Welcome

"Nothing about us without us" Budapest 2016

We do critical, interdisciplinary social research related to Eastern Europe and places previously governed by the Soviet Union. Based at the New School for Social Research in New York City, we emphasize intellectual collaboration in a collegial environment. Founded in 2017, DEES challenges dominant conceptual frameworks used to study the region and engage with scholarship produced in the region and in its languages. Anchored in deep contextual knowledge, our research aims to contribute to broad theoretical debates that transcend historical and analytical concerns traditionally associated with area studies. We examine political economy, critical moments in the history of the region, mobility and migration, post-conflict societies, social transition, and changes in the structures of state and society relations. We include the production and circulation of knowledge as an object of inquiry. We ground our explorations in sustained field research to generate new ideas, concepts, and theoretical frameworks that stretch the boundaries of understanding.

DEES News

Jessica Pisano will join Azadeh Moaveni in a conversation with Terrell Jermaine Starr at New York University’s Jordan Center on November 16, 2023 at 5pm.

Ihor Andriichuk, Karolina Koziura, Mariia Shynkarenko, Nikola Ksiazek, and Jessica Pisano, joined by Amanda Zadorian and Paul D’Anieri, will speak at the roundtable “Knowledge as an Object of Inquiry,” at the annual ASEEES Convention in November, 2023.

DEES members Karolina Koziura, Mariia Shynkarenko, Amanda Zadorian, and Jessica Pisano spoke at the Decolonization in Focus seminar series organized by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University on February 24, 2023 at noon.

Jessica Pisano’s essay on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s artistry and political ideas appeared in Politico Magazine on February 23, 2023.

Join us

DEES members meet bi-weekly for presentations of work in progress, collaborative research, and seminars by distinguished speakers.

Contact us at pisanoj@newschool.edu