JACKSON SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FALL 2006
Letter from the Director BY STEPHEN E. HANSON © ELLISON CENTER Prof. Herbert Ellison, Dean Ron Irving, Prof. Steve Hanson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer and Robert Huber and Sharon Wolchik of NCEEER.
I am truly excited to be returning to the position of Director of the Ellison Center INSIDE THIS ISSUE for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies after a wonderful year of REECAS Northwest Conference Call for Papers ...... 3 sabbatical leave here and at Oxford Recent Acquisitions to the REECAS Outreach Collection ...... 4 University. I would like to convey my Ellison Center Promotes Collaboration with Warsaw School of Economics ...... 5 deepest thanks to James Augerot of the JSIS Series: Hot Spots in Our World ...... 5 Department of Slavic Languages and Exit Festival: Bringing the World to Serbia ...... 6 Literatures for his outstanding work as The Donald W. Treadgold Studies ...... 9 interim Director of the program in Application to Study a Less Commonly Taught Language ...... 10 2005–06. Thanks to his dedication— REECAS 2006 MA Graduates ...... 10 and to that of our excellent staff team of Poppe Symposium Brings Together Central Asian Scholars and Students ...... 11 Marta Mikkelsen, the Center’s Associate The Silk Road Lecture and Seminar Series ...... 11 Director; Allison Dvaladze, Outreach Women, Water and Weddings: A Summer in Tajikistan ...... 12 Coordinator; and Carrie O’Donoghue, Boris Yeltsin and Russia’s Democratic Transformation ...... 15 Program Coordinator—the transition Regional Press Institute 2006: The Current State of the Media in Russia ...... 16 Boba & Budlong Research Fellowships ...... 18 has been truly seamless. Central Eurasian Studies Society Conference Announcement ...... 18 Indeed, the REECAS program continues Vladimir Gross Memorial Endowed Fund ...... 19 to thrive in every way. First, we are Visiting REECAS Scholars ...... 20 thrilled to announce that we have once Ellison Center News ...... 21 again been successful in the most recent Ellison Center Endowment Fund ...... 23 continued on page 2 Upcoming REECAS-Related Events ...... 24 ELLISON CENTER
continued from page 1 competition for Title VI National is coming to an extremely successful Resource Center grants from the US conclusion. From September 14–16, the Department of Education for the 2006– UW held a conference at Westminster Welcome to the following 2010 period. This grant will provide University in Tashkent, where many of new REECAS Faculty! programmatic support and graduate Uzbekistan’s leading scholars and several student Foreign Language and Area faculty in the University of Washington’s BOJAN BELIC, Lecturer in Slavic Studies (FLAS) Fellowships totaling program on comparative religion pre- Languages and Literatures approximately $2 million, and confi rms sented papers and shared ideas about the CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL, Assistant our status as one of the leading national history and future of religious interac- Professor in Architecture and Urban programs on Russia, East Europe and tions in Central Asia. US Ambassador to Planning Central Asia. Uzbekistan John Purnell gave the opening BARBARA CITKO, Assistant Professor Second, we proudly welcome the address, and high-ranking representa- in Linguistics National Council of Eurasian and East tives of UNESCO and the Uzbek European Research (NCEEER) to its new government also attended. Much of the SCOTT DAVIS, Professor in Public home in Seattle, where we plan to work credit for the success of this conference Health Studies goes to Professor Ilse Cirtautas, whose together in a new joint initiative uniting CHRIS DEMASKE, Assistant our research and educational expertise dedication to Central Asia’s peoples and cultures is legendary both here and in Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts to advance the fi eld of Slavic and and Sciences Eurasian studies. We celebrated this new the region itself. We will conclude our initiative with a three-day conference grant activities this spring with a fi nal IVETA GRINBERGA, Lecturer in on October 12–14, co-sponsored with follow-up conference in Seattle—but we Scandinavian Studies expect our new UW library in Tashkent Moscow’s ISE Center (Information. MARK JENKINS, Assistant Professor Scholarship. Education.) and the Centers will serve as the core of deeper scholarly in Drama for Advanced Study and Education collaboration with our Uzbek colleagues FREDERIC LORENZ, Lecturer in (CASE) Program in the Russian Federa- for many decades to come. International Studies tion, to discuss the topic of “Russia and Fourth, the REECAS faculty continues its Neighbors in an Era of Globalization”. to grow by leaps and bounds as a result of STEVEN PFAFF, Associate Professor The keynote address was delivered by growing interest in our region as well as in Sociology US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State generous support from the UW adminis- FLORIAN SCHWARZ, Assistant David Kramer. Thanks to NCEEER’s tration. Over the past two years, we have Professor in History support, too, the fi rst group of George added fully 12 new faculty to our ranks F. Russell Fellows from the Newly- (see box). This year, we will search for KRISTEN STILT, Assistant Professor Independent States arrived at the two new tenure-track positions, one in Law University of Washington this fall: specializing in Russian imperial history, VERONICA TAYLOR, Professor in Law Vladimir Melnikov of Tomsk State the other focusing on postcommunist Pedogogical Institute, Tatiana Pavlova security in Central Asia and the Caucasus; of Belarusian State University and Ala next year, we are scheduled to search for Svet of the State University of Moldova. a new faculty member specializing in As I look over this list of recent NCEEER’s President, Robert Huber, will East-Central Europe. achievements, I realize that I have only begin teaching UW courses on Russian Finally, all of us in the Ellison Center are scratched the surface of our dynamic foreign policy and US-Russian relations naturally very excited to celebrate the program, having failed to mention as of this winter quarter. We are pro- appearance in print of Professor Herb exciting new activities related to our foundly grateful to Bob and the entire Ellison’s new book from the University Polish Studies Endowment, our Baltic NCEEER team for these inspiring contri- of Washington Press, Boris Yeltsin and Studies program, our collaborative work butions, and will strive for our part to Russia’s Democratic Transformation. with the US Army War College, Professor support NCEEER’s mission of promoting We hope to spread the news far and wide Beth Kolko’s multiyear research project scholarly and policy-related research through a series of events, including a on Internet diffusion in Central Asia, on every aspect of Eurasian and East UW roundtable discussion on the Yeltsin the development of a digital archive of European politics and societies. era —with contributions by Professor Professor William Brumfi eld’s Russian Third, our grant from the US Depart- Ellison, Professor Judith Thornton and architecture photographs thanks to a ment of State’s Bureau of Educational and myself—on Wednesday, November 1, as NEH grant… Still, not being able to Cultural Affairs for partnerships with well as a special reception at the American cover everything happening in the Uzbek institutions of higher learning, Association for the Advancement of Ellison Center in a short newsletter piece designed to promote the study of Slavic Studies conference in Washington, is, I think, not such a bad problem to comparative religion in a tolerant spirit, D.C. on Friday, November 18. have! ◆
2 REECAS NEWSLETTER
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Thirteenth Annual Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Northwest Conference SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON – SEATTLE
We are currently soliciting papers, panels or roundtable Funds are not available for scholars outside of the Pacifi c presentations for this one-day interdisciplinary conference. Northwest or residing outside the United States. Proposals from faculty, graduate students and members of If you would like to present at the conference, please reply the general public are all welcome. via e-mail or regular mail by Monday, January 15, 2007, Contributions are encouraged on literature, the fi ne arts, with your name and contact information, a paper title and the environment, post-Soviet foreign policy, historical re- brief abstract to: search, economics, national identity or any other relevant Allison Dvaladze, Outreach Coordinator subjects. Papers related to the theme “From the Cold War to The Ellison Center Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Post-Communism: Sixty Years of REECAS (1947–2007)” are The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies especially welcome. Box 353650, Thomson Hall, University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195-3650, USA Small travel stipends may be available to graduate Tel: (206) 221-7951 students and faculty traveling from the Pacifi c Northwest. E-mail: [email protected]
Stephen E. Hanson, Director and Program Chair ELLISON CENTER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE EMAIL: [email protected] Michael Biggins, Head Librarian Marta B. Mikkelsen, Associate Director Slavic and East European Section, UW Libraries 203B Thomson Hall, Box 353650 EMAIL: [email protected] Galya Diment, Professor and Chair University of Washington Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Seattle, WA 98195-3650 Allison Dvaladze, Outreach Coordinator PHONE: 206-543-4852 EMAIL: [email protected] Katarzyna Dziwirek, Associate Professor FAX: 206-685-0668 Carrie O’Donoghue, Program Coordinator Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures EMAIL: [email protected] EMAIL: [email protected] James R. Felak, Associate Professor Department of History The Ellison Center on the Internet: Elizabeth Martin, Newsletter Editor http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison EMAIL: [email protected] Stephen E. Hanson, REECAS Director and Chair; Associate Professor Livia Kidd, Outreach and Website Assistant Department of Political Science EMAIL: [email protected] Beth Kolko, Associate Professor Department of Technical Communication Glennys Young, Editor, Treadgold Papers EMAIL: [email protected] Judith Thornton, Professor Department of Economics Anna Crowley, Managing Editor, Treadgold Papers EMAIL: [email protected]
3 ELLISON CENTER
Recent Acquisitions to the REECAS Outreach Collection
