As the home to the area and global studies centers and thematic programs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Illinois Global Institute is dedicated to fostering an environment where international perspectives are integral to teaching and research.

Center for African Studies * Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies * Center for Global Studies * Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies * Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies * Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity * European Union Center * LAS Global Studies * Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies * Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center * The Program in Arms Control and Domestic and International Security

 

REEEC New Directions Lecture: Mara Hunter, The Sea of Azov in Historical Percpective

Oct 15, 2026   4:00 pm  
306 Coble Hall (801 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820)
Lecture
Sponsor
REEEC
Speaker
Mara Hunter: Professor of History, University of South Alabama
Cost
Free and open to the public.
Contact
REEEC
E-Mail
reec@illinois.edu
Originating Calendar
Russian, E. European & Eurasian Center: Speakers

The Sea of Azov in Historical Perspective

Borrowing from environmental history theories that emphasize the agency of the earth in human affairs, as well as human impacts on the natural environment, this talk examines the Sea of Azov in broad historical perspective.  The Sea of Azov has featured in world historical trade networks from antiquity to the present. It has linked Eurasian religions and cultures, peoples and trade, for more than two millennia. Humans have remade the sea and its hinterlands with infrastructure, and have waged tragic wars for domination. However, the current war and the Crimean Bridge introduce a new level of destructive transformation. Placing the current violence in the Sea of Azov against the history of human efforts to control it raises important and recurring questions about transnational access to critical natural waterways as well as our collective responsibility to the natural environment. 

Mara Hunter
Professor of History, University of South Alabama

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