Harsha Ram, "The Literary Origins of the Georgian Feast: The Cosmopolitan Poetics of a National Ritual"

Date and Time

March 25, 2015
05:00PM - 05:00PM EDT

Location

1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS-South S354

Harsha Ram, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley, writes, “Bringing together feasting, drinking and toasting, the Georgian banquet has acquired the status of a national trait. Yet how unique is the Georgian feast? The Georgian practice of toasting appears to have arisen from a profoundly literary negotiation that points beyond the Caucasus region to the traditions of Russian and British romantic poetry. To study this genealogy is to show how a “national” custom was forged out of the cosmopolitan social interactions taking place between the nineteenth-century Russian and Georgian elites. My talk is thus a contribution to ongoing debates on the relationship between the national, the imperial, and the cosmopolitan, and seeks to show how literary history and philology can productively dialogue with post-Soviet anthropology and the “imperial turn” in Russian historiography.”

The event is co-sponsored by the Central Eurasia Working Group and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

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Accessibility

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Slavic Department at 617-495-4065 or slavic@fas.harvard.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the university will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.