REEIfication
NEWS FROM THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN INSTITUTE
David L. Ransel, Director Mark Betka, Editor Vol. 25, No. 4 December 2001
Identity Consciousness of Hungarian-Americans: Continuing the Process of Ethnographic Fieldwork in Northwest Indiana By Linda Degh During the summer of 2001 exploratory ethnographic fieldwork was conducted by a team of four graduate students (a folklorist, an ethnomusicologist, an anthro- pologist and an Eastern European historian), under my guidance with advice and counsel from John H. McDowell, Chair of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, and Stephen H. McShane, Curator/Archivist of the Calumet Regional Archives, IUNW. Realization of the project has a long history that I would like to briefly summarize, Features because it has become a significant part of a bigger picture: cultural identity study in Hungarian Identity in Indiana 1 the United States. This, the most successful democracy in the world, was built by Report From Bosnia 3 immigrants or “ethnics.” Today the flow of immigrants continues, blending into multiethnic-multicultural communities where diverse groups live and work together, Faculty profile 4 not in fairytale harmony, but with continuous conflict and confrontation, as tradi- Media Freedom in Ukraine? 6 tional values and ancestral ideals fight a losing battle against innovation and progress. Rebuilding Student Exchange 6 In the course of time, while ethnics negotiate acknowledgement of their cultural uniqueness, they also merge and blend their ideologies and lifestyles to reach a consensus of unity by diversity. This historical process of integration is a creative move, completed when chosen identity markers achieve respectability. To study this process, fieldworkers visit settlements and gather data through News direct participant observation, registering information from individuals, be it jokes, Polish Theatre at IU 2 songs, legends, life histories, customs, religious, social, occupational, child rearing Graduations 2 practices - anything the subjects volunteer to tell. The information obtained from community members is invaluable for the student of ethnic history because the sub- Internships with the jective, emotional recounting of personal experiences, lives and adventures reveals Department of State 3 more than dry enumeration of historical facts. Outreach Corner 5 These ideas guided my initial work among Calumet-Hungarians between the years HCA Annual Commemoration 8 1964 and 1980 and later on elsewhere throughout the U.S. and Canada. My personal archive contains a large body of tape-recorded, handwritten, printed and photocop- Alumni News 9 ied materials, some of which I have published in articles and books, but the bulk Student News 9 remains untouched and will remain so should no specialists continue my work. Ini- Midwest Russian History tially this research was a part of my own personal and scholarly acculturation pro- Workshop 11 cess, but later I reached the point where I was able to devote my time to pursuing other challenges in my profession. I would like to see others take over where I have Faculty News 11 left off. SPEA-Volga Academy To date, the Hungarian-American subculture has been overlooked by folklorists Partnership 13 and anthropologists. Thus my documents remain unique except for the excellent work of three Hungarian colleagues: Zoltán Fejös (Director of the Museum of Eth- nography, Budapest), Mihály Hoppál (Director of the European Folklore Institute, Budapest), and Péter Niedermüler (Professor of European Ethnology at the Humboldt University, Berlin). They have worked with me in the region and later elsewhere, funded by IREX and ACLS. I found students to continue my work as assistants while I was working on a new approach to Hungarian-American identity maintenance and continued on page 7 2 Russian and East European Institute
Indiana University Russian and Congratulations Graduates! East European Institute PhD Dissertation Defenses Lynn Sargeant (History) defended her dissertation “Middle Class Culture: Music and Identity in Late Imperial Russia” on August 24. Ben Eklof chaired her committee. INSTITUTE STAFF David L. Ransel, Director Terri Ziacik (Economics) defended her dissertation “Foreign Direct Investment in Tran- Denise Gardiner, Assistant sition Economies: Exploring the Effects of Uncertainty and Heterogeneity on Invest- Director/Outreach Coordinator ment Timing” on June 15. Michael Alexeev chaired her Committee. Jessica Hamilton, Administrative Secretary REEI MA Defenses Chris Gigliotti, Advisor and Joshua Abrahms (REEI/SPEA) defended his essay “NGO’s, Civil Society and the Dis- Project Administrator appearance of Environmental Activism in the Former Soviet Union” in December 2001. GRADUATE ASSISTANTS Henry Hale chaired his committee. Alex Dunlop, Outreach Assistant Mark Betka, Publications Editor Kenneth Guy (REEI) defended his essay “The Re-creation of History: Soviet Folklore as Christian Kanig, Assistant to Propaganda in the 1930’s,” in December, 2001. Hiroaki Kuromiya chaired his committee. Slavic Bibliographer He is currently working toward a Russian Language Teaching Certificate at George Renne Traicova, World Wide Web Mason University and anticipates completing his course work in the fall of 2003. Administrator CONTACT INFORMATION Polish Theatre at IU By Bill Johnston Russian and East European Institute On February 13-17, 2002, IU will host a Polish theater event, a conference accom- Ballantine Hall 565 Indiana University panied by the midwest premiere of Ferdydurke by Teatr Prowizorium/Kompania Teatr of Bloomington, IN 47405-6615 Lublin, Poland. The conference and performances are being organized by the Polish Phone: (812) 855-7309 Studies Center, with funding and support from REEI, the Office of International Pro- Fax: (812) 855-6411 grams, the Dean of Faculties, the Department of Theatre and Drama, and other units Email: [email protected] across campus. Tentatively entitled “The Other in Performance: Beyond the ‘Canon’ in Polish Drama,” http://www.indiana.edu/~reeiweb/ the conference will focus on various aspects of “non-canonical” Polish theater, includ- IU Awards for REEI Alumni ing alternative theater such as that of Kantor and Grotowski, women playwrights, Jewish 1999 James F. Collins theater, gay theater, and expatriate theater. Honorary Doctorate The conference will take place on February 1998 Stephen Cohen 15th-16th at the Indiana Memorial Union on College Distinguished Alumni the campus of IU in Bloomington. 1994 Irene Meister Ferdydurke is a stage version of Witold College Distinguished Alumni Gombrowicz’s novel of the same name, one REEI Awards of the most important and also most shock- ing works of 20th-century Polish literature. DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI Teatr Prowizorium/Kompania Teatr will per- form both Polish and English-language ver- 1988 Alexander Rabinowitch sions, the latter adapted by Allen Kuharski 1988 Charles Gati from Danuta Borchardt’s recent award-winning translation. This production has already 1995 Gale Stokes received rave reviews in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Edinburgh, Scotland, 2000 Helena Goscilo where it won a coveted Fringe First Award in the Edinburgh Festival. The show com- DISTINGUISHED SERVICE bines broad slapstick and farce with profound underlying themes of power and knowl- 1988 Theofanis Stavrou edge. 1988 Robert F. Byrnes There will be two English-language performances in Bloomington, on February 1989 Karen Niggle 15th and 16th, and one at IUPUI in Indianapolis on Wednesday, February 13th; there 1996 Robert W. Campbell will also be a Polish language matinee on the afternoon of Saturday, February 16th. 1997 Charles Jelavich For more details about the conference and the theatrical performances, please check 1997 Janet Rabinowitch the Polish Studies Center website at http://www.indiana.edu/~polishst/. Bill Johnston 2000 William B. Edgerton is director of the IU Polish Studies Center. REEIfication, December 2001 3 Bosnia: The Road to Recovery Interested in a Summer By John Altshul Internship with the U.S. This summer I worked as a political/ worn-out after a decade underground—a Department of State? economic intern for the State Department match was made. However, this resulted The U.S. Department of State has at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. Need- in a preponderance of “false positives” a large internship program. Most em- less to say, it was an exciting summer. and even more bitterness. bassies hire at least 2 interns every Sarajevo is a really great city, animated, Srebernica, site of the infamous 1995 summer, with some high-profile em- socially and culturally alive. It’s hard not massacre, represents the most volatile bassies taking many more. Interns to love the place. flashpoint in the missing persons contro- work in one of five departments: po- At the embassy, I covered missing versy. To Bosnian Muslims, Srebernica litical, economic, public