Conflicts in Eurasia: Globalization, New States, and Soviet Legacies
Winter 2006, MWF (11:00-12:00)
Dr. Sascha L. Goluboff
Office Hours: Fridays 8:30 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. and by appointment
You can find me at goluboffs@wlu.edu and in Newcomb Hall, 36E (Third Floor) (phone: 463-8807)
Click here to access the research website for this course.
Course Description
In this class, we will study how people in Eurasia relate to new realities through common past socialist experiences and interactions with globalization, transnational movements, and the world market. We will apply anthropology and a wide range of other disciplinary techniques to understand and attempt to solve current problems in Eurasia. We will have an ongoing conversation about the differences and similarities, advantages and disadvantages of various disciplinary approaches. Topics will include crime, the emerging marketplace, poverty, health, gender, environment, and war. We will study Eurasia via issues rather than geography, and we will focus intensely on the effects of conflicts in Chechnya and Afghanistan. Daily readings will include articles in cultural anthropology on the topic at hand and an interdisciplinary discussion piece. Students will take their thinking across disciplines even further by engaging in a semester long project. Students will evaluate how to use anthropology, with at least one other approach, to understand and recommend ways to solve a specific policy dilemma in Eurasia that corresponds to their majors. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: attaining social justice in Russia, cleaning up environmental destruction at Lake Baikal, eliminating political corruption in Georgia, alleviating poverty in Ukraine, or improving human rights in Uzbekistan. While this will be an individual research paper, students will search for sources with others who have similar topics, and they will present their work together to the class.
Course Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to
Text to Buy at the Book Store
Valery Tishkov, Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society
A Course Pack (referred to as CP in the syllabus) with the other readings. You can buy this in Karen Lyle's Office (Department Secretary on the first floor of Newcomb Hall)
Reading Requirements
You will be responsible for completing all the reading assignments on time. Please bring the day’s readings to class.
Reading question: In order to facilitate discussion and help you to understand the assigned text, you will email me a question that you have about the reading. I should receive your email by 9:00 a.m. the day of class. These questions will count toward your class participation grade.
Writing Requirements
You will do an independent research project. You will evaluate how to use anthropology, with at least one other approach, to understand and recommend ways to solve a specific policy dilemma in Eurasia that corresponds to your major. You will be required to write one draft of your final paper to improve your writing skills. This will be peer reviewed. You will rely heavily on search engines to find the latest information on your topic. Source books on Eurasian societies and states will be on reserve in the library. Dick Grefe, the reference librarian, will have a website created specifically for this project to help you identify research topics and find sources. I will place you in groups according to your topic. Group members will help each other identify resources on the web and in the library, aid in working on paper drafts, and present research results together in class.
Monday 1/23: Topic of research paper
Friday 2/24: Draft of bibliography
Friday 3/17: Draft of paper for peer review
Monday 3/20: Peer review
Wednesday 3/22: First page of REVISED paper draft
Monday 3/20, Wednesday 3/22 and Friday 3/31: Student group presentations
Monday 4/3: Final draft of paper due in my mailbox at noon.
NOTE: Each time you turn in an assignment, please include the previous ones as well so that I can see how you are progressing.
Specifications for Written Work
Assignment evaluation: I will evaluate your assignments on the following criteria: following directions, thoroughness, conventions of grammar and spelling, originality, forethought and execution, and style of presentation. All assignments must be typed unless otherwise noted. FYI: I encourage (and will reward) you to “go out on a limb” with a new idea or challenging statement. Be creative!
I will grade your in-class presentation based on the above paragraph, how well you and your partner coordinate your efforts, and the substance of each individual contribution.
Lateness of papers: To get full credit, all assignments must be handed in at the end of the class period unless otherwise indicated by me. You must notify me at least one week in advance if you are requesting to turn in an assignment late. If I agree to accept the late paper, it will be penalized at the rate of half a grade a day. For instance, a B paper turned in 2 days late becomes a C+. No exceptions without an infirmary excuse or a letter from the Dean. A computer problem does not make a legitimate excuse for lateness.
Please! Keep a hard copy of every assignment. Do not trust your disk, hard drive, or neighbor’s hard drive, or any W&L server as a backup. If I should misplace a paper, I will require you to give me another copy immediately upon request.
Format: Grammar, spelling, and style count. If you need guidance, click here to see my website for tips on grammar and citations.
Note: Handing in your draft late will negatively affect the grade you receive on your final paper.
Attendance
FYI: If you miss more than three classes and/or are late more than three times, a reduction in your final grade is up to my discretion.
