MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

American Research Institute of the South Caucasus

Ian C. Lindsay A Word from the President We’re once again excited to tell you Also be sure to check out the section about the many important accomplishments on news items from you, our ARISC of ARISC’s members and fellows in 2015-16! members (p.2), including new books, awards, This 4th (and final) year of our 4-year grant job placements and other milestones! We’re through the US Dept. of Education saw excited and proud to share the great work continued accomplishments overseas. Our you’re doing, not only among our members, support of research in the region continues but also on our social media outlets. Keep to make strong impacts on the careers of us in the loop about your developments. junior scholars. I also invite you to read our “Notes ARISC-funded programs included here From Abroad” section to learn more about IN THIS ISSUE: have fostered partnerships between the most recent scholarship being American and local colleagues to improve conducted in the region by the next A WORD FROM THE research capacities in the South Caucasus. generation of SC scholars. We have made PRESIDENT 1 Indeed, fostering the development of several awards to graduate students and advanced research methods in the region junior scholars working in a variety of has been an important theme this year. Dr. disciplines. In this section Nat Erb-Satullo, a MEMBER NEWS 2 Alan Greene, post-doc at Stanford (now at recent Ph.D. from Harvard, reports on his NYU), armed with a Cultural Heritage study of ancient metallurgy in Georgia, and ARISC STAFF 3 Management Grant, collaborated with Natalja Czarnecki (University of Chicago) Armenian scientist Roman Hovsepyan to discusses fascinating ethnographic research NOTES FROM ABROAD 5 update and improve accessibility for the on the shifting social economics and safety Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography’s issues surrounding the outdoor food website (p.11); this kind of project—local- market (bazari) in Tbilisi. DONATIONS AND scale, but vital to the long-term health of I want to make special mention of a APPRECIATION 16 scientific institutions—is one that ARISC is formal external review of ARISC conducted uniquely positioned to support. by Dr. Christopher Tuttle (Executive Following the theme of capacity Director of the Council of American ORAL HISTORY SUMMER building, in May 2016 ARISC fostered a lively Overseas Research Centers) and Dr. Joanna SCHOOL 17 2-day GIS workshop in New York (p. 16) to Regulska (Vice Provost and Associate foster the growth of cutting-edge spatial Chancellor, and Professor of Women and analysis research methods across the Gender Studies at UC Davis). These EVENTS 18 sciences. Building scientific capacity takes prominent scholars traveled to the SC in time and patience, but the 20 scholars that early 2016 to gain an objective assessment took part in the workshop committed of ARISC’s progress and priorities. We were MEMBERSHIP themselves to future skills exchanges with gratified to receive a strong positive report INFORMATION 24 local partners in the SC to train young from the reviewers and excellent researchers in the latest data collection suggestions for growth directions and methods and technologies. funding opportunities that we are already INSTITUTIONAL One of the highlights of 2016 was an starting to implement. MEMBERS 24 Oral History Summer School (p.17) led by Our activities are made possible US and Georgian specialists. The program because of the hard work and dedication of trained Georgian scholars in oral history our overseas staff, Diana Lezhava, Susan CONTACT US 24 data collection strategies, which the Marukhyan, and Leyla Rustamli. Read more participants will employ to document about them on page 3 of the newsletter. memories of Georgia’s aging Soviet-era We all owe them our gratitude for helping generation. ARISC grow! Be sure to visit them when next you’re in the SC!

PAGE 1 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 News from ARISC Members

ARISC Member and former Vice-President Congratulations to ARISC member Dr. William Fierman, who speaks some Stephen Riegg, who successfully six languages and is currently working on completed his PhD at the University of News of several others, was recently interviewed North Carolina Chapel Hill! His about the secrets of language acquisition. dissertation is titled, Claiming the Caucasus: ARISC The interview can be found at Russia’s Imperial Encounter with Armenians, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life- 1801-1894. He is starting a position as an bilingual/201512/the-secrets-successful- Assistant Professor in the Department of Staff language-learner History at Texas A&M, College Station as of Fall 2016. We want to congratulate Leyla ARISC Member Dustin Gilbreath Rustamli, our Resident Director published an article about Georgian foreign ARISC President Dr. Ian Lindsay was in Azerbaijan, and her family on policy in the Washington Post’s Monkey recently featured in the local news for his the arrival of the newest addition Cage! Read the article at https:// work in Armenia using drones. Check out to her family, Melek! You can see a www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey- the report at http://wlfi.com/2016/09/14/ photo of Leyla and her beautiful cage/wp/2015/12/21/no-putin-is-not- purdue-anthropology-professor-looking-to- daughter, below. We wish them all winning-georgias-loyalty-away-from-europe- make-connections-to-old-societies/. the very best! here-are-the-facts/

Congratulations to Dr. Stephen Jones, ARISC Vice President, for being awarded the prestigious Ivane Javakhishvili International Scientific Prize. The award was made to Dr. Jones for his special contribution to Kartvelian studies. For more information, please see https://tsu.ge/ en/government/administration/ departments/pr/news/ dvicYW0ZQYPRhyrBl/?p=1 Ian Lindsay, a Purdue Associate Professor of Anthropology, flies a drone alongside colleague ARISC member Dr. Lori Khatchadourian Alan Greene from New York University. The Layla and baby Melek. Welcome to recently published a book, Imperial Matter: hilltop fortress of Aragatsi Berd is in the world, Melek! Ancient Persia and the Archaeology of Empires. background, with a modern TV antennae on top The book can be downloaded through the of it. (Photo provided by Project ArAGATS) University of California Press Open Access publishing program at http://dx.doi.org/ Congratulations to Keti 10.1525/luminos.13 Gikashvili and her family! Keti, ARISC Member and Vice President Dr. our accountant in Georgia, Stephen Jones was awarded funding by the recently had a beautiful baby girl, Shota Rustaveli Foundation for the “Oral Kato. Both mother and daughter History” project. The project was are doing well! submitted by Center for Social Sciences (applicant), ARISC (foreign partner) and Ilia State University (local partner). The project encompassed organizing a week long summer school in Georgia comprising of the methodological training on how to do research in oral history. Within the project, a call for participation was announced in late spring, and a total of twelve participants (MA and PhD students, junior scholars) were selected to be trained. More on the Oral History Summer School can be found in later pages of this newsletter.

Do you have news you'd like to share about Keti and baby Kato. Our Imperial Matter: Ancient Persia and the your research or publications? Please let us best wishes for them! Archaeology of Empires. Dr. Lori know! Khatchadourian

PAGE 2 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

ARISC’s Representatives The people who make everything happen abroad Funding for these positions has been made possible by a grant from the US Department of Education

Caucasus Mountains. Photo by Giorgi Bedianashvili. Susan Marukhyan Leyla Rustamli Diana Lezhava

Armenia Representative Azerbaijan Representative Georgia Representative

It is already my third year working with I am delighted to be in the ARISC team and take When people ask me what ARISC ARISC as its Armenia Branch Director. part in the implementation of ARISC’s critical does, I respond that it supports Throughout this time, we have been mission in our region. This year was memorable research in and about the South supporting the scientific research in and with the visit of the External Review group – Dr. Caucasus, provides scholarships, about the South Caucasus. Here I have Christopher Tuttle and Dr. Joanna Regulska to the organizes public talks and conferences, met a lot of outstanding researchers both region. I recall meeting them with pleasure as it among other programs. from overseas and within Armenia. Their opened new horizons for me. It was interesting to But most importantly, it connects interests differ, but they have a common see ARISC through professional, outsiders’ eyes. people from various backgrounds and goal of discovering the unknown and Furthermore their sincere conversations about research directions, creates a platform bringing answers to a lot of interesting scientific research in the US inspired me to restart for interaction and collaboration. questions which pertain to the geographic my own PhD research with new passion. One of Being part of ARISC activities and its location where I live. the things I love about being part of ARISC is this: it brilliant staff is a privilege. I am grateful I enjoy working for ARISC, because this gives opportunity to know people which otherwise for having the opportunity to work in is the place for new ideas and an endless I hardly would meet elsewhere. this wonderful environment and to knowledge source. ARISC operates in a challenging environment in meet great people. I truly believe that Susan Marukhyan is a public relations and the Caucasus and I believe that this makes ARISC ARISC’s contribution in building the public education specialist based in Yerevan, activities even more paramount. I wish ARISC best high quality scientific space in Georgia, Armenia. She graduated from Yerevan State of luck in the years ahead. and in the South Caucasus at large, is Language University after V. Brusov in 1994. Leyla Rustamli received a BA in Intl Relations and Intl of great significance. Later she studied in the Department of Law from University of Languages and MA in Middle International Relations and European Studies East countries from Baku State University. In 2008-09 Diana Lezhava holds a BA degree in at the Central European University she studied at Rothberg Intl School of Hebrew University Humanities (English Language and (1996-1997). Since 1994 she has worked for of Jerusalem (Israel). She is an expected PhD in Intl Literature) from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi different foreign and international Relations at Philosophy, Sociology and Law Inst of State University, and a MA in International organizations in the spheres of management Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Leyla has Affairs from the Georgian Institute of and administration, public and media been teaching various courses on foreign policies of Public Affairs. Her research interests relations, and communication, research, Middle East countries, international security problems comprise: higher education, civic education, translation, and publishing. and peace and conflict studies at Azerbaijan University post-soviet transformations. of Languages for 5 years. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

PAGE 3 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 ARISC’s Accountants Ketevan Gikashvili, Georgia Accountant I'm proud to be a part of a team of very pleasant, intelligent and nice people of different nationalities called ARISC, that implements important projects for improving academic life in the South Caucasus countries and helps the scientists of these countries be in touch with each other.