diplomacy persons issues, as well as additional work epitomizes the genocide that befell (public relations), consular affairs on “gray market” activity and tax reform. Bosnia. While estimates of the number of (generally visa processing), and ad- Missing persons is a delicate subject in missing vary greatly, roughly 6000 Mus- ministrative. Applicants may request Bosnia. It is estimated that between lims are unaccounted for. To Bosnian up to three countries that they would 20,000 and 30,000 remain unaccounted for Serbs, Srebernica is more evidence of Is- prefer to work in. as a result of the 1992-1995 civil war, the lamic hyperbole and the anti-Serb bias of The deadline for applications is majority of whom are Bosnian-Muslims. the international community. What is in- typically early November. Applica- While mass graves are regularly un- controvertible, however, is that of the tions are then forwarded to the rel- earthed, many of thousands upon evant embassies where embassy staff the mortal remains thousands of review the applications and make se- have decayed to bones recovered lections around January 1. Applicants the point that dry from mass graves are notified of their acceptance in early bones, tattered around the town, January. Successful candidates must clothing, and ran- precious few posi- then undergo a thorough background dom personal ac- tive identifica- check, which can last several months. couterments are tions have been The long process of obtaining the all that are left of a made (just over Sarajevo today security clearance may mean that se- corpse. This grue- 100 as of May 2001). lected interns cannot begin their in- some reality has hindered efforts to posi- This summer, however, the Interna- ternships until well into the summer. tively identify many of the missing. tional Commission on Missing Persons, It is strongly recommend that any se- Recovering and positively identifying an international non-governmental orga- lected candidate have a contingency mortal remains provides an important nization, introduced DNA testing technol- plan for the summer in the event that sense of closure to the thousands of fami- ogy to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, clearance is held up. lies who never learned the fate of their blood samples from living relatives of the The internships are unpaid, and fathers, brothers, uncles and nephews missing can be tested against bone interns are expected to finance and (the missing are overwhelming male). Ex- samples from the exhumed remains. This arrange their own travel. Embassies humations and forensic examinations are technology will greatly expedite the iden- do provide housing for interns. To de- a painful, emotional business. The result tification process, thereby helping to heal fray the significant expenses involved, is that missing persons commissions, the wounds of a country still reeling in IU offers a number of grants for this splintered along ethnic lines, have devel- the wake of Europe’s bloodiest conflict type of internship. The International oped. Each side fights desperately for its since World War II. Enhancement Grant (through the Of- portion of the generous foreign aid avail- That said, Sarajevo is a remarkably safe fice of International Programs) and the able for this purpose as well as to point and calm place today. It is not the be- REEI/Mellon Grant provide financial the blame at the other sides for the ter- sieged, bullet-riddled city that we remem- assistance to qualified applicants. rible tragedy that was the Bosnian Civil ber from CNN. Largely rebuilt and sur- To learn more and download an War. prisingly chic, Sarajevo has a positive feel application, visit the State Depart- Unfortunately, prior to this summer, to it. The short-term visitor might even be ment website at http://www.state.gov. the missing were being identified with lulled into thinking that Sarajevo is on the For information on funding op- rather crude, antiquated methods. For path to prosperity and long-term stabil- portunities at IU, please consult the example, if a purple scarf was retrieved ity. It isn’t. There are many skeletons left REEI Funding Notice (available at from a mass grave, it would be shown to in its closet. REEI, Ballantine Hall 565) or our a number of possible relatives of the John Altshul is a masters student in website at http://www.indiana.edu/ scarf’s owner. When a family member rec- the School of Public and Environmental ~reeiweb/acaprog.htm ognized the scarf—usually faded and Affairs. 4 Russian and East European Institute Faculty Profile: Jack Bielasiak By Mark Betka Professor Jack Bielasiak, a native of modern democracy and that they must ferent and complex tasks, it is difficult to Poland’s second largest city £odz, has play an important role in the transition determine the relative saliency of social continued to maintain a close association from communism by providing for repre- and economic factors and translate them with his homeland during his 25 years of sentation of divergent viewpoints, com- into political identities. Instead many di- work at IUB. Bielasiak was pivotal in ini- petition, and accountability. But there is verse parties seek to represent the many tiating the IU-Warsaw University ex- considerable controversy as to how es- potential cleavages. Thus, the argument change program that recently celebrated tablished the political parties are in the goes, party structures are weak, fluid, and 25 years of existence. He also served as emerging democracies of the East Europe relatively insignificant as institutions in the director of the IU Polish Studies Cen- and the former Soviet Union. the postcommunist system. ter, the institution charged with adminis- In looking at this debate, Bielasiak asks Counter to this argument is what tering the exchange and facilitating a a fundamental question: “How extensive Bielasiak calls the “structured view.” This broad range of academic activities on is the institutionalization of the party sys- perspective states that despite problems campus related to Poland. He has made tems in these new democracies?” Are and difficulties, the public is still able to many return trips to Poland, witnessing distinguish its own interests and is able first-hand the dramatic changes that are to understand what is going on within taking place there. the transitioning society. On this basis, Considered unique when first pro- individuals can and do prioritize their posed, the Indiana University-Warsaw own interests and therefore align them- University exchange was initiated dur- selves with parties that mirror those in- ing a time of mutual suspicion that pre- terests. The result is a fairly understand- vented any sort of meaningful scholarly able and fixed political space where a link- exchange. Today, IU regularly hosts age exists between segments of the pub- scholars and students from the former lic and different political parties. Eastern Bloc and Soviet republics and The second aspect of this argument vice versa. Bielasiak saw the IU-WU states that it is the very process of elec- exchange as a way to provide a gate- Jack Bielasiak toral choice that helps to structure the way for Polish academia to the rest of the system. An election requires winners and world and also as a way to begin building emerging parties part of a permanent, de- losers. The winners stay on and become trust and scholarly relations among the veloped structure such as we are accus- the significant party while losers are academic communities. tomed to in the West or are they weak, forced to drop out. This “electoral filter” With the “Eastern Bloc” now con- rudimentary, and fleeting edifices? It is produces fewer and fewer parties, which signed to history, Bielasiak has directed this issue that forms the core of Bielasiak’s in turn leads to a more solidified party his energies toward obtaining a better research. system. understanding of the political restructur- The question is motivated by current Bielasiak sees these two competing ing process taking place throughout the debate among social scientists that asks viewpoints as the broad framework that region. whether the post-communist social and defines the debate among social scien- A recent lecture, “On the Institution- political landscape is sui generis, largely tists about the democratic future of alization of Party Regimes in Emerging defined by the fact that it involves a num- postcommunism; this is where he locates Democracies: Post-Communism in Com- ber of simultaneous transitions: eco- his research. To resolve the question, parative Perspective,” presented on the nomic, cultural, social, psychological and Bielasiak takes a broadly comparative Bloomington campus, highlighted political. This combination of factors approach by looking at electoral and party Bielasiak’s analysis of the process of presents a unique situation in which the systems in several democratizing regions building political parties in the countries must face multiple challenges of the world. He first looks at all of the postcommunist states. The findings are simultaneously, posing exceptional diffi- elections since the fall of communism in the product of a three-year research culties for any country emerging from Eastern Europe in 1989 and the dissolu- project motivated by the turn to democ- centralized governance. tion of the Soviet Union in 1991. How- racy. The research, expected to continue Bielasiak notes that the social and eco- ever, in order to find whether the devel- for an additional three years, focuses on nomic cleavages that form the founda- opments in the former communist coun- the relationship between political parties tions of political parties in most other tries are unique or unusual, Bielasiak and the consolidation of democracy. countries (by giving different groups a stresses the need to compare the events Bielasiak notes that there is widespread voice) are muddled by the enormity of of the last decade with phases of democ- consensus among western scholars that challenges facing the postcommunist ratization that have taken place previously parties are an “essential instrument” of countries. In the context of so many dif- continued on page 10 REEIfication, December 2001 5
