Presentation and Q&A with Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot

Join us for a conversation with Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot. We will discuss such topics as Russian politics, the threat authoritarianism, activism and protest, prison advocacy, and her experiences working in both Russia and the US. 
Tolokonnikova is a founding member of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot. In 2011, Pussy Riot began staging unauthorized guerrilla performances in public locations, promoting gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and opposition to Vladimir Putin. In 2012, Tolokonnikova was convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after being arrested during a performance in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. After nearly two years in a prison labor camp, Tolokonnikova has continued creating protest music. Along with fellow Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, she founded Zona Prava, which provides legal defense and counseling to those threatened by unlawful actions taken by corrections officials, investigators, or judges in Russia. She was named a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, and received the LennonOno Grant for Peace in 2012, as well as the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. Her first collaboration with producer Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), “Chaika,” was released in February 2016, and her debut EP, xxx, released in October of the same year.
This event made possible by the William J. Cooper Foundation, Russian, Modern Languages, Theater, History, Music, Gender & Sexuality, Philosophy, English, Global Studies, the President’s Office, the Provost’s Office, the Sager Series, the Urban Inequality & Incarceration Program, Swarthmore Libraries, the Lang Center, the SBC, SPEER, and Bryn Mawr Russian.