Nina Panyan, Armenia Accountant During the year we implemented some programs, we worked hard and had good results. I hope that during the next year more programs and Above: Ketevan Gikashvili; more jobs will be done, as we must hurry to provide the next right: Nina Panyan. generation our plans, ambitions, knowledge and experience.

ARISC’s Interns and Volunteers making skills, and building critical thinking. I especially enjoyed our Reading and Film Groups, which not only created a friendly atmosphere Lala Soltanli, Azerbaijan, Intern in and outside of ARISC but also enlarged the borders of the “ARISC I have had a chance to intern for ARISC during 2 months. It was family” stressing the importance of cultural awareness. something that added extra value to my life. After starting work, I began All in all, I was lucky to be part of this community. I especially to compare the brilliant communication between the representative of enjoyed working with my supervisor whose friendly manners, sense of ARISC and myself with other work humor and cheerful disposition motivated me to become more active conditions. I can never forget how she and collaborate effectively. I am quite sure that the learning environment congratulated our holidays which were offered by ARISC will tremendously foster the development of education unfamiliar in her country. This and science in Armenia and in neighboring countries. temporary position taught me to Salome Pashalishvili, Georgia, Intern research about my own country, find I’m so thankful for this opportunity. The working atmosphere here extra solutions and adjust to an open was very friendly and warm. The sense of being needed and being working system. This job required helpful for others feels great and this contacting various kinds of organization has given me this pleasure. I organizations and brought me into a wider network. One more thing that didn’t have a proper working experience I learnt precisely was appreciating the quality of work instead of the before, so the time I’ve spent here was quite quantity. Once a week when I would have our Skype meeting with the educational. Hence, I would say that this job Director, I felt so happy that I achieved each target given to me. was very beneficial for my career development To be a person who has contributed to the Azerbaijan portion of and the experience I gained here will definitely ARISC was a notable point in my career. I recommend everyone to have help me achieve my life goals. My personal, such a colorful experience to remember for the rest of their life. I look working and language skills have improved. I forward to further the prosperous activities of the American Research feel more confident in myself and my Institute of the South Caucasus. possibilities. I met lots of interesting people and made their Ani Asryan, Armenia, Intern acquaintances, which gave me an option to become more aware of Entering any university each student dreams to become an excellent what’s going on in my country as well as abroad. Even though my specialist. I was not an exception but starting my education I faced a internship here is over, I’m planning to stay tuned and attend events problem which made me really concerned about my future. Unfortun- carried out by ARISC in future. Moreover I would highly recommend ately, education in Armenia is rather theoretical everyone keeping in touch with this organization and using its focusing too much on theory and not enough on opportunities. practice. Therefore, as a young student I looked Syuzi Melkonyan, Armenia, Volunteer for some practical areas where I could apply my I had a volunteering position with the ARISC theoretical knowledge. ARISC was a great chance Armenia organization in summer 2016. Before getting for me! During these four months I worked with volunteering work in ARISC I hadn't known about that the ARISC team which was a great pleasure and organization. Volunteering work at ARISC Armenia opportunity to attain my goals. This was an ideal helped me to enhance my education and develop new chance for exercising my team working skills since skills. That was my first experience and I'm sure that there is always room for development and learning there. Furthermore, it this experience and gained knowledge will help me to inspired me to aim high in my achievements instilling leadership, decision work in other organizations in my future life. PAGE 4 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

Notes from Abroad ARISC Grants 2015-16

View of Kazbegi. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Bamberger. Junior Research Fellowships Funding for the Junior Research Fellowships is made possible by a grant from the US Department of Education. Awards are made up to $4,000 per Fellow. All projects must include one or more local undergraduate and/or graduate students in a mentoring relationship that both develops the academic skills of the mentee and strengthens ties between the US and host country.

Natalja Czarnecki positions, regarded as highly problematic by state in transition. Daily Encounters with both state authorities and consumers, it I begin by defining a sociology of the “The Informal”: remains the shopping site of choice for many. bazaar according to labor patterns and How is this possible? What politics of trust habits, exchange relations, and the daily Regulation and the are at work here? When the consumer politics of trust between vendors and Politics of Trust at the encounters food at the bazari, does she trust consumers. Outdoor Food Market in in state institutions to keep her safe? Organizationally, the bazaar is divided Contemporary Tbilisi, Markets? Vendors? Family members? Herself? into 3 parts in Didube (Dezertirebis, Central, Georgia What modes of trust do consumers’ and Main), and privately owned, each part This project is an ethnographic study interfaces with food at the bazari engender, with a different owner(s), individual legal of a highly contentious food provisioning and what do these forms of trust tell us persons. Vendors rent space according to institution in Tbilisi, Georgia: the outdoor about post-socialist neoliberal citizenship placement, size, and technologies food market (bazari). It considers this site and national belonging? (refrigeration, fish tanks, meat prep as indexing a convergence of institutional Insofar as consumers come to expect machinery). Vendors do not have to pay a interests — governmental food safety that state agencies will (or will not) ensure portion of earnings to bazaar owners. Food regulation, Soviet-era shopping habits, and their bodily safety in a political-economic operators are divided according to food strategies of locating high-quality foods at context of globalized and privatized food type: fruit/vegetable; meat/fish; dairy (there reasonable prices. While the bazari flows, the food consumer is also a special are also nuts/dry fruit/candy/spice vendors appears to be threatened from different kind of “consumer-citizen,” positioned in a but we focused on “live,” high-risk products). politicized, ethical relation to the nation- Food vendors are gendered in their