Outreach Corner International Education Week, even a short language lesson. The terested in hearing from Ms. Paulik November 12-16 students were well-prepared and cu- about the standard of living, sports, In cooperation with the Center for rious about Hungarian life and cus- and music in Hungary. The class the Study of Global Change, REEI toms and kept the presenters on their ended with a demonstration of the observed the second annual Inter- Hungarian folk dance csárdás and national Education Week by coor- a short lesson on its basic steps. dinating a lesson via interactive New video acquisitions video for a class of seventh grade In order to view the new docu- students at Clear Fork Christian mentary and feature film acquisi- Academy in New Albany, Indiana. tions of the REEI collection, visit the The topic of the class was “Daily listing on the Web at http:// Life in Hungary” and was con- www.indiana.edu/~reeiweb/ ducted by Monika Paulik, visiting avintro.html. Videos acquired this scholar in sociology from the Eco- academic year are written in red nomics University in Budapest, and text. REEI maintains an email REEI graduate assistant Alex listserv,
INDIANA UNIVERSITY Six-Week Russian Study Tour July 13-August 23, 2002 Four weeks in St. Petersburg. Two weeks of touring to Moscow, Pskov, Pechory, Pushkinskie Gory, Valaam, Kizhi, and Helsinki. · Cost: approximately $6,000 if participants total 10 or more · FinnAir from Chicago · 6 hours of Indiana University credit at reduced rates · 80 classroom hours of intensive language instruction conducted in students’ hotel, including Business Russian for those interested · Excursions on cultural, historical, and literary themes in St. Petersburg and its environs · Participants may precede this program with four weeks of Russian in Bloomington (5 additional credit hours)
For applications or additional information, contact: Laurence Richter· BH 502 · Indiana University · Bloomington, IN 47405-6616 Tel. (812) 855-2608 · FAX (812) 855-2107 · e-mail: [email protected] 6 Russian and East European Institute Media Freedom? The View From Ukraine The Balancing Act of By Katya Choursina & Svetlana Seliutina Rebuilding an The Ukrainian media sector is plagued journalists were killed and eight were Exchange Program by problems of an economic, legal, insti- physically attacked in Ukraine. Most of By Bronislava Volkova tutional, and professional nature where the victims worked for independent, re- For the past two academic years, I media owners often perceive the press as gional media. The most prominent case have served as the Resident Director of a political tool rather than as a business. was the murder of journalist Georgiy the Council on International Educational Censorship by media owners is com- Gongadze, who published articles critical Exchange program at Charles University, mon, as is self-censorship by editors and of the president and his entourage in an Prague. Established in 1992, this ex- journalists. Both forms of censorship stem independent Internet newspaper change is by far the largest of Council’s from political pressure, the economic weak- Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth). programs in Eastern Europe and the Near ness of the press and violence against Georgiy Gongadze disappeared on East (all of which have been consolidated journalists. Journalistic principles are of- September 16, 2000. A headless body into one “regional” group). At any given ten sacrificed for the sake of exerting po- found in a small village near the capital time, during my tenure, the program litical influence over the public. city Kiev was reportedly that of hosted from 50 to over 70 American stu- However, it is the economic weakness Gongadze’s. The police performed foren- dents of the humanities and social sci- of media outlets that sic examinations ences, with the numbers of students in causes the majority of of the body and the neighboring Polish, Hungarian and problems in the Ukrai- conducted DNA Russian programs averaging between 10 nian media sector. tests that showed and 20. Most Ukrainian media the body to be- However, my initial excitement upon are barely profitable, long to Gongadze, being offered the position in 1998 gave which entails finan- and these results way to dismay after observing it in per- cial dependency on were confirmed by son. The entire program was housed in persons or organiza- Ukrainian, U.S. half of one small office at the Philosophi- tions with a specific and Russian ex- cal Faculty building of Charles Univer- political agenda. perts. However, sity. This very same half office also served “Kuchma, where is Gongadze?” Most media own- Protestors in Kyiv. AP photo the ensuing police as the program’s lending library, student ers purchased their investigation into lounge and computer lab! Logistics such business not for economic profit but as the murder has been botched and is full as classroom assignments were in a state tools for election campaigns. None of our of contradictions. To date, the police have of confusion, with double bookings a media moguls actually specialize in me- failed to find out who murdered the jour- common occurrence and class cancella- dia business. For them, TV channels and nalist, and under what circumstances he tions the result. Even the system of grad- newspapers are merely tools applied in died. ing was on an ad hoc basis. The Council the political struggle. Relatives of Gongadze, as well as nu- was aware that improvements were Ironically, the only guarantee for plu- merous human right organizations in needed and asked that I do a major over- ralism in the dissemination of information Ukraine and throughout the world have haul of the program. in Ukraine now is the severe competition demanded that foreign experts be permit- My first task was obvious: we needed between oligarchs during the current (sec- ted to re-examine the remains of the body space in which to operate. The best choice ond) wave of privatization. This confron- and to provide conclusive evidence as to was a university property on the outskirts tation among media oligarchs is mistak- whose body it is. of Prague. This building needed major enly labeled as freedom of speech. In Two months after Gongadze’s disap- renovation and that could only start in fact, media moguls are dependent on the pearance, the head of the Socialist Party early July (we expected 50 American stu- president. This means that censorship in of Ukraine, Oleksandr Moroz, addressed dents in late August). When they arrived, Ukraine is a systematic phenomenon and the Ukrainian parliament with a sensa- the building was half finished and, unfor- not simply a local issue. tional statement: he claimed that the tunately, it was clear across town from The merger of power and financial Ukrainian president was directly involved their dorm. It was important to the suc- structures in the form of “clans” has had in the murder of Gongadze and made cess of the program that Czech students the worst possible repercussions for the available tape recordings of alleged con- also resided in the dorm and interacted mass media: the output of our mass me- versations in the presidential office. On with our students. This proved to be a dia is totally lacking in a critical attitude one tape, a voice believed to be that of challenge, but after some work with the or “watchdog” function towards the au- the Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, Philosophical Faculty we were able to thorities. could be heard speaking in coarse lan- house 20 Czech students in the interna- In the first eight months of 2001, two continued on page 12 continued on page 12 REEIfication, December 2001 7
