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Home , Kartlos, President of Georgia, Rose Revolution, South Ossetia

T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T e x a s a t Au s t i n

Center forR ussian East European E& urasian Studies Separatist Confl icts Challenge New Georgian President by Julie George

NEWSMarch/ April 2005 When became president of after Vol. 20 No.2 the Rose of 2003, one of his fi rst promises was to restore the territory of Georgia, reclaiming the separatist territories of and South . Current UN recognition understands both Abkhazia and as Georgian territory, but both operate independently Separatist Conflicts Challenge of Georgian law and influence. Of the many bold promises by the New Georgian President 1-2 young leader, the assurance of territorial is his most ambitious. The politics CREEES Calendar 3 of Soviet dissolution created opportunities Georgia: History, Legends, for in the Myths and Stories 4-6 successor states. In Georgia, several From the Library 6 factors helped spur the secessionist Explore UT Schedule 7 movements by Abkhazia and South Outreach News 8 Ossetia. First, the i n d e p e n d e n c e CREEES News 9 movements of the Union Republics CREEES Travel 10 (such as Georgia) created a precedent Area Opportunities 11 for the Soviet ethnic autonomies to make similar claims for Map used with permission, GlobalSecurity.orgGlobalSecurity.org independence and http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/georgia.htm sovereignty, as they did in , and Nagorno-Karabakh. Second, the The CREEES Newsletter is pub lished regularly during the academic year using politics of nationalism that helped drive Union Republic independence affected no state funds. Please send corrections, regional politics as well, mobilizing regional ethnic identity (the Abkhaz in com ments or inquiries to Allegra Azulay Abkhazia, the Ossetes in South Ossetia) and also engendering feelings of at : [email protected]. alienation by , who were experiencing their own nationalist surge. Finally, the weakness of the Georgian government and military, combined with external support for both regional governments, created a possibility Submit mailing address changes to for military success for the separatist regions. CREEES, or contact us by telephone Georgia experienced three wars between 1990 and 1994, two at (512) 471-7782, or by fax at of secession and one . The first , Zviad (512) 471-3368. Gamsakhurdia, initiated a policy to create a unitary state within Georgia by revoking the autonomous status of South Ossetia. National leaders in South Please visit our web page at: Ossetia responded with a petition to leave Georgia and join the http://www.utexas.edu/cola/ as part of the Russian Republic. Georgian militia groups clashed with South Ossetian forces before signing a ceasefi re in 1992, without a permanent political depts/creees/ resolution to date. South Ossetia enjoys a porous border with and teems

