Slavic-Eurasian Research Center

• 1. Introduction

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  The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center at Hokkaido University sits on Japan's northernmost island, in the city of Sapporo. On the 28th of April 1952, the United States formally ended its occupation of Japan. In the years that followed, scholars at this northern university would build an institution that outlasted the political system it was created to study. The center arrived at its current identity through more than seven decades of transformation, including two distinct renamings. What does an institute do when the world it was built to understand no longer exists?

• 2. Inside the Law Faculty

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  On the 24th of June 1953, a formal decision was reached at Hokkaido University. Scholars working in Soviet studies and the wider field of Area studies would now coordinate their research. Two years later, on the 1st of June 1955, that effort was given an official structure as a Slavic Institute. The new institute was incorporated within the university's Faculty of Law. Research focused on Soviet studies, Communist studies, and the discipline known as Area studies. The institute would remain inside the Faculty of Law for twenty-three years, until a reorganization gave it a life of its own.

• 3. Independence and Fellowship

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  On the 1st of April 1978, the Slavic Institute formally separated from the Faculty of Law and gained organizational independence. It was renamed the Slavic Research Center, using the abbreviation SRC that would survive its next renaming as well. The same year saw the launch of the Foreign Visitors Fellowship Program. The program brought scholars from outside Japan to conduct research in Sapporo. Since 1978, it has welcomed tens of researchers from across the world. Thirteen scholars are named in the center's record of fellowship visitors, among them Vladislav Krasnov and Jadwiga Staniszkis.

• 4. A Changed World

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  On the 1st of April 2014, the Slavic Research Center took on its current name: the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center. The abbreviation SRC was kept unchanged. The renaming came in recognition of geopolitical changes that had reshaped the field. The end of communism in Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union had fundamentally altered Communist studies. The center described this shift as 'obviating the validity of Communist studies.' Research could no longer be centered on a political system that no longer existed. The new name pointed the center's focus toward the post-Soviet states distributed across Eurasia.

• 5. Six Research Frontiers

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  Six research divisions now organize the center's work. Russian Studies forms the first strand of inquiry. Siberian and Far Eastern Studies constitutes a second, geographically distinct focus. Central Eurasian Studies and East European Studies each address distinct zones of the broader post-Soviet region. Comparative Studies provides an analytical frame that situates regional experience in a wider context. The Eurasian Unit for Border Research focuses on the borders that define and divide the territory the center studies. In Japanese, the center goes by the name Surabu yūrashia kenkyū sentā.

• 6. Scholars Across Eurasia

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  In 2018, the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center had active research partnerships with 27 universities and research institutes across Eurasia. The Foreign Visitors Fellowship Program has been the engine of this international network. Among the scholars who have participated in the fellowship are Norman Davies, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Tomasz Kamusella, Dariusz Kołodziejczyk, and Stephen Kotkin. Also counted among the fellows are Vladislav Krasnov, Taras Kuzio, David Marples, Vojtech Mastny, Alexander Nekrich, Sabrina Ramet, Jadwiga Staniszkis, and Jerzy Tomaszewski. The scholarship generated through this international network reaches wider audiences through two journals the center publishes: Acta Slavica Iaponica and Slavic Studies.