Identity Consciousness ethnic minority and is the only native sion as upholders of “old country” val- continued from first page speaker (all the others spent time in Hun- ues and centers of life-cycle rituals, we they served as my first audience and crit- gary to learn the language). were hopeful of success. In preparation ics during the tough time of writing. Dennis Patrick Metro-Roland, whose for the visit, we went through our files In the summer of 2000 a series of parents were refugees of the 1956 revolu- and prepared lists of questions to ask dur- events sparked a re- tion, which places ing the projected month and established surgence of interest in him in the first continuities and discontinuities and the the Hungarian-Ameri- American-born evolving sense of ethnicity within the can subculture. Hun- generation. He has current setting. gary celebrated its an MA in Russian In times past the Hungarian working- 1100th anniversary, and East European class people (of peasant extraction) con- and the opening of its Studies, taught En- stituted one among numerous highly vis- second millennium in glish in Hungarian ible ethnic enclaves from South-Central Budapest highlighted schools and is cur- and East Europe, Mexico and Puerto the reunion of Hungar- rently a Ph.D. can- Rico; the census reported 38,000 resi- ians at home and didate in Curricu- dents who claimed Hungarian ancestry abroad. The Hungar- lum and Instruc- in the region known as the most heavily ian diaspora (never tion. industrialized sector of the U.S. My past having left their home- Lisa Overholser, research focused on foreign-born immi- land but now minorities graduate student in grants (1906-24) and their American-born in post-WWII succes- ethnomusicology children and grandchildren, going sor states) and emi- who studied Hun- through the normative processes of ac- grants (who settled garian in Hungary culturation and identity transformation elsewhere of their own for a year to prepare through the generations. As long as the free will) pledged a new herself for disserta- foreign-born dominated, the enclave de- allegiance to their tion field work in a pended on its imported values, unable to country of origin. At Hungarian village. adapt to the alien environment. the meeting of the Peter Sabath, an The “ethnic stage” generated large American-Hungarian experienced Hungarian neighborhoods in larger cit- Educator’s Associa- Father Alphonse Skerl fieldworker, who ies during the 1930s and acted as a pro- tion at the Museum of had completed his senior year at Goshen tective shell of language and culture main- Ethnography, I took the opportunity to College when he joined the team. He re- tenance. But this shell became a burden present the ideas of my new approach to searched the Hungarian enclave of South to the existence and upward mobility of colleagues whose readiness to collabo- Bend. Currently he is spending a year in those born in America and dissolved natu- rate helped to turn theory into practice. Hungary to work with Hungarian folklore rally with the passing of their elders. This My student team began to meet regu- scholars and improve his language skills does not imply disloyalty to heritage but larly in November of 1999 at my house before enrolling in graduate folklore/an- rather freedom of choice for people to where everyone had access to my books thropology classes. maintain, or not to maintain a hyphen- and the corpus of collectanea. There, we By the beginning of 2001 we made the ated, Hungarian-American cultural iden- discussed materials, approaches, and decision to go to the field and test my tity. techniques related to cultural identity hypothesis. The closest and most obvi- The fieldworkers filled 48 tapes with study. However, members could also ous place to go seemed the Calumet re- precious information: stories; jokes; spend time reading and preparing notes gion. I had kept touch with my surviving funny, scary, sentimental, tragic and hor- individually as their time permitted. This old friends and prominent community rible life experiences. In the beginning the informal introduction to folklore and eth- leaders, and all agreed to help with ac- subjects were intimidated because they nology prepared a strong team of field commodations and contacting potential were suspicious of the team members (ac- investigators who had no previous expe- consultants. I hoped to find descendants cording to rumor, they were communists), rience in ethnography. What motivated of my best informants and looked for- and some families flatly refused to meet the students was a shared interest in Hun- ward to a pleasant revisit. I was aware of them. But this wasn’t any different 30 garian folk culture. In alphabetic order by the drastic changes on the ethnic map of years ago, although nowadays, more than last name, they are: the region and the increased mobility of ever, you have to watch out for strangers Zsuzsanna Cselényi, first year gradu- the ethnic population due to the economic asking strange questions. Team members ate student of Folklore. As a native of situation. However, since both Hungar- also were shocked to realize the loss of Slovakia, she belongs to the Hungarian ian churches have maintained their mis- continued on next page 8 Russian and East European Institute Identity Consciousness Skerl’s clerical habit has spectacular HCA Adds Visual continued from previous page appliquees, and he paints Matyó style Components to 1956 chairs and chests to benefit the church. Commemoration language in the community; consultants All in all, even this small and diminishing were more fluent in English. In addition, Calumet Hungarian-American enclave By Patrick Kinney the community is senescent and people documents a characteristic type of double The Hungarian Cultural Association were plagued by sickness, loss of family loyalty that may be found in various held its annual commemoration of the and friends, or were too miserable to talk forms among the children and grandchil- 1956 Hungarian uprising on October 30th to strangers. One must maintain patience dren living elsewhere and visiting occa- at the IMU University Club. For the first and stay long sionally. time, the event included a film presenta- enough to The ac- tion. Archival film footage of the central make friends. culturation events of the uprising, like the toppling Another process may of the statue of Stalin in Budapest, helped problem was eliminate to remind those in attendance of the poi- that the best many things, gnant struggle for freedom which gripped informants, including Hungary between October 23rd and the the young, even lan- first week of November, 1956. For some, had moved guage, as is the images needed no explanation. As in elsewhere the case of previous years, the event drew many and visit only the people from the local Hungarian commu- for family re- Bukovina nity, including several of those who fled unions and Szekely the country in 1956. For those unfamiliar important ethnics with the details of the uprising, a narra- holidays. whose an- tion read by Edward Mandity provided a Nowadays Noodle making! Dennis Patrick Metro-Roland and Mary Snyder cestors context in which to situate the images. the settled be- Other aspects of the presentation con- fieldworker has to be more mobile to do a tween 1906 and 1915 and who generated tributed to the solemn remembrance of good job. But bad as things were, the about 12,000 descendants living in North the tragic events. In the opening speech, fieldworkers met with several informants, America. Professor Pál Hatos, the György Ránki who would prepare their favorite Hungar- However, in 2000 they established a Chair, spoke to the challenges of the his- ian dishes for the guest, show their resi- fraternal bond with their relatives in Hun- torian of the period and the evolution of dences, displays of ethnic symbols, fam- gary through the Family Tree Maker com- historical memory regarding the uprising. ily photos and other paraphernalia. The puter program - without even speaking Students of Hungarian language recited fieldworkers were invited to club meet- Hungarian. Which specific customs, em- excerpts from the diary of Sándor Márai. ings, church socials, and other occasions blems, tokens, symbols, foods, or beliefs Language instructor Gabriella Nagy se- of where ethnic dishes were consumed, represent ethnic distinctiveness in the lected the passages in which Márai cap- to say nothing of the women’s get- American cultural matrix we don’t know tures the thoughts and emotions of the togethers where they could watch (and yet, but we may now begin to speculate thousands of refugees who crossed into learn) how to make noodles, pancakes and about it. Even the brief visit of budding Austria as Soviet troops reasserted their other Hungarian delicacies for sale to ben- young scholars in the Calumet region may control over the country. Next, the audi- efit the church. become an important accomplishment in ence was treated to a performance of the The biggest event that attracted the the exploration of the making of songs of Béla Bartok and Zoltán Kodály whole ecumenist-minded Protestant and multicultural America. by IU School of Music student Zsolt Catholic community was the 95th anni- Srajber, who was accompanied on the pi- versary celebration of the Holy Trinity Linda Degh is a Professor Emerita in ano by Lisa Marie Overholser. Hungarian Church in East Chicago, on the department of Folklore and In addition to the film, several poster- September 9, 2001. This all-day event it- Ethnomusicology. Her research was sup- sized photos helped to convey the tragic self deserves a folk art specialist’s atten- ported through the Intercampus Re- intensity of the uprising to those in at- tion. Hungarian-style embroideries deco- search Fund of IU’ s Research and the tendance. For the reception, tradition held rate the church and the clerical parapher- University Graduate School (RUGS) sway as partcipants were treated to a daz- nalia, the festive wear of women, old, fund. zling array of authentic Hungarian culi- young, even of the babies has remark- nary creations. able appeal. Father Alphonse Skerl and Patrick Kinney is a masters student his sister, Helen Fogarassy, are leaders in at the Russian and East European Insti- Hungarian folk artistry. The Reverend tute. REEIfication, December 2001 9