Separatist Confl icts continued on Page 2 CREEES News with contraband goods: foodstuffs and products for the regions back into Georgia. local markets (Georgian and South Ossetian alike), as Contraband flowing through the uncontrolled well as petroleum, illegal drugs, and weapons for arming borders of South Ossetia foments corruption and degrades Chechen and Georgian (anti-Abkhaz) militia groups. incentives for peace on all sides. Saakashvili has actively Gamsakhurdia did not take commensurate combated corruption within the central government and action against Abkhazia, although the Abkhaz continued established customs controls in South Ossetia to varying to appeal variously for autonomy, sovereignty, and degrees of success. The government of South ultimately independence from Georgia. Gamsakhurdia’s Ossetia has resisted these measures, and sporadic power waned and his eventual ouster led to civil war as violence has returned to the region in the last year. militias from his The ongoing discussion of repatriation of the native western Georgians displaced during the war presents an ongoing Georgia (called hurdle to conflict resolution in Abkhazia. The de facto ) battled Abkhazian government’s official position has been one with -based agreeing with full rights of return in principle, although in groups to reinstate practice most attempts to repatriate Georgian families has him. The Zviadists, ended with violence. A key factor in the practical policy for based just the Abkhaz government would be the demographic impact under Abkhazia, of a comprehensive return of Georgians to Abkhazian were ultimately territory. As a result of the war, the Abkhaz hold a stark routed. Victorious majority in the region. militia groups The final obstacle to a political resolution of the Iveria Hotel: The Iveria Hotel housed about 1000 Georgians displaced by invited Eduard separatist questions is the most daunting to Georgians, the Abkhaz war. Families of four lived Shevardnadze Russia’s continued involvement in the regions. Russia’s in single hotel rooms for over ten years. into Georgian position towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia is Recently, the Iveria Hotel, a Western executive power. contradictory, at one time recognizing the two regions company, purchased the hotel, giving Spurred by their as part of Georgian territory, but later exploiting Georgia’s each family $7,000 for relocation. political success, weakness to grant South and Abkhazians Georgian militia Russian citizenship. As a result, Georgian officials groups based nearby entered Abkhazia to consolidate often frame the separatist wars in terms of wars with Georgian power there. War ensued as Abkhaz militias, Russia, not with the regions themselves – a tendency aided by Chechen troops and Russian arms, fought back. that exacerbates already conflictual negotiation efforts In Abkhazia, where Georgians were 48% of the population between the central and de facto governments. and the Abkhaz 18%, most of the Georgian population Saakashvili’s strategy thus far has been to fled the region entirely, with over 250,000 people newly attempt corruption reform while establishing strong homeless and jobless. According to Human Rights Watch, relationships with the West in order to deter continued both sides committed war crimes against soldiers and Russian intervention. He has departed from the policies civilians, a of his predecessors who both sought to create a Georgian c o m m o n unitary state, in January offering South Ossetia the occurrence in autonomous status it lost in 1990. So far, these policies ethnic wars. have had little short-term effect on consolidating Georgian Saakashvili’s power. The anti-corruption campaign in South Ossetia pledge to was met with violence, the offer of autonomy rebuffed. bring Abkhazia Even so, the president of Georgia has demonstrated his and South intent to find a resolution to these problems that have Ossetia back plagued Georgia since its independence, guaranteeing into Georgian tumultuous affairs among the actors in the region in the control faces near future. s e v e r a l Julie George is a doctoral candidate in the Government challenges, Department. She spent a year in Georgia on a Fulbright IIE the most Abkhazia Destruction: This is what re- grant, and is currently supported by a FLAS fellowship. Her imposing being mains of the former headquarters of the dissertation deals with secession and autonomy in Russia and the search Communist Party in Sukhum(i). The Ab- Georgia. for peaceful khaz de facto government has not been leverage to able to resort all the devastation from the Our thanks to Julie George for her presentation in con- attract the war, so one in four buildings in Sukhum(i) junction with the Symposium on the Art and Culture of s e p a r a t i s t remains in ruins. the Republic of Georgia!

Page 2 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES Calendar March/ April March 3 The Graves of Sarmatian Nobility in Dr. Oleksandr Symonenko, University of Pennsylvania Classics Lounge, WAG 116 12:30pm

March 4 Scythian and Ancient Greek Applied Arts (7th-4th Century BC) Dr. Aleksander Leskov, University of Pennsylvania Doty Fine Arts Building 2.204 3:30pm

March 5 Explore UT! See page 7 for a description of all CREEES events! 11am-5pm

March 10 Bridging Cultures: Austin to Stanterg Dita Dauti-Heilman, founder of 400 Voices Eastwoods Room, Texas Union 2.102 3:30pm

March 14-18 Spring Break

March 28 The Caucasian Blues: The Chechen War in Film Dr. Thomas J. Garza, CREEES Director Parlin 203 3pm

April 7 The Holocaust on German-Occupied Soviet Territory and the Response of Soviet Jewish Intellectuals Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA and Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University Eastwoods Room, Texas Union, 2.102 1pm

April 9 Olympiada of Spoken Russian All-day testing of -skills for high school students

April 23 Russia Day! Students from Central Texas will descend on the UT campus to be im- mersed in . Students will learn the Cyrillic alphabet, play Russian games, experience Russian food, and explore the history and culture of this fascinating country.

Don't forget to visit the CREEES calendar page online for updates and additions! http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/creees/

Czech Film Festival

The Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies is showing the best of Czech cinema every Wednesday at 5pm in CAL422. All movies have English subtitles.

March 2: Na Samote U Lesa (A Cottage by Wood) March 9: Post Coitum (Post Coitum) March 23: Rozmarne Leto (Capricious Summer) March 30: Je Treba Zabit Sekala (Sekal has to Die) April 6: Divoke Vcely (Wild Bees) April 13: Andel Exit (Angel Exit) April 20: Vychova Divek v Cechach (Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia) April 27: Bolero (Bolero) May 4: Slavnosti Snezenek (Snowdrop Festivities)

