Gulag Town, Company Town

Join historian Alan Barenberg for a free public talk, “Gulag Town, Company Town: Reconnecting the ‘Archipelago’ to Soviet Society and History.” He will speak at 4:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, in ARH Auditorium – Room 302. Refreshments will be provided.

Barenberg is assistant professor of Russian history at Texas Tech University where he specializes in the social and economic history of the Soviet Union, especially from 1930s-70s. His research covers a range of topics of the Russian Empire and the USSR. 

According to Yale University Press, Barenberg’s book, Gulag Town, Company Town: Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta ”offers a radical reassessment of the infamous ‘Gulag Archipelago’ by exploring the history of Vorkuta, an arctic coal-mining outpost originally established in the 1930s as a prison camp complex. [His] eye-opening study reveals Vorkuta as an active urban center with a substantial nonprisoner population where the borders separating camp and city were contested and permeable, enabling prisoners to establish social connections that would eventually aid them in their transitions to civilian life.”

Barenberg has a doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College. He has earned several fellowships.

Barenberg’s visit is sponsored by the Department of History and the Russian, Central, and East European Studies Concentration.

Grinnell welcomes and encourages the participation of people with disabilities. You can request accommodations from the event sponsor or Conference Operations.