Alumni News Nancy Eyl (Slavics) presented a paper John T. Alexander (History/REEI Certifi- Paul E. Michelson (History PhD, 1975) entitled “Female Sexuality and Gender cate, 1966) published “Amazon was given the 2000 Nicolae Balcescu Prize Roles in Ivo Andric’s Works” to the panel Autocratrixes: Images of Female Rule in by the Romanian Academy for his 1998 on women, writing, and power at the an- the 18th Century,” in P. Barta, ed.,Gen- book Romanian Politics, 1859-1871. He nual AATSEEL conference in New Or- der and Sexuality in Russian Civiliza- served as the program chair for the 4th leans, December 28. tion, based on a conference in Surrey in International 1996. Congress on David Fisher (History) and his wife Jen- Romanian nifer Cahn celebrated the birth of their Yulia Studies held daughter, Natalie Cahn Fisher, on Octo- Petrossian- in the sum- ber 27th. Boyle (SPEA mer of 2001 in MPA, 1999) and Suceava, Ro- Eva Kiss (Folklore/Ethnomusicology/ Eric David Boyle mania. He CEUS) published a review of “Hungary (REEI MA 1999/ teaches at and Romania: Descendents of the Itiner- MPA SPEA 1999) Huntington ant Gypsies: Melodies of Sorrow and Joy” are pleased to College. announce the (1997) in 1999 Yearbook for Traditional Music, p. 213. birth of their first Charles son Robert Ambassador James Collins (center) joins wife Naomi Collins (His- Mixon (REEI tory Ph.D., 1970) and Ed McDermott (U.S. Dept. of Education) at the Katherine Metzo (REEI/Anthropology) Vahram Boyle, REEI alumni reception held during the AAASS conference in Alex- MA, 1994) is presented a paper entitled “Authorship born in Yerevan, andria, Virginia. employed and Participatory Research in Russia” at Armenia, on October 28, 2001. Yulia is with a leading emerging markets private currently on maternity leave from her new equity group. His focus is on two areas the American Anthropological Associa- job as the Manager for Armenian Opera- within the practice: capital raising for tion meeting in Washington, D.C. in No- tions for the British Council, the United funds and investments in Eastern Europe vember. She published: “Adapting Capi- Kingdom’s international organization for and the former Soviet Union. His Rus- talism: Household Plots, Forest Re- education and cultural relations. Eric was sian language skills play an important part sources, and Moonlighting in post-So- promoted to Deputy Director of the Ar- in closing deals related to both areas. He viet Siberia” in Geo-Journal, Fall 2001 menia/Caucasus Office of Catholic Relief is also translating A.F. Tiutcheva’s At the and “Tunkinsky National Park: Pearl of Services (CRS) in August 2001. CRS is Court of Two Emperors, which he would Siberia” in Mongol Survey, December carrying out programs in education, hu- like to publish in the future. 2001 manitarian response, NGO development, and regional peace and justice issues in Mark Temple (REEI MA, 1995) has ac- Nikita Nankov (Comparative Literature/ the South Caucasus. cepted a job as an Asylum Officer with Slavics) presented a paper entitled the Immigration and Naturalization Ser- “Remapping the Boundries of a Utopia: James Collins (REEI/History MA, 1964 ) vice (INS) at the San Francisco asylum Osip Mandelstam’s Criticism,” to the has joined international law firm Akin, office. He married Ani Gombos of Cugir, panel on Russian literary criticism at the Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. as a Alba Province, Romania, on October 18, annual AATSEEL conference in New Or- senior international adviser in Washing- 1997. He has been working for IREX for leans, December 28. ton. He will also work with Akin Gump the past three years and has been living Global Solutions, its joint venture with in Romania for the past six years. First International Resources, a political Joseph Prestia (History) received a and business consulting company. Fulbright scholarship to study Romania’s Collins left his post in Moscow last sum- entry into World War One in Romania from mer after having represented the United Student News January through October, 2002. For the States in Russia since 1997. past semester he has been teaching a Karen Boschker (SPEA/West European course on Eastern European history since Studies) is a Teaching Assistant and a 1815 at Butler University. PJ Kaczmarek (REEI MA, 1998) is a bi- Research Associate at SPEA’s Institute lingual employment counselor at Jewish for Development Strategies. Vocational Service in Boston, Massachu- Jason C. Vuic (History) was awarded an setts. He assists refugees from the former instructorship for a 300-level course in Janis Cakars (Journalism) spent the Soviet Union with job placement, and of- the IU History Department entitled “Prob- summer in Ulaanbaatar as an English lan- fers counseling to help clients gain an lems in Peacekeeping: W. Europe, the US, guage editor at the News Abroad Desk of understanding of American job culture. and Yugoslavia” to be taught in the Montsame, the Mongolian national news spring Semester. agency. 10 Russian and East European Institute Faculty profile from one election to another) and asks if because in some cases eligible voters have continued from page 4 there is evidence of voter support shift- difficulty registering to vote, thus being ing from election to election. Here disfranchised from political participation. in other regions of the world. Bielasiak finds a difference in the former This was the case, in the Baltic States, He cautions that scholars must take communist states and the other regions. where people were barred because of lan- care when comparing emerging democra- Eastern European and former Soviet guage requirements, and in deed literacy cies with longer established ones in the states tend to see many more parties requirements act in a similar way in other advanced industrial countries. Such a jux- crowd the political space, these parties places throughout the world. Other mea- taposition between nascent and mature tend to come and go across election sures of participation include so-called democracies is bound to present the new rounds, and they are sometimes created “spoiled ballots.” Voters, unhappy with party systems as unstable and inchoate. out of small or even frivolous interests all of the choices, deliberately destroy Comparison is possible, he says, but the (for example, “beer lovers” party). All of their ballot in an act of protest. An addi- key is to examine comparable periods in this contributes to very high number of tional measure is the “excluded vote,” i.e. the development of each region, i.e. dur- political players in the electoral contests, votes going to parties that do not meet ing the first decade of democratization. and culminates in voter confusion. The the minimum threshold for entry into par- Thus Bielasiak focuses on the emergence result is a voting public that often shifts liament, thus leaving those voters with of democratic systems at the end of World support along the political spectrum (con- no tangible representation for their vote. War II in western Europe, primarily Ger- trast this with our own, relatively set vot- All of this gives Bielasiak a solid measure many, Austria, France, and Italy; the tran- ing patterns). Poland is an excellent ex- of voter participation and engagement in sition in southern Europe in the mid- ample. Ex-communists assumed control the existing party structure. 