The Ellison Center is pleased to present a generations. Siberia: How the East Was in 20 moving stories about human desti- selection of the most recent additions to Won ventures into the northern forests nies that have been radically changed by our outreach materials collection. Films, and rides the trans-Siberian railway the accident and reveal some of the teaching guides, educational software across an enigmatic land of majestic impacts of the continuing catastrophe. packages, reference texts and other beauty and abundant natural resources. To view the exhibition go to resources are available for two-week See how Russia’s eastward expansion www.20years20lives.info/20years. checkout to students, faculty, staff and mirrored America’s drive to the west, and K-12 teachers. For more information, relive the landmark events in Siberian Heritage of the Russian North including a complete listing of available history. From the Cossack invasions of William Brumfi eld, Photographer materials, visit the Ellison Center in 203B the 16th century to the fall of commu- 18 COLOR PANELS, 16" x 20" EACH Thomson Hall, University of Washington; nism and the social ills of the region “North” in Russia is a broad concept, but telephone us at (206) 543-4852; email today, this feature-length special is fi lled many Russians understand it as a historic [email protected]; or check our with breath-taking footage and inter- region defi ned by a network of rivers website http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison. views with scholars, historians and and lakes leading to the White Sea. It is residents of this unique land. here that ecology, history and culture Films have combined to create an area of harsh Vladimir Putin, 2006 extremes and extraordinary beauty. (The) Czar’s Faberge Eggs, 1998 (50 MIN – DVD) “After two decades of research and pho- (50 MIN – DVD) Putin was a spy in the former USSR who tography in the Russian heartland, Both exquisite works of art and fasci- has become the leader of modern Russia. I made my fi rst visit to the north in 1991. nating relics of a vanished era, they are But while his leadership has helped sta- What I saw met my expectations in every among the most valuable and prized bilize the nation, there are many who say way: the vast northern forests, the rich treasures on earth, with one recently he is stirring up echoes of its communist summer light that seemed to last forever; fetching a record $5.5 million at auction. past. This program draws on Soviet-era the remnants of ancient monasteries; The jeweled Easter eggs created by Peter archives, insights from diplomats and and the wooden structures of pine, fi r, Carl Faberge for the Russian Czar rare interviews with people who know larch, and aspen that must rank among Nicholas II represent the zenith of the him personally to tell Putin’s remarkable the most distinctive features of native jewelers’ art. They helped secure Faberge story. Trace his remarkable rise to promi- Russian culture.” – Professor William a reputation that lasts to this day, and nence and see how he has grown into Brumfi eld, Tulane University. embody an age of opulence that came to his role as leader of one of the world’s The Art of Soviet-Era Movie Posters a sudden, horrifi c end. The Czar’s Faberge largest nations. Learn little-known facts 18 PANELS, 24" x 24" EACH Eggs goes behind the scenes at the Forbes about his childhood and private life, Collection and the Hillwood Museum and explore the shadowy details of his The names of such directors as Sergei for an up-close look at many of these 17 years in espionage. Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky ring magnifi cent creations. Curators and familiar to many Russians and lovers of experts reveal the amazing features that Traveling Exhibitions Russian cinema the world over. But what make each one a masterpiece, while of the names Vladimir and Georgii historians show how the history of the Chernobyl, Twenty Years – Twenty Lives Stenberg, Nikolai Prusakov, Grigorii waning years of Russian royalty can be Mads Eskesen, Photographer Borisov? They may not come so easily traced by the changing themes of the 25 COLOR PANELS, 36" x 36" EACH to mind, but it is in fact men like these unique creations. From the court of the Chernobyl, 20 Years – 20 Lives is a photo which whole generations of Russian czars to today, learn the complete story documentary journey through the lives fi lmgoers have to thank for introducing of some of the most fascinating and of 20 people who were forever changed them to such classics as Battleship beautiful artworks ever created. by the devastating nuclear explosion at Potemkin, Earth and Andrei Rublev. For the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on these were the unheralded masters of the Siberia: How the East Was Won, 2002 April 26th, 1986. In an attempt to under- Russian fi lm poster or kinoplakat, an (100 MIN – DVD) stand the implications of the catastrophe often overlooked 20th-century art form. Even in the 21st century, vast stretches on mankind, 20 years later, Eskesen This exhibit celebrates their craft through of its epic expanse remain undiscovered travelled in the affected regions, held 16 exemplary works. Please visit our and unexplored. Yet, it has played a interviews and took pictures of the every- website for more information in the pivotal role in Russian history for day life. These trips have resulted coming months. ◆
4 REECAS NEWSLETTER
Ellison Center Promotes Collaboration with Warsaw School of Economics HHOTOT SSPOTSPOTS IINN OOURUR WWORLDORLD BY VLAD KACZYNSKI A UW Jackson School The Warsaw School of Economics (in co-sponsored and planned jointly with Lecture Series Polish: Szkola Glowna Handlowa – SGH) the Ellison Center. The major effect of is the leading economic thinktank in the Ellison Center’s co-sponsorship was March 28 – May 2, 2007 Poland and one of the largest economic “internationalization” of the conference, Hear experts from the University of universities in Central and Eastern introducing English as a conference Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School Europe. Established in 1906, it is the language and our active participation in of International Studies discuss human oldest and largest economics university planning this event’s scientifi c approach. traffi cking, terrorism and other serious in Poland. International scientifi c and While the previous conference at SGH issues during this evening lecture series. educational cooperation remains one (2004) was attended by Polish specialists Challenges in each hot spot and the of highest priorities of this School, as only, the most recent conference brought implications for the United States will be examined by distinguished faculty from high quality research and teaching 33 experts from 12 countries (Bosnia and the Jackson School’s outreach centers. require international and global perspec- Herzegovina, Germany, Holland, tives. Administered by the Council on Hungary, India, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, LLECTURESECTURES International Educational Exchange Poland, Romania, Ukraine and the US). (CIEE), there are programs located at UW was represented by Prof. ZumBrun- March 28 – Watts and Water: Hydropower Development on the SGH in Warsaw designed for foreign nen, Dr. Nathaniel Trumbull (Dept. of Transnational Rivers in China and students with an interest in Poland, Geography) and Prof. Kaczynski. Their Mainland Southeast Asia Central Europe and the European Union. participation was possible thanks to the Darrin Magee, PhD, Geography, UW The Ellison Center and the School of fi nancial support received from the UW Graduate School and the Ellison Center. April 4 – The Afghan Legal Marine Affairs have been exploring and Educators Program: Challenges of developing cooperative links with the During our interactions with SGH Legal Reconstruction in a Warsaw School of Economics since 2004. faculty and executives, we came to the Post-Confl ict Setting The idea of cooperation between these conclusion that there might be a great Jonathan A. Eddy, Professor of Law, entities was initially explored when Prof. potential for future inter-university UW/Clark Lombardi – Assistant Adam Budnikowski (now President of cooperation. As a direct result of these Professor of Law, UW SGH) visited UW in 2003 and met with growing links, the Warsaw School of April 11 – The Arab-Israeli Confl ict several members of the UW faculty. He Economics sent Prof. Maciej Cygler of Ellis Goldberg, Director, Middle East was received by the Ellison Center and the Institute of International Economics Center and Professor, Political Science, UW to UW in November 2006. The objective delivered several presentations at the April 18 – The End of Multiculturalism: Jackson School of International Studies of this exploratory visit was to establish Can Europe and Islam Co-Exist? and the School of Marine Affairs. further contacts with UW faculty, Steve Pfaff, Associate Professor of Following this visit, UW Professors executive offi cers and students and to Sociology, UW Craig ZumBrunnen (Department of explore possibilities of longer-term April 25 – Global Human Traffi cking and Geography) and Vlad Kaczynski (School cooperation through inter-departmental Its Implications for Washington State and personal interactions. This coopera- of Marine Affairs) participated in the Sara Curran, Associate Professor of second SGH conference on Environment tion could include academic teaching, International Studies and Public Affairs, and Globalization in May 2004. During research, student exchanges, joint UW this conference, Prof. Kaczynski and conferences and publications. Prof. Budnikowski had additional May 2 – Partners in Peril: Canada and In 2007, the Warsaw School of Economics the US in an Era of Climate Change, opportunity to discuss possibilities of will be hosting Prof. Kaczynski as a Terrorism and Nuclear Proliferation future cooperation between the two Fulbright Scholar. He will teach courses Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair universities. Following this visit, in in English for foreign students, including in Global Politics and International Law, December 2005, Prof. Kaczynski went those from the European Union. Prof. UBC. again to SGH and delivered a guest Kaczynski will also work on joint project Total cost for all six lectures in this series is lecture for the faculty and students of the proposals that will foster cooperation $79 (Reg# 85599). Individual lectures are Institute of International Economics. betweeb SGH and UW. ◆ $19 each. The lectures will be held from 7:00 to 8:30pm on the UW campus, Seattle. The Third International Conference on Vlad Kaczynski is Associate Professor in To register, call 206-897-8939 or Economic Globalization and Environ- Marine Affairs. This fall he taught Compara- 1-800-506-1325. For more information, visit extension.washington.edu/ext/special/jackson. mental Policy, held May 25–26, 2006 at tive Marine Business in the North Pacifi c for the Warsaw School of Economics, was the Ellison Center.
5 ELLISON CENTER
Exit Festival: Bringing the World to Serbia BY LISA MANGUM © LISA MANGUM LISA © Petrovaradin Fortress on the Danube.
