The International Teodor Shanin Foundation (Shanin Foundation)

Shanin Foundation was established in 2023. The Foundation aims to honor the name and legacy of Teodor Shanin by returning them to Vilnius, his native city, and by promoting his academic and educational achievements.

contact us:

E-mail address:
[email protected]

Tel: +370 (619) 47201

Mailing Address: Vilniius,
Švitrigailo g. 11K–109

oct. 29th 2026 10.00 local time via zoom and Auditorium Montenegro
The Fourth Shanin Conference

Rethinking Communities

show program arrow

Community Studies: Threat, Choice, and Solidarity

Organizing bodies: The Shanin Foundation, FLAS

The challenges of recent years, including the pandemic, political repression, forced migration, and a succession of wars, have compelled researchers in the field of community studies to rethink the very notion of community. Community can no longer be understood simply as a natural form of self-organisation (whether professional, recreational, political, or territorial). Rather, it is increasingly seen as a process of constant reconfiguration, adaptation, and the maintenance of solidarity in the face of existential threats.

The conference aims to discuss recent findings in the sociology of community life, the anthropology of migration, and digital ethnography, all of which shed light on the new conditions and practices shaping these processes of reconfiguration.

Program

10:00 – 12:30
Panel 1.

Moderator: Victor Vakhshtayn, Tel Aviv Universit

  • Emotional Communities and History of Emotions Professor Andrei Zorin, University of Oxford
  • Community of Professionals focused on Employment of People with Disabilities Professor Shulamit Ramon-Shanin, University of Hertfordshire
  • Russian-speaking academic diaspora seen through the lens of ORCID DB Doctor Alexander Kukalev, Max-Delbrück-Centrum
  • Cultural Production and Consumption as Infrastructure for Community Building: Antonio Gramsci vs. José Ortega y Gasset Doctor Kirill Titaev, (formerly at Yale)

13:30 – 15:30
Panel 2.

Moderator: Kirill Titaev, (formerly at Yale)

  • Community of Fate: Threat, Choice and Solidarity Doctor Victor Vakhshtayn, Tel Aviv University
  • Communities through the lens of informality: the ambivalence of solidarity Professor Alena Ledeneva, University College London
  • The Messianic Community and an Epistemological Trap Doctor Ivan Peshkov, Adam Mickiewicz University
  • Microsociology of Exiled Community: the Case of FLAS' Student Parliament Anna Sakhno, Marat Tairov

The Shanin Foundation was established in 2023. The Foundation aims to honor the name and legacy of Teodor Shanin by returning them to Vilnius, his native city, and by promoting his academic and educational achievements.

Website: shaninfund.com

nov. 2nd 2025 11:00 uk time via zoom
the third shanin conference

University faces global challenges: between distinction and surviving

hide program arrow

11:00 – 13:00
Panel 1. Universities, Scholars and Totalitarianism Before and During World War II
Moderator: Ivan Peshkov

  • Jewish Scholarship in Vilna (Vilnius) Under Nazi Occupation Professor David E Fishman, Jewish Theological Seminary (USA)
  • Bent But Not Broken. YIVO in the period of the first soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940–1941) Doctor Lara Lempert, Judaica Research Center, Documentary Heritage Department, National Library of Lithuania
  • Jewish Life in Vilno Before the Holocaust (The family of Teodor Shanin) Professor Shula Ramon Shanin, University of Hertfordshire (UK)

13:40 – 16:40
Panel 2. Universities vs. Oppression. Ensuring Survival and High Standards
Moderator: Alexandra Vacroux

  • Three Strategies of Universities in Exile: Ghettoization, Integration, and Bridging Professor Viktor Vakhshtayn, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Montenegro
  • Threats to higher ed in the US, what they mean for the world, and how to respond Robert Quinn Scholars at Risk (SAR)
  • Scientists in Exile: Individual Strategies and General Trends Doctor Alexander Kukalev, Berlin Institute for Medical systems biology (Germany)
  • How AI Disrupts the University: Theoretical Insights and Local Solutions Kirill Krinkin, Neapolis University (Paphos), JetBrains
  • European Humanities University: 20 Years in Exile Professor Anatoli Mikhailov, EHU (Vilnius)
  • Safeguarding and Maintaining Educational Standards for Institutions in Exile Doctor Marina Kalashnikova, FLAS (Montenegro)
  • Russian Economic Education on Both Sides of the Border Professor Ruben Enikolopov, ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Shanin Foundation and FLAS Professor Andrei Zorin, Oxford (UK)
oct. 26th 2024 11:00 uk time via zoom
The Second Shanin Conference