1970s, i.e. Spain, Portugal, and Greece; in 1993, then the Solidarity-backed par- Bielasiak’s overall conclusion is that and more recently, the Latin American ties took back control in 1997, and the the countries of Eastern Europe and the countries in the 1980s. For each of these recent 2001 elections saw Solidarity lose former Soviet Union lag behind in party regions, Bielasiak examines the first years every single seat it held in the Lower institutionalization when compared to of their “democratic existence” to define House. similar time periods in western and South- the patterns in electoral behavior and Volatility is also well exemplified by the ern Europe, and to a lesser extent to Latin party development, enabling a similar time patterns of party behavior in Russia America. assessment of party system institution- where new parities appear out of no- More recently Bielasiak entered a new alization in the postcommunist and other where, basically on the eve of an elec- phase of his research: investigating is- emerging democracies. The empirical tion. These “parties of power” exist pri- sues of causality. In looking at causality, evidence under analysis is extensive, in- marily as vehicles for presidential candi- Bielasiak takes first a “bottom up” ap- volving more than 35 countries and 140 dates, who garner large shares of votes proach by examining cultural factors, lev- elections, thus producing a vast body of for a particular election, and the parties els of economic development, the extent data for Bielasiak to draw upon. often dissolve or regroup by the time the of ethnic cleavages, and social-economic In regard to the findings of his work, next election takes place. divisions as one set of possible explana- Bielasiak focuses attention on three ar- The evidence then confirms that there tory variables. His preliminary findings, eas related to party systems: regulation is less institutionalization of parties tak- however, suggest that these variables of elections and parties, electoral compe- ing place in the postcommunist setting in may not provide accurate reasons for the tition between parties, and popular par- comparison to other regions, in particu- pattern of less-institutionalized party sys- ticipation in the electoral process. lar western and southern Europe, which tems in former communist countries. On the first issue, the “rules of the were more “orderly and stable” in the Using another set of explanatory vari- game” that govern electoral competition, development of political parties during ables, he takes a “top-down” approach. Bielasiak finds that former communist their shift to democracy. Here Bielasiak argues that the kind of states mirror the experiences of the other Regarding the third element of his parties that exist in Eastern Europe and countries. Most regulations are instituted analysis, participation, Bielasiak examines the former Soviet republics today are not very early in the period of moving towards how citizens “buy into” the evolving the traditional type prevalent in the West democracy, and tend to stay in place for party structure. Do they become engaged during the democratic building phase, i.e. most of the time – with the exception of voters? Do they gain real representation large, mass parties with closely knit mem- the legal threshold for entry into parlia- in the sense that the party they vote for bership. Today’s parties in the ment, which is subsequently revised to a actually enters the legislative policy-mak- postcommunist states (although this is a higher percentage in many EE and FSU ing arena and becomes part of the policy world-wide trend) might be called “media countries. discussions? To find answers to these parties,” “movement parties,” or “cartel Second, on the issue of contestation, questions, Bielasiak looks at the ratio of parties” that appeal to voters through public relations campaigns instead of Bielasiak looks at the number of political voters to the adult voting population building grassroots networks of support. actors and “electoral volatility” (a mea- rather than to the usual measure of the sure of the extent of support for parties number of registered voters. He does this continued on next page REEIfication, December 2001 11
Faculty profile The Midwest Russian History Workshop: continued from previous page 11 Years of Camaraderie and Critique Another factor involves the rules that govern party formation and behavior. By David C. Fisher There are few barriers to entry into the Five years ago David Ransel and Ben Eklof mentioned to me that I might like to political process, thus almost anyone can attend an upcoming session of the Midwest Russian History Workshop. I took start a party. Similarly there are few sanc- their advice, not knowing what to expect. In a van rented by REEI, I found myself, tions for parties that remake themselves along with several other history grads, on the way to Ann Arbor, Michigan for two after the election or for party representa- days of papers and discussion accompanied by good meals and camaraderie. tives that defect from the party lists on This biannual workshop brings faculty and graduate students together from which they gained election. Bielasiak sug- around the Midwest for an informal gathering where manuscripts, dissertations, gests that stronger requirements to de- and other works in progress are discussed in depth. Each fall and spring Russianists fine party activities, such as more exten- at one of the participating universities volunteer to host the workshop. Since pa- sive financial backing or higher support pers are read in advance, sessions are devoted to group conversation that often requirements for appearance on the bal- overflows with useful advice and insightful critique. Imagine receiving feedback on lot, might help to thin the crowded field. your work from one of the most distinguished group of Russianists in America! His preliminary conclusion? Rather The Workshop first began in the fall of 1990 when a small group, including David than looking for answers in socio-eco- Ransel, Sheila Fitzpatrick, and Ron Suny, gathered at the University of Michigan. nomic factors, researchers must look at The first session was intended as a faculty-only event, but Sheila Fitzpatrick brought the regulatory framework that governs her graduate students along, and the workshop has provided a common ground for parties. A dangerous possibility exists professors and their students ever since. For graduate students in Russian history wherein improperly drafted rules may al- low for poorly structured institutions to there is no better forum for getting to know the leading lights in the profession and be given permanency within the polity. developing friendships with future colleagues. One solution may be to reform the rules Unlike typical academic conferences with their multiple panels and hundreds of so as to make it more difficult for “weak” attendees, the workshop offers an intimate and collegial atmosphere. Participants parties to enter the political arena or for gather for each session, and dinners are hosted by faculty. Serendipitous opportu- elected representatives to depart from es- nities abound. At the last meeting of the Workshop in De Kalb, I found myself, tablished parties to form new ones, along with IU Ph.D. Steven Duke, sitting across from professor Mark Steinberg of thereby creating incentives to stabilize the the University of Illinois during lunch. We discussed this year’s job market, and political system. Steinberg offered insights on how search committees size up job candidates. I can Interestingly, Bielasiak notes that ex- not imagine that we would have had the time for such a casual conversation amid communist leaders have done the best the hurly-burly that characterizes other professional meetings, like AAASS. organizational work in recasting their par- The Midwest Russian History Workshop meets in Bloomington on March 1st ties. They took advantage of the legacy and 2nd. Plan ahead to sign up, sit in, and enjoy the discussions and good com- of existing networks and built on the foun- pany. For more information on this year’s workshop please contact David Ransel at dation of the one-party system to create REEI. David C. Fisher is a Ph.D. candidate in Russian History strong political competitors in the new political environment. Bielasiak’s future plans include re- Faculty News search into the question of EU expansion Jack Bielasiak (Political Science) pub- cisco: “All Aboard to Brussels? Determi- and how publics in Poland and Eastern lished “Substance and Process in the nants of Public Opinion Differences on Europe respond to the prospects of be- Development of Party Systems in Post EU Accession in Poland” and “The In- coming EU citizens. Why, as the time for Communism” in Stephen White and stitutionalization of Party Systems in membership grows closer, has public opin- Daniel Nelson, eds., The Politics of the Emerging Democracies.” He also deliv- ion grown more negative? Could the eu- phoria of attaining democracy and mar- Post Communist World, Aldershot, UK: ered the following lectures: “The ket capitalism be over? What is the fu- Ashgate Publishing, 2000. He presented: Transitology Debate: From Regime ture for these fragile democracies? Pro- “Consolidating Electoral Democracy in Change to Democratic Consolidation,” fessor Bielasiak continues his efforts to Post Communist States” at the Fulbright Central European University, Warsaw, understand