"We want transnational panels.. Another aim is to center voices, which were marginalized in academia. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, how many conferences featured experiences of Chechens, Crimean Tatars? Without their voices and perspectives, it is impossible to understand the region"

@kassymbekova.bsky.social talked to Norito Kunisue about founding RUTA: "Many panels were organized nationally.. Polish scholars rarely spoke with Kazakh scholars and Kazakh scholars with Georgians. Academia mirrored the broader imperial divisions. That’s when I realized - we need a new association"

Join us for our next RUTA webinar on family stories through art, literature, and decolonial thinking, featuring a round table conversation with Elmira Kakabayeva, Aida Sulova & Victoria Sarangova

October 31, 11:00 EST / 18:00 EEST - Kyiv time

Link for registration: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Our 2026 RUTA conference will be exploring the role of embodied knowledges and knowledges rooted in the places we conduct research about. We will discuss how the making of knowledge, art and cultural heritage changes when it is grounded in places and communities and which possibilities this opens

Since our last conference and RUTA elections, Assel Tutumlu and Epp Annus stepped down from the RUTA Board, while staying active in the community. We sincerely thank them for their contributions and welcome new elected Board Members: Gražina Bielousova and Alexis Scott to our RUTA team. About them…

Our second featured panel at the RUTA conference Imagination: New Visions and Connections will discuss protest in the RUTA regions and in global dialogues with @maiabarkaia.bsky.social, @ferezmanuel14.bsky.social, Zhanar Sekerbayeva & @terrelljstarr.bsky.social
ruta-association.org/event/featur...

Our next webinar will focus on Indigenous liberation struggles in North Caucasus, Central and North Asia, with leading Indigenous scholars and decolonial activists Seseg Jigjitova, Madina Tlostanova and Lidia Zhigunova. Register for this crucial discussion: ruta-association.org/event/indige...

Our next webinar will be taking a close look at the destabilizing impact of Russian disinformation campaigns, largely focusing on the Balkans but also integrating latest insights from Romania and Moldova. Register and join us for this important timely discussion: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Next in our RUTA webinar series is a discussion on student protests in Serbia. How have student mobilizations reshaped political engagement and civil society in Serbia? What are the regional implications? Register to join the debate with our panelists: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

The very presence of Crimean Tatars on their ancestral land is an act of resistance. How will the next generation, born and raised under occupation, define its reality, and what is the most desirable future for Crimea? Join us for a webinar with Emine Ziyatdin, Maria Shynkarenko and Suleiman Mamutov

At the RUTA Association, we are concerned about the political shifts in the US, which risk undermining the already frail knowledge on the RUTA region(s)

Join us on March 7 for the RUTA and Tallinn University webinar "History is not an accident: the return of molotovs and ribbentrops?" with @kseniyaoksamytna.bsky.social,
@terrelljstarr.bsky.social and @martkuldkepp.bsky.social

Event details and registration: ruta-association.org/event/histor...

Satire is NOT a crime!

As members of the international academic community, we stand for freedom of expression and assembly in Qazaqstan. Please join us in signing this open letter in solidarity with Qazaq political activists, journalists and researchers: ruta-association.org/news/open-le...

Join us for the webinar “History is not an accident” with Maia Barkaia, Erica Marat and Iryna Zamuruieva. The speakers will reflect on the three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as part of a broader web of Russian imperial and colonial violence. Register here: zoom.us/meeting/regi...