Page 3 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES News

GEORGIA: History, Legends, Myths and Stories Georgia has a favorable geographic location situated in the , between the Black and “Georgia is a hospitable country, built by a good architect, Caspian Seas, neighboring Russia, , with very beautiful people with light skin and eyes”. and , with an area of 69.700 km2 and a population (Strabo, I century). of 4.37 million people. Mild Subtropical climate, natural resources, glorious mountains, and sunny sea side make As early as ancient times, the coastal Georgia a very attractive tourist site. country Georgia (then ) attracted the attention Georgia is known for its wine. of the cultural world. The first data concerning Georgia Today there are between 500 and are ascribed to Greek and Roman authors, such as 1,000 varieties of grapes in Georgia Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, Plutarch, Tacitus, Flavius with almost every village producing Ariane, Archangelo Lamberti, Chardin, and others. its own wine. Stone Western Georgia, known as Colchis, was famous wine presses and for its wealth. Greeks knew of this fabled wealth of western clay containers Georgia, described in such legends as Medea and the have been found Golden Fleece. According to Greek Mythology, Jason and in Georgia that the Argonauts sailed to Colchis in search of the Golden date back to the Fleece and found a great civilization already flourishing. 3rd Century B.C., Georgia is known as the homeland of the and wine leaves and stems have first European. The fact that Georgian and German been found in Bronze Age tombs. archeologists found fragments of an ancient human Most churches are decorated with some kind of vine skeleton about 1.8 million years ago attests to the antiquity ornamentation. It was also from here that viticulture of the first European’s age. “Georgia is the country of the spread to many European countries. Xenophon (401- first Europeans and the discoveries of Georgian scientists 400) recalled in his writings “that Caucasian tribe who put the age of the first Europeans at twice what we formerly lived on the Black sea coast prepared strong wine.” thought.” (from “Le Monde”). Georgians do not call themselves Georgians According to official sources the first Georgian but Kartvelebi and their land Sakartvelo. These names state was founded 4,000 years ago. The Georgians are derived from the pagan god Kartlos, said to be the themselves tell the following story about how they came father of all Georgians. The foreign name Georgia, used to possess the throughout Western , is mistakenly believed to land they come from the country’s patron St. George. Actually it deem the is derived from the names Kurj or Gurj, by which they most beautiful. are known to the Arabs and modern Persians. Another When God was theory purports that the name comes from the Greek geo distributing (earth); because when the Greeks came to Georgia they portions of the saw the Georgians working the land. The Classical world world to all knew the inhabitants of eastern Georgia as Iberians, the peoples thus confusing the geographers of antiquity who thought of the Earth, this name applied only to the inhabitants of . The the Georgians Romans called it Iberi and the people Iberians; The Slaves called it Iveria and the peoples Ivers. Svaneti region, Ushguli village were having a party. As a result The official language is Georgian, the only they arrived late and were told by God that all the land language in the Iberan-Caucasian family written in had already been distributed. When they replied that they ancient script, with its own unique alphabet, being one of were late only because they had been lifting their glasses the 14 existing alphabets in the world. Georgia has an old in praise of Him, God was pleased and gave the Georgians tradition of epic literature, art, beautiful polyphonic songs, that part of Earth he had been reserving for himself. dynamic dancing, ancient legends, cities, fortresses,

Page 4 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES News castles and monasteries. the centuries the cathedral experienced all the adversities Georgia is known for its rich and unique folk that the country faced. It has been destroyed many dance and music. The Georgian State Dance Company, times but always managed to be rebuilt, as it was a symbol of the vitality and spiritual strength of the nation. Georgians have built churches and monasteries not only in Georgia but also outside its borders, e.g. in Palestine, , , and . The most important of these are: the Holy Cross Monastery in , the St. James Monastery founded in the 1940s, has traveled around the world in Jerusalem, the performing spectacular renditions of traditional Georgian Iveron Monastery dances. Unique in the folk-dancing tradition, Georgian on Mount Athos male performers dance on their toes without the help of and the Petritsoni special blocked shoes. Georgian folk music, featuring (now Bachkovo) complex, three-part, polyphonic Monastery in Narikala fortress in Tbilisi harmonies, has long been a Bulgaria. subject of special interest among The eleventh and twelfth centuries were a musicologists. Most Georgian folk “Golden Age” for Georgia songs are peculiar to individual and it is during this time regions of Georgia. The inspiration that the medieval monarchy is most often religious, work, reached its height under or special occasions. Dancer the reign of King David the and choreographer George Builder’s (1089-1125) great- Balanchine; Lexo Toradze, pianist granddaughter, Queen who lives in the U.S.; opera singer Paata Burchuladze; Tamara (1184-1212). A and prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili are among many unique Georgian Christian famous Georgians. culture flourished between Christianity became the state religion in 337 when the reigns of David the St. Nino from Cappadocia came to Georgia with a vine Builder and Queen Tamara; cross tied in her hair and baptized the royal family and Queen Tamar this is the era of great the people. Pagan idols were systematically destroyed architectural buildings such as and Christian Orthodox churches and monasteries were Gelati and Vardzia and also the flourishing of a literary built in their place. The building of the first cathedral tradition revered to this day. Svetitskhoveli is connected with the place where the It was to Queen Tamara that Shota Rustaveli woman, Sidonia, from (ancient capital of dedicated his great epic poem, “The Knight in the Georgia) was buried. She was interred together with Tiger’s Skin,” a poem the seamless Chiton of Lord Jesus Christ, which her which exemplified all brother Elioz had brought from Jerusalem. Throughout the virtues of chivalry and honor that were celebrated throughout the Georgian Kingdom during her reign. As a true son of his epoch, Shota Rustaveli championed brotherhood and mutual assistance irrespective of nationality and religion. Georgian daily life gave rise to a Shota Rustaveli Twelve Holy Apostles Catholicosal Cathedral of Mtskheta - cult of women that was “Svetitskhoveli” (1010-1029) mentioned in Rustaveli’s poem. The statue of Mother

