Mark Bassin is a
geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
and specialist on Russian and German
geopolitics
Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of State (polity), states: ''de fac ...
. He is currently employed as a professor in historical and contemporary studies at
Södertörn University.
Life
Mark Bassin was born in 1953.
Bassin gained his Ph.D. at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in 1983.
He has received personal fellowships from the
Fulbright Foundation, the Remarque Institute at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, the
American Academy in Berlin, the
Slavic-Eurasian Research Center in
Sapporo
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...
, and the
Leibniz Institute of European History in
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
. Between 1 July 1988 and 1 December 1988, he was a research scholar at the
Kennan Institute working on challenges to
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
n development.
His research has also been supported by grants from the
Arts and Humanities Research Council
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities.
History
The Arts a ...
(AHRC), the
British Academy
The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...
, the
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD),
NCEEER, the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
(NEH), and the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
.
In 1995, he was a recipient of the ''Chester Penn Higby Prize'' from the
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
.
From 1996 to 2004, he served as Secretary for the Commission for the History of Geographic Thought of the
International Geographical Union.
From 2006 to 2009, his research was supported by a Major Research Fellowship from the
Leverhulme Trust.
Since 1999, Bassin has been Associate Editor for the journal ''
Geopolitics
Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of State (polity), states: ''de fac ...
''.
He has been a consultant for the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
, and is a founding member of the
Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, in which capacity he meets yearly with the Russian President and members of his government.
In 2017, he was awarded the ''Reginald Zelnik Book Prize in History'' from the
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
.
He is an Associate Fellow of the
Swedish Institute.
Teaching positions
He has taught at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
, and
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, and held visiting positions at the Universities of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, and
Pau in France.
In March 2005, while a visiting professor of geography at University College London, Bassin was invited to Russia as part of a UK expert group to meet with
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
.
Until 2010, he was a professor in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham.
In 2010, he became a professor at Södertörn University.
His teaching and research interests include political, cultural and historical geography, as well as contemporary politics in Russia, Germany and Poland.
He has also been a visiting professor at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
.
He has also been a speaker at the Centre of European Studies at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
Publications
Source:
Books
*''Imperial Visions: Nationalist Imagination and Geographical Expansion in the Russian Far East 1840-1865''. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
*''Soviet and Post-Soviet Identities''. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
*''Between Europe and Asia: The Origins, Theories, and Legacies of Russian Eurasianism - Russian and East European Studies''. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.
*''Space, Place, and Power in Modern Russia: Essays in the New Spatial History - NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies''. Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2018.
Journals and articles
Classical Eurasianism and the Geopolitics of Russian Identity*“Civilizations and their Discontents: Geography and Geopolitics in the Huntington Thesis,” article in Geopolitics
*“Ethno-Landscapes and Ethno-Parasites: Lev Gumilev’s Ecology of Ethnicity,” chapter in Ethnosymbolism: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity and Nationalism. Essays in Honor of Anthony Smith; Athena Leoussi and Stephen Grosby, eds; Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
*“Geographies of Imperial Identity,” chapter in The Cambridge History of Russia, Vol. II, Dominic Lieven, ed, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
*“The Morning of our Motherland (painting by Fedor Shurpin)” chapter in The Russian Visual Documents Reader, Valerie Kievelson and Joan Newberger, eds, New Haven: Yale University Press
*2006 “Mackinder’s Heartland and the Politics of Space in post-Soviet Russia” (with K.E. Aksenov), Geopolitics 11: 1
*2005 “Blood or Soil? The volkisch movement, the Nazis, and the legacy of Geopolitik,” chapter in How Green were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich, Franz-Josef Brüggemeier, Marc Cioc, and Thomas Zeller, eds, Athens OH: Ohio University Press: 204-242
*2005 “The Political Spaces of Modernity,” Conoscere il mondo: Vespucci e la modernitè (Memoire Geografiche, Nuova Serie, 5): 163–176.