Class Participation
Class participation includes actively taking part in class discussions, turning in your reading notes on time, and quiz grades.
Your Grade Will Be Based on the Following:
Class participation………………………………………………………………30%
Individual research topic,
draft of individual research bibliography,
first page of paper draft
peer review of another student’s paper...……………………………………… 10%
Final paper
(taking into account how you improved from peer-review draft
and the comments I make on the revised first page)……………...…………….40%
Group presentation in class……………………………………………………..20%
How to Succeed in This Course
· Read all the materials on time.
· Be prepared to participate in class.
· Take advantage of office hours to consult about your assignments.
· Be aware of and follow the attendance policy, writing requirements, and specifications for written work.
Class Schedule
Wednesday 1/4: Introduction to the class
What Was Socialism, Why Did It Fall, and What Comes Next?
Friday 1/6
Katherine Verdery (1995), “What Was Socialism, and Why Did It Fall?” In Beyond Soviet Studies, edited by Daniel Orlovsky. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Pp. 27-47. (CP)
Deniz Kandiyoti (2001), “How Far Do Analyses of Post-Socialism Travel?: The Case of Central Asia.” In Postsocialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Practices in Eurasia, edited by C. M. Hann, London: Routledge. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Philip G. Roeder (1999), “Peoples and States after 1989: The Political Costs of Incomplete National Revolutions.” Slavic Review 58(4): 854-882. (CP)
Ethnographic and Interdisciplinary Methods, Theories, and Applications
Monday 1/9
Sascha L. Goluboff (2003), “Fistfights at Morning Services.” In Jewish Russians: Upheavals in a Moscow Synagogue. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Pp.34-62. (CP)
Ruth P. Wilson (1998), “The Role of Anthropologists as Short-Term Consultants.” Human Organization 57(2): 245-252. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Julie Thompson Klein (1996), “Introduction: Interdisciplinary Claims” and “The Interdisciplinary Present/ce.” In Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities, and Interdisciplinarities. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. Pp. 1-15 and 19-37. (CP)
Toward a Market Economy?: Corruption, Criminals, and the Law
Wednesday 1/11
Cris Shore and Dieter Haer "Sharp Practice: Anthropology and the Study of Corruption." In Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Cris Shore and Dieter Haer.
Michele Rivkin-Fish "Bribes, Gifts, and Unofficial Payments: Towards an Anthropology of Corruption in Post-Soviet Russia." In Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Cris Shore and Dieter Haer.
Birdsall, Karen (2000), “‘Everyday Crime’ at the Workplace: Covert Earning Schemes in Russia’s New Commercial Sector.” In Economic Crime in Russia, edited by Alena V. Ledeneva and Marina Kurkchiyan. Pp. 145-162. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Andrei Yakovlev (2001), “‘Black Cash’ Tax Evasion in Russia: Its Forms, Incentives and Consequences at Firm Level.” Europe-Asia Studies 53(1): 33-55. (CP)
Friday 1/13
Nancy Ries (2002), “‘Honest Bandits’ and ‘Warped People’: Russian Narratives about Money, Corruption, and Moral Decay.” In Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change, edited by Carol J. Greenhouse, Elizabeth Mertz, and Kay B. Warren. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp. 276-315. (CP)
Caroline Humphrey (2002), “Russian Protection Rackets and the Appropriation of Law and Order,” and “Rethinking Bribery in Contemporary Russia.” In The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies after Socialism. Pp. 99-146.
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Article by John Freivalds on Americans doing business in the FSU (handout)
Monday 1/16
Guest Speaker: John Freivalds, Head of JFA Marketing
Negotiating the Market Place: Sellers, Buyers, and Their Strategies
Wednesday 1/18
Galina Lindquist (2000), “In Search of The Magical Flow: Magic and Market in Contemporary Russia.” Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development 29(4): 315-337. (CP)
Melissa L. Caldwell (2002), “The Taste of Nationalism: Food Politics in Postsocialist Moscow.” Ethnos 67(3): 295-319. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Mitch Griffin, Barry J. Babin, and Doan Modianos (2000), “Shopping Values of Russian Consumers: The Impact of Habituation in a Developing Economy.” Journal of Retailing 76: 33-53. (CP)
Poverty and the Costs of Post-Socialism
Friday 1/20
Selections from When Things Fall Apart: Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union.
You all must read “Chapter 1: A Window on Social Reality, Qualitative Methods in Poverty Research” and “Chapter 2: From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities: Poverty During the Transition.” Pp. 9-28.