Page 5 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES News Georgia (Kartlis Deda) that stands in the hills above making Georgia a more attractive place for foreign capital city Tbilisi perhaps best symbolizes the national investment. In addition, it is possible that, as the Georgian character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine with state grows stronger, conflicted regions will come to which she greets her friends and in her right is a sword believe that they too can profit from living under a viable to draw against her enemies. Georgian . After the “Golden Age” of cultural and political The Georgians are very hospitable people, with development that lasted until the 13th century, Georgia strong traditions of chivalry and codes of personal honor. entered a long period of political isolation as fratricidal They believe that guests come from God. Friendship is conflict between prized highest among all the virtues. The Georgians are pretenders to the proud, passionate and fiercely individualistic, yet deeply Georgian throne connected with each other through a shared sense of tore the kingdom belonging to a greater Georgian family. apart. Mongols seized and Khatuna Doliashvili is a Graduate student in the Department of divided Georgia Sociology. Eric Barrett is a Graduate student in the Department into numerous of Slavic and Eurasian Studies. kingdoms and countries. After the Mongol period (15th From the Library… century) Georgia fell under Turkish and When looking for information on the Caucasus, the catalog is only the beginning. Checkout these View of old Tbilisi Persian domination. This was brought to databases through the Databases and Indexes to an end in the 19th century, when the Georgian population Articles links on the library web page for current news was reduced to little over half a million by disease, wars, and information on the Caucasus: emigration and slave trading, and Georgia was made a subject of the expanding . The modernizing Factiva Database provides full-text searching of select Imperial Russian State produced a new urban culture in articles from a number of regional news agencies such Georgia, and an active nationalist intelligentsia, inspired as: ARKA and ARMINFO (Armenia); Azer Press, Trend by the European idea of freedom and self-determination, News Agency, and Turan (Azerbaijan); Black Sea led a campaign for great Georgian autonomy. Press and Prime News (Georgia). It also provides With the collapse of the Russian empire in October access to BBC Monitoring Caucasus. Articles from 1917, Georgia joined a federation with its neighboring most of these resources are available from 1997 or states, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but its disintegration 1998 to the present. in May 1918 led to the declaration of an independent Georgian Democratic Republic with a new government. World Markets Research Centre provides The Georgian Democratic Republic was recognized by comprehensive country reports, including risk ratings, many states of the world. On May 7, 1920 the Georgian daily updates and analysis of the economic, political, government signed a peace treaty with Russia. This legal, tax, operational and security environments in treaty was later violated on February 25, 1921, when the 185 countries, including those of the Caucasus. Red Army occupied and Sovietized Georgia. Georgia remained one of the 15 Soviet Republics from 1936 until In addition, there are a multitude of web resources that 1991, when it officially declared independence. provide links to information on the Caucasus: REENIC Prior to 1991 Georgia appeared to be a relatively (reenic.utexas.edu/reenic/index.html), REESWeb well off republic with fairly good growth potential. Since (www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb/), and EurasiaNet independence, however, Georgia has suffered from (www.eurasianet.org), just to name a few. And don’t intense civil conflict, which has exacerbated the economic forget the online map collection at www.lib.utexas.edu/ plight of the country. maps/. Maps for the Caucasus can be found under Following 12 years of transition, in November “Maps of Russia and the Former Soviet Republics.” 2003 Georgia showed the world that its civil society had the potential to realize a peaceful transition and bring a We are at the library to help you with your research new generation of leaders to power. The new government, needs. Please feel free to contact me, Maria led by President Mikheil Saakashvili, emerged out of a Kiehn, Research Associate, or Don Arthur, Slavic peaceful revolution, which became known as the Rose Bibliographer, ([email protected]) with your Revolution. The government has begun to rebuild questions and suggestions. its economy and provide opportunities to its citizens,