As I was winding through the crowds situation to people from all over Europe shake of the head, “No…you know, it’s that had packed into the Petrovaradin and the world, Exit Festival organizers very hard to get out of Serbia.” Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia during last teamed with activists to campaign for a Although the people I met, most of summer’s Exit Festival, I saw that the relaxation of the visa regime for the whom were in their twenties, largely youth of today’s Europe share a common youth of Balkan countries. embraced a global pop culture, I could culture. Be they Swedish or Serbian, The young Serbs I met this summer also sense a feeling of resentment toward Bosnian or Irish, Polish or Macedonian, seemed split between two realities: a “the West.” This did not solely or even the people who fl ocked to one of the cosmopolitan and progressive popular primarily stem from the NATO bomb- continent’s largest festivals clearly culture existing within an isolated state ings in 1999 or the hardships brought displayed a mutual taste in music and reluctant to reform after years of dictator- about by sanctions throughout the 1990s, fashion. What was not immediately ship. Culturally, they were deeply attuned but from a feeling of being left behind, evident, however, is that the attendees to the trends of America and Western especially by Europe. from Balkan countries, unlike their peers Europe. Their interests in music, movies, to the north and west, rarely get oppor- sports and fashion were largely indistin- The republics that once comprised tunities like this one to meet and to guishable from their western counter- Yugoslavia were mired in war during the socialize with people from outside their parts thanks to the internet, an infl ux of years that many other Eastern European country. In fact, a recent survey found foreign magazines and the proliferation countries were working their way toward that a startling 75% of Serbs under the of pirated CDs and DVDs available on EU membership. Now most of them have age of 25 had never traveled outside of every street corner. For example, nearly found themselves outside of a new wall Serbia or Montenegro.1 With the barriers everyone could name a few bands from dividing Europe. Although poised to of war and economic sanctions behind Seattle and many knew far more about embrace values different from those that them, the impediment to travel is now American sports than I do. However, defi ned the previous decade, young largely due to the diffi culties young when I asked if they had ever visited the Serbs’ exposure to foreign cultures and people face in obtaining travel visas, US, France, Japan or any of the places nations is generally limited to what can particularly to EU countries. In an about which they spoke so expertly, the be seen on a screen or read in a maga- attempt to promote awareness of this answer was nearly always a disheartened zine. Firsthand exposure to other forms
6 REECAS NEWSLETTER
of governance, economy, political youth organization, Otpor, which is choice but to get their information from culture, civil society and ethnic diversity often credited with orchestrating the the national media, potentially making is hindered by the stringent visa require- October 5th revolution that fi nally forced them “instruments of war and chauvin- ments that prevent the vast majority of Milosevic from power.2 istic politics.” young Serbs from ever leaving Serbia. Each year, the festival has continued to CP is focusing their efforts on the visa The case is similar in other Western grow, attracting bigger acts as well as restrictions imposed by countries that Balkan countries. While Bulgaria and bigger crowds. This year’s festival took have implemented the Schengen Agree- Romania prepare for EU ascension in place over four days in July, had 22 ment, most of which are part of the EU. January 2007 and Croatia waits in the stages, over 600 performers (including The Schengen Agreement allows for a wings, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, well-known acts like Franz Ferdinand, common border and entry policy among Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro Morrisey and the Scissor Sisters) and European states including all the EU risk becoming ever more ghettoized. drew an estimated 150,000 people. Ten member states (except Ireland and the Exit festival organizers are well aware thousand of those visitors traveled United Kingdom) as well as Iceland, of the predicament facing the youth of from outside the Balkans, mostly from Norway and Switzerland. A total of 26 the Western Balkans and at this year’s Western Europe, but also from Japan, countries have signed the agreement, festival, with the help of dozens of the US and Australia.3 If Serbs cannot including the new Eastern European EU volunteers passing out leafl ets in Serbian venture out to see the world, Exit has members that joined in 2004, but so far and English and manning booths around succeeded in bringing the world to Serbia. only 15 countries have implemented the the festival grounds, they made sure This year, Exit organizers teamed with measures. In order to enter any “Schengen that everyone else heard about it, too. a Novi Sad-based group called The country”, one must obtain a Schengen Since its inception, Exit’s organizers have Citizens’ Pact for South Eastern Europe visa which allows for entry into all the member countries since within the been committed to bringing people (CP) in a campaign to liberalize the visa Schengen zone there are no border together through music and to promoting regime for young people in the region. controls. Currently, for a citizen of any social awareness alongside entertainment. CP is dedicated to putting this issue in Balkan country except Croatia (which The festival was founded in 2000 by two the public’s eye both at home and abroad. has negotiated visa facilitation with the students from Novi Sad seeking to get They are putting pressure on the EU) or Greece (an EU member), young people more involved in political governments in the region to meet the
obtaining a Schengen visa is a protracted ´ action at a crucial moment in Serbia’sˆ criteria set by the European Commission and often humiliating process. history. At the time, Slobodan Milosevic’s for visa facilitation in order to strengthen government was silencing independent their negotiation position on the issue. Visa applicants have to produce an voices in the country in the months Additionally, CP is working to raise extraordinary amount of paperwork: a preceding the general election. Wary of awareness inside the EU of a new wall letter of invitation; birth certifi cate; a crackdown by the authorities, Exit’s dividing Europe, the “Schengen Wall,” proof of health insurance, income and organizers’ stated intent was simply to which hinders the people of the Balkans occupation; and sometimes a round-trip
get young people interested in the from cultural, political and economic air ticket and proof of property holdings
´ political process. However,ˆ Exit’s heart exchange with the rest of Europe. as well. Applicants must wait in long was clearly anti-Milosevic and the During the four days of the festival, CP’s lines and may have to return day after festival was closely aligned with another stylishly-designed pamphlets rained day without a clear timeframe for when
down on the Exit they might receive a visa. In addition to
crowd´ proclaiming: the relatively high cost for the visa “Hocu´ da putujem, application, currently 35 euros, appli- necu da ratujem!” cants often have to pay for professional (I want to travel, not translation of their documents, take days make war!) CP pulls off of work to stand in line and, if they no punches in do not live in the capital, must travel to claiming that the nearest embassy or consulate to restrictions on free appear in person. Occasionally, appli- movement produce cants who intend to travel by plane also the type of isolation forfeit their ticket fare if denied a visa or that fosters war. if the visa is not issued in a timely Without free manner. Alternatively, they are forced to movement of people pay high prices if buying a ticket at the and ideas, they last minute. And even applicants who
© LISA MANGUM LISA © argue, young people fulfi ll all the requirements are routinely Beach with separate stage for afterparties. will be left with no denied visas without clear explanation. continued on page 8
7 ELLISON CENTER
continued from page 7 However, the costs do not end there. businesspeople. In response to the necessary to facilitate greater opportuni- Many applicants also complain of growing pressure from individuals and ties for travel among the youth. Brussels humiliation at the hands of embassy groups like CP, Rehn traveled to Novi should take the fi rst step in tearing offi cials. Last year, a well-known Sad this summer to deliver a speech down the “Schengen Wall” by easing Macedonian folk dance troupe was about the situation on the fi rst day of the visa restrictions and allowing the next invited to a prestigious folk festival in festival. In his speech, he acknowledged generation to see for themselves if Wales. With their papers in order and the frustrations and costs that face those membership in the EU is something fees paid, everything seemed in the clear seeking visas and announced that the worth seeking. The Exit Festival proves until they got to the British Embassy in EU Commission has proposed a list of that, for the right cause, the young people Skopje where the clerk insisted that they measures to EU member states that of the region can join forces in innova- perform a dance in the embassy in order would ease the process. Such measures tive, creative and powerful ways to bring to prove that they were genuine. In the include abolishing visa fees for students about change in their societies, but they end, several of the members were denied and researchers, requiring simpler must be given some incentive to do so. ◆ visas and the entire troupe decided to documentation and speeding turn- Lisa Mangum is a graduate student in the around time on applications. He also stay at home and to dance outside of the Russian, East European and Central Asian 4 embassy in protest. noted, however, that the commission can Studies program. Her interests include only make recommendations to the Stories like these are not unusual, in fact cinema and visual culture of the Czech member states but it is ultimately they they are so common that CP issued a call Republic and the former Yugoslavia. She is who decide.6 writing her thesis on alternative comics in for people to submit their accounts of Serbia from the late 1980s to the present. trying to obtain visas and then compiled At present, EU member states have been them into a book called The Best Stories open to hearing such recommendations 5 and have agreed to relax the require- 1 Penny Johnson, “Visa Queues Frustrate Balkans,” BBC from Visa Queues. This past March, they News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4832404.stm. visited Brussels where several authors ments for students and researchers, but 2 Matthew Collin, This is Serbia Calling: Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio read their stories of degradation, have not committed to any great changes and Belgrade’s Underground Resistance (London: intimidation and absurd bureaucracy to in the overall visa regime. On the Serpent’s Tail, 2004), 204–216. 3 Offi cial Exit Festival website, http://www.exitfest.org/. members of the European Parliament. contrary, they voted to increase the visa 4 Risto Karajkov, “The European Union and the Balkans: fee from 35 euros to 60 euros. Since that The lack of travel is particularly devas- Disparities in the Freedom of Movement,” Worldpress.org, will not go into effect until late 2007, www.worldpress.org/Europe/2219.cfm. tating for young people who grew up there still is time left for negotiation.7 5 Offi cial needvisa.net website, www.needvisa.net/new/ during the 1990s in a region where each intro_s.htm. country directly or indirectly suffered The young generation in Serbia and the 6 Olli Rehn, speech: “Visa Facilitation for Serbia,” July 6, 2006, Novi Sad, Serbia, European Commission Press from the nationalizing and isolating Western Balkans must be able to bring Release, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction. effects of war. The EU and governments all their experiences to bear on creating do?reference=SPEECH/06/441&type=HTML&aged= of each Balkan nation have confi rmed more stable and open societies. There- 0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en. 7 Citizen’s Pact for SEE, “Exit Against Visas,” that the goal for the region is incorpora- fore, it is vital that both their govern- www.citizenspact.org.yu/new/index.php?option=com_cont tion into the EU, a goal that many ments and the EU make the changes ent&task=view&id=38&Itemid=1. consider the best option for stability in the region. Most of the region’s future leaders, however, have not been able to familiarize themselves with the countries of the EU. It is diffi cult to advocate something that one has not experienced fi rsthand and knows only in the abstract. In fact, the stiff visa requirements send a signal to the youth that they are not welcome in Europe, hardly an endearing message. Moreover, without being able to experience Europe for themselves, they are more likely to believe negative rhetoric on what Europe is and means. The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, understands these dangers and is advocating a relaxation of visa
requirements for citizens of the Western MANGUM LISA © Balkans, especially students and Banners showing bridges of Novi Sad before and after NATO bombing.
8 REECAS NEWSLETTER
Donald W. Treadgold Studies Published in Conjunction with UW Press
Andrew B. Wachtel – New! Plays of Expectations: Intertextual Relations in Russian Twentieth Century Drama Plays of Expectations illuminates the sometimes coded or subconscious and sometimes open and deliberate “conversations” modernist Russian dramatists had with their antecedents, their rivals, their readers and themselves. Andrew Wachtel presents the operas and plays considered here as a nexus of intertextual play, a space in which various incarnations of a storyline can interact to create a new synthesis, which itself can become a self-standing version of the story. In a clear and engaging style, he explores this fantastic web of artistic and intellectual interconnectedness, a nexus that links genera- tions of dramatists to one another and to their audience, bringing each into the work of unfolding a story.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS, ISBN 0-295-98647-6, $22.50
Reginald E. Zelnik – PUBLISHED 2005 Perils of Pankratova: Some Stories from the Annals of Soviet Historiography Professor Reginald E. Zelnik, who died in a tragic accident in May 2004, was one of the most respected and beloved historians of Russia. His last manu- script is a biography of Anna Pankratova, a woman from Odessa who became a leading labor historian and academic administrator in the Soviet Union from the 1920s to her death in 1957. Her experience during World War II in Kazakhstan, in Soviet Central Asia, led her to champion the national cause of the Kazakhs. Accompanying Zelnik’s monograph are essays by Laura Engelstein, David A. Hollinger, Benjamin Nathans, Yuri Slezkine and Glennys Young. The volume also encompasses excerpts from two Soviet texts mentioned in Zelnik’s monograph, a list of his PhD students at Berkeley and his curriculum vitae.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS, ISBN 0-295-98520-8, $12.95
Orders: [email protected] • 1-800-441-4115
Complete list of back issues available at: http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison/outreach_dwtavail.shtml Direct orders for back issues to: Managing Editor, The Donald W. Treadgold Papers in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Box 353650, Seattle, WA 98105. Tel: 206-221-6348, Fax: 206-685-0668, Email: [email protected] Submissions are welcomed. For information, contact Glennys Young, Editor, at [email protected].