PAGE 5 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 organization; meats/fish are sold mainly by politics and Tbilisi’s structure of governmental have worked “there” (on that territory) for men; chicken, fruits/vegetables mainly by regulation. decades and many cite changes (or lack thereof) women; and dairy products by both. There (3) The city/municipality is responsible for across Soviet and post-Soviet moments. For are many self-identified Azeris (Georgian- regulating these illegally-positioned vendors, and example, one vendor commented that though speaking) selling fruits/vegetables, but the vendors inside the bazaar itself (i.e. “legal” regulations are always changing and no one majority of our informants are Georgian. vendors) complain that the Georgian Dream knows what the details are each day, “modern” Placement within the food supply chain coalition currently in power is responsible for and “pre-modern (i.e. Soviet and early 90s)” was also considered, with our vendors both a lax approach to these outside vendors regulatory practices are the same – to keep positioned as “re-sellers,” purchasing foods and a decidedly anti-bazaar (anti-Georgian?) food safe. At the same time, vendors lament the from sellers removed from the production approach to the food market in general, former structure of the Dezertierebis bazaar point (an exception was a meat vendor, who introducing the French-owned Carrefour (before Saakashvili’s regulations) as being a place says he raises and kills his own animals to grocery chain during its incumbency. On the where their business thrived, customers were sell in Tbilisi). other hand, vendors also remember the plenty, and that has now been “rebranded” as a As far as consumer/vendor relations, destruction of the former official Dezertirebis more “modern” (and less plentiful) space of vendors perceive their customers to be building (now the site of the Main bazaar), after retail. (3) The degree to which the National “middle class” (i.e. “not rich, not poor”), for which vendors were scattered across different Food Agency is not known or really thought the most part. Although vendors are largely bazaar sites and lost many of their regular about by food business operators at the bazaar, not aware of new, EU-oriented food safety customers. and the degree of arbitrariness and randomness legal codes (they commonly explain that assigned to regulations, thought to change with each new week, or with each new “As a first-time ARISC Fellow, I am of almost daily. government – i.e. a sense of arbitrariness – New research questions include: there are new codes and new food safety course grateful for the opportunity to (1)“Bazaar”-owned laboratories that “test” requirements that must be followed). It is work and to share my research food products and verify quality, cited by quite common for vendors – most of experience and development with both vendors (meat, dairy, and even some fruit/ whom have worked at the bazaar for Georgian locals and with other non- vegetable). Details of these laboratories must decades – to explain that they have the be investigated and understood. Where is this/ experience and knowledge of foods and Georgian scholars focusing their work these lab(s)? What do they test for? What are their quality that newly-minted “experts” in the Southern Caucasus. I would their institutional histories? What does it do not yet have. really like to see this become a long- mean, for popular senses of food safety, that Furthermore, vendors argue that their term professional relationship, both vendors cite labs as a place of safety’s expertise is validated and recognized by verification, when vendors themselves cite the regular customers that have frequented with ARISC and with my other their own experiential knowledge and their food stands for years. (In the case of colleagues.” regional ties (decidedly non-techno-scientific the meat vendors and Dezertirebis, these — Natalja Czarnecki forms of expertise that the word “laboratory” regular customers consist of restaurant indexes) as their own form of “real” owners who come very early in the Furthermore, we were able to organize a expertise? (2) The food groups we have morning rather than individuals shopping for set of key discursive exchanges, or patterns, that investigated are relatively “high-risk” (i.e. themselves and families.) reflect the relationships and conditions of perishable and potential sources of “poisoning,” As far as sentiments of uncertainty or familiarity and trust that characterize as Georgians often describe food dangers). As vulnerability of the marketplace itself, there consumer/vendor interactions. These conditions far as popular nutrition, how are the food are a few primary sites of (anticipated) include the questions consumers ask of vendors groups taught and information about nutrition contention: (sometimes none at all) about food products; disseminated. The Ministry of Health, working (1) The imagined geopolitical orientation and the degree of proximity vendors claim to with the National Food Agency, is responsible trajectory of Georgia itself. Vendors tend to regional sites of origin; the level of intimacy and for such public health campaigns, and I would orient towards “Russian culture” and familiarity between vendors and consumers really like to learn more about that way “values” rather than that of the EU or the (types of familiarity and ways of expressing this knowledge(s) of “nutrition” (and hence of a US. vary and yet recognizable patterns, or genres, “healthy body”) moves and perhaps informs (2) The “unofficial” outdoor vendors emerge in our interview data). popular senses of risk, vulnerability, and positioned on the streets and sidewalks New perspectives gained from this “quality” foods in Tbilisi. What are the socio- outside the main 3 market places. These research include: (1) The politics and senses of histories of such nutritional knowledge vendors are seen as a threat because they competition/anxiety within the bazaar itself, and economies? do not pay rent and because they are at the the structured nature of contention between, Natalja Czarnecki is a graduate student in the front line of the consumer/market interface e.g., vendors positioned “outside” and “inside” Department of Anthropology at the University of and can potentially charge better prices. the bazaar itself. Chicago. She has conducted dissertation fieldwork These street vendors are connected to the (2) The basic sociology of the bazaar, and the in Tbilisi for several years, through funding from 3rd site of contention, that of Georgian state personal, experiential histories that vendors Fulbright-Hays, the University of Chicago’s Social embody and really cite each day. Our vendors Sciences Division, and ARISC.

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Nathaniel Erb-Satullo Charcoal samples taken from these fortification documented thus far at Mtsvane Forging Communities: deposits will allow us to date the mine—an Gora. Investigations of Craft exceptional opportunity, given that mines are In order to understand the spatial Production and Spatial generally difficult to date. If the mine is extent, date, and character of settlement at contemporary with metal production at the the site, we conducted geophysical, total Organization at Late top of the hill, this would indicate a station, and fieldwalking survey of the mound Bronze to Early Iron Age significant degree of vertical integration in and the surrounding areas. Fortress Sites production activities—something not typical Stone walls visible at the surface were Fieldwork in Summer 2016 in contemporary metal production mapped via total station, and 30 x 30 m investigated the spatial organization of elsewhere in the South Caucasus. magnetometry grids were laid out to target fortified settlements in Kvemo Kartli, Geophysical survey on the hilltop of key areas of the upper citadel and lower southern Georgia. Fortified hilltop town, especially where sites are a defining feature of the “The ARISC Junior Research Fellowship fills a there were concentrations landscape in the Late Bronze Age of ceramics and/or (LBA) and Early Iron Age (EIA) South crucial niche: it is one of the few seed grants architecture visible at the Caucasus, serving not just as strategic available to researchers after they have surface. For surface military installations, but also as collection, a series of 30 x centers of ritual activity and completed their PhD—a time when many are 30 m squares were laid out economic production. starting new projects and building a research at 120 m intervals over the Leading an international team of site, while more fine-grained Georgian, British, and Americans, I profile necessary for obtaining permanent 15 x 15 m collection used a combination of aerial drone squares were laid out in photography, magnetometry, and academic employment. By ensuring that newly areas where we were systematic surface collection to map minted PhDs receive sufficient research support, interested in correlating architectural features visible on the ceramic surface finds with surface and buried beneath the earth. the ARISC Junior Research Fellowship program architecture. These techniques revealed a large Overall, the ceramic fortified complex with substantial plays an exceptional role in maintaining the assemblage suggests that evidence of settlement off of the viability and continuity of research in the South the main occupation of the main citadel, providing clues for how site dates to the LBA-EIA, the fortified hilltop sites of the LBA- Caucasus.” possibly extending into the EIA evolved into towns and cities of - Nathaniel Erb-Satullo Classical period. Nearly later periods. 1500 sherds were collected Fieldwork concentrated on the Mtsvane Gora was complicated by the very during surface collection. two sites of Mtsvane Gora and Kavakh magnetic nature of the bedrock, a somewhat Black or grey burnished sherds, many of Tepe, exploring the spatial distribution of surprising result given the fact that the rocks which were burnished, made up a significant architecture and craft production appeared for the most part to be acidic (i.e. portion of the assemblage. By contrast, only activities through total station mapping, iron-poor) igneous rocks. As such, collapsed a small proportion of the assemblage drone photography, magnetometry and stone architecture and bedrock anomalies consisted of hard-fired red-orange sherds surface collections. hindered the identification of more subtle characteristic of later periods. At Mtsvane Gora, new work features like furnaces or clusters of slag. Moreover, no red-slipped or red- provided substantial support for the Aside from investigations at Mtsvane painted finewares of the late 1st millennium identification of a possible mine first Gora, a considerable portion of the 2016 BC were recovered, nor was a single noted in the ravine to the south of the field season was spent surveying a large Medieval glazed sherd identified in the main hill in 2014. Immediately downhill newly-discovered site that provides an assemblage. A significant portion of the from a rocky outcrop with evidence of intriguing contrast to Mtsvane Gora. assemblage consisted of mica-tempered non- digging, a thick layer of fine ashy sediment Situated about 5 kilometers away from burnished sherds with a range of different was identified in the eroded stream Mtsvane Gora across the Debeda River, colorations. At least one mica-tempered section. The fine ashy sediments were Kavakh Tepe consists of a large twin peaked sherd was pattern-burnished, suggesting an noted in 2015, but further erosion in the hill with a series of at least four walled LBA-EIA date, but most were body sherds intervening year exposed a clear section terraces and an extensive lower town, with no identifying features, so it is difficult of charcoal rich deposits, which we covering approximately 15 ha. Stone to date this category of sherds as a whole. cleaned, mapped and drew. The position architecture is visible in places at the surface, The distribution of ceramics in the and content of these ashy deposits and consists of stones ranging in size from lower town is intriguing. Instead of a uniform strongly suggests that they are a spoil about 15 cm to 1 m in diameter. distribution of ceramics, there are clear heap of material left over from the mining Evidence of such large architectural clusters of ceramics arranged in an arc activities just a few meters to the north. endeavors contrasts with the more modest

PAGE 7 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 around the densely occupied upper hill. landscape, attracting (or compelling) degree at Leiden University, was an Evidence of a series of smaller previously mobile groups to participate in invaluable member of the project. He was satellite structures also comes from the social order of these fortresses. Data heavily involved with all stages of research surface mapping of architecture and from Kavakh Tepe may capture this process planning and execution, from total station magnetometry. Relatively small linear of population aggregation, illustrating how mapping of survey grids and surface stone features and larger areas with discrete social groups came together to architecture to effectively navigating the stone tumble were observed at the tops form larger communities. It is worth intricacies of Georgian customs with the of a series of low mounds surrounding comparing these results with concepts such geophysical equipment. the main hill. as Greek synoikism and more recent Aside from Dmitri, a Georgian Magnetometry over one of these theories of urban formation processes in undergraduate also participated in the hills showed that the limited Mesopotamia. project for a shorter period, assisting with architecture visible at the surface was Intriguingly, no clear evidence of systematic surface collection at the site of part of a coherent complex of walls and metallurgy was found at the site, despite Kavakh Tepe. other features. Part of a possible substantial systematic fieldwalking. The Finally, Marine Puturidze, a professor at enclosure wall, also visible at the surface, discovery of metal production at the Tbilisi State University, also collaborated was identified at the northwestern edge modestly-sized Mtsvane Gora but not at with me this year. Her knowledge of ceramic of this low mound. The quantities of larger Kavakh Tepe might indicate that there chronologies was particularly useful in ceramics found in the areas near these was a certain degree of community analyzing the finds from the present and walls strongly suggest that they are not specialization in metalworking and perhaps past seasons of work. Discussions with her burials, but rather living spaces. other forms of craft production. A helped refine my own understanding of The discontinuous yet extensive significant outstanding question is the these ceramic chronologies, and her pattern of settlement is distinctive, and relationship between the metal producers at continued involvement with the project will provide opportunities for comparative Mtsvane Gora and the political authorities prove very beneficial. analysis with other sites in the South that oversaw the construction of the large Dr. Nathaniel Erb-Satullo received his Ph.D. Caucasus and greater Western Asia. fortified complex at Kavakh Tepe. in Anthropological Archaeology from Harvard The process of settlement One of the most successful components University in May 2016. His current research aggregation in the Late Bronze to the of the project was the development of focuses on metal production and technological Classical period has been a topic of collaborative relationships with Georgian change in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, recent interest in the archaeology of the archaeologists, gathering a team of scholars examining how the existence of pre-existing Caucasus. Much discussion has focused who work well together. Dmitri Jachvliani, an traditions of metal production impacted the on the idea that fortresses drew people archaeologist with the Georgian National adoption of iron. and materials in from the surrounding Museum who recently finished his master's

Photo of Nathaniel Erb-Satullo (far right) with members of the Archaeological Research in Kvemo Kartli (ARKK) team at the end of the season.