Page 6 CREEES March/ April 2005 Explore UT: March 5, 2005 11:00am - 4:40pm CREEES Events Schedule Through Our Lens: Images of Rus- Romance vs. Reality: Romani Studies sia, and Eurasia at UT MEZ 2.118 2:00-2:40 PAR 101 11:00-4:40 Often mistakenly called Gypsies, people of In this on-going photo exhibition of images from Romani descent have a rich cultural heritage the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, you that dates back 1,000 years. Professor Ian can enjoy pictures taken by our own students, Hancock will explore the culture of the Romani graduate students and faculty from the Center people and explain how the Romani Archives and for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Documentation Center at UT is documenting the history of this fascinating and misunderstood Russian Folk Art people. GAR 100 11:00-4:40 Making a Matryoshka – A Thousand Years of Czech Performance: Africa - The Russian Folk Art. Come and see many examples Czechs Among the Cannibals of unique Russian art forms and PAR 103 2:00-2:40 woodcraft, make your own set in Come join Professor Craig Cravens an origami form, and take home and his students of Czech language instructions for more! as they perform scenes from Jara Cimrman’s satiric play which Origins of the Vampire documents the fi rst visit of Czechs PAR 201 12:00-12:40 to the "dark continent" in the late Over 800 years before Bram 19th century. Performed in Czech Stoker wrote “Dracula,” the with English supra-titles. word “vampire” appears in medieval Russian text. Through The Tragedy of Chechnya a discussion of art, literature PAR 103 3:00-3:40 and fi lm imagery, Professor Michael Dennis will discuss the Thomas J. Garza will trace the causes and trajectory of the appearance of vampires in Chechen struggle for independence Russian and Eastern European from the Russian Federation and cultures. explore the consequences of this war. These include human rights Slavadillo PAR 101 12:00 - 12:40 violations and acts of violent terrorism against The Slavadillo ensemble will perform Slavic the Russian people. music and songs on authentic instruments from Russia and Eastern Europe. The performers will Russia Cooks! Culinary display and discuss the songs and instruments during the discussion PAR 103 4:00-4:40 course of the concert. What do eat during those long cold winters? Experience a sampling of some of Learn the Russian Alphabet in 30 Russia’s most famous dishes and receive copies Minutes or Less of the recipes to experiment with at home. PAR 103 12:00-12:40, 1:00-1:40 Learn the Russian alphabet and how to read More information on Explore UT can simple texts in 30 minutes or your money back! be found at: You will become comfortable with the Cyrillic http://www.utexas.edu/events/ alphabet and be able to read menus, signs and maps after one session with our Russian exploreut/ language specialists. CREEES March/ April 2005 Outreach News Outreach News In the by Allegra Azulay K-12 realm, C R E E E S The spring semester has quickly filled with activities and and Slavic events. One of the most significant was the Symposium grad students on Georgian Arts and Culture, which brought to campus c o n t i n u e not only a beautiful exhibition of Georgian jewelry, but to enrich also a series of events to familiarize people with this the lives of fascinating country. Events included a screening of the youngsters film “A Chef in Love,” a lecture on the politics of Georgia at Matthews by Julie George, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Elementary Government, an introduction to the Georgian alphabet by during their Khatuna Doliashvili, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, and “Prime Time” Eric Barrett at Matthews Elementary Eric Barrett, Graduate Student in Slavic and European after- school program. Most recently, Eric Barrett gave Studies, and a talk by Maka Dvalishvili, President of the the kids an introduction to Russian music, ranging from Georgian Arts and Culture Center in Tbilisi. Maka also classics, like Tchaikovsky, to modern groups, and even donated a beautiful book on the National Treasures of serenaded them with a folk song, accompanying himself Georgia to our library, which is available for loan to those on the guitar and balalaika. of you wishing to gain in-depth knowledge of the history Soon students from Porter Middle School in South and craftsmanship of Austin will learn about the modern history of the Soviet this part of the world. Union and Russia when two graduate students visit their The Georgian classroom with artifacts, maps, and information. Teachers jewelry exhibit, which interested in having students visit their Social Studies, was partially funded History, Geography or Language classrooms should by the International contact Allegra Azulay, CREEES Outreach Coordinator. Finance Corporation The spring season continues with two of the year’s and the US Embassy busiest events: Explore UT and Russia Day. Explore UT is in Tbilisi, first an event where all University departments are open to the exhibited in New entire Austin community. This year CREEES and DSES York and Washington are offering a cornucopia of 8 events, from the serious DC, and arrived in (a talk on Chechnya) to the light-hearted (a satiric Czech Austin thanks to the play). In conjunction with Hemispheres, a consortium of Amanda Knight wore jewelry based efforts of Dr. Cynthia 4 National Resource Centers, CREEES will be offering a on archaeological finds from in variety of activities for children, including the ever-popular Southeast Georgia Buckley, Associate Director of CREEES, “Make a Matryoshka.” A description of each activity as who spearheaded the effort to have Austin included well as its time and location can be found on page 7. in the itinerary, and especially thanks to the generous Don’t miss any of these events! support of Dean Richard Lariviere of the College of The other extravaganza we will produce this Liberal Arts and Dean Bobby Inman of the LBJ School spring is Russia Day. This event brings together students of Public Affairs. Many of our graduate and undergrad from all over central Texas ranging in grades from 6th to students assisted with the set-up of the exhibit, and four 12th. Students will experience everything from Russian lovely undergraduate models were privileged to wear food and karaoke to gorodki, the traditional Russian the antique-styled jewelry at the opening reception schoolyard game. Teachers, be sure to mark your on February 19th. A special thanks to Derek Walsh calendars for Saturday, April 23rd and register early! and Jefferson McCarty for all their hard work and fine Several talks this spring run the gamut from coordination efforts. ancient history (Scythians and Sarmatians), through February held another useful outreach event: our WWII (the Holocaust), to current events (Chechnya and Teacher Training Workshop entitled “Changing Borders: Kosova). Don’t forget to check the online calendar for the in Transition.” This event brought together 26 additions to the speaker schedule. teachers from 6 school districts and 12 different schools On a final note, the holdings of our video library in a workshop presented by University professors and have recently been increased by a generous donation Ph.D. candidates. High school teachers learned about from Bruce Truitt. Among our new items is a 10-video current issues facing this challenging part of the world, documentary set on the Treasures of the Hermitage and then met with a teacher/facilitator who discussed Museum, as well as an eclectic collection of classic and how to incorporate the new information into their own modern Russian cinema. classrooms. Allegra Azulay is Outreach Coordinator for CREEES