9 ELLISON CENTER
LCTL / ADVANCED LANGUAGE TUTORIALS
Application to Study a Less Commonly Taught Language FOR UW STUDENTS, APPLICANTS AND FACULTY
The REECAS Program offers instruction in many languages consider the following factors in making our decision: the from the region, but we have found that there is the occasional importance of the tutorial for achieving students’ professional/ need for a graduate student to take a less commonly taught academic goals; the number of other students interested in language (LCTL) not available at the University or to attain the same language or language level; and the availability of training at a more advanced level in one of our regularly-taught appropriate native-language tutors. PLEASE NOTE: Funding is regional languages. Often, students will enroll in summer for the tutor’s salary only. This is not a scholarship for students. language programs for this sort of LCTL or advanced training, but that provides only one year of study, and many students TO APPLY: Please submit a 2-page essay, double-spaced, would prefer to take LCTLs or advanced language courses 12 font (Courier, Arial or Times New Roman), with 1 inch during the regular academic year. margins on all sides, to explain your interest in learning a LCTL In order to augment our offerings, REECAS has received some or advanced level of a regional language and your plans for funding from the US Department of Education to support utilizing it in your research or post-graduate endeavors. Please LCTL/advanced language tutorials. Thus, we are inviting also include your email address in your contact information. applications to propose such tutorials for the 2007–08 You must be UW faculty, student or REECAS applicant to be academic year. A fellowship committee composed of REECAS considered, with priority going to current or future students. Program faculty will meet in March 2007 to consider applica- Applications are due March 2, 2007. tions. We expect to make our decisions as expeditiously as possible, so that announcements of the awards can be made If you are currently enrolled in the university, please submit by the beginning of April. During specifi ed quarters of 2007– an unoffi cial transcript and letter of recommendation along 08, successful applicants will be provided with a tutor from with your essay. If you are an applicant, we will review these the appropriate native-speaker community in the Puget Sound documents in your application. region, and a faculty member to oversee the tutorial, in order Please send fi les to: Marta Mikkelsen, Associate Director, to provide necessary language instruction skills. We will REECAS Program, Box 353650, Seattle, WA 98195
REECAS 2006: MA GRADUATES AND THESIS TITLES
Joshua G. Dean ...... Embedded Cultural Imperialism: Finnish Infl uences in Estonia Laura A. Dean ...... Civil Society in Latvia: A Comparative Analysis of the First Republic and the Second Republic Carrie R. Dyk ...... Alisher Nava’i’s Vision of Deity as Seen in His “The Language of the Birds” Shelley A. Fairweather ...... Rhetoric of Missile Defense: Washington and Moscow, 1983-2002 Benjamin W. Glahn ...... Demanding Real Democracy: The Independent Bosnian Media Ten Years After Dayton Jason C. Jarrell ...... The Last Leg of Leninism? Russian Law 122-F3 on the Monetization of Privileges & Benefi ts Barry A. Johnson ...... Secret Land Deals between Kyrgyzstan and China: An Analysis of the Results and the Rhetoric Ellen Kersti Karm ...... Environment and Energy: Toward Sustainable Development in Estonia and the Environmental Impacts of the Russian-German Underwater Gas Pipeline John A. Mason* ...... An “Internationalist” Opposition: The United Council of Work Collectives (OSTK) and Moldova’s Civil War Aleksandra Petrovic ...... Building a Nation One Word at a Time: Language and National Identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1991 to Present
* Winner of Daniel C. Waugh thesis prize for best REECAS MA thesis in 2005–06.
10 REECAS NEWSLETTER
Poppe Symposium Brings Together Central Asian Scholars and Students BY SHOSHANA BILLIK, REECAS MA CANDIDATE
The 18th Annual Nicholas Poppe Valley During the 1970s and 1980s.” He the American with the Kyrgyz System of Symposium on Central/Inner Asian was followed by Dr. Stanley Toops , Higher Education (What Should/Can Studies held last spring on Saturday, Geography, Miami University of Ohio, Kyrgyzstan Adopt or Adapt?)” He was May 6, brought together scholars from who talked about “Xinjiang’s Tourism”, followed by REECAS MA candidate Central Asia and students of Central Asia replacing Dr. Ablet Kamolov from the Shoshana Billik presenting on “Kyrgyz to discuss education, history, politics, Bilim Central Asia Educational Center in Internet Users’ Experience of the Tulip economics, folklore and other topics Almaty, who unfortunately had not Revolution: A Survey of Major Blogs and pertinent to the region. The Symposium received his visa in time to present his Forums.” Her talk was followed by Stefan was organized by NELC (Near Eastern paper, “From Traditional Muslim Kamola, NELC MA candidate, speaking Languages and Civilization) professor Historiography to Uighur National on “The Epos ‘Manas’ and the Kyrgyz.” Ilse Cirtautas, who has been a long-time History: Nazarghoja Abdusemiatov and The Symposium then concluded with a activist in inviting Central Asian scholars His Historical Works.” Professor roundtable discussion by the Central to the UW. Cirtautas, in her capacity as Vice- Asian scholars on “Approaching 15 Years This year’s Symposium began with a President of the Seattle-Tashkent Sister of Independence of the Central Asian welcoming address by Professor Cirtau- City Association, then presented the Republics.” Among other topics, the tas, followed by a tribute to Professor Galen Mohr Seattle-Tashkent Sister City scholars discussed censorship in Central Denis Sinor from Indiana University on Association prize for the best student Asia and the importance of education as his 90th birthday by Dr. Charles Carlson, in fi rst-year Uzbek to Nathan Hamm, well as the lack of good libraries. REECAS MA candidate. REECAS lecturer. Dr. Didar Kassimova, The Nicholas Poppe Symposium a Fulbright Scholar from Suleiman After a break for lunch, the Symposium provides a forum for both scholars from Demirel University in Almaty, Kazah- resumed with REECAS MA candidate Central Asia and students of the region stan, then presented on “Years of Hope: Brenda Schuster’s talk on “The Motif of to present on their areas of expertise. Glasnost’ in Kazakhstan.” Next, Dr. Odil the Persecuted Man: A Comparative The 19th Annual Symposium, to be held Qoriev, a senior researcher at Al-Beruni Analysis of Heroic Women in Uighur, next spring, will continue in this Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent, Uzbek and Chinese Folktales.” Next tradition. For more information on the Uzbekistan, gave a talk entitled, “Eco- came Dr. Kubatbek Asan uulu from the Symposium, contact Professor Cirtautus nomics and the Rise of the Puritanical University of Naryn in Kyrgyzstan at [email protected]. ◆ Islamic Movement in the Ferghana presenting a talk entitled, “Comparing
The Autumn quarter saw successful lectures by David The Silk Road Roxburgh (Art History, Harvard University) and Stephen Dale Lecture and Seminar Series (History, Ohio State University). On November 2, Roxburgh presented on “Chinese Art in a Persian Mirror: Artistic Production under Yongle and Shahrukh, ca. 1420–1450.” December 7, Dale spoke on “Babur, a Renaissance Prince A $3000 grant from the Simpson Center matched by the in Central Asia.” Silkroad Foundation, Saratoga, makes it possible to continue the successful Silk Road series of public evening lectures and SSPRINGPRING LECTURES:LECTURES: graduate seminars. The series is cosponsored by the Ellison April 3, 7pm, Kane Hall 110 Center, the School of Art, the Departments of Near Eastern Joel Walker (History, UW) – “The Monks of Kublai Khan: Languages and Civilization, History and Asian Languages. Christianity under the Mongols” The focus of the 2006–07 series is Islamic Central Asia, with May 10, 7pm, Kane Hall 110 two lectures in the Autumn quarter and two lectures in the Robert McChesney (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Spring quarter. David Roxburgh, Stephen Dale and Robert New York University) – “Secrets of Tamerlane’s Tomb” McChesney will also teach a graduate seminar during their visit to the UW. For more information, visit: jsis.washington.edu/ellison.
