History Major Matas Kulikauskas received the 2026 Southern Conference for Slavic Studies Best Undergraduate Essay Prize. This award recognized outstanding writing that Matas did in Dr. Alexey Golubev’s course “Russian Imperial History” last semester.
Matas says the paper “explores what everyday sounds existed in Russian Imperial Vilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania) between 1795 and 1915 and how those sounds were negotiated in the urban space. Jews, Poles, Russians, and other groups that made up the city’s population crossed paths daily, forming a diverse acoustic environment that I examine through spoken language, religious worship, church bells, political ceremonies, and music. Instead of fusing into a shared multicultural harmony, however, I argue that competing auditory claims found in the city more often than not fostered adjacency rather than integration, reflecting the broader dynamics of empire, nationalism, and communal life.”
Prize-winning undergraduate research is made possible through outstanding talent and dedication, as well as faculty mentorship in our department. We congratulate Matas Kulikauskas on this prize!