Education in Times of Crisis

show program arrow

Opening panel

11.00 – 12.30

Becoming Teodor. Presentation of the English and Russian versions of Shanin's autobiography. Teodor as a teacher, an educational entrepreneur, and a builder of educational institutions in non-native countries

Discussion: Shulamith Ramon-Shanin (University of Hertfordshire, UK)
Andrei Zorin  (University of Oxford)
Viktor Vakhsteyn (FLAS, Montenegro, Tel-Aviv University, Israel)

Panel 1. Teaching in times of crisis: theory

13.00-14.30  Moderator: Alexandra Vacroux, (Davis Center, Harvard; Kyiv School of Economics)

  • From crisis to crisis: Shaninka's institutional evolution Viktor Vakhsteyn (FLAS, Montenegro, Tel-Aviv University, Israel)
  • Constructive conflict resolution as a third mission of the higher education Isaak Frumin - (Constructor University)
  • Institutions and practices of academic liberty Evgeny Roschin (Princeton University)
  • Logic of the Knowledge Production VS Solidarity with victims of Aggression: Russian Academics in Exile and the Question of academic freedom
    Dmitry Dubrovsky, Charles University, Czech Republic; Professor, Free University (Briva Universitate, Latvia)

Panel 2. Teaching in times of crisis: practice

15.00-16.30 Moderator: Sandy Balfour (Chairman of the Board Shanin Foundation, UK, Lithuania)

  • How to teach UK social workers to support refugees and asylum seekers Shulamith Ramon-Shanin (University of Hertfordshire, UK)
  • Title TBC, Zhanna Nemtsova (Boris Nemtsov Foundation "For Freedom", Charles University, Czech Republic)
  • Complex multiplayer simulations as an educational laboratory Marat Atnashev (Narxoz, Kazakhstan, Metagames), Timur Atnashev (University of Toulouse, France, Metagames)
  • Сhallenges and discoveries of educational institution building in a non-native country Vladimir Shmelev (FLAS, Edumonte, Montenegro)
29th 2023 11:00 uk time
The first conference

Remembering Teodor

show program arrow

October 29 is the birthday of the eminent scholar and educationist Teodor Shanin, who was born in Vilnius in 1930.  Shanin’s life was tragic and spectacular. After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, he was deported to Siberia and his family perished in the Vilnius ghetto. After the war, he emigrated to Israel, became a hero of the war for Independence, graduated from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, got his PhD in the UK, and became a Professor of Sociology in the University of Manchester. He published hundreds of works on sociology, informal economy, agrarian history, and anthropology, revolutionizing these disciplines, creating academic schools and leaving pupils and followers. In 1990-s Shanin founded Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, better known as Shaninka. The degrees of the School were validated by the University of Manchester, and until the beginning of the current war it was one of the best independent universities in Russia and Eastern Europe.

This October 29, Shanin’s pupils and followers are holding a workshop in Vilnius Museum of Tolerance to return the name and the heritage of Teodor Shanin to his native city. We shall announce the launch of Teodor Shanin Foundation in Vilnius, speak about his personality and biography, discuss his contribution to scholarship and education and the possible directions of promoting his heritage.