the radical transformations Institute Conference devoted to the May 16, 2001; “Methods and Types of taking place in East Europe and the former theme “A Decade of Post-Communism: Political Opposition during Democratiza- Soviet Union by looking at both the in- The Fate of Democracy in Eastern Europe tion” Higher School of Economics, ternal dynamics of democratization and and the Former Soviet Union,” Univer- Cracow, June 2, 2001. their opening towards the outside world. sity of Arkansas, April 2001. He presented Jack Bielasiak is professor of politi- the following papers at the American Po- Linda Degh (Folklore/Ethnomusicology, cal science. He received his Ph.D. in litical Science Association Annual Meet- Emerita) taught an interdisciplinary doc- government from Cornell University. ing, August 29-September 2, San Fran- toral seminar at the University of continued on page 14 12 Russian and East European Institute Media in Ukraine Rebuilding During my second year, I initiated a continued from page 6 continued from page 6 voluntary integration program for the stu- dents that allowed students to teach En- guage about Gongadze, although there tional dorm. Although we wanted to have glish to Czechs, work in organizations ac- was no direct order to get rid of him. more Czech students in the dorm, it was cording to their interests, or be connected The Ukrainian opposition took ad- difficult because of the high cost of this with families or friends of similar age. Ad- vantage of the situation to try to impeach particular, quality dorm. ditionally, we took over most of the ser- president Kuchma. Interestingly, the Tensions arose between the Philo- vices previously performed by the Philo- scandal failed to hurt the president’s rat- sophical Faculty and the Institute for Lan- sophical Faculty (such as organizing ings and has also failed to increase guage and Professional Preparation as overnight trips and cultural events), en- people’s trust in the Ukrainian media. funds were shifted for allocation to the larged the computer lab to fifteen com- One positive outcome of the Institute, which offered us an entire floor puters and added a gym and ping-pong Gongadze case and the “tape scandal,” with a language lab, student lounge, tables where matches were regularly or- is that both have drawn attention to the kitchen, library space, teacher’s lounge, ganized between the issue of adherence to the principle of rooftop space for fac- American and Czech freedom of speech in Ukraine. In nu- ulty parties, auditorium, students. Unfortu- merous letters to Ukrainian leaders, the three classrooms for nately, the inclination international community demanded that our exclusive use and of some students to the government carry out a comprehen- two offices for our use. “research” the famous sive and transparent investigation into Diplomacy was needed Czech beers also occa- Gongadze’s death. to make the changes sioned the design of A presidential decree on measures to and create peace clearly defined behav- eliminate problems in the operation of among the institutions. ior rules. mass media and to promote the freedom My first tasks were Certainly there are of speech in Ukraine appears to be the to move the program challenges yet to be president’s response to the Gongadze into its new location faced. My original in- case. Unfortunately, the conclusion can and to implement a new Bronislava Volkova tention was to create a be drawn that the Ukrainian media have accounting system for graduate program in failed to achieve the basic requirements the program, whereby students could Prague for students seriously interested of an independent and free media: finan- open their own local bank accounts in a in Czech culture and scholarship. The lo- cial solvency, civic accountability, edi- speedy manner. I even had the represen- gistical and structural problems pre- torial independence from political and tatives of the bank come to the school so sented an immediate challenge that had financial pressures, an informative this could be accomplished. Under the to be confronted before the academic di- agenda, and the absence of ideological former system the director had to carry rection could be addressed. This, com- content. thousands of dollars in a bag biweekly to bined with the very nature of profit-driven Significant changes are not likely to disburse personally. exchange programs, provided a less-than- occur in the near future. The process of After much hard work, at the end of perfect environment. However, with a “corporatizing” mass media has in- the first year I had a functioning office, a dedicated and professional staff, quali- creased as parliamentary elections draw good team, several new professors, bet- fied teachers, and a more pragmatic rela- closer, especially in outlying regions. ter services for the students and profes- tionship with the host university, I feel Experts believe that Ukraine will soon sors, as well as an atmosphere of collegi- that my team and I were able to imple- be without an independent media not ality and belonging. Now I could face the ment changes that will benefit the stu- under the tutelage of oligarchs and po- challenges of training new staff, adjust- dents and the Council alike. litical clans. ing the contract with Charles University, Professor Volkova received her Ph.D. Katya Choursina is a graduate of creating and reviewing syllabi from a from Charles University. Her research in- the IU School of Journalism, and at- broad range of disciplines and the hiring terests include linguistic semiotics, emo- tended IU on a grant from the Freedom of additional faculty. Eventually I re- tive language, and Czech literature Support Act. She is currently stationed cruited twelve new teachers and added (semiotic, cultural and feminist studies). in Kiev, Ukraine as a reporter for the five new courses. The employment of the Current projects include textological BBC. Svetlana Seliutina is Ukrainian teachers also needed to be reorganized analysis of the emotive and value system regional director of the European In- and shifted to the more flexible Institute of literary works. She is also writing po- stitute for Media. She also works for for Language and Professional Prepara- etry in both Czech and English (see the Russian national news agency tion. Finally, the library/bookstore opera- page,14). She is based in the Department Interfax specializing in economic news tion of about 3000 volumes needed to be of Slavic Languages and Literatures and media developments. systematized and reorganized. where she directs the Czech program. REEIfication, December 2001 13 SPEA Enters Three-Year Pact with Russian Institutes By Sandra Bate The IU School of Public and Environ- work.” Merget said. All American university programs in mental Affairs (SPEA) has received two The Volga Region Academy is in business administration, political science, partnership grants from the U.S. Depart- Saratov and the North West Academy is economics, journalism, law and education, ment of State to collaborate in curriculum in St. Petersburg. Both academies are ad- along with public administration and development and distance learning with ministratively responsible to the presi- policy analysis, were eligible for the fis- two public administration academies in dent of the Russian Federation. cal 2001 competition. “For one school to the Russian Federation. Much of the SPEA Professor and Graduate Program be awarded two partnerships in the single work will be accomplished through ex- Director John L. Mikesell is the project competition is unusual and gives evi- change of faculty between SPEA and the director for the new grants, which extend dence of SPEA’s faculty expertise and in- Russian institutions. for three years and provide total funding stitutional capacity,” Mikesell said. “The economic and political transfor- of $600,000. SPEA was founded in 1972 and is the mation of the Russian Federation requires According to Mikesell, the grants are largest school of public affairs in the public administrators with an education part of the New Independent States Col- United States. In the most recent U.S. appropriate for a market-oriented, demo- lege and University Partnerships Program News & World Report rankings of gradu- cratic society,” said SPEA Dean Astrid E. of the U.S. Department of State and are ate and professional public affairs pro- Merget. “These new grants will enable supported with funds from the Freedom grams at American and international SPEA to share capabilities with the Volga Support Act. The goal of the program, schools, SPEA was ranked in third posi- Region Academy for Civil Service and the Mikesell said, is “to assist U.S. colleges tion and was the highest-ranked school North west Academy of Public Adminis- and universities in building lasting and at a public institution. tration as they are transforming both their productive partnerships with their coun- For more information on this pro- educational programs and service to gov- terparts