Dear colleagues, 

We would like to cordially invite you to our Global Digital Cultures Soirée, which will take place on 12 April, 2023, between 18:00 and 22:00, in Claire's Ballroom at Kapitein Zeppos. 

The objective is to stage lively debate and stimulate fruitful exchanges between Amsterdam-based researchers working on Global Digital Cultures across the humanities, social sciences, and economics.

This time, we invite Mariëlle Wijermars and Ellen Rutten to the stage, who will discuss Russia, Ukraine, platforms and disinformation.

Dr Mariëlle Wijermars is a CORE Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies of the University of Helsinki, on leave from her position as Assistant Professor in Cyber-Security and Politics at Maastricht University. She conducts research on internet freedom and the human rights’ implications of internet policy and platform governance, in particular in authoritarian states.  Trained as a Russianist, she has published extensively on politics, media and digitalisation in Russia. 

Dr Ellen Rutten is a professor of literature and chair of the Department of Russian & Slavic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. At the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, she co-founded and co-coordinates the research collectives Digital Emotions and Literature of the 21st Century. She also acts as editor-in-chief of the journal Russian Literature. Her research interests include post-Soviet literature, (Russian and global) art and design, social media, Soviet memory, and nation branding.

After brief presentations from these scholars, the floor will be open for questions and comments from participants. To prepare for the discussion, we ask you the read the author's texts in advance; these are shared via email following registration. 

As always, our soirées involve food and drinks; the evening will start with drinks, and dinner will be served around 19:30. Attendance is free of charge.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thomas Poell & Rivke Jaffe