Program

Online greeting Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament

Panel 1. Teodor Shanin Biography and Personality

11.00 – 14.00. Moderator Andrei Zorin (University of Oxford)

  • Introductory words Shulamith Ramon-Shanin (University of Hereford, UK)
  • Teodor Shanin – professor and talant-seeker Laima Andrikienė (Member of the European Parliament)
  • Shanin – Litwak Galina Baranova (Vilnius, archival historical researcher)
  • Vilnius Between the Wars Tomas Venclova (Professor Emeritus, Yale University)
  • The Didactics of Personal Fate: Teodor Shanin’s Biography Between Self-creation and Self-Investigation Alexander Arkhangelsky (historian and writer)
  • Kamchatka through the eyes of Teodor Alexander Balfour (author)
  • Shanin’s Political Views in the Last Decades of his Life Vasily Zharkov (European University for Humanities, Vilnius)
  • Teodor Shanin and challenges of Post-Socialist Education Anatoly Mikhailov (European University for Humanities, Vilnius)

Lunch 14.00 – 15.00

Panel 2 Teodor Shanin Scholar and Educator

15.00 -18.00. Moderator Alexander Balfour

  • Shanin and the Studies of Informal Economy Alena Ledeneva (UCL, UK)
  • Shanin and Sociology of Knowledge Viktor Vakhstayn (Ariel University, Israel) 
  • Shanin and Development studies Ivan Peshkov (Adam Miekiewicz University, Poznan Poland)
  • The Impact of Shanin’s works on Peasantry on Eastern European Scholarship Judith Pallot (University of Oxford,  UK, Alexanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland) tbc
  • „There Is Always Another Way“ (Teodor Shanin, 1990) Some Reflections on Curiosity and Positionality in Teodor Shanin’s Academic Practice Peter Lindner (Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
  • Working with Shanin’s Legacy, Teodor Shanin’s Foundation in Vilnius Andrei Zorin (University of Oxford, UK).

The International Teodor Shanin Foundation (Shanin Foundation)  - established in 2023, three years after Teodor Shanin  passed away, by his widow and colleagues.  The Foundation aspires to return the name and legacy of Teodor Shanin to his native city and to promote his academic and educational achievements. The plans of the Foundation include commemoration of Teodor Shanin in Vilnius, publication of his works, support of research and organization of conferences, especially in the areas of his academic interest, and launching educational programs based on his ideas and approaches.

Shanin Foundation projects are supported by US Russia Foundation (USA),  Davis Center of Harvard University (USA).

Universitas – NGO, established in Lithuania for support of educational and academic projects.

Theodor Shanin

About Teodor Shanin (1930–2020)

Teodor Shanin, a distinguished scholar and educator, was born in Vilnius in 1930. His life was marked by tragedy and spectacle. Following the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, he and his mother were deported to Siberia. Others in his family perished in the Vilnius ghetto. After the war, he emigrated to Israel, where he served in Palmach in the War for Independence. He graduated in social work at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He obtained his PhD from the University of Birmingham, in the UK, and became a Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. Shanin revolutionized the study of peasant sociology, of informal economy, of agrarian history, establishing academic schools and leaving a lasting impact on his pupils and followers. In the 1990s, Shanin founded the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, which offered graduate and undergraduate courses, and which awarded degrees validated by the University of Manchester and others. Known in affectionate tribute as “Shaninka”, the Moscow School quickly became one of the leading independent universities in Russia and Eastern Europe — until the onset of the current conflict.

Shanin foundation

Our activities

Based in Vilnius, the Shanin Foundation will build on his legacy through publishing, supporting research, organizing conferences in areas of his academic interest, and launching educational programs based on his ideas.

Projects of Shanin Foundation:

re-introduction of teodor shanin to his native lithuania:

  • Translating and publishing his memoir, “Becoming Teodor: from child of war to visionary professor” in Lithuanian and other languages
  • Creating an online Shanin library on the Shanin Foundation site, with authoritative editions of his books and articles, as well as books about him from colleagues and students
  • Commemoration of Teodor Shanin and his family through a plaque at his birthplace Bazilijonu g. 3., in collaboration with Vilnius city authorities.

building on the academic legacy of teodor shanin through

  • The establishment of the Shanin Scholarship for students and faculty members
  • Creation of the Shanin Research Centre in collaboration with Lithuanian and other European institutions
  • Hosting an annual conference in his name. The inaugural conference took place in Vilnius on 29th October 2023.

Media coverage:

LRT.lt: The scientist Teodor Shanin will be honored at the conference in Vilnius

Menorah: The merits of Teodor Shanin’s life

contact us:

E-mail address:
[email protected]

Tel: +370 (619) 47201

Mailing Address: Vilniius,
Švitrigailo g. 11K–109