Echoes of the American Civil War in Russia: Then and Now

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

This round table is aimed at discovering the place that the American Civil War played in the imagination of Russians from 1861 to the 21st century, appealing to the social constructivist study of bilateral relations. Ivan Kurilla will demonstrate how different groups of the Russian educated society perceived and used American news to boost their political agendas at home, while Don H. Doyle will add European comparative context to emphasize the role of the Union’s victory in the rebirth of republicanism in Europe. In their turn, Victoria Zhuravleva and Lioudmila Fedorova will focuse on how the memory about the American Civil War framed the sense of Russians about their past. The first panelist will clarify the influence of the so called Russian-American friendship during the U.S. Civil War on the academic and public discourses in Russia in long-term perspectives and in correlation with national agendas, while the second one will compare and contrast the strategies used to portray the American Civil War in Soviet and Post-Soviet fiction.

Sub Unit

• History: 1800-1900

Chair

• William Benton Whisenhunt, College of DuPage

Roundtable Members

• Don H Doyle, U of South Carolina

• Milla (Lioudmila) Fedorova, Georgetown U

• Ivan I. Kurilla, Wellesley College

• Victoria Z