Page 8 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES News Professor Gilbert Rappaport (Slavic and Eurasian Studies) is co-founder and co-organizer (with Prof. CREEES and Steven Franks, Indiana University) of a new interna- The Institute of Classical Archaeology present: tional professional organization, the Slavic Linguistics Society. Within a month, 300 scholars have enrolled in a listserv-managed mailing list (called `SLAVICLING’) and Scythian and registered on a website (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/ ancient Greek slavling/sls/), both administered at UT Austin. The orga- nization hopes to facilitate communication within the Applied Arts scholarly community of those interested in the study of the Slavic languages, regardless of theoretical orienta- (7th-4th century BC) tions, academic status, and geography. The large num- ber of registered members from Europe and Eurasia is Dr. Aleksander Leskov especially encouraging. University of Pennsylvania Dr. Rappaport was also invited to participate in Friday, March 4 the Workshop on Grammatical Aspect, sponsored by UT 3:30 - 5:00 pm Austin’s Department of Linguistics. His talk, on 23 Feb- Doty Fine Arts Building, ruary, was entitled `Perfectivizing States in Russian’. Room 2.204 Trinity and 23rd Street Michael Dennis, Ph.D. candidate in Government, gave a talk entitled, "Between Marx and Muhammad: Militant Islam in Post-Soviet Chechnya" at the Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference in Bloomington, IN Professor Ian Hancock (Linguistics Department) met in October, 2004. In March he will attend the Annual with senators in the and the Deputy Meeting of the Southwestern Political Science Asso- Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic during a two-week ciation in New Orleans, LA, where he will be presenting visit to those countries for the U.S. Department of State, "Image and Self-Image: The Construction of National to advise and consult on the situation of the Romani and Individual Identity in Post-Soviet Russia." In April minority there. he will present, "From the Sickle to the Crescent: The His book We Are the Romani People has ap- Construction of Radical Political Islam in Chechnya" peared in a Slovak and Hungarian language edition, and at the Association for the Study of Nationalities Annual a Serbian language translation will appear shortly. Conference at Columbia University. Professor Danilo Ukovicki-Selb (Architecture) will speak on “Stalin’s Perestroika: Terminal Architectural CREEES and Discourses, 1928-1933” at the Annual Conference of The Institute of Classical Archaeology present: Architectural Historians in April. In Groningen, Holland, also in April, he will present “Between Modernism and Socialist Realism: The 1930s Sanatoria in the Soviet “The Graves of Sarmatian Union” at an international conference on “Modernism Nobility in Ukraine” and the Architecture of Hospitals.” Dr. Oleksandr Symonenko, The SCMLA conference “Literary Space(s)” invites NEH scholar to University of abstracts for the Russian Language and Methodology Pennsylvania, Institute of panel. This panel is open topic, and papers on any as- Archaeology, Ukraine pect or time period of Russian literature are welcome. Papers from graduate students are strongly encour- aged. Please send all abstracts to Linda Mayhew at [email protected] by March 15, 2005. The con- ference will be held in Houston, Texas, from October 27- Thursday, March 3 29. For more information about SCMLA and the 2005 12:30pm conference, visit their website at http://www.ou.edu/ Classics Lounge WAG 116 scmla/default.php Ì

