On Thursday, Oct. 20, the Mount Holyoke College Russian Club hosted a talk entitled “The Black Square Goes Where?: (Re)locating Ukrainian Artists in the Russo-Soviet Avant-Garde.” The lecturer, Professor Daniel Brooks, is a visiting lecturer in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke, and a Russian language and literature expert. His talk discussed Russian and Ukrainian art throughout history, grounding art in location, historical context, culture and language.
BY SARAH LOFSTROM '19
On Friday, March 25, the Russian and Eurasian Studies department coordinated with the Russian Club to host their annual Blini Bash celebrating the end of winter. The event is referred to in Russia as the Spring Carnival or Maslenitsa. It features the pan-frying and eating of blini, Russian pancakes, before ceremonially burning an effigy of the witch of winter.
BY MARYA JUCEWICZ '17
Students and their families joined Russian Club and the Russian department in making and eating pelmeni, or traditional Russian dumplings, Friday Oct. 21 in the Betty Shabazz House. According to the School of Russian and Asian Studies, the word “pelmeni” may come from a Siberian word meaning “bread-ear,” a reference to the ear-like shape of the dumplings, which are made from boiled, unleavened dough.
