Opening of a research notebook Hypotheses for the "Russia and its interfaces" seminar

How do the peripheral spaces of the Russian Empire from the Baltic space to Eastern Europe, from the Caucasus to Central Asia, the Arctic or the Far East become active or inactive margins of the Russian Empire and then the USSR? How does the multinational structure of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation interact from the 19th to the 21st centuries in its peripheral spaces with neighboring Empires and/or States or more distant continents such as Africa?

Like the seminar, the Hypotheses notebook first sets out to define the notion of interface and then identify the interfaces of contemporary Russia using a wide range of examples: interface objects such as bridges, airports, factories, primary forests migratory interfaces such as that of Bielaviej (Belarus/Poland), for example, captured in the context of revolutions, cultural and artistic currents, architecture, trade, economic and energy flows etc.

The notebook thus aims to create a vast repertoire of examples of interfaces. It also includes a dimension of expertise and news monitoring. It aims to produce a better understanding of Russia in its relations with the outside world since 2008 (war in Georgia), 2015 (military intervention in Syria) and in the context of the current war it has been waging in Ukraine since 2022.

The Hypotheses notebook provides an immediate editorial outlet for the teacher but also for all seminar participants and students.

List of previously published articles

• Podcast of the lecture on "Russia's March 2024 presidential election: wartime Putinism? "
• Account of the study day "Levers and theaters of Russian influence: from Ukraine to the "Global South"
• Wagner and Moscow's African diplomacy (1/2): The Central African Republic under control
• The First Secretary's Mufti: Soviet Islam as an interface in the Khrushchev era
• The Russians in Spitsbergen: an interface for Russia in the Arctic