Photo courtesy of Nathaniel Erb- Satullo

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Richard W. Tate Over the course of the field season, our number of informants also utilized a series Linking Botanical and research team conducted 51 interviews in of calendars possessing daily, weekly, or Cultural Conservation total, gathering plant use information from monthly recipes for herbal remedies. The in Adjara, Georgia over 70 informants. We conducted ubiquity of such sources has both positive interviews in approximately 31 localities and negative aspects. They are helpful as (Caucasus) throughout Adjara, ranging from sea level to accessible and trustworthy means of gaining This multi-faceted ethnobotanical over 2,200 meters in elevation. All major knowledge about local plants, especially for research project seeks to tie the ecological zones and vegetation types within dilettantes, but they also have the potential conservation of Adjara’s diverse plant life the region were represented in habitats to act as homogenizing forces that could to the continued viability of local potentially supplant verbally- people’s traditional knowledge transmitted folk knowledge. systems. “All in all, the experience with ARISC has been A number of informants Ethnobotany is a field aptly great. Without this funding, there is no way we indicated moon phases as being described as a crossroads of could have collected the quality or quantity of important either in the gathering botany and anthropology, and of plants to be used as medicine the discipline’s interdisciplinary data we obtained. The country coordinator or in the application of plants for nature makes it uniquely Diana Lezhava was very helpful in locating a cure. For example, a healing suited to examining the bath was prescribed to be complex interactions of potential collaborators and faculty members to performed “during three days of humans and the environment. speak with.” the month before the moon This approach has unique — Richard W. Tate disappears,” i.e. waning crescent potential in the South phase. More research is needed Caucasus, an area that boasts an amazing surrounding sampling sites. to discover how this is deemed to be wealth of sociolinguistic groups, unique The team collected 55 herbarium beneficial, and how this conception fits into biota, and a vibrant tradition of wild specimens of plants used by informants for broader regional concepts and conventions plant use. Through interviews with local food, medicine, cultural, and material uses, regarding plant use. peoples, our research team explored denoting local names for plants. These Informants indicated that a variety of how cultural features, land use choices, vouchers will be filed in herbaria at the wild plants hold economic potential as food, and environmental factors affect following institutions: Georgian Institute of herbal remedies, teas, and other uses. These traditional plant use patterns in the Botany (largest collection of the flora of the include a number of berries [Vaccinium dynamic context of the Autonomous South Caucasus in the world), University of arctostaphylos, Rubus idaeaus, Fragaria viridis], Republic of Adjara. Florida (broadening this institution’s teas [V. arctostaphylos, Tilia dasystyla], nuts During the summer of 2016, our geographic scope to the South Caucasus), [Corylus avellana, Juglans regia], cooking herbs research team gathered ethnobotanical and Missouri Botanical Garden (largest [Mentha longifolia, Satureja spicigera], resin for data via informal, semi-structured, and collection of flora of South Caucasus in the chewing gum [Picea orientalis], and herbal group interviews. Our goal was to visit US; also home to the Brown Center for medicines [Tussilago farfara, Senecio approximately 40 study sites (i.e. Economic Botany). platyphyllus, Sambucus ebulus]. Further villages) within Adjara, with Informant responses reflected a deep research into the economics of sustainable representative samples of villages and diverse relationship between local wild plant collection seems warranted, as selected from the predominant peoples and the flora of the region. The development of markets for natural vegetation types in the region. True majority of plants cited for food and products could help augment the economy randomization of study sites was limited medicinal uses are elements of ruderal areas, in rural communities of the region. by transportation logistics. common weeds of yards, gardens, and Despite occasional robust knowledge of Student collaborators simultaneously roadsides. In addition, the occurrence of a local plants, overall the trend definitely translated interviews from Georgian (or number of non-native taxa (e.g. Eucalyptus seems to be loss of knowledge. A number rarely, Russian). If consent was given by [Eucalyptus globulus], American pokeweed of informants, indicated by their community informants, interviews were recorded [Phytolacca americana], Japanese silverberry members to be experts about local plants, for transcription. Digital cameras [Elaeagnus umbellata]) in use citations indicated that they simply couldn’t recorded traditional harvest, indicates a dynamic, experimental attitude remember names and uses of local plants. preparation, and cultural use. Plant towards elements of local plant life. Mean age of informants is mid-50s, and only population locality information (via GPS While most informants cited vertical rarely were younger people (<30) indicated device) was collected in walking and transmission of familial knowledge as the to be knowledgeable about plants. As field interviews. Herbarium specimens primary source of their plant use lore, many indicated above, written sources concerning were collected of useful plants if they also indicated that books, other written plant use means local people will continue were growing near interview locations media, and the internet were sources of to have access to at least a portion of local or were otherwise encountered. their knowledge. A number of titles printed useful flora, but endemic knowledge is highly in the last decade of Soviet rule in Georgia were popular and cited repeatedly. A

PAGE 9 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 threatened with extinction. An added When compared to Georgians living in Ceren Kazanci (Ilia State University, 2nd benefit of our project is the adjacent regions of Georgia, are there Year PhD student) and I have arrangements documentation of local plant names and quantifiable similarities between the to share data and future collaborations. I related terminology (sometimes in ethnobotanical knowledge of Adjaran made the acquaintance and friendship of a recorded interviews), which can be used by Georgians and people living in adjacent number of Georgian researchers at Ilia linguists and other researchers interested Turkey? State University, the Georgian Institute of in dialectical variation of the Georgian Do unique Adjaran terms for plants Botany, and Batumi Botanica Garden. I have language. show influence from the Turkish language? tentative arrangements to work again with It was fascinating to note local Does use of non-native taxa decrease my field collaborators during the next field attitudes towards Islam and the Georgian as a function of elevation and/or distance season, and in actively collaborating on identity. Adjara is home to a substantial from paved roads? manuscripts related to this research effort. population of Muslim Georgians. Almost In terms of working with local These contacts will be vital for future predictably, members of the oldest students, the undergraduates especially work in the region, and I will serve as a generation identified predominantly as found the fieldwork useful and exciting. bridging node in social networks for Muslim. Their children’s generation (people We talked much about their future researchers and students of the Georgian aged 30-55) were a much more academic plans, how to find a suitable academic scene. In short, I feel this project heterogeneous mix of religious identity, graduate program, pursuing their passion, definitely strengthened ties between the sometimes espousing Islam, sometimes etc. Our work was very interdisciplinary, academic communities of the US and recent converts to Christianity, and and so student collaborators were South Caucasus, and offered some occasionally possessing an ambivalent exposed to a variety of protocols and opportunity for connections to be made attitude towards religion all together. techniques: ethnographic interviews, plant between isolated departments at Ilia State Children in the youngest age brackets, identification, medical terminology, project University — between the sociology and under 20 years, were mostly Christian. As logistics. Some of the collaborators had ecology departments, for example. expected, religious adherence does not never previously had the opportunity to Richard W. Tate is currently a graduate seem to be a strong predictor of the suite speak with a native speaker of English, and student at the University of Florida. He is of plants utilized by informants. so got a lot of practice with their language pursuing a Ph.D. degree through the School of A few new research questions resulting skills. Natural Resources and Environment’s from this research include: In addition, while we did not have the Interdisciplinary Ecology program. opportunity to work together in the field,

RICHARD TATE ARISC FELLOW 2015-16

ARISC fellow Richard Tate engaged in fieldwork near the village of Aivazacholo (Adjara, Georgia).

Photo by L. Ozbetalashvili

PAGE 10 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 Collaborative Heritage Management Grant This ARISC program, generously funded by Project Discovery! and private donations, seeks to foster joint work between American and Armenian scholars and institutions dedicated to the proper curation and preservation of heritage materials.

