Black Sea Studies: The Past, Present, and Future of a Region

Biographies of conference participants available here.

Monday, May 29 

9:30-10:30 Registration and coffee 

10:30-11:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks  

• Stephen Jones, Director, Georgian Studies Program, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
• Kelly Degnan, US Ambassador to Georgia 
• Mark Elliott, Vice Provost for International Affairs, Harvard University 
• Nino Dobojginidze, Rector, Ilia State University  
• Merab Khalvashi, Rector, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University 
• Alexandra Vacroux, Executive Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University 

11:00-12:30 Keynote Address  

• Prof. Martin Lewis, “Eurasian Pivot or European Periphery? The Black Sea in the Geo-Historical Imagination” 

12:30-13:30 Lunch 

13:30-15:30 Panel 1: Legacies 

• Timothy Blauvelt, Chair 
• Gelina Harlaftis, “The View From the Sea That Embraces the Land. What Is an Interdisciplinary History of the Black Sea?” 
• Stella Ghervas, “Three Concepts of Black Sea History” 
• Adrian Brisku, “The Back Sea Region During the Interwar Period: The Forging of a Modern Identity” 
• Mykola Riabchuk, “Shifting the Wall Further East: Kundera’s Fallacy and the Tragedy of the ‘New Eastern Europe’” 

15:30-16:00 Coffee break 

16:00-17:30 Panel 2: Crossings 

• Kären Wigen, Chair 
• Eyüp Özveren, “Geographies and Geometries of Crossings in a Black Sea Short of Islands: The Très Longue Durée” 
• Florian Mühlfried, “Hospitality in Crisis: Russian Citizens in Georgia”  
• David Darchiashvili, “Strategic Legacy Reconsidered: A New Chance for the 'Intermarium' Project and its Black Sea Dimension" 

Tuesday, May 30 

9:30-10:00 Morning coffee 

10:00-12:00 Panel 3: Interventions in the Landscape 

• Kelly O’Neill, Chair 
• Anna Sydorenko, “The Transformation of the Urban Landscape of the Port City of Theodosia During the 19th Century” 
• Joseph Salukvadze, “The Patterns of Urban Transformation in the Big Cities of Georgia: Cases of Tbilisi and Batumi" 
• Ketevan Gurchiani, “From Garden City to Emperor’s Garden and Beyond” 

12:00-1:00 Lunch  

• Remarks by Mark Elliott, "Silk Roads and the Caucasus, Then and Now"

13:00-15:00 Panel 4: Literature and Culture 

• Stephen Jones, Chair 
• Giga Zedania, “Thalassic History. Black Sea and the Idea of Europe” 
• Kevin Tuite, “Circum-Pontic Strongmen: Amiran and St. George” 
• Zaal Andronikashvili, “Reconstructing Black Sea Mythology Across Languages, Cultures, and Religions” 

15:00-15:30 Coffee break 

*15:30-17:00 Panel 5A (Room A): International Perspectives  

• Stephen Jones, Chair 
• Shota Kakabadze, “New Security Paradigm in the Wider Black Sea Region: Georgia in the Focus of the Middle Corridor” 
• Adrian Stanica, “Saga of the Black Sea Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda” 
• Revaz Gachechiladze, “Meaning of the Black Sea to Local and Outer States” 

*15:30-17:00 Panel 5B (Room B): Regional Strategies  

• Giga Zedania, Chair 
• Natalie Sabanadze, "The Black Sea: The Birthplace of a Geopolitical Europe?"
• Mamuka Tsereteli, “The Strategic Significance of Black Sea-Caspian Connectivity” 
• Ghia Nodia, “Black Sea: Regional Cooperation or Great Power Contestation” 

Wednesday, May 31 

10:00-12:00 Panel 6 (Student Panel): Perspectives on Security and Trade 

• Stephen Jones and Kelly O’Neill, Chairs 
• Davit Antonyan, “Contested Borderlands: Security and Multiethnicity in Trabzon in the First World War”
• Alexandra Restrepo, “The Port of Sevastopol: A Disputed Gateway to Sea Power”
• Nino Kotolashvili, “The Question of Religion in the Adjara Region and Security Challenges in the Historical Discourse”
• Ketevan Sartania, “The Silk Road and Georgia’s Black Sea”
• Besik Gochiashvili, “The Significance of Anaklia’s Deep Sea Port After the Russia-Ukraine War”
• Giorgi Javakhashvili, “The Military Importance of Georgian Ports in the 21st Century”

12:00-13:00 Lunch  

13:00-14:30 Panel 7: Georgian Perspectives 

• Nata Gamkrelidze, Chair 
• Giorgi Gvalia, “The Black Sea in Georgia’s Foreign Policy Discourse”  
• Beka Kobakhidze, “The Security Geography of the Eastern Black Sea: Historical and Contemporary Aspects”
• Malkhaz Toria, “Decolonizing Historical Knowledge and Memory: Struggling with the Legacies of Soviet Boundary Making and Ethnic Exclusion/Inclusion in the Abkhazia Region of Georgia” 

14:30-15:00 Coffee break 

15:00-16:30 Roundtable on Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Agenda-Setting: What Next?  

16:30-17:00 Closing Remarks