11 ELLISON CENTER
Women, Water and Weddings: A Summer in Tajikistan BY ANNA CROWLEY
I did not go to Tajikistan to study gender I arrived in Dushanbe just before dawn. By the time we arrived, I felt as if we had relations. I went to study Persian and The usually vibrant, busy streets were long since left the city. The roads were Tajik and I hoped to establish contact quiet and empty, allowing me to focus on so covered in dust that it was diffi cult to with some local historians for my thesis the physical contours of the city. Much tell whether or not they were paved. research. It promised to be an interesting about this landscape was familiar to me: We arrived at my apartment around summer politically with visits by crumbling Soviet-style architecture 5:30 am and an exuberant woman in her Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and alongside single story traditional style mid-forties came racing down the stairs. Hamid Karzai, the build up to the 15 Tajik houses with mud walls and This was my host mother, Mehrangiz. year anniversary of Independence on corrugated tin roofs. As we approached Breathless, she launched into a series of September 10th and preparations for the center of Dushanbe, the architecture explanations and apologies: they were the November Presidential elections, in changed and small unrepaired streets expecting me an hour later and so were which longtime President Emomali widened into six to eight-lane freshly mortifi ed that they did not yet have Rakhmonov sought a third term. Living paved boulevards. We had left the breakfast ready for me. Central Asians imposing nine-story are known for their hospitality and Khrushchev era apartment Tajiks are no exception. When I got buildings for more grace- upstairs to the fourth fl oor apartment, ful four- and fi ve-story there was a fl urry of activity; two buildings, complete with daughters running back and forth with shiny little shops and pots, pans and plates of food. They cafés on their fi rst fl oors. briefl y paused to say hi, which came out Hiyoboni Rudaki, more as a nervous giggle than actual Dushanbe’s main east-west words. Then I received the next series of thoroughfare, is lined with apologies — there was no water. It was leafy green trees, parks, Friday morning and the water should stately well-maintained have been turned back on by Monday, government buildings Mehrangiz explained that, nonetheless, and grand fountains. ushering me into the bathroom. There
© LAUREN LAFARO LAUREN © Those lucky enough to live was a bucket of clean, warm water A woman washing her dishes on the sidewalk. on Rudaki enjoy regular waiting for me. I soon realized that these supplies of water and exchanges about water would be a part of with a host family, I had the opportunity electricity, because they share power and my daily routine. Not a day went by all to see these events from a different per- water lines with the Presidential Palace. summer that I did not hear the following spective and I realized how little actual Dushanbe’s pristine center, however, series of questions: “Is there water? Is impact they had on the daily lives of my belies the reality of life in Tajikistan for there hot water? Is there sand in the family. At daily dinners, I would discuss most of the population. This became water? Will you ask the neighbors if they politics and current events with my host clear the moment we turned off Rudaki have water? Did you get Anna’s water? father for about fi ve minutes, before the and headed north. The landscape Did you boil the water long enough? quorum of females took over the conver- changes drastically as you cross the river When are you going to get water?” Of the sation and steered it toward topics of into the mikroraions, literally micro two months I lived with this family, we more practical and immediate impor- regions, where the majority of Dushanbe’s had running water for about three weeks. tance to them. Over time, these women’s 600,000 citizens live. Comprised of The remainder of the time, we did not issues became my issues. Though I did clusters of nine-story buildings arranged have water, sometimes for traceable, not realize it at the time, the morning of around decaying playgrounds and explicable reasons, such as work at the my arrival to Tajikistan I was introduced communal wedding halls, bisected by utilities or an overheated pump, other to the two issues that would constitute dirt paths and driveways, the mikroraions times for seemingly no reason at all. My the substance of most of my discussions seem more like vertical villages than family kept a large tub fi lled with reserve with my host family: water and weddings. urban environments. People in the water in the apartment and everyday These issues, the main concerns of the mikroraions are served by the bazaar there was no water, Robiya, the neighbor women in my family, illustrate both the economy; there are few shops and even girl, would peek her head into our diffi culties women face in running their fewer cafes. apartment and ask the girls, “obgiri households and those they face in fi nding Our destination, Zarafshon, is the meravem? Are we going to get water?” a secure place in society. furthest north of all the mikroraions. Gulchehra, the youngest daughter, would
12 REECAS NEWSLETTER grab her bucket and happily prance outside. There was a perpetual line of women of all ages sitting on overturned buckets waiting for their turn at the neighborhood water spigot. Though she had to make this trip several times a day, Gulchehra always savored the chance to get out of the house. Tajikistan’s water issues are one of the most vivid examples of how the country’s crumbling infrastructure places an undue burden on its citizens. Women in particular, spend hours upon hours fetching water, fi ltering water, boiling water, all before they can commence with the rest of their household chores. Water is possibly Tajikistan’s most valuable
natural resource, as 65% of Central Asia’s LAFARO LAUREN © water supply originates in Tajikistan’s These young women sell bread their mothers make at Istaravshan Bazaar. mountains. Yet, the country lacks the capacity, even in its major cities, to went to live with her husband’s family. are female, whereas during Soviet times provide an adequate, reliable supply of I did not fi nd this particularly shocking the fi gure was close to 50%.2 Once a running water to its citizens. The at the time; perhaps it was the jet lag, or daughter is married, she is no longer incidence of water-borne diseases is maybe the two years I had spent in considered a member of the family that extremely high, taking a sizable economic, Uzbekistan had conditioned me to gave birth to her and routinely must ask physical and psychological toll on the expect that women should be prepared the permission of her husband or mother- population. President Rakhmonov for marriage. As time passed and I came in-law to visit her family. For the parents recently pledged 20 million dollars to a to know Nozanin, however, I began to of daughters in particular, marriage is complete reconstruction of Dushanbe’s fi nd the equation of an individual’s worth the only clear path to providing their water system, promising citizens clean with the ability to perform housekeeping children with economic security. drinking water by 2007. The World Bank tasks deeply saddening. Nozanin is a In Dushanbe, marriages still tend to added 13 million dollars to that project, bright second-year University student be arranged — the groom’s family but experts estimate that a complete and a beautiful dancer, who lives in a approaches the bride’s family, often overhaul of the water system would cost society where she is likely to be valued before the bride and groom have met. close to 150 million dollars. The state- more for her skill in vacuuming and In some cases, the groom might ask his run water utility is far from economically ironing than for her intellect, true talents female relatives to visit the family of a sustainable, as its revenues from billing or even her character. particular girl and in even fewer cases 1 cover a mere 30% of its operation costs. The topic of marriage, of course, swiftly the bride and groom might actually date. For ordinary citizens, these facts and leads to that of weddings. Weddings in The process of engagement and marriage fi gures are just another example of a Tajikistan are a confl uence of the most often resembles more of a business trans- promise that their government will never vibrant, central aspects of Tajik culture: action than a joining of two families. be able to keep. family, food, music and dancing. The two families agree on a bride price, As we sat down to breakfast that fi rst Summer is wedding season, brides and usually paid in the form of sheep and morning, I was introduced to another grooms are fl anked by wedding parties many kilos of rice and oil. The bride’s topic of discussion that would dominate and musicians as they make their way to side furnishes the couple’s apartment or conversations with my family: marriage all the city’s landmarks for photos. With their room in the groom’s parent’s house. and weddings. Over that fi rst breakfast, these colorful, extravagant celebrations, The bride’s side is responsible for two Mehrangiz informed me that if I ever however, comes a great deal of cultural celebrations that occur the day before the needed anything done around the house, baggage, as weddings serve to reinforce wedding: early morning osh (the national I should ask Nozanin. Shukhrat, the rigid gender roles. Women marry young dish of rice pilaf) for the men, and a father, explained that in order to prepare and often move in with their husband’s women’s celebration — something like a his daughters for life — and by life he parents and other siblings. The burden of wedding shower. At the women’s celebra- meant married life — the eldest daughter maintaining a household keeps them tion, both sides of the family show off was responsible for virtually all house- from attending or fi nishing university let their gifts to the couple. The bride’s side hold chores. This way, he explained, she alone seeking employment outside the furnishes a new wardrobe for the groom would not be overwhelmed when she home. Only 25% of university students and vice versa. The groom’s family continued on page 14
13 ELLISON CENTER
continued from page 13 others turn out bad. Sometimes you don’t know who they are until its too late.” The women in my family were acutely aware of the potential for problems in these arranged marriages, but they did not see much of an alternative. Mehrangiz and Shukhrat did the best that they could to ensure their daughters marry into somewhat progressive families; they demanded that any husband be educated, that he allow their daughter to fi nish university and he allow her to work. They have already had to turn away two potential husbands and everyone in the
© LAUREN LAFARO LAUREN © family was getting nervous that they will Women weeding outside the National Parliament of Tajikistan. These women earn about $5 per month. eventually run out of options. Tajikistan has come a long way since the handles all the events on the day of the balancing all the cooking and cleaning civil war days of mandatory curfews and wedding, including pictures, the Islamic of that household with her studies, but fi refi ghts in the mountains. But contin- ceremony, civil ceremony and wedding nonetheless it was hard for me to imagine ued progress requires a commitment on reception. Marriage provides a very her married and taking care of her own the part of the government to provide for public way for families to display their family. I went with Farzona, Matluba and all of its citizens. The current place of wealth and honor, but it is not without her in-laws to the wedding of a distant women in society is the result of a waste and excess. relative. It was what we might call a “love combination of factors: economic, social, Mehrangiz and Shukhrat have four match.” The bride and groom had chosen political and, perhaps most importantly, daughters, a fi nancial and cultural one another; they had dated, fallen in cultural. With independence came an burden in a society in which value love and decided to get married. The abandonment of all things Soviet and a belongs exclusively to sons. Mehrangiz wedding was wonderful, because the retrenchment of more “traditional” recounted an occasion when her own bride was smiling and happy. Tradition cultural values and attitudes. Economic father told her it was too bad she did not dictates that Tajik brides should display and demographic hardships resulting have any real children. Their eldest humility rather than emotion; they are from the civil war and labor migration daughter Matluba, 21, has been married supposed to contemplate the conse- help to reinforce these traditional for about two years and has a nine- quences of leaving their own families and attitudes as families marry off their month-old daughter. They were extremely display deference to their new family — daughters young, fearing they will not proud of both the match they made for essentially they are supposed to frown. be able to support them or that another her and the wedding they fi nanced. Back at home, Farzona and I recounted man will not come along. It is time that Both teachers, Mehrangiz and Shukhrat the minutia of the wedding to her mother the government recognize the political, saved for fi ve years in order to be able to and younger sisters. Her mother, half economic and social dangers of a afford to marry off their daughter, and joking, said, “You should fi nd yourself a “traditionalism” that disenfranchises paid over 3000 US dollars in wedding husband like that bride did.” And half of its population. ◆ expenses. Showing me the wedding Farzona responded giggling, “I couldn’t video, they relished every minute of it, Anna is a second year REECAS MA student, possibly, I can’t talk to boys like that. And focusing on Central Asia’s transition from reliving the highlights, the diffi culties, what if he didn’t marry me?” Mehrangiz Russian colonial to Soviet rule and the noting the surprise of friends, colleagues and Farzona took turns explaining that role of local intellectuals in that transition. and neighbors at their ability to put on if she were to fi nd someone and date him, She spent the summer studying Persian such a good wedding. Their voices were he probably would not marry her anyway. and Tajik in Dushanbe, Tajikistan through lively in the retelling, but they also Whether true in practice or not, there is the American Councils Eurasian Regional contained a note of trepidation. Matluba a widely held perception that young Tajik Language Program. was only the fi rst of four. They will have men often date one woman, but then to do this three more times. marry the woman that their family has 1 “Water Problems in Tajikistan,” Institute for War and Peace Farzona, 19, was next in line. A tall, picked for them. Nozanin chimed, Reporting. www.iwpr.net/?p=rca&s=f&o=255887 &apc_ state=henirca2005. Accessed Sept. 24, 2006. addressing Farzona, “You should at least gangly fourth-year University student in 2 “UNIFEM Gender Profi le – Tajikistan.” Women, War and computer science, Farzona has lived with try!” Turning to me she continued, “You Peace. www.womenwarpeace.org/tajikistan/tajikistan.htm. her grandparents for the past year to look just never know, some good girls from Accessed Sept. 24, 2006. after them. She did an amazing job of good families get good husbands, and