Alan F. Greene and Roman as the daily maintenance of news Hovsepyan and event listings). Website for the The site is available in two languages (Armenian and English), Institute of with the Armenian side providing Archaeology and more content than the English side. Ethnography NAS RA Ongoing translation work will target The purpose of this project was enhanced English capacity as it the creation of a digital heritage proceeds. The heritage database management platform and updated allows employees to upload official website for the Armenian materials and publications in Institute of Archeology and postscript, text, spreadsheet, image, Ethnography (IAE). presentation, and audio and video Our endeavor had two primary formats, which are stored in SQL aims: (1) to provide a location where tables. the institute’s employees can curate Visitors to the new site can find and review heritage materials and information pertaining to the research results, including Institute membership and its ethnographic notes, interviews, organizational structure, they can photos, and video; folklore read about ongoing research, and collections; catalogs of they may be notified about archaeological materials; and pre- upcoming events, including seminars, Soviet, Soviet, and contemporary conferences, or reports. scholarly publications related to The platform also provides an culture and heritage; and (2) to email server, allowing all interested create an online space for visitors to Institute members to maintain a view information about Institute professional email account with the research activities, access iae.am domain. As the content and publications and other outputs, be storage requirements of the new notified of Institute events, and IAE website grow, the Institute contact researchers. administration has pledged to fund To these ends, we have and support infrastructural constructed a fully functional enhancements and software website at http://iae.am/ and/or development as needed. http://archethno.am/ that now Dr. Alan F. Greene is an serves as a tool for heritage anthropological archaeologist and a management, research, and publicity visiting scholar at New York University's of Institute activities and contacts. Institute for the Study of the Ancient As of April 2016, we have World. He studies the political completed the construction of the economies of the Bronze and Iron Ages site with Shirak Technologies, have in the South Caucasus, as well as NEW IAE.AM WEBSITE populated it with a wide variety of instrumental and digital approaches to ARISC CHM GRANT PROJECT static and dynamic content, and are material culture. Dr. Roman Hovsepyan The new Institute of Archaeology and occupied with the continued is Senior Researcher the Institute of Ethnography website is available in both digitization and posting of heritage Archaeology and Ethnography (NAS, English and Armenian. related Institute documents (as well Armenia), specializing in archaeobotany and ethnobotany.

PAGE 11 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 ARISC Graduate Fellowships Funding for the Graduate Fellowships is made possible by membership fees and private donations. Awards are made up to $1,500 per Fellow. Benjamin Bamberger both Tbilisi and Moscow, my research counterparts as more primitive and Georgian Alpinism and examines the ways that Georgian and Russian backwards and in need of cultural Soviet Tourism at the Edge alpinists had conflicting conceptions of development in a way that mirrored Russian of Empire Georgia as a space and different discourses about backwardness in the My dissertation examines the role of understandings of the proper relationship Caucasus more generally. alpinism and other forms of touring in the with local mountainous peoples. Ultimately, However, my research has shown that construction of national identities and my research explores the limits of Soviet anti- not only was this not the case, but in fact the national space in Soviet Georgia. In imperialism and the complicated ways that opposite was true. From the very beginning of particular, I focus on alpinism as a key site the Soviet project was committed to Georgian alpinism in the 1920s, Georgian for the contestation and consolidation of supporting forms of national autonomy while alpinists from Tbilisi saw the mountainous ideas about the Georgian nation and never truly escaping a belief in the populations as equal partners in their Georgian people, between both Russian “backwardness” of non-Russian peoples. endeavors and often made a point to include and Georgian intellectuals and between Due to the generous support of ARISC, I local people in their expeditions. In many instances, they Georgian intellectuals “My affiliation with ARISC has been overwhelmingly positive. In and the mountainous explicitly particular, Talin Lindsay answered all of my questions both during the populations within rejected the Georgia at this time. grant writing stage and during the implementation of the grant, always Orientalizing Georgian alpinism with quick and helpful replies. I likewise received important support impulses of began in 1923 with the from Diana Lezhava in Tbilisi, who helped me to set up my talk in Tbilisi Russian tourists, first ascent of Kazbegi and gave excellent feedback after the talk. The financial support I alpinists, or (known locally as received through ARISC allowed me to extend my stay in Tbilisi and researchers. mq’invarts’veri) under examine important Georgian language sources that I otherwise would The result was a the leadership of not have been able to look at.” productive Georgian partnership between Tbilisi mathematician Giorgi — Benjamin Bamberger Nikoladze, which and the was able to extend my research in Tbilisi by marked both the first major Soviet summit mountainous regions that led to the two months where I continued to focus on and the beginning of a dedicated Georgian development of large cadres of local alpinists, print materials located at the National alpinist community. especially in Svaneti. It is clear that such Parliamentary Library of Georgia. There, I In the pre-war period, Georgian collaboration was part of a Georgian nation- examined relevant books, journals, and alpinists were an integral part of the building project that helped to better connect newspapers from the period of my research burgeoning Soviet alpinist movement and places like Svaneti to the Georgian nation and (1920’s-1950s). Although my work plan had a accomplished many of the first victories of which helped to lay claim to the mountainous neat delineation of reading newspapers in Soviet alpinism. Yet, while the Georgian regions as inherently Georgian. But this February and books in March, in reality both alpinist community became more closely partnership also caused a number of conflicts months contained significant research in both integrated with Soviet sports and tourism within the larger Soviet alpinist community types of sources as citations from one type of institutions, the goals of Georgian alpinists based in Moscow, which sought to develop source would often lead me to another. often remained more nationally focused, alpinism among workers in the trade unions Working this way allowed me to maximize causing conflict between prominent and which continued to conceptualize places the number of sources I was able to examine Georgian alpinists and officials in Moscow like Svaneti as separate from the larger and prioritize those that were most well into the 1950s. Such conflict was Georgian nation. important for Georgian alpinists during the exacerbated by the centralization of As a result of the ARISC fellowship, I decades of my research. control and resources in Moscow, and by have gained a much better understanding of One of my central research questions the continued use of Orientalizing the continuity in the overall goals of the concerned the relationship between Georgian stereotypes by Russian alpinists and Georgian alpinist community from the 1920’s alpinists in Tbilisi and their counterparts in the tourists during their travels to the until the 1950’s. After their first ascent on mountainous regions like Svaneti or Khevi. Caucasus. Kazbegi (mq’invarts’veri) in 1923, Georgian Initially, I expected to find a form of “nested Relying on archival materials, alpinists articulated a set of goals that argued orientalism” — in short, that Tbilisi-based newspapers, periodicals, and books from for cooperation with local people, a physical alpinists would see their regional and discursive conquest of specifically

PAGE 12 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

Georgian mountains, and for scientific additional two and a half months examining a chasm by documenting the ethnic and research of the “motherland.” These goals documents in Russia, where I found a sentimental motivations that generate remained clear operating principles well remarkable continuity to the pre-war period. migration and the unexpected difficulties into the 1950’s, even as the Georgian Here, conflict between Georgian alpinists and returnees encounter once they have settled alpinist community was more closely Russian officials continued to revolve around in their perceived homelands. The current integrated into sport and tourism competing ideas of space, arguments over the research project attempts to fill that void by structures in Moscow. By examining proper relationship with local peoples, and investigating the experiences of North Georgian language works during my disagreements over the function of a American Armenians who have "returned" to fellowship, I have also been able see the nationally minded Georgian mountaineering Armenia. It seeks to extend the existing many ways that Georgian alpinists community more generally, insights that theoretical framework by demonstrating how continuously memorialized past would not have been possible without first ethnic returnees sustain a powerful feeling of expeditions and how they used these examining many of the Georgian language connection to a country to which they expeditions as orienting devices for future sources available in Tbilisi made possible simultaneously harbor a sense of goals. This research has allowed me to through the ARISC Graduate Fellowship disengagement from local practices. understand how Georgian alpinists Benjamin Bamberger is a Ph.D. candidate in The research is based upon nine months themselves conceptualized what was History at the University of Illinois at Urbana- of fieldwork in Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan. I specifically Georgian about Georgian Champaign. His research interests include lived and worked in Yerevan for the academic alpinism. Georgian mountaineering, Soviet nation-building, year 2015-16. During this time, I worked as a My current research has confirmed and Soviet tourism to the Caucasus. lecturer at the American University of that conflict between Georgian alpinists Armenia (AUA). At this institution, I and sport and tourist institutions in Daniel Fittante undertook extensive participant-observation Moscow centered on conflicting Connection without and conducted several interviews with conceptualizations of the Georgian nation, Engagement: The Paradoxes colleagues – many of whom were Armenian differing relationships with the of North American Armenian Americans. In addition, I interviewed various mountainous populations, and ultimately Return Migration Armenian Americans from a wide range of contrasting ideas about how alpinism organizations. While observation and field should be developed in Georgia. In the Return migration has emerged as an notes played a pivotal role in my fieldwork, prewar period, this conflict continued to important subfield within migration studies. the content of this article comes largely from escalate and often led to outright hostility The scholarship has introduced new ways of in-depth interviews. between Georgian alpinists and officials in understanding migratory trajectories by North American Armenian activities Moscow. Unfortunately, the sources in incorporating the roles of migrants' ethnicity signal a shift in the way many Armenians of Tbilisi were largely silent on how this and imagination. As such, the existing North America view themselves in relation to relationship changed in the post-war scholarship has identified novel ways of their perceived ancestral homelands. While period, since many of the most relevant unpacking migratory patterns whose scholars who carried out fieldwork in the materials for this period are located in motivations are not centered on economic 1990s characterized many Armenian Moscow archives. As a result, I spent an mobility. But the scholarship has also opened

BENJAMIN BAMBERGER ARISC FELLOW 2015-16

The Soviet journal Nature (left) and Alesha Japaridze's book, Tetnuldi (right).

