THE BALTIC WAY THROUGH A WITNESS’S EYES - a talk by Marina Burrell

Reflecting on her experience of living in Estonia and Lithuania in the 1970s-1990s Marina will give some historical perspective and share the memories of her life in these two Baltic countries before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She will also talk about their culture, the role of music in their history and how these two small countries managed to preserve their identity and pioneer the process of disintegration from the USSR. The talk will be illustrated with period artefacts.

After the talk, we will serve soft drinks with traditional snacks (including sprats in oil). You could learn a traditional Estonian folk dance.

About the speaker.

Born in St Petersburg, brought up in the Soviet Union, Marina was a resident of Estonia and Lithuania for 20 years. After finishing high school and music school in Siberia she studied pedagogy, languages, linguistics, history, literature, aesthetics, arts, and economics in Moscow, Tallinn and Cambridge; obtained an MA degree in Applied Linguistics and PGCE in Teacher Training in London.

Marina is one of the founders of the Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society, its first Chair in 1999-2002 and she continues to be an active member of CamRuSS.

International work experience as a lecturer, translator & teacher-trainer: Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, German,y Holland, USA, UK, and Kazakhstan.

Teaching experience: Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge), the University of Essex; Examiner & Teacher Trainer at the University of Cambridge and CUP ESOL tutor at Huntingdon Regional College; WEA lecturer since 2015.

Date: Friday 27 September 2024

Time: 18:30-19:30 Talk; 19:30-20:00 Drinks reception

Venue: St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church 40-43 St Andrew's St Cambridge CB2 3AR

Format: Hybrid

Tickets: in-person: £8 standard; £5 CamRuSS members and concessions;

on Zoom: £5 standard; free for CamRuSS members only.

Host or Publisher The Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society (CamRuSS)