14 REECAS NEWSLETTER
THE ELLISON CENTER IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF: Boris Yeltsin and Russia’s Democratic Transformation by Herbert J. Ellison
For sale at University of Washington Press: www.washington.edu/uwpress
Boris Yeltsin is one of modern history’s most dynamic and underappreciated fi gures. In this vivid, analytical master- work, Herbert J. Ellison establishes Yeltsin as the principal leader and defender of Russia’s democratic revolution — the very embodiment of Russia’s fragile new liberties, including the evolving respect for the rule of law and private property as well as core freedoms of speech, religion, press, and political association. In 1987, President Mikhail Gorbachev expelled Boris Yeltsin from his team of reform politicians, but Yeltsin rebounded from this potentially devastating setback to become the leader of the Russian democratic movement. He created a new offi ce of Russian president, to which he was elected; designed a democratic constitution for the Soviet Union that precipitated a coup attempt by traditionalist commu- nist leaders; granted independence to the nations of the Soviet Union; and replaced Communist Party rule with democracy and the socialist economy with a market economy. In a short period, he had succeeded in becoming the fi rst popularly elected leader in a thousand years of Russian history. He had blocked violent attempts at counter-revolution and overcome powerful resistance to his reform program. His achievements rank among the most extraordinary feats of political leadership in the twentieth century. Herbert J. Ellison has devoted his career to observing and recording Russian and Soviet political life. His foreign analyses are informed by his many visits to universities and policy institutes in Russia and the other former Soviet states. He has visited the successor states of the Soviet Union and met with senior fi gures in the Gorbachev and Yeltsin “ Ellison’s account is, in effect, a defense of Boris Yeltsin’s place governments. in Russian history. In this, his book differs from many treat- Herbert J. Ellison is professor emeritus of history and inter- ments of the period that concentrate on shortcomings in national studies at the University of Washington, where Yeltsin’s administration to the exclusion, or near exclusion, of he continues to teach. He has served as director of the his achievements. While a great deal has been written about University’s Henry M. Jackson School of International this period, Ellison has no rival when it comes to a presentation Studies and was formerly director of the Kennan Institute that is both comprehensive and concise.” – Jack Matlock, Jr., for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, DC. He is former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union the author or coauthor of fi ve books on Russian history and “ Much has been written about Yeltsin, but rarely has it been as foreign policy. ◆ balanced and insightful as this book. It is a much-needed, well- deserved corrective to conventional wisdom that overlooks or sells short Yeltsin’s basically positive international stage.” – Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and former US Deputy Secretary of State
15 ELLISON CENTER
Regional Press Institute 2006: A Window on the Current State of the Media in Russia BY FREDERICK M. LORENZ
In March of 2006, I represented Seattle Amendment to the US Constitution, a in Saint Petersburg has a small hard- University School of Law on a trip to basic history of US Supreme Court working staff of fi ve people serving Saint Petersburg, Russia, to provide decisions related to the press, The Privacy journalists from all over Russia. In lectures and to develop a distance Act, The Freedom of Information Act, addition, the RPI regularly provides learning program with Saint Petersburg the Fairness Doctrine and current legal space for American college interns in its State University Law School. During my issues involving the media in the USA. Saint Petersburg offi ce. trip, I was asked by the US Consulate I made a point to include two incidents During my presentation, the assembled staff to moderate a special meeting of the that were mentioned by President Putin journalists were very interested in the Regional Press Institute (RPI) on March last year: the imprisonment of Judith US experience with press freedom and 16th and 17th in Saint Petersburg. Asked Miller and the resignation of Eason censorship and the legal basis for lawsuits to make a series of presentations on Jordon, the former head of CNN. There against journalists. I explained the “Freedom of Speech and the Press in the was an implication that these are principles of New York Times vs. Sullivan USA” to a group of Russian journalists, examples of repression of US journalists and the special rules applicable to public I looked forward to learning something and that the United States should not be offi cials and public fi gures. In the United about the current state of the media in quite so free in criticizing Russia. States, public fi gures generally cannot Russia. Although I travel to Saint For this program, I was a co-chair with bring actions against the media without Petersburg regularly, I have limited Andrei Richter of the Media Law and a showing of malice or reckless disregard Russian language skills and I am careful Policy Institute in Moscow, a well for the truth. The Russian journalists not to bill myself as an expert on Russian recognized authority on freedom of the described a number of cases in Russia politics or press policy. press in Russia. My host for the meeting where journalists have been taken to The request for support from the RPI to was Anna Sharogradskaya, the Director court by public offi cials in an effort to the US Consulate described the purpose of RPI. Their offi ces are located in the shut down the newspaper or recover of the meeting: “House of Journalists,” a beautiful old damages. One journalist described a case The political climate in Russia is not building on the main street of Saint where the local mayor had brought favorable to discussing topical issues Petersburg. A discussion with the charges of “interference with commercial and journalists are discouraged by director provided some background on reputation” against the local paper that their editors from attempts to expose the organization and a look at challenges had been critical of the mayor’s efforts to the government’s ineffi ciency or lack facing the press in Russia. After the fall develop a commercial building in the of competence to say nothing about of the Soviet Union, there was a heady center of town. This discussion con- corruption. The Regional Press period of support by the US government fi rmed for me an underlying problem in Institute has been doing a lot for for democratization and open society in Russia: political and economic power is creating ethical, competent and Russia. In the early years of the Russian wielded by the same people and they are effective media. It is very important Federation, censorship was not an issue not reluctant to use the courts to enforce to compare our experience with the as the wave of new-found freedom their will. enveloped the country. professional experience of our Over the course of the meeting, I learned American colleagues. The time is Under the auspices of the Russian- that the rights and responsibilities of running out and we are afraid that American Press and Information Center journalists in Russia are regulated by the our media will lose the skills it (RAPIC), a ten year period of lavish “Mass Media Law.” On its face, it obtained during the previous funding followed, and a major grant provides rights to journalists beyond promising decade. We want to administered by NYU Center for War those held by the general public. One aggressively work to defend the values and Peace and News Media. RAPIC was example of this is the right to meet with we discovered and we will do it with disbanded in 2002 and it dissolved into a government offi cials. But my co-chair, the support of the media — one of number of smaller non-governmental Mr. Richter, stated that this and other the primary civic society institutions. organizations (NGOs), including the provisions providing journalists rights In the two months before the meeting, RPI. Outside support for the RPI is now are simply not enforced. On the other I conducted some basic research and limited and recent pronouncements by hand, the Mass Media Law places prepared to speak on topics that I President Putin imply that US funding of “duties” on journalists that have been thought would be relevant for a Russian NGOs amounts to interference with the used effectively to restrict them in their audience. This included the First internal affairs of Russia. Today the RPI activities. For example, journalists must
16 REECAS NEWSLETTER PUBLIC DOMAIN PUBLIC Aerial view of St. Petersburg. obey the “charter” of their particular Edward R. Morrow in the US at the time? American history even though it does news organization and this includes Is Morrow considered a hero today? not compare to the repression of the following the directives issued by senior The reaction to the movie was fascinating Stalinist era in the Soviet Union. Most editors. A failure to conform can lead to and included a range of opinions as to of the audience seemed to appreciate the criminal prosecution. And journalists whether it had any relevance to condi- message of the fi lm: a journalist can must maintain and carry their creden- tions in Russia today. stand up to pressure from above and tials; any person can demand to see Some journalists questioned the artistic seek the truth. credentials, not just government and merit of the fi lm. I pointed out that the Overall, the two day program was a security personnel. The failure to quality of the art is purely subjective. great success. I was able to provide some maintain and to display proper creden- I also had to admit that the Academy insight into the US experience with tials has often been a reason to deny Awards this year seemed to pick fi lms freedom of the press and I came away journalists access to courts or govern- with a “message.” One person called it a with respect for the Russian journalists ment facilities. “fairy tale” of good versus evil. I said who are working to maintain an At the end of the fi rst day of the confer- that may be true, but many movies have independent media under diffi cult ence, we showed the movie “Good Night such an element to increase their conditions. ◆ and Good Luck” followed by a discussion marketability. Another man asked why Frederick Lorenz is an Adjunct Professor and question period. The version of the the McCarthy era was important at all, at the Seattle University School of Law and DVD we obtained had Italian subtitles since the worst thing that could happen a lecturer for the University of Washington’s and a poorly dubbed Russian voiceover, to someone was to have to fi nd another Jackson School of International Studies. limiting its effectiveness. Nevertheless, job. He mentioned that even after He specializes in International Law. the audience seemed to enjoy it and had Charlie Chaplin was “blackballed,” he many questions. What were conditions lived happily in the United Kingdom in the US at the time of the McCarthy and is renowned today. I pointed out Hearings? What were the opinions about that it was an important time in
17 ELLISON CENTER
CALL FOR APPLICATION CALL FOR APPLICATION
Boba Budlong Research Fellowships Research Fellowships
The Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Pro- The Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Pro- gram would like to request applications for the annual Boba gram and the Department of History would like to announce Research Fellowship for exceptional REECAS students to travel the annual Budlong Research Fellowship for exceptional to Eastern Europe or Central Asia between June 2007 and REECAS and History graduate students to travel to Russia May 2008. Only fi rst year students are eligible to apply. between June 2007 and May 2008. Priority will be given Priority will be given to those conducting research or holding to those conducting research on topics in Russian history, internships in one of these regions, but participating in but those interested in holding internships or participating in advanced language training in an accredited program will advanced Russian language training in an accredited program also be considered. will also be considered. Two awards of up to $1000 will be offered toward airfare Two awards of up to $1000 will be offered towards airfare and/or lodging. and/or lodging.
APPLICATIONS DUE MARCH 2, 2007 APPLICATIONS DUE MARCH 2, 2007
To apply: Submit the following required material: (1) a 2-page To apply: Submit the following required material: (1) a 2-page essay, double-spaced, 12 font (Courier, Arial or Times New essay, double-spaced, 12 font (Courier, Arial or Times New Roman), with 1 inch margins on all sides, in which you explain Roman), with 1 inch margins on all sides, in which you explain your summer plans and how these funds will assist you, (2) a your summer plans and how these funds will assist you, (2) a budget outlining your expenses, (3) one faculty letter of support, budget outlining your expenses, (3) one faculty letter of support, and (4) an unoffi cial copy of your transcript. and (4) an unoffi cial copy of your transcript. Please send application materials to: Marta Mikkelsen, Associate Please send application materials to: Marta Mikkelsen, Associate Director / REECAS Program, Box 353650 / Seattle, WA 98195. Director / REECAS Program, Box 353650 / Seattle, WA 98195.