Images courtesy of Benjamin Bamberger

PAGE 13 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 returnees' relationship to Armenia as homelands while also largely disengaged from Ariel Otruba passive and ambivalent, the contemporary local issues. The Lived Geopolitics of American Armenians I interviewed The desire to build and brand a new (Non)Recognition and the understand their role as active and country – that is, to play an active Elastic Geography of transformative. transformative role in the development and Borderization What began as transnational image of the home society – sustains North circulations of financial assistance in the American Armenian returnees. For those who Eight years after the August 2008 war, wake of earthquake and war are now remain and commit their resources to freedom of movement is perhaps one of the beginning to crystalize into migratory Armenia over the course of many years, the heaviest burdens of the war between circulations as more and more settle in builder/brander motivations help close the Georgia and Russia. Reading, “State Border! Yerevan. And those now migrating are gap that connection without engagement Passage is forbidden,” green banners and bringing a diverse range of new opens. As such, North American Armenians stretches of tangled barbed and green wire perspectives and resources. Further, North introduce new ways of understanding what fences warn local villagers of the danger of American Armenians’ transformative can sustain many ethnic returnees once they crossing the Russian enforced state border efforts reconcile the disparity implicit in have settled. of the “Republic of South Ossetia.” Yet, only many return migration discussions: Many The desire to build and brand Armenia 55km of the 380km Administrative Boundary return migrants wish to participate in the has resulted in the founding of universities, Line (ABL) is demarcated. This leaves much development of their homelands. And this law offices, technological centers, news media of the so-called border ostensibly ambiguous development involves transforming many organizations, exported services, etc. But this and uncertain, making local people aspects of society. active and transformative consideration also vulnerable to detention and property at risk The more active and transformative helps explain the paradoxical connection of annexation. This process, called role of return migrants warrants attention without engagement many return migrants borderization, is perhaps most recognized in case studies treating repatriation, experience after moving to the perceived for producing a moving and dynamic border, particularly when economic and political homeland. While North American Armenian which continues to encroach further into motivations are otherwise absent. By diasporans are not exhaustively Tbilisi Administered Territory (TAT). The neglecting this dimension of return representative of return migration in its securitized and bifurcated pasturelands and migration, the scholarship has allowed a various complexities and iterations, they do, I villages along the ABL of Georgia’s Shida paradox to remain unanswered. believe, provide new ways of thinking about Kartli region have become the stage for the I have gained a new understanding of and studying return migration. performance and the contestation of what sustains return migrants after they Daniel Fittante is a doctoral candidate in the sovereignty claims by Georgians, Ossetians have settled in their perceived ancestral Department of Near Eastern Languages and and Russians. My dissertation, “The Lived homelands. This understanding helps Cultures (NELC) at the University of California, Geopolitics of (Non)Recognition and the clarify how return migrants can at once Los Angeles. Daniel works on contemporary Elastic Geography of Borderization” feel tremendously connected to their Armenian immigration and political incorporation. examines the border securitization and

DANIEL FITTANTE ARISC FELLOW 2015-16

“I am quite satisfied with my affiliation with ARISC. I received tremendous support and encouragement during the fellowship period. ARISC also provided me with an opportunity to present my research to academic community in Yerevan, wherein I partook of critical analysis and investigation with various scholars and community members.” — Daniel Fittante

Photo courtesy of Daniel Fittante

PAGE 14 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

“creeping occupation” of the geographically stratified sample of conflict of borderization on livelihoods. The embodied Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) of affected communities in the Kareli and Gori and emotional narratives that I received helped Georgia's disputed territory, South Municipalities in Shida Kartli. When not in reveal the complex precarity and special Ossetia. Contributing to two major the village, I interviewed and met with vulnerabilities of conflict affected villages bodies of scholarship, border studies and different representatives and officials from adjacent to the ABL. Uncertainty of the future feminist geopolitics, this project and the potential of “border” changes “I would simply like to express my sincere theorizes how the geopolitics of contribute to a sense of helplessness, (non)recognition produce an gratitude and appreciation for this award. It was increased vulnerability to detention elastic border geography, which instrumental to collecting a major portion of my and feelings of insecurity. then functions as a tool of primary data and will thus help me finish my Development is at the forefront of political leverage. An analysis of degree in a timely way. Thank you so much for their stories though. Participants interview and observational data your support of my project.” discuss depopulation, loss of collected from conflict affected — Ariel Otruba economic opportunities, problems villages adjacent to the ABL, accessing potable water and irrigation government, as well as international and local government and nongovernmental water, poor road conditions, and limited access organizations, who are knowledgeable and organizations, as well as an analysis of to healthcare. Problems most closely invested in the interests of conflict affected media, maps and policy documents are associated with borderization concern the populations. used to establish a lived and gendered annexation and loss of pasture lands (which Adopting a feminist ethic of care, village geopolitics of bordering. The findings of often meant villagers could no longer rely on interviews were arranged through invitations this project connect Georgia’s cattle for their livelihoods), reduced with local contacts and approached a in engagement without recognition and opportunities for hunting, fishing and collecting conflict-sensitive manner. Individuals and small Russian-Ossetian state-building to the firewood, and separation from friends, family, groups were interviewed within the privacy of elasticity of the ABL, which translates into and access to churches and cemeteries on the homes, closed gardens, and occasionally birjas. the restricted freedom of movement, South Ossetian side of the ABL. Among the Often sharing in Georgian hospitality, interview detention, and precarity of local most exciting and interesting challenges going environments were kept casual and informal. populations. forward will be discerning what is “normal” in Sitting around tables of watermelon, tomato The ARISC Graduate Fellowship terms of vulnerability for rural Georgians and and cucumber salad, khachupuri and award helped me complete the most what is exceptional of these “conflict affected” homemade spirits, my research assistants and I important part of my data collection for communities. carefully asked villagers to discuss their my dissertation research on Ariel Otruba is a Ph.D. candidate in the experiences and stories of life along the line borderization. Between May and the end Department of Geography at Rutgers University following the 2008 war. of August 2016, I used this award to in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. Her Interview questions centered on revealing connect “big politics” to the experience scholarly interests include geographies of conflict gendered perspectives on border knowledge, of local people. I visited and completed and violence, border studies, postcolonial perceptions of in/security and vulnerability, semi-structured conversational interviews development and feminist approaches to critical border crossing and detention, and the impacts with over one-hundred villagers in a geopolitics.

ARIEL OTRUBA ARISC FELLOW 2015-16

The installation of green banners is used to demarcate the South Ossetian Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) and caution local people about crossing.