*2005 «Россия между Азии и Европы: идеологическое конструирование географического пространства» chapter in Российская империя в современной зарубежной литературы
he Russian Empire in Contemporary Foreign LiteraturePaul Werth, Aleksei Miller, and Pavel Kabytov, eds. Moscow: Зарубежная Литература, pp. 277–310.
*2004 “Historical Geography: Locating Time in the Spaces of Modernity” (with Vincent. Berdoulay), chapter in Human Geography: A History for the 21st Century, Georges Benko and Ulf Strohmeyer, eds. London: Arnold: 64–82.
translated as: “La Géographie historique: localiser le temps dans les espaces de la modernité” (with Vincent Berdoulay), chapter in Horizons géographiques, Georges Benko and Ulf Strohmeyer, eds. Paris: Brèal: 291–338. Translation of 2004a.
*2004 “The Two Faces of Contemporary Geopolitics,” Progress in Human Geography 28: 620-626
*2004 “Tristes Toponymies: What’s Wrong with Eurasia,” Ab Imperio 1: 178–183.
*2003 География и Идентичность в Постсоветской России
eography and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia Edited (with Konstantin E. Aksenov). St. Petersburg. Геликон-Плюс: 2003, 271pp.
*2003 “Between Realism and the ‘New Right’: Geopolitics in Germany in the 1990s,” Transactions IBG 28:3 New Series: 350-366.
*2003 “Politics From Nature: Environment, Ideology, and the Determinist Tradition,” chapter in A Companion to Political Geography, John Agnew, Katherine Mitchell, and Gerard Toal, eds. Basingstoke: Blackwell; 14-29
*2003 “The Greening of Utopia: Nature, Social Vision, and Landscape Art in Stalinist Russia,” chapter in Architectures Of Russian Identity, 1500–Present, James Cracraft and Dan Rowland, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; 150–171.
*2003 "Siberia as discursive space: The geo-psychology of nationalism in 19th century Russia", Годишњак за друштвену историју/Annual for Social History (Belgrad) 10: 1-2: 27-50
*2003 “Classical Eurasianism and the Geopolitics of Russian Identity,” Ab Imperio 2: 257–267.
Translated as: «Классическое евразийство и геополитки русской идентичности» chapter in Новая Имперская История Постсоветского Пространства
ew Imperial History of Post-Soviet Space Ilya Gerasimov, Sergei Glebov, Aleksandr Kaplunovskii, Marina Mogil’ner, Aleksandr Semenov, eds. Kazan: Центр Исслед. Нац. и Империи, 2004: 563–572.
*2003 «К вопросу о географии национальной идентичности»
uestioning the Geography of National Identity in 2003a: 10–17.
*2002 “Imperialer Raum/Nationaler Raum: Sibirien auf der kognitiven Landkarte Rußlands im 19. Jahrhundert“
mperial Space/National Space: Siberia on the Cognitive Map of Russia in the 19th Century Geschichte und Gesellschaft: Zeitschrift für Historische Sozialwissenschaft 28:3, pp. 378–403
n German*2002 “Мыслить пространством: Eurasia And Ethno-Territoriality In Post-Soviet Maps,” chapter in S.K Frank and I.P. Smirnov, eds, Zeit-Räume. Neue Tendenzen in der historischen Kulturforschung aus der Perspektive der Slavistik (Wiener Slawistischer Almanach, Bd. 49): 15–35.
*2001 “Renaissance der Geopolitik”
he Renaissance of Geopolitics Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin) No. 17523 (9 September), p. B4
n German*2001 `“Reading the Natural and the Social,” Intro. to Nature as Space: (re)understanding Nature and Natural Environments, Guven Sargen, ed, Ankara: MfY/METU; pp. 1–11.
References
External links
"River of Dreams: Fleeting Visions of a Siberian Mississippi" Review of Bassins's book ''Imperial Visions'', by
Ilya Vinkovetsky.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassin, Mark
American geographers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Geopoliticians
Academic staff of Södertörn University