You then will then read one of the following:
· Elizabeth Gomart, “Between Civil War and Land Reform: Among the Poorest of the Poor in Tajikistan.” Pp. 57-94.
· Nora Dudwick, “No Guests at Our Table: Social Fragmentation in Georgia.” Pp. 213-258
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: A recent newspaper article on poverty in the FSU (handout)
Women, Men, and Families
Monday 1/23
J. A. Dickinson (2005) "Gender, Work and Economic Restructuring in a Transcarpathia (Ukraine) Village. Nationality Papers 33(3)
Marianne Kamp (2005) "Gender Ideals and Income Realities: Discourses about Labor and Gender in Uzbekistan." Nationality Papers 33(3)
Catherine Wanner and Nora Dudwick, “‘Children Have Become a Luxury’: Everyday Dilemmas of Poverty in Ukraine.” When Things Fall Apart: Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union. Pp. 263-300.
Due in Class: Topic of Individual Research Project
Women, Men, and Families
Wednesday 1/25
Edward Snajdr (2005) "Gender, Power, and the Performance of Justice: Muslim Women's Responses to Domestic Violence in Kazakhstan." American Ethnologist 32(2):294-311.
Michele Rivkin-Fish (2004) 'Change Yourself and the Whole World Will Become Kinder': Russian Activists for Reproductive Health and the Limits of Claims Making for Women." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 18(3):281-304
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Sections from The Family Planning Service Expansion and Technical Support Project (SEATS II) et al. (1998), “Client Perceptions of Reproductive Health Services in Vladivostok and Novosibirsk, Russia.” (CP)
Friday 1/27 Instead of regular class, you will meet with me in your groups to talk about individual research project topics and bibliographic resources.
Environmental Damage and Health Risks
Monday 1/30
Film in Class: Chernobyl
Wednesday 2/1
Adriana Petryna (1995), Sarcophagus: Chernobyl in Historical Light. Cultural Anthropology 10(2): 196-220.
Sarah D. Phillips (2004) Chernobyl's Sixth Sense: The Symbolism of an Ever-Present Awareness. Anthropology & Humanism 29(2): 159-185.
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Several recent scientific reports on the lingering biomedical and psychological affects of Chernobyl accident. (CP)
Making the Nation: Culture, Citizenship, and Identity
Friday 2/3
Caroline Humphrey (2002), “The Villas of the ‘New Russians’: A Sketch of Consumption and Cultural Identity in Post-Soviet Landscapes.” In The Unmaking of Soviet Life. Pp. 175-201.
Dale Pesmen (2000), “Tropes of Death and the Russian Soul: Openings and Closings in Post-Soviet Siberia.” In Altering States: Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, edited by Daphne Berdahl, Matti Bunzl, and Martha Lampland. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pp. 181-207. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Recent news piece on Russian nationalism (handout)
Monday 2/6
Vieda Skultans (1997), “Theorizing Latvian Lives: The Quest for Identity.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3(4): 761-780. (CP).
Laura L. Adams (1998), “What is Culture? Schemas and Spectacles in Uzbekistan.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 16(2): 64-73. (CP)
Ruth Mandel (2002), “A Marshall Plan of the Mind: The Political Economy of a Kazakh Soap Opera.” In Media Worlds: Anthropology on a New Terrain, edited by Faye D. Ginsberg, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 211-228. (CP)
Wednesday 2/8
Catherine Wanner (1999), “Crafting Identity, Marking Time: Anthropological Perspectives on Nation Building in Ukraine.” Harvard Ukrainian Studies Journal 28(3/4): 415-433. (CP)
Bruce Grant (2001) "New Moscow Monuments, or, States of Innocence." American Ethnologist 28(2): 332-362.
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Eiki Berg (2002), “Local Resistance, National Identity and Global Swings in Post-Soviet Estonia.” Europe-Asia Studies 54(1): 109-122. (CP)
Unmaking the Nation: The Case of Chechnya
Friday 2/10
Tishkov (2004), Preface, Chapters 1-4
No Class 2/13-17 during February Break
Monday 2/20
Film shown in class: The Betrayed
Wednesday 2/22
Film shown in class: The Betrayed, continued.
Friday 2/24
Tishkov, Chapters 5-9
Due in Class: Draft of Individual Research Bibliography
Monday 2/27
Tishkov, Chapter 10-14 and Conclusion
Moderating Post-Soviet Ethnic Conflicts
Wednesday 