Photo courtesy of Ariel Otruba

PAGE 15 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 In Appreciation

Donations NAS RA Pavel Avetisyan, and the researchers Oliver Reisner, Lika Tsuladze, Amieke Bouma, Gayane Shagoyan, Roman Hovsepyan, Astghik Malkhaz Toria, Jurate Kavaliauskaite, Elene ARISC is very fortunate and thankful Babajanyan, Harutyun Marutyan for co- Natenadze, Irakli Khvadagiani, Davit to have received generous donations from organizing ARISC’s events; Angelina Jishkariani, Marina Tabukashvili, Gia Tarkhan- Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Giragosian, Ann Hovhannisyan of the Ministry of Education Mouravi, and Timothy Blauvelt. Marie Kohlligian, Sona Minakian, and Science of RA; the Department of We thank Dr. Joanna Regulska (UC Anoush Miridjanian, MD, Martin and Cultural Studies, Yerevan State University Davis) and Dr. Christopher Tuttle (CAORC) Sylva Surabian and numerous (YSU), Yulia Antonyan; the Centre of for conducting our external review, and for anonymous donors in support of our University Continuing Education at YSU of providing much-needed feedback for our projects. Thank you! Languages and Social Science, Samvel continued growth. In Appreciation Karabekyan; and Sarhat Petrosyan. We are eternally grateful to Cheryl ARISC would like to thank all our In Azerbaijan, Dr. Anar Valiyev, of the Gibbs, our contact at the US Department of 2015-16 representatives and staff for their ADA University, Ms. Shahla Khudiyeva, of the Education, for her tireless guidance. tremendous work. In Armenia, Susan Baku American Center, Dr. Shalala And many, many thanks to everyone at Marukhyan and Nina Panyan have been Mammadova, Baku State University, and Dr. the Council of American Overseas Research steadily working on growing the ARISC Shamkhal Abilov, Qafqaz University. Centers for all their assistance: Monica Clark, Armenia Branch; Leyla Rustamli has been the In Georgia, Timothy Blauvelt (American Christopher Tuttle, and Heidi Wiederkehr. reliable and steady ARISC Azerbaijan Councils), Natia Mestvirishvili and Mariam We wouldn’t be able to do any activities Representative; and in Georgia, our activities Sikharulidze (CRRC), and Ketevan Gurchiani on these pages without the constant were expertly carried out by Diana Lezhava (ISU) have been instrumental in coordinating assistance of our members! From preparing and Ketevan Gikashvili. co-sponsored lectures. Many thanks also to grant calls, to coordinating programming, to Many thanks to the Director of the those who provided their expertise with the reading through applications, you are what Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Oral History Summer School: Stephen Jones, keeps ARISC running! Thank you! Progress, Problems and Possibilities of GIS in the South Caucasus: An International Workshop May 6-7, 2016 ISAW Lecture Hall, New York University In conjunction with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University

In May 2016, ARISC co-sponsored a focused on the current state and possibilities Humanities and spatial data methodological Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for expanding the capacity for advanced spatial skills exchange workshop in Georgia in 2018. workshop for scholars from the U.S. and the information technologies in the South The workshop is supported by the Institute for South Caucasus in New York City, in Caucasus. the Study of the Ancient World, New York collaboration with the Institute for the Study Results of the workshop discussions are University, with $444 of additional support or 11% of the Ancient World at New York University. being prepared as a manuscript for submission of the overall cost provided by the American The workshop was co-organized by ARISC to the international journal, Antiquity, and will Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC) President, Ian Lindsay, and past ARISC serve as a foundation for a broader Digital and made possible by a grant from the US President, Karen Rubinson. The workshop Department of Education.

PAGE 16 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 Oral History Summer School: Recording Georgia’s Past and Training Scholars for the Future September 12-18, 2016 Dedoplistskaro, Ilia State University campus In conjunction with the Center for Social Sciences (CSS) and Ilia State University (ISU)

Today, oral history research is one of the ideological pressures, or officially imposed the Netherlands. The academic supervisors important methods used in historiography narratives. of the project are Professor Stephen Jones that helps in recording and documenting the Therefore, the summer school has aimed from Mount Holyoke College, USA and memories of eyewitnesses, preserving the to create a cadre of Georgian scholars in ARISC Vice-President, Dr. Lika Tsuladze from unique and authentic evidence of the past multiple disciplines who would be the Center for Social Sciences and Ivane that otherwise will be lost. knowledgeable about and willing to apply the Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, and Dr. The importance of oral history is methods of oral history in their research. Oliver Reisner, Ilia State University. accepted in many academic fields – As part of this summer school, thirteen The project was funded by the Rustaveli anthropology, history, sociology, political junior scholars interested in oral history National Science Foundation, and co-sponsored science, and gender studies are among the were trained in various methodologies, such by ARISC, the Center for Social Sciences (CSS) most notable. Like any research method, it as narrative analysis, critical discourse and Ilia State University. demands scrupulous attention, rules, cross analysis, sociolinguistic approaches, Many thanks also to those who provided their checking, and careful interpretation. participant observation, among others. expertise with the Oral History Summer School: Oral history is a collaborative process in The Oral History Summer School was Stephen Jones (ARISC), Oliver Reisner (ISU), Lika which both the participant and the the first step in training the junior scholars Tsuladze (CSS), Amieke Bouma (Univ. of researcher can discover new depths, new who would participate in a three-year Amsterdam), Malkhaz Toria (ISU), Jurate memories, and new perspectives. Oral project on documenting the memories of Kavaliauskaite (Vilnius University), Elene history is of particular importance for the eyewitnesses of Georgia’s recent history Natenadze (ISU), Irakli Khvadagiani (Sovlab), societies where written history is scarce, or between1972 and 2003. Davit Jishkariani (Sovlab), Marina Tabukashvili where it has been distorted by censorship, The summer school involved scholars (Taso Foundation), Gia Tarkhan-Mouravi, Timothy from Georgia, US, Germany, Lithuania, and Blauvelt (ISU) and Diana Lezhava (ARISC).

PAGE 17 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS News and Events from the past year

ARISC has held numerous events this past year in the South Caucasus! This section briefly lists the many, many talks held. To read the full descriptions, see our website www.arisc.org. We are grateful to all the institutions that have co-sponsored events with ARISC. In Armenia: the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, and Yerevan State University. In Azerbaijan, the Baku American Center, and ADA University. In Georgia, the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), Center for Social Sciences (CSS), and Ilia State University (ISU).

WiP – “Stalinism and Islam in the Soviet Periphery: The 1929 Muslim Uprising in Ajara” by Timothy Blauvelt, American Councils and Ilia State University, Giorgi Khatiashvili, Georgia Regents University. June 3, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Entangled Nationalisms: Language, Autonomy, and the Brezhnev Constitution in the Georgian SSR, 1977-1978” by Claire Pogue Kaiser, University of Pennsylvania and ARISC Fellow. June 10, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Kura-Araxes: The Making of a Cultural Tradition” by Dr. Mitchell Rothman, Chair of the Anthropology Department at Widener University. June 11, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia. Joint lecture organized by the Institute of Archeology & Ethnography NAS RA and ARISC.

Reading Group — “Dancing Mania” written by Aksel Bakunts. June 16, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Azerbaijan: Discourse and Self-Perception” by Chiara Loda, Dublin City University. June 18, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Applying to Graduate Programs in the US” by Talin Lindsay, American Research Institute of the South Caucasus and Purdue University. June 23, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

“How to Apply to Graduate Programs in the US” by Talin Lindsay, American Research Institute of the South Caucasus and Purdue University. June 25, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Gikor” written by Hovhannes Tumanyan. June 30, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Challenges to the Preservation of Modern Architecture: A Photo Survey of Soviet-Era Architecture around Georgia” by Angela Wheeler, Columbia University. July 1, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Georgia as NATO’s ‘Model Pupil’” by Ryan McCarrel, University College Dublin. July 8, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — Armenian Tale “Anahit.” July 14, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Ancient DNA Investigations at Samtavro, Republic of Georgia” by Luka Papac, University of Melbourne. July 15, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Funerary Horse Races and Chechen Bard Song: Workings of Musical Memorial in Northeastern Georgia” by Ben Wheeler, Sayat Nova Project and University of Illinois. July 22, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Joint Lecture — “Mortuary Analysis at the Late Bronze Age Site Tsaghkahovit Burial Cluster 12” by Dr. Maureen E. Marshall, University of Chicago, and “Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey: Preliminary Results and Plans for Future Work” by Dr. Kathryn Jane Franklin, University of Chicago and ARISC Fellow, and Astghik Babajanyan, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA. July 23, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

PAGE 18 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS (Continued from Page 18)

Reading Group — Armenian legends “The Flower of Paradise” and “Blazing a Trail.” July 27, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Facing the Skeletons in the Closet During Political Transition: Post-Communist Collective Memory Debates in Estonia and Georgia” by Jane Kitaevich, University of Michigan. July 29, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Repentant Demons, Contrite Cannibals, and Vengeful Crocodiles: Sin and Salvation in Medieval Christian Miracles Tales” by Elizabeth Anderson, Yale University and ARISC Fellow. July 30, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

“The ‘other yerevan’ Project” by Sarhat Petrosyan, urbanlab and ARISC Fellow, and Diana Ter-Ghazaryan, University of Miami and ARISC Fellow. August 27, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

“A Conversation with Cinematographer Thomas Burns” with Thomas Burns, award-winning cinematographer. September 9, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Gyumri: An Architectural Language of Patterns” by Jane Britt Greenwood, Architect, Professor, and Fulbright Scholar. September 10, 2015, Yerevan, Armenia.

Reading Group — “The Study of Georgian Youth`s Awareness, Perceptions and Attitudes of Gender Equality” by Elene Japaridze, Maia Barkaia, Nino Zhgenti, Mariam Amashukeli. September 22, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“The Kura River Basin: Linking Transboundary Projects to Local Implementation” by Jeanene Mitchell, University of Washington and ARISC Fellow. September 22, 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan.

