This talk by Ash Maria (he/they), University of Pennsylvania, will focus on introducing scholarship from Latin America (primarily Brazil) that engages with Soviet histories, trans-national projects, and cultural products. Eastern Europeans and Russians formed concentrated communities in Latin America before and during the Soviet period. These groups came for a multitude of combined, often contradictory reasons that ranged from mere survival to capitalist colonial ambition to socialist utopianism. To begin introducing this legacy, the talk will feature a brief history of Soviet studies in Latin America, and the circulation of translated Soviet literature. In the conclusion, Ash Maria will introduce his own work in Brazil and open up a discussion for ways we might increase scholarly collaboration across the Atlantic.

The seminar is part of the Reconsidering Soviet Studies initiative, organised by Cambridge Slavonic PhD candidates and supported by the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics. The initiative's aim is to overstep institutional borders, build networks, reflect on the drastic changes in the field, and inspire collaborative work.