The Eighth Annual Conference of the Central eurasian studies society
OCTOBER 18–21, 2007 • UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE
The Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) will hold its Box 353650, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, Eighth Annual Conference, to be hosted by University of USA, [email protected]. For information related Washington, Seattle, on October 18–21, 2007. The subject to the content of the program, please contact CESS, as matter of the conference includes all fi elds of social indicated below. sciences and humanities. For the purposes of the Central Eurasian Studies Society, the geographical extent of Further Information and Submission of Proposals Central Eurasia reaches from the Caucasus, Black Sea and A detailed Call for Submissions will be issued in November Middle Volga in the west to Tibet, Western China and 2006. The deadline for submissions will be in April 2007. Mongolia in the east, and from Iran and Afghanistan in To have your email address included in the mailing of the Call for Submissions, send it with your full name to the south to regions of Siberia in the north. [email protected], with the email subject line as “CESS The contact person for local arrangements at University Conference Mailing List.” of Washington is Allison Dvaladze, Outreach Coordi- The conference information and on-line submission of nator for the Ellison Center for Russian, East European proposals will be available at: http://cess.fas.harvard.edu/ and Central Asian Studies, 203B Thompson Hall, CESS_Conference.html
18 REECAS NEWSLETTER
Vladimir Gross Memorial Endowed Fund
It is with great honor that the The following is an excerpt from the memorial page on the Slavic Languages and Ellison Center Literatures website. Please visit the site (http://depts.washington.edu/slavweb/, would like to link to Vladimir Gross under the faculty) for more such touching tributes to this announce the wonderful teacher and person. Vladimir Gross Memorial Nora Holdsworth, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, UW Slavic L&L writes: Endowed Fund When I came to the Slavic Department in the 1960s, Vladimir Gross was to honor the legacy of Vladimir Gross, already there. Senior Lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, who As I think of Volodya, it comes to my mind now that his persona was consid- taught Russian language at the UW for erably bigger and more luminous in the eyes of those whom he was teaching nearly four decades. Sadly, Professor than many of us realized during all those years that he was among us in the Gross passed away on January 23, 2006. halls of the Slavic Department. Interestingly, it is from Volodya’s former The endowment will provide support for students who attended his memorial services and a reception following his undergraduate students interested in burial, that I had an opportunity to learn something of special signifi cance studying the Russian language, including about Volodya which has considerably impressed me and has been on my those wanting to travel to Russia for mind since then. language study. While preference will be What I learned from Volodya’s grieving given to undergraduates to study the ex-students who came to pay their Russian language, funds may also be last respects to him, decades after they used for undergraduate students to travel had graduated from the University, to Russia to study the country’s history, was how much more they had learned literature or culture. from Volodya than had been offi cially Vladimir Gross led a fascinating life. included in the syllabus…. Into his Born in Manchuria, China in 1933 to communication with the students he Russian parents, his family moved two injected special warmth, a special humor, a spirit of generosity, as well as love years later to the Soviet Union. As a boy, for the Russian language and culture and a love of life itself. It was when Gross and his mother toiled for three observing the grief in the faces and voices of Volodya’s former students, at years in a German labor camp before least one of whom had traveled all the way across the country to attend his eventually making their way to Seattle in memorial service and his burial, that I realized what an inspiration Volodya 1949, where Gross completed high school. had been to so many young people. What those mourning ex-students were He served in the United States Air Force expressing was their appreciation of human values that Volodya had instilled from 1953 to 1957 before receiving his BA in them by his own example. He had made the Russian people and Russian (1961) and MA (1964) from the University culture so much more attractive to them by projecting his own generosity of Washington’s Department of Slavic and kindness into his interactions with his students, even when supposedly Languages and Literature. Due to the chiding them during their inevitable slips with the language, and they hated lack of teachers and increased student to disappoint him. So, as a result, in regard to imparting the academic demand, he began teaching Russian as subject at hand, Volodya appears to have excelled more than many of us just a sophomore in 1959. He would might have noticed back then. continue to do so until retiring in 1995. What is more to the point and of defi nite signifi cance here is that I was also Another course he taught, on Soviet pleasantly amazed to hear a number of Volodya’s former students speak Dissident Music and Russian Balladiers, excellent, fl uent Russian. Those students had never lost their zest for master- was particularly popular with Russian ing the Russian language and for learning all that they could about the language students and enabled them to Russian people and Russian life. Some had held interesting jobs in Russia. explore Russian culture, language and modern Soviet life through the context And now that he had left us, his former students let it be known to us just how of music and song. Thank you to his much and in what important ways Volodya had contributed to their overall family and friends for their support. education. It was not just the academic material presented to his students, but his total persona that contributed to his success in teaching his students, a number of whom came to honor him at the end. ◆
19 ELLISON CENTER
The Ellison Center Welcomes Visiting Scholars BY ELIZABETH MARTIN
SANOBAR KHOTAMOVA will be During her year at UW, Khotamova plans to take classes in spending the year at UW as a Ful- American Literature, Writing and Drama. Additionally, she is bright Scholar. After graduating from working as a Teaching Assistant for Uzbek Language classes and Bukhara State University in Uzbeki- she feels privileged to work with Prof. Ilse Cirtautas. “I see my stan in 1999 with a degree in English, country through her eyes,” Khotamova said, “and she is Khotamova has served as an English teaching me to appreciate my country.” Khotamova wants to teacher, an interpreter, Program learn new teaching methodologies while in the US, and when Manager for Peace Corps Uzbekistan she returns to Uzbekistan she would like to hold teacher and even as manager of the Bukhara training classes to help other teachers learn how to use new National Puppet Theater, which technology and to develop their skills. “I don’t want everything © ELLISON CENTER presented Uzbek traditions and to stay with me.” Khotamova enjoys meeting new people and folklore for tourists. She feels that her experiences with the she hopes to learn more about American culture and traditions Peace Corps and the Puppet Theater have taught her some of while to sharing her culture with us. the skills necessary to be a good teacher and she hopes her time here at UW will enable her to become an even better teacher in the future.
VLADIMIR MELNIKOV came to UW as teachers and education professionals upon his return to Russia. a George F. Russell Fellow through He points out that, while America has had a lot of practice in the National Council of Eurasian and dealing with the challenges of education in a multicultural East European Research. Melnikov setting, it is a relatively recent phenomenon for modern Russia. serves as Vice Director of the Inter- This is not, however, Melnikov’s fi rst experience in studying national Information Centre at the outside of his own culture; previously he spent substantial time Tomsk State Pedagogical Institute in studying in Germany. He is excited about the chance to make Tomsk, Russia where he works with use of UW’s extensive libraries and expressed wonder at the foreign students, educational fact that he can even access Russian newspapers from decades exchanges and various international ago on microfi lm. Melnikov says that he has found everyone © ELLISON CENTER projects. He is also an Assistant here to be very helpful and he would like to thank the staff of Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages. the Ellison Center for all their assistance. While at UW, Melnikov is studying education in multicultural settings and he plans to use the knowledge he gains to train
TATIANA PAVLOVA also joins UW as Pavlova is spending her time at UW studying Political Science, a Russell Fellow with the topic focusing on nationalism and national identity. She believes that “National Identity and Borderline understanding national background is important for a nation’s Regions: Belarus and Ukraine.” future development and she is interested in how national Pavlova is a lecturer in International identity infl uences culture and politics. During her time here Law at the Belarusian Institute of she intends to observe the “inside life of a US university” by Jurisprudence and Belarusian State taking part in various academic and cultural activities and University in Minsk, Belarus. Her spending time at the Intramural Activities Building. She hopes professional interests include History to develop a dialog with students, staff and faculty, and to of State and Law, History of Interna- incorporate her new experiences into her professional career.
© ELLISON CENTER tional Relations and Foreign Policy.
20 REECAS NEWSLETTER
ALA SVET, another of this year’s minority issues to enrich her teaching. She states that few Russell Fellows, is a PhD student in Russian-speaking students in Moldova take the time to learn International Relations at the State Romanian, creating something of a social gap. In the future, University of Moldova. In addition she would like to see a more integrated relationship among to completing her own studies, she is students in Moldova. Svet was pleased to fi nd that she has a lecturer in Geopolitics and Inter- access, through UW’s libraries, to information on Moldova that national Relations at the Free is not available back home and she was excited by the many International University of Moldova, resources available, including a vast array of electronic journals. from which she obtained her MA in She expressed surprise at the beauty of the campus and the 2003. She also participates frequently huge variety of activities easily accessible to American college © ELLISON CENTER in various conferences and seminars students, from sports to shopping. She says that people here in order to keep abreast of the latest scholarship in her fi eld. have made her feel very welcome on her fi rst visit to the Svet’s research at UW focuses on the Russian minority in US and she would also like to thank the staff of the Ellison Moldova and she hopes to use observations of US solutions to Center for their help.
