European Studies Center Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies European and Eurasian UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM 2020 Proceedings Table of Contents NATIONAL IDENTITY AND POST-SOVIET AND POST-COLONIAL LITERATURE AND ART .... 5 Searching for the Yet-Nonexistent: Contemporary Kazakhstani Poetry and Kazakh Identity Aibarsha Kazhyakpar, Nazarbayev University ......................................................................................... 6 In-Between: Interpretations of National Identity and Alienation in Post-Soviet Russian Art Erik Livingston, The College of Wooster ............................................................................................... 17 Gogol’s Dead Souls: A Slavophile in the Provinces Dalton Arrendale, University of Florida ................................................................................................. 26 LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION POLICY AND NATIONALISM ...................................................... 34 National Identity in Education: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Northern Ireland Courtney Madl, Miami University .......................................................................................................... 35 “Their Mother Tongue”: How Russia’s Language Policy Gives Voice to Nationalism Clara Giorgis, Dickinson College ........................................................................................................... 43 GENDER AND SEXUALITY ................................................................................................................... 51 A Woman’s Place: Anna Karenina in the Context of the ‘Woman Question’ as Compared to Literature Outside of Russia Emmaleigh Krause, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ....................................................................... 52 An Independent Woman in Putin’s Russia: Elvira Nabiullina in Political Context Meredith Walker, Oberlin College .......................................................................................................... 60 Perspectives on the Gay Community in Weimar Berlin Jordan Nistendirk, West Virginia University .......................................................................................... 77 BORDERS .................................................................................................................................................. 89 Schengen and the Changing Nature of Borders Drew Fenner, University of Florida ........................................................................................................ 90 In Divided Cyprus, Can Water Come Before Peace? Examining the Hydropolitics of the Turkey- Northern Cyprus Water Pipeline Clara Weibel, University of Pittsburgh ................................................................................................... 95 (Un)orthodoxy in Georgian Democracy: The Paradox of Russo-Georgian Church & State Relations Grace Ingle, Dickinson College ............................................................................................................ 103 ART AND REPRESENTATION IN SOCIETY ..................................................................................... 118 Polite Propaganda: Narratives of Progress and Stagnation in Brezhnev-Era Soft Power Avery Comar, Miami University of Ohio ............................................................................................ 119 Lost in the Woods Marion Carter, Roanoke College .......................................................................................................... 129 3 PERSPECTIVES ON HIV AND AIDS .................................................................................................. 139 Heteronormative Assumptions Affect HIV/AIDS Research in Kazakhstan Ademi Zhakyp and Ayjan Urazbayeva, Nazarbayev University .......................................................... 140 The AIDS Crisis in the United Kingdom and the United States: A Comparison of Initial Organizational and Political Responses Drew Medvid, University of Pittsburgh ................................................................................................ 151 Analysis of HIV/AIDS Educational Materials Produced by the Ministry of the Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Social Constructionism and Face(s) of the “Risk Groups” Behind Government Awareness Efforts Makhabbat Boranbay, Nazarbayev University ..................................................................................... 162 RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE ............................................................................................................ 176 “If there were better Muslims and an Islamic government, such behavior would not be tolerated”: Corruption and Islamic Revival in Kyrgyzstan Naomi Messer, Yale University ........................................................................................................... 177 The Palladium of Russia: The Political Power of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God Mary Orsak, Yale University ................................................................................................................ 190 MANIFESTATIONS AND EFFECTS OF TRAUMA.......................................................................... 205 Material Manifestations of Individual Trauma in Margarita Khemlin’s Klotsvog (2009) Anna Galperin, New York University .................................................................................................. 206 The Protection of Children in Theresienstadt Molly Plante, West Virginia University ............................................................................................... 215 PUBLIC POLICY .................................................................................................................................... 228 Online Imperialism: Sovereignty and Cyber Warfare in Eastern Europe Roman Shemakov, Swarthmore College .............................................................................................. 229 The Effects of Bukharan Jewish Emigration from the Soviet Union on Afghanistan’s Domestic Policy Towards Jews Grace Sewell, Swarthmore College ...................................................................................................... 243 The Impact of Age, Enfranchisement, and Social Media on Independence Referendums in Europe Bree Megivern, University of Maine .................................................................................................... 254 TENSION AND IDENTITY IN SOCIETY ............................................................................................ 262 A Look Inside the Tensions Underlying Russian Identity Betty Ben Dor, Muhlenberg College .................................................................................................... 263 Class Consciousness in the Short Story Mallory Harrison, University of Pittsburgh .......................................................................................... 271 The Stories We Tell Ourselves- The Tiger’s Wife Jenna Novosel, Roanoke College.......................................................................................................... 279 4 NATIONAL IDENTITY AND POST-SOVIET AND POST- COLONIAL LITERATURE AND ART 5 Searching for the Yet-Nonexistent: Contemporary Kazakhstani Poetry and Kazakh Identity Aibarsha Kazhyakpar, Nazarbayev University After Kazakhstan declared its independence, the Kazakhstani government started the process of constructing its national identity by making attempts to revitalize the Kazakh language and culture. As in many other postcolonial countries, the government also aspired to create a clear and coherent narrative of the nation’s past in order to justify its existence as an independent entity. But the notions of nationality and ethnicity of the Kazakhs started forming only at the beginning of the 20th century, before which they identified themselves based on their tribal divisions, zhuzes (Dave 31). The Soviet government reinforced this nascent sense of belonging to a Kazakh nation by taking “nationality as the basis for the administrative and political division of Central Asia in the 1920s, together with the subsequent policy of korenizatsiia or ‘nativization,’ which promoted local languages and cultures, as well as members of the titular nation into the administrative positions of the local government” (Abashin 150). In addition to that, however, the Soviet government created a Soviet supranational identity. The latter manifested itself mainly through the Russian language, which was the lingua franca for all nations of the Soviet Union and served as a means to introduce and maintain the “friendship of the peoples” thesis (Slezkine 430). Consequently, independent Kazakhstan inherited a society with strong lingua-cultural ties with Russia. This, together with the fact that the Kazakhs were a minority in their own territory at the time of independence, complicates the construction of Kazakh national identity for the government today (Smagulova 306). That is why it is a project which still resides in national programs and is failing to become the reality. The challenge of having a clear sense of identity is manifested in modern-day Kazakhstani literature, including contemporary poetry. The latter category can be represented by such poets as Ardak Nurgazy and Anuar Duisenbinov, a considerable portion of whose poetry is devoted to the question of national identity. Both poets are “insiders” and “outsiders” in relation to the Kazakh community in their own way, which