WiP – “Detecting Defections: The Causes of Party Breakdowns in Georgia, 1999-2004” by Julie George, Queens College, City University of New York. September 30, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “What is a Modern State? Insights from Conceptual History” by Dr. Poul Fritz Kjaer, Copenhagen Business School. October 7, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Film Studies Group —“Mimino” by Giorgi Danelia. October 26, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Gender Assignment in Tsova-Tush” by Thomas Wier, Free University of Tbilisi. October 28, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Cultures of Memory and Memory Politics in Contemporary Georgia” by Oliver Reisner, Ilia State University. November 4, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “The Evolution of Georgia’s Reintegration Policy” by Ann Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili, Dublin City University. November 11, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Film Studies Group — “The Plea” by Tengiz Abuladze. November 20, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Assembling Optimism: Tourism, Debts and Transnational Prostitution on the Georgian Black Sea Coast” by Tamta Khalvashi, Free University of Tbilisi. November 25, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Women, Men and Education in Azerbaijan” Kifayat Agayeva. November 27, 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan.

PAGE 19 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS (Continued from Page 19)

WiP – “Perceived Social Support and Adjustment Among Domestic Violence Victims” by Prof. Nino Javakhishvili, Director of the D. Uznadze Institute of Psychology and Deputy Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Ilia State University, and Maka Lordkipanidze, Ilia State University. December 9, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Flight from the USSR” by Dato Turashvili. December 11, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “The Rise and Fall of Decentralized School Governance: Decision-Making Practices in Georgia” by Sophia Gorgodze, Ilia State University. December 16, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “‘Missing Girls’” in the South Caucasus Countries:Trends, Possible Causes, and Policy Options” by Monica Das Gupta. December 17, 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Film Studies Group — “The Other Bank” by George Ovashvili. December 18, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Ethnonational Imaginations and Representations in a Post-Conflict Setting: The Case of Georgia” by Babak Rezvani, University of Amsterdam. December 22, 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Flight from the USSR” by Dato Turashvili. January 15, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “State Building Symbolism in the Tourist Architecture of Post-‘Rose Revolution’ Batumi, Georgia” by Suzy Harris-Brandts, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). January 20, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Film Studies Group — “My Grandmother” (1929) by Kote Mikaberidze. January 22, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “History and Policy of Translating Poetry: Azerbaijan and its Neighbors” by Hamlet Isakhanli. January 26, 2016, Baku, Azerbaijan.

WiP – “Nomen est Omen: Renaming of Places in the Minority Inhabited Areas of Georgia” by Maria Diego Gordon, ECMI. February 3, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

Street scene near the Maiden’s Tower in Baku.

Photo courtesy of Talin Lindsay

PAGE 20 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS (Continued from Page 20)

WiP – “Compatibility of Academic Program Outcomes with Labor Market Demands in Social Sciences” by Diana Lezhava, Center for Social Sciences and ARISC, and Mariam Amashukeli, Center for Social Sciences. February 3, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Europeanization of Security Policy in Georgia” by Zurab Bezhanishvili, Independent Researcher. February 10, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “War, Drugs and the Post-Soviet Era” by Dessa Bergen-Cico, Syracuse University, Visiting Fulbright Scholar. February 17, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Flight from the USSR” by Dato Turashvili. February 19, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Mass Graves of Victims of Soviet Repressions of 1921-1953 in Tbilisi” by Irakli Khvadagiani, SOVLAB and Ilia State University. February 17, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “The Intellectual life of Shah Ismail I and his Care, Love, Respect Towards his Mother Tongue (Turkish)” by Mohammad Karim Yousefjamali & Azar Gholizadeh Sarabi. February 23, 2016, Baku, Azerbaijan.

WiP – “Identity Styles and Parenting Dimensions in the Georgian Context” by Nino Skhirtladze, Researcher, D. Uznadze Institute of Psychology, Ilia State University. March 2, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “The Making of Dinamo Tbilisi, Lavrenty Beria and the NKVD” by David Jishkariani, Tbilisi State University and SOVLAB. March 9, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Georgian Alpinism and Soviet Tourism at the Edge of Empire” by Benjamin Bamberger, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and ARISC Fellow. March 16, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Gaston” by William Saroyan. March 17, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “The Deportation of the Balkars in 1944 and the Effects of this Narrative on the Current Socio-Political Situation in Kabardino-Balkaria” by Frederico Salvati, Liaison Officer, European Caucasus House (EUCASA). March 23, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “One Fish, Two Fish… Sampling and Data Collection for Fisheries in the Bering Sea” by Lucy Flynn. March 30, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

BENJAMIN BAMBERGER ARISC FELLOW, 2015-16

Overlooking Tbilisi.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Bamberger

PAGE 21 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS (Continued from Page 21)

WiP – “Surfing the Post-Soviet Web with Style. Text Mining Post-Soviet de Facto States” by Giorgio Comai, Dublin City University. April 6, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “The Last Word Was Love” by William Saroyan. April 8, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Countering Violent Extremism” by Naida Chamilova, Hedayah. April 20, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Connection Without Engagement: The Paradoxes of North American Armenian Return Migration” by Daniel Fittante, University of California, Los Angeles and ARISC Fellow. April 26, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Being Cool in Tbilisi: Musical Taste and Scene Building on Social Media” by Brigita Sebald, California State University, Dominguez Hills. April 27, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Reading Group — “Through the Rainbow” by Marine Khachadour. April 28, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

Reading Group — “The Woman” by Anri Grigorian. May 12, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – “Pioneers of Georgian Studies in the United States” by Paul Crego, U.S. Library of Congress. May 18, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Shifting Symbols of Ethnicity: Armenian Oud Playing in the 1960s and 1970s” by Alyssa Mathias, University of California, Los Angeles. May 25, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Film Studies Group —“Mimino” by Giorgi Danelia. May 26, 2016, Yerevan, Armenia.

WiP – Discussion “Familiar Strangers: The Georgian Diaspora and the Evolution of Soviet Empire” with Erik R. Scott, University of Kansas. June 8, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “The Development of Georgia-Europe Migration Streams: Lessons for the United States” by Erin Trouth Hofmann, Utah State University, and ARISC member. June 15, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Nostalgia, Modernity, Minorities and the Soviet Past in Armenia and Georgia” by Maxim Edwards, University of Glasgow and Corvinus University of Budapest. June 22, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

DANIEL FITTANTE ARISC FELLOW 2015-16

Delivering his talk, “Connection Without Engagement: The Paradoxes of North American Armenian Return Migration” at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, NAS RA.

Photo courtesy of Susan Marukhyan

PAGE 22 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16 EVENTS (Continued from Page 22)

WiP – “Neoliberal Orientalism and the Arab Uprisings: Art and Politics in the ‘Arab Street’” by Rayya El Zein, Graduate Center, City University of New York. June 29, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “‘The System is Not Broke, it’s Broken’: The Global Crisis in Humanitarian Aid” by Elizabeth Cullen Dunn, Indiana University Bloomington. July 6, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Constraints on the Growth of the Private Security Sector in Comparative Perspective” by Matthew Light, University of Toronto. July 20, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Leninopad: Ukraine’s Struggle with its Soviet Past” by Ani Chkhikvadze, Georgetown University. July 20, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“The Lived Geopolitics of (Non)Recognition and the Elastic Geography of Borderization” by Ariel Otruba, Rutgers University and ARISC Fellow. July 22, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Linking Botanical and Cultural Conservation in Adjara, Georgia” by Richard W. Tate, University of Florida and ARISC Fellow. July 27, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

“Writing Home: Communication of Muslim Refugees Between the Ottoman and Russian Empires” by Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, Stanford University. August 25, 2016, Baku, Azerbaijan.

“Settlement Structure and Craft Production in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Communities in Kvemo Kartli, Southern Georgia” by Dr. Nathaniel Erb-Satullo, Harvard University and ARISC Fellow. August 30, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Post-Soviet Conspiracy Theories” by Scott Radnitz, University of Washington. September 5, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Information War and Social Media” by Svitlana Matviyenko, University of Western Ontario. September 21, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

WiP – “Regulatory Affairs and the Outdoor Food Market in Tbilisi, Georgia” by Natalja Czarnecki, University of Chicago and ARISC Fellow. September 28, 2016, Tbilisi, Georgia.

BESHUMI, GEORGIA

Youths and their horses at the Shuamtoba festival.

Photo courtesy of Richard Tate

PAGE 23 MEMBER NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO. 7 2015-16

Hiking into the village of Baricholo (Adjara, Georgia). Photo by Richard Tate. CONTACT US Support ARISC! The American Research Institute ARISC welcomes your gift contributions of the South Caucasus to support its mission! If you are Department of Anthropology interested in supporting ARISC, we have Purdue University 700 W. State St., Suite 219 several ways you can help! How to Become a West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA By Shopping Online [email protected] Shop online at AmazonSmile https:// Member http://www.arisc.org smile.amazon.com/ch/83-0459187 and 1. Determine your level of membership: OFFICERS Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of institutional, individual, student, or PRESIDENT your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to corporate partnership. Visit our website Ian Lindsay

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