ELLISON CENTER NEWS
OSCAR J. BANDELIN (REECAS MA 1993, Long Beach teaching Central Asian the return of these internally displaced History PhD 1998) spent the last year History. ANDREW JENKS also received a persons (IDPs) and to help the govern- and a half working with Professor position there teaching Russian/Soviet ment develop an action plan that will Herbert Ellison on his new book Boris History. ultimately lead to a peaceful and Yeltsin and Russia’s Democratic Trans- comprehensive settlement. formation. Bandelin helped research JASON C. JARRELL (REECAS MA/Evans Lorenz spent the end of July working in and edit the text and to prepare it for School MPA 2006) is currently in Skopje, Macedonia on another assign- publication through the University of Moscow, Russia as part of the year-long ment for PILPG — a project to help the Washington Press. This summer he Alfa Bank Fellowship Program. As part Kosovars draft their fi rst constitution. worked on copyediting and indexing of the fellowship, Jason is currently This time funding was provided by the T. DAVID CURP’s (History PhD 1998) completing a four-month research and Organization for Security and Coopera- A Clean Sweep? The Politics of Ethnic studies component at the Higher School tion in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Cleansing in Western Poland, 1945–1960 of Economics in Moscow and is begin- Kosovo. A three-day training session was (University of Rochester Press, 2006). ning his progressional assignment in the held to assist the legislators of Kosovo, Bandelin published his own book international affairs division of TNK-BP, who are not as far along drafting their Return to the NEP: The False Promise of a major Russian oil and gas company. constitution as they should be. Leninism and the Failure of Perestroika (Praeger) in 2002. FREDERICK LORENZ spent this past June JOHN MASON (REECAS MA 2006) has and July in Tbilisi, Georgia on an started a PhD program in History at JOSH DEAN (REECAS MA 2006) began assignment for the Public International University of California Santa Barbara. University of California Santa Barbara’s Law and Policy Group (PILPG). The This spring, he won the Waugh Thesis Political Science PhD program. project, funded by the US Agency for Prize for best thesis in the REECAS pro- International Development, was to assist gram. His thesis also was the University AMY FREDERICK (REECAS MA 2003) the Georgian government in peace of Washington nominee for the 2006–07 has taken a position as Tour Specialist negotiations with the self-proclaimed Western Association of Graduate Schools for Group Journeys at MIR Corporation. Republic of Abkhazia. Georgia has not (WAGS) and University Microfi lms MIR Corporation is a tour company controlled Abkhazia since the breakup of International (UMI) Distinguished based out of Seattle offering tours to the Soviet Union; the Russian Federation Master’s Thesis Award competition. East Europe, Central Asia, Russia, the incorporated Abkhazia into its own Each member institution may submit Silk Route and China. sphere of infl uence, even issuing Russian only one nomination for the award. This passports to residents. During the civil award recognizes distinguished scholarly ALI IGMEN received a tenure-track war of 1992–1993, more than 250,000 achievement at the master’s level. The position at California State University at ethnic Georgians were “cleansed” from 2006–07 award consists of a certifi cate Abkhazia. Lorenz mission was to support of award, $1000 to the recipient and continued on page 22
21 ELLISON CENTER
continued from page 21 travel expenses for the student and the Cultural Heritage of Oriental Jewry, AJS student’s adviser to receive the award at Perspectives and Jewish Quarterly Review. This past April, the University of the annual meeting of the Association in She is currently working on a book Washington Tacoma received a generous Portland, Oregon in March 2007. manuscript entitled Falling into Feathers: donation of $750 from the Tacoma-Pierce A History of Jews and Modern Global County Association of Realtors to go VJERAN PAVLAKOVIC is currently in Commerce. Articles from this project toward the cost of the reception follow- Croatia on a National Endowment for will appear in forthcoming issues of The ing the REECAS Northwest Conference: Humanities scholarship working on his Journal of Modern History and Jewish Occupation and Revolution in Eurasia’s project “Red Stars, Black Shirts: The Social Studies. During the 2006–07 Borderlands. We appreciate their support! Clash of Political Symbols and Memory academic year, Professor Stein will in Contemporary Croatia.” He is looking continue work on this project with the GLENNYS YOUNG’s essay, “Fetishizing the at how commemorations, monuments support of a Charles Ryskamp Fellowship Soviet Collapse: Historical Rupture and and symbols from World War II impact from the American Council of Learned the Historiography of (Early) Soviet the current political scene. Especially Societies and during a one quarter Socialism” will be published in the April important is how these seemingly sabbatical. Her award-winning book of 2007 issue of Russian Review. It is drawn outdated symbols have had a resurgence 2004, Making Jews Modern: The Yiddish from her current book project, Writing during crises related to Croatian and Ladino Press in the Russian and the Soviet Project: Refashioning the cooperation with the war crimes Ottoman Empires (Indiana University History of the Soviet Union? tribunal in The Hague, and how they Press) was just released in paperback. obstruct postwar reconciliation between Serbs and Croats. Additionally, he is observing commemorations about the Coming to a Screen on Your Desk: The Heritage of Russian Architecture confl ict of the 1990s, and how the The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded to the University of Washington political elite use them to construct a Libraries a grant of $325,000 to fund the creation of a digital archive and website for historical narrative which is contested by the William C. Brumfi eld collection of photographs of Russian architecture. Professor the history being written in the neigh- Brumfi eld, of Tulane University, began photographing Russian buildings in the early boring states or in The Hague through 1970s, and has since become an internationally renowned authority on Russian indictments of Croatian generals. For architecture. His photographic collection is one of the most extensive visual records of example, the Serbian perspective on architecture in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, and its more than 110,000 images include color transparencies and black-and-white photographs of Operation Storm (1995) that resulted in religious and secular structures from the early eleventh century to the present. The aim the exodus of a large number of Croatian of the project is to make high-resolution archival scans of about 30,000 photographs Serbs focuses exclusively on their from the Brumfi eld Collection, and make smaller versions available on a website, where victimization, whereas the Croatian they can be searched and displayed in the context of a scalable map of the Russian view is that it was a completely legitimate Federation, along with full descriptions of the architectural objects they represent. military operation without the intent The project began fi ve years ago, when Dr. Michael Biggins and Professor James West of ethnic cleansing. were developing the Central Eurasian Information Resource, a collection of digital information sources covering the Russian, East European and Central Asian area, STEVEN PFAFF, Associate Professor of funded by a new Title VI grant program created to develop this increasingly important Sociology, has released a new book: type of information source in foreign area studies. An approach to Professor Brumfi eld Exit-Voice Dynamics and the Collapse resonated immediately with his growing sense of the need to preserve his collection of fragile slides from physical deterioration, and negotiations began. A modest grant from of East Germany: The Crisis of Leninism the Delmas Foundation made possible a pilot project based on about 1,200 photographs and the Revolution of 1989 (Duke (available at http://depts.washington.edu/ceir/brumfi eld), which in its turn was instru- University Press). mental in securing the grant just awarded by the Reference Materials Program of the NEH. The project involves collaboration between academic researchers, librarians and In the 2005–06 academic year, SARAH technical specialists, most of them with skills that straddle different areas of expertise. STEIN taught “History: Holocaust and The team includes Diana Brooking, the Slavic Cataloging Librarian, and Eileen Llona, Memory” to 200 students and led a Technical Librarian and digital mapping expert. By the summer of 2008, with 30,000 graduate seminar on European Jewish images scanned and catalogued, the Brumfi eld Collection online database will have history. She delivered scholarly lectures enormous value for anyone with a serious interest in Russia — researchers, students, at Stanford University, the University of teachers, the architectural profession, conservation specialists and the public at large. It will make possible a kind of “virtual travel” to remote corners of Russia, including California, Los Angeles and University some where very few westerners have received permission to take photographs. It will College, London and, locally, to the bring to life an aspect of Russian culture that is little known by reason of its inaccessibil- Secular Jewish Circle of Puget Sound. ity even to most Russians, and is in danger of being lost to disrepair and demolition Recent work by Professor Stein has been before many people have a chance to discover it. published in Pe’amim: Studies in the
22 REECAS NEWSLETTER
CAMPAIGN UW: CREATING FUTURES The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at UW is one of the oldest and most prestigious programs of its kind in the country, promoting in-depth interdisciplinary study of all major post-communist regions. Help us sustain the excellence of the Ellison Center by making a gift today! Your gift can help create futures by supporting students, providing outreach to the community, rewarding excellence in teaching and research and offering other Ellison Center activities. Thank you for your support.
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Enclosed is my check for $ , payable to the UW Foundation. Please charge my gift to the Ellison Center to VISA or MasterCard, for the amount of $ .
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Please check which endowment you would like to support: The Ellison Endowment to increase outreach, to offer new courses and to pursue other new initiatives. The Titus Ellison Endowment to grant graduate student fellowships. The Vladimir Gross Endowment to support undergraduate students studying the Russian language. The Stewart Parker Fellowship to sponsor graduate student travel to Slavic-speaking countries. The Imre Boba Fellowship to fund graduate student travel to Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
To give on-line, please visit our website http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison and link to Giving. Check the Ellison Center Endowment box or the Vladimir Gross Endowment box and complete the on-line form. Thank you for supporting the Ellison Center! Your contribution is tax-deductible.
SEND DONATIONS OR INQUIRIES TO: Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies • Jackson School of International Studies • University of Washington • 203B Thomson, Box 353650 • Seattle, WA 98195. [email protected] • (206) 543-4852
23 UPCOMING ELLISON CENTER EVENTS
FEBRUARY 1–28: Exhibition: The Art of Soviet-era Professor of Law, UW and Clark Lombardi, Assistant Professor Movie Posters of Law, UW. See page 5 for more information. An exhibition featuring reproductions of Soviet-era movie posters and text by Professor Jose Alaniz. Suzzallo Café. See page 4 for APRIL 14: 13th Annual REECAS-NW Conference at the more information. University of Washington, Seattle “From the Cold War to Post-Communism: Sixty Years of REECAS FEBRUARY 7: Curriculum Presentation: Newspapers in (1947-2007)” From 9:00 am- 6:00 pm. See page 3 for more Education Asia Series 2007 information. A Seattle Times and Jackson School series featuring articles on East, South, Southeast and Central Asian societies geared for the MAY 7: The Donald Treadgold Memorial Lecture middle-school level. Seattle Times Auditorium, 4:30–8:00 pm. “The Reinvention of Russian Imperialism: Russia’s Emerging Reputation as Economic Empire.” Dr. Mark Beissinger, Professor MARCH 17: Mosaics of Politics at Princeton University. Location TBA, 3:30 pm. “Folk Traditions and Handicrafts from Around the Globe” An A reception will follow. annual event for K-8 educators with break-out sessions featuring hands-on arts and crafts ideas from around the world for use in OCTOBER 18–21: 8th Annual Central Eurasian Studies the classroom. Thomson Hall, 9:00 am–4:30 pm. Society Conference at the University of Washington, Seattle Conference at UW, Seattle, WA. See page 18 for more APRIL 4: Jackson School Extensions Program Series: information. Hot Spots in Our World “The Afghan Legal Educators Program: Challenges of Legal For more information on these and other events, go to the Ellison Reconstruction in a Post-Confl ict Setting.” Jonathan A. Eddy, Center website: http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison.
Non-profi t Org. U.S. Postage P A I D 203B THOMSON HALL, BOX 353650 Seattle, WA JACKSON SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Permit No. 62 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SEATTLE,WA 98195-3650
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