around the globe.” gram, please contact Sandra Bate, SPEA, ernments. “In return, we will strengthen Mikesell said 55 awards were made by 812-856-5490, [email protected] or our master of public affairs degree pro- the Department of State’s Bureau of Edu- George Vlahakis, IU Office of Communi- gram by better incorporating international cational and Cultural Affairs for fiscal year cation and Marketing, 812-855-0846, and comparative topics into our course 2001. [email protected] INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Summer Workshop in Slavic, East European & Central Asian Languages June 14-August 9, 2002 RUSSIA EASTERN EUROPE · Intensive 1st through 6th year Russian, · 1st year Czech, Polish, Serbian/Croatian, (10 hrs. cr.) Romanian (10 hrs. cr.); Hungarian (6-8 cr.) · Fellowships available (undergrad & grad) · ACLS funded courses are tuition-free · 4-week (one semester) courses available for grads in East/Central European field starting June 14 · 1st year Slovene (pending funding) · FLAS fellowships available Travel option CENTRAL ASIA · Four weeks intensive Russian (incl. GEORGIAN/TIBETAN Business Russian) in St. Petersburg, with · 1st year Azeri, Kazak, Turkmen, Uzbek two weeks travel in Russia. In-state tuition for all languages (6-8 cr.) · July 13 - August 23 (6 cr.) APPLICATION DEADLINE · 2nd year Azeri, Kazak, Turkmen, Uzbek · May be preceded by four weeks of FOR FELLOWSHIPS (6-8 cr.) intensive Russian in Bloomington. April 1, 2002 · 1st year Georgian (10 cr.) · 1st year Tibetan (6-8 cr.) · FLAS & SSRC Fellowships available For applications or brochures, write to: Director, SWSEEL, BH 502, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 Tel. (812) 855-2608 · FAX (812) 855-2107 · e-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://www.indiana.edu/~iuslavic/swseel.shtml 14 Russian and East European Institute Faculty News he delivered a lecture entitled “Case Fea- Academy of Sciences, dedicated its 5th continued from page 11 tures, Markedness, and Quantification.” volume to Sinor under the title “Denis Sinor Yubiley Uchenogo.” Author V.M. Debrecen, Hungary, including students Bill Johnston (Center for English Lan- Alpatov described Sinor’s activities with from Philosophy, American Studies and guage Training) attended the national emphasis on his services to Soviet and Ethnology (2001 summer). She delivered conference of ALTA (the American Liter- Russian Altaistics, pp. 9-13. lectures at the Institut za Narodna ary Translators Association) in Raleigh, Umjetnost in Zagreb (April 17-21) entitled NC in October, and gave a reading from Martin C. Spechler (Economics) pre- “Folkloristics in the United States,” and his translation of His Current Woman sented a talk, “The Trouble with Global- “The Folk Legend in Modern Society” (Inne rozkosze) by Jerzy Pilch, which will ization” at IUPUI October 25 and partici- and consulted individually with doctoral be published in the spring by Northwest- pated in a round table for African and candidates. She attended the 7th Con- ern University Press. In late summer, Afro-American Studies at IUPUI on “War gress of SIEF (Societe Internationale Wydawnictwo Literackie of Krakow pub- on Terrorism,” November 1, together with d’Ethnologie et de Folklore), Budapest, lished Jezyk angielski i amerykanski dla three colleagues. where she is an honorary founding mem- poczatkujacych by Bill and his wife, ber. She also published: Nagyszekelytol Katarzyna Rydel-Johnston. Jeffrey Veidlinger (History) together with Delhi-ig Egy magyarorszagi nemet Dov-Ber Kerler, coordinated the interna- eletutja, 1943-1974, (on the life trajec- Nyusya Milman (Slavics) chaired a panel, tional conference, “Beyond the Shtetl: tory of a Hungarian German, from “The Fate of the Humorist in the Soviet Yiddish Language and Culture in Twenti- Nagyszekely to Delhi, Ontario) Ethnica, Union,” and also presented a paper en- eth Century Eastern Europe,” held at In- ed. Elek Bartha, Debrecen 2001; Legend titled “Modern Technology and Cultural diana University, October 28-30, 2001. and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Proficiency” to the panel on technology The conference was sponsored by the Genre, Indiana University Press, 2001, and language teaching at the annual Russian and East European Institute and 498 pp; “A Subjective Report About My AATSEEL conference in New Orleans in the Borns Jewish Studies Program. He Fieldwork and Two Deviant Pentecostal December. also received a RUGS Summer Faculty Fel- Preachers” in Tradisjon Norway 2:111- lowship for 2002. 116; and a volume of essays, The Eth- Nina Perlina (Slavics) was a discussant nography of Hungarian-Americans is on the panel, “Approaching the Bronislava Volkova (Slavics) introduced currently in press, Hungarian Academy Tricentennial of Petersburg: Great Expec- a series of bilingual (Czech/English) po- of Sciences/ European Folklore Institute. tations Fulfilled and Frustrated” at the an- etry readings which took place in the nual AATSEEL conference in New Or- National Library of the Czech Republic, Andrew Durkin (Slavics) had a entry on leans in December. as well as in the Podebrady castle and in Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov appear in various Prague bookstores. During these The Encyclopedia of Life Writing, ed. Denis Sinor (CEUS, Distinguished Emeri- events she introduced her most recent, Margaretta Jolly, 2 vols. London and Chi- tus) attended the general meeting of the books of poetry, Motáky do uší peny/ cago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001, pp. 29-30. American Council of Learned Societies Prison Notes Smuggled into the Ears of as a delegate of the American Oriental Seafoam (1999) and Promeny/Transfor- George Fowler (Slavics) was a panelist Society, in Philadelphia, May 3-5. On mations (2000). The last of the readings for the forum, “The Russian Context: The June 24-29, he attended the 6th session were accompanied by exhibitions of her Culture Behind the Language” at the an- of UNESCO’s International Scientific collage work relating to the books. She nual AATSEEL conference in New Or- Committee for the Preparation of the His- was recently invited to give another such leans in December. tory of the Civilizations of Central Asia , reading from her newest book Vstup do in Bishkek. He is Vice-Chairman of the svetla/Entering Light (2001) in Novem- Ron Feldstein (Slavics) presented “Bi- Committee. On August 26-31, he attended ber. Her work has also been featured in nary Classification of Russian Nominal the 44th meeting of the Permanent Inter- the new academic dictionary of Czech lit- Declension Based on Sonority” to the national Altaistic Conference of which he erature and has been focused on more panel on “Phonology and Beyond” at the is the Secretary General, in Walberg, Ger- broadly in a master’s thesis. She is annual AATSEEL conference in New Or- many. There, he presented “Some Remark- pleased to note that her poetry is being leans in December. able Women in Inner Asian History.” He utilized in several English departments’ published “Forty Years of the Permanent creative writing courses around the Steve Franks (Slavics/Linguistics) was International Altaistic Conference United States and that her book on emo- selected by the University Committee on (PIAC),” History and Reminiscences in tive language is used as compulsory read- Russian and East European Exchanges David B. Honey and David C. Wright, ing in several linguistics departments in and Contracts as the 2002 nominee to Altaic Affinities. Proceedings of the 40th Russia. During the summer Volkova participate in a one-month faculty ex- Meeting of the Permanent International worked with a student from Princeton, change program with Warsaw University. Altaistic Conference (PIAC). Indiana Clarice Cloutier, who has undertaken to He chaired a panel on morphosyntax and University Uralic and Altaic Series vol. translate one of her earlier books, A Cer- was a panelist for the forum on the Slavic 168 (2001), pp. 1-21. He published a re- tain Absence, into English with her. She and East European Language Resource view of the first two volumes of the jour- has also continued her collage work that Center (SEELRC) at UNC-Chapel Hill’s nal Inner Asia under the tile “Life as it is was originally accompanying her two bi- Summer Institute for Instructors at the Lived on the Inner Asian Steppes - and lingual books. The work complements her annual AATSEEL conference in New Or- Beyond,” in The Times Higher Education poetry by drawing in surrealistic images leans in December. He was a plenary Supplement (London), April 20, 2001, p. of metaphysical issues dealt with in the speaker at the Fourth European Confer- 32. On the occasion of his 85th birthday, poems and expresses them through vi- ence on Formal Description of Slavic Lan- the Russian periodical Altaica, published sual media. guages in Potsdam in November, where by the Oriental Institute of the Russian REEIfication, December 2001 15
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