Laz was in focus at today’s web & campus seminar on Caucasian languages in Turkey with visiting researcher Betul Emgin Cogal (Bilgi University, Istanbul). Betul has conducted field research with Laz communities in north-eastern Turkey.
Below – after the seminar: Staff, visiting researchers and some of our students at Caucasus Studies
Congratulations to Dr. Tamta Khalvashi, who has successfully defended her PhD dissertation at the Department of Anthropology, Copenhagen University (September 11, 2015). The title of the thesis is Peripheral Affects. Shame, Publics, and Performance on the Margins of the Republic of Georgia.
This was the third Caucasus-related doctoral dissertation in Copenhagen in three years, and we are very happy to note this growing competence and interest around the Caucasus in the Øresund region.
Dr. Katrine Gotfredsen (to the left) congratulates Tamta Khalvashi after the defense act.
According to the online magazine TimeOut (July 21, 2015) – writing on culture, events and entertainement – the cities of Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmö (Sweden) and Tbilisi (Georgia) are all among the “Top 10 European destinations” for 2015.
“The 10 best European destinations in 2015
Bored by Berlin? Tired of Tuscany? Paris? We’ve all been there. If you’re serious about your European destinations, these are the places to head for…”
(http://www.timeout.com/city-guides/10-best-european-destinations/)
Caucasus Studies has moved to “Niagara”, the new building of the Faculty of Culture and Society. Malmö Central Station is just around the corner.
Visiting address is Nordenskiöldsgatan 1. You will find Caucasus Studies on the 11th floor, Section 59.
Welcome!
The very saddening news have reached us that Prof. Alexander Rondeli, founder of GFSIS, a prominent Georgian scholar and political analyst, passed away in Tbilisi on June 12. We have lost a beacon for scholars on the Caucasus internationally, a highly esteemed colleague and a dear friend of Caucasus Studies, Malmö University.
“შეხვედრები ბატონ ალექსანდრესთან ძალიან მნიშვნელოვანი იყო ჩემთვის, ჩემი კოლეგებისა და სტუდენტებისათვის. მასთან შეხვედრის დროს იგრძნობოდა მისი სიკეთე, ადამიანური სითბო და დიდი ცოდნა. ჩვენ ვგრძნობდით, რომ მისი ინსტიტუტის კარები მუდამ ღია იყო ჩვენთვის.
დაე ბატონი ალექსანდრეს მარადიული მოგონება იყოს.”
– პროფესორი კარინა ვამლინგი
მალმიოს უნივერსიტეტი (შვედეთი)
Announcement from GFSIS (Georgian Foundation For Strategic and International Studies): http://gfsis.org
Read more – other announcements:
Civil.ge Daily News Online
http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=28345
Democracy and Freedom Watch
http://dfwatch.net/alexander-rondeli-dies-at-age-73-36436
Senior lecturer Märta-Lisa Magnusson is interviewed on recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh in an article published in Open Democracy. The article discusses problems related to the lack of international standing of Nagorno-Karabach.
Read the article by Lucas Goetz in Open Democracy – “Nagorno-Karabakh: European Dreams”: https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/lucas-goetz/nagornokarabakh-european-dreams
A post-workshop seminar was held on May 12, where Maka Tetradze, 
Erasmus Mundus exchange PhD
Candidate, and Prof. Nadezda Alipulatova, Faculty of Foreign Languages Dagestan State Pedagogical University, Makhachkala, Russian Federation, discussed their findings and observations on cultural vocabulary in Lezgian. Prof. Alipulatova was invited as an expert on Lezgian and guest researcher by the Lundic project – Lund Atlas of Language and Culture.
On May 4-6 the workshop Lexical and typological diversity in Caucasian languages. Methods and models for coding of big data was held at Linguistics (Center for Language and Literature, Lund University) and Caucasus Studies (Dept. of Language and Linguistics. Malmö University), as a part of research cooperation within the project LUNDIC – Lund Digital Atlas of Language and Culture (http://project2.sol.lu.se/lundic/). Project leader: Gerd Carling, Lund University.
Invited participants: Prof. Merab Chukhua, Tbilisi State University and Circassian Cultural Center, Georgia; Prof. Madzhid Khalilov, Institute of Language, Literature and Art, Dagestan branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Makhachkala, Russian Federation; Prof. Nadezda Alipulatova, Faculty of Foreign Languages Dagestan State Pedagogical University, Makhachkala, Russian Federation; Dr. Leila Avidzba, Scientific Research Center of Georgian-Abkhazian Relationships, Tbilisi State University, Georgia; Dr. Zarina Molochieva, Institute for Media, Language and Culture, Regensburg University, Germany.
Organisers: Gerd Carling (Lund University), Karina Vamling (Malmö University), Maka Tetradze (Malmö University)
PhD Katrine Gotfredsen, senior lecturer in Caucasus Studies (Malmö University) is one of the contributors in 
the new publication Ethnographie of Grey Zones in Eastern Europe. Relations, Borders and Invisibilities (Anthem Press 2015), edited by Ida Harboe Knudsen and Martin Demant Frederiksen. Her contrition is entitled: “Invisible Connections: On Uncertainty and the (Re)production of Opaque Politics in the Republic of Georgia”.
Read more about the publication: http://www.anthempress.com/ethnographies-of-grey-zones-in-eastern-europe-pb
Radio P4 interview with Märta-Lisa Magnusson, senior lecturer in Caucasus Studies at Malmö University, on the security situation in Chechnya.
Background
Following a decision by the Swedish Migration Board a Chechen family was sent back to Chechnya from Sweden. A couple of months after their return the father was killed.
Listen to the interview: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=91&artikel=6129699
