and younger scholars who study multilanguage sources.

Young Scholars, held on December 5 just prior to the symposium. On December 7, we also welcomed Mr. Akylbek Kamaldinov, ambassador of Kazakhstan, to Japan, who gave a special lecture. After the symposium, most of the foreign guests participated in two workshops to continue discussion: "Russian Empire: Reappraisal of the Recent Research Agenda" at Osaka University (December 9) and "Imperial Rule in Central Eurasia: Incorporation and Alienation" at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (December 10).

The series of events served as a starting point for further comparative research on empires, which we have now started in group 4 (The Collapse and Restructuring of Empires and Transformation of the World System) of the above-mentioned project on regional powers.

UYAMA Tomohiko

Speakers of the Symposium


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