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Global Popular Culture: Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies

A guide to popular culture materials and scholarship from around the world.

Search Terms

Most items in the library catalog are indexed by country. In addition, try these regional search terms:

  • Slavic Countries
  • Former Soviet Republics
  • Russia (Federation)
  • Balkan Peninsula
  • Europe (Eastern)

General Resources

Database:

Books:

The Library has a rich collection of scholarship on Slavic and Eastern European film, as well as a large collection of films in the catalog and available to stream via Kanopy. The books, journals, and resources linked below will get you started. Be sure to search the catalog for resources on cinema of the specific countries you are interested in.

Books:

Journals:

LibGuides:

Comic book cover by Polish artist Marzena Sowa.You can find Eastern European comics in the Library catalog best by doing a general subject search for "comic books, strips, etc." or "graphic novels" and then using the menu at the right to filter by country, region, or language. Use the links below to find more Eastern European comics on the web.

Image: Comic book cover by Polish artist Marzena Sowa, via Eastern European Comics.

Library Resources:

Web Resources:

The Russian punk band Pussy Riot has made international headlines with their protests against Putin's regime, resulting in beatings, arrests, imprisonment of band members. The full documentary Pussy Riot: The Movement (previewed below) is available to stream for free via Kanopy. Check out the other resources below to learn more about popular music in Eastern Europe.

Cover image for the Polish fantasy novel Blood of ElvesFor recommendations of contemporary works of Slavic SFF in English, start here: Five Slavic SFF Novels You Should Have On Your Shelves.

Learn more about the history of Slavic fantasy with this essay on Russian "Fantastica," originally published in the Australian journal "The Mentor." A keyword search for "fantastika" in the Library catalog returns mainly Russian language results.

Learn more:

Russian Science Fiction

Science fiction in Russia has origins in the 18th century, with a tradition of utopian and dystopian fiction, and eventually grew into an extensive literature in the late 19th and 20th centuries, encompassing both literature and film. You can read an overview in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, here.

Learn more:

Book cover from Macmillan's Best of Soviet SF seriesThe Library has 12 volumes of Macmillan's Best of Soviet Science Fiction series, which includes SF novels and short story anthologies in translation, published in English in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

All are welcome!

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Slavic Reference Service
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Slavic Reference Service
International and Area Studies Library
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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217-333-1349
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