Page 9 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES Travel Travel in Armenia - Gyumri there were once gargantuan Soviet style apartment by George Rivas complexes, now stand a series of modest four- or five- Approximately storey apartment complexes of about 80 – 100 units one hour north of complete with small grocery stores and other small Yerevan lies Gyumri, businesses on the ground floor. A representative from the second largest city a local NGO met us in front of these complexes and in Armenia. Gyumri, explained that there were still many homeless people in up until the Soviet Gyumri sixteen years after the earthquake. Some of those expansion of Yerevan, who weren’t homeless were living in domiks, temporary was the largest city in shelters set up shortly after the earthquake. Through the Armenia. Gyumri was efforts of USAID, a significant portion of those residing known as Leninakan in domiks had been provided with housing certificates that would allow them to move into permanent housing. Church just outside of Gyumri and before that as Alexandropol. Gyumri Approximately half of the 12,000 families in domiks have was one of the cities devastated in the earthquake of been relocated to permanent housing as a result of the December 10, 1988, which killed approximately 45,000 Earthquake Zone Recovery Program (EQZ), however people and left roughly 500,000 people homeless many do still throughout northwestern Armenia. Much effort has gone reside in the into rebuilding the city, though it is still not completed. Last c o n v e r t e d summer, I had the opportunity to travel throughout Armenia cargo holds. and was able to see Gyumri and the reconstruction that One of had taken place. the prominent The road to Gyumri from Yerevan is fairly good features of until just outside of the city. There it is marred by potholes, Gyumri is though still paved, which can not be said of many other the town roads leading to Gyumri. Once inside the Gyumri city square. Before limits, the reconstruction was readily apparent. Where the Soviet CREEES and the Program in Jewish Studies present: government Scene of city square in Gyumri leveled it, there once was a covered market. Currently, there are only “The Holocaust on German-Occupied two churches in the square. While one of the churches Soviet Territory and the Response by is standing, the other still lies in ruins, a reminder of the Soviet Jewish Intellectuals” terrible event of 1988. The ruined church, formerly a town landmark, Thursday, April 7, 1pm still awaits Eastwoods Room, Texas Union 2.102 rebuilding. Though Gyumri More than one out of every three Jews who were was devastated murdered during the Holocaust had been living on by the earthquake Soviet territory on the eve of the German invasion of 1988, it is in June 1941. Throughout the Baltic states, Ukraine, a remarkable , and into Russia itself, the Germans carried destination for out open-air massacres, killing entire Jewish commu- anyone traveling nities before they were driven out by the Red Army. in Armenia and At the same time, well-known Soviet Jewish cultural Church damaged in earthquake awaiting should not be figures, living in , were learning about the reconstruction missed. There fate of their relatives and the destruction of their are at least two European-style hotels in Gyumri, hometowns. including a German guest house and a large hotel Joshua Rubenstein is the Northeast Regional near the center of town. Just outside of the city stands Director of Amnesty International USA and an Asso- a former Russian fortress overlooking the border with ciate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Turkey. Additionally, about an hour drive from Gyumri Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of are several magnificent former monasteries and Soviet Dissidents, Their Struggle for Human Rights churches that offer unique insight into the former glory and Tangled Loyalties: the Life and Times of Ilya and stature of Gyumri that one day may be recaptured. Ehrenburg. His latest book, The KGB File of Andrei George Rivas is a Graduate Student of CREEES and Sakharov, is scheduled for publication in May 2005. the LBJ School of Public Affairs

Page 10 CREEES March/ April 2005 Area Opportunities graduate program. Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships cover tuition and fees and provide a stipend of $2,400. For Summer 2005 we have received funding from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) for 1st-year Estonian and Latvian and 2nd- year Estonian. These courses will be tuition free to graduate students specializing in any fi eld related The Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI) to these languages. Through ACLS funding and Indiana University, June 17-August 12, 2005 other sources, BALSSI will be able to offer a number of fellowships for students in Estonian, Latvian, and The Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI) Lithuanian. These fellowships will cover tuition (for those in cooperation with SWSEEL will offer the following who do not qualify for tuition-free status), fees, and a courses: stipend for housing and food. BALSSI may also be able to provide partial fellowships for qualifi ed applicants. * First and second year Estonian Eight hours of credit are granted for fi rst-year * First year Latvian courses to undergraduates and 6 hours to graduates. * First year Lithuanian Second-year Estonian grants 6 hours of credit to both * Baltic Cultures graduates and undergraduates. The Baltic Cultures course grants 3 hours of credit to both graduates and The Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI), which undergraduates. Tuition is $212.70 per credit hour. will be held in the Summer of 2005 and 2006 at Evening fi lms and a lecture series are included as part Indiana University as part of the Summer Workshop in of this program. Slavic, East European and Central Asian Languages, Students should complete the online SWSEEL announces the opportunity for students and scholars application. to increase their knowledge and understanding of the language, history and culture of the Baltic States. In Application deadline for Fellowships is April 1, 2005. addition to the three languages, the program also offers Thereafer, rolling admissions. an afternoon Baltic Cultures course during the fi rst four weeks. For more information visit: A limited number of FLAS fellowships will be http://www.indiana.edu/~iuslavic/swseel/ available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who languages/balssi05.shtml are accepted for enrollment or are already enrolled in a

Summer School in Kartvelian Studies for non- become acquainted with Georgia’s cultural and historical Georgians will be held from 2 July to 8 August 2005. past and her present achievements. Excursions out of In a broad sense Kartvelian (Georgian) Studies town - to various regions of Georgia - are organized at (Kartvelology) embraces Georgian culture, history and weekends. all fi elds of the humanities: linguistics, literary criticism, The five-week course at the Summer art, archaeology, folklore, ethnography and source School costs 1500 per student. This includes study. accommodation (in a student’s dormitory or at a The Summer School in Kartvelian Studies private apartment), board, lectures and seminars, and - the only one of its kind in the world, with a ten-year cultural program (excursions to the countryside, visiting experience of continuous work - is organized by the museums, seeing Georgian fi lms, etc.). › Centre for Kartvelian Studies and sponsored by the Government of Georgia, Tbilisi State University and Deadline for application is 15 April 2005 by the Fund for Kartvelian Studies. The School offers intensive instruction in For more information contact: Modern Georgian - both along the line of spoken Director of the Centre: Prof. E. Khintibidze as well as grammatical norms of the language - with E-mail: [email protected] account of the level of mastery of the language by khintibidze@myoffi ce.ge the participants. They can also attend lectures on Georgian history, literature, language and art and Internet: http://www.kartvfund.org.ge

Page 11 CREEES March/ April 2005 Non-profi t org. U.S. postage paid Permit No. 391 Austin, TX

Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies The University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station/A1600 Austin, Texas 78712

telephone 512 471-7782 fax 512 471-3368 http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/creees/

Director Thomas J. Garza Bridging Cultures: Associate Director Austin to Stanterg Cynthia Buckley

Graduate Advisor Keith LIvers Dita Dauti Undergraduate Advisor Thursday, March 10, 3:30 pm Robert Moser Eastwoods Room 2.102 Administrative Associate & Student Coordinator Amy McMillan

Administrative Assistant & Web/ REENIC Coordinator: Crews Giles

Outreach Coordinator Allegra Azulay

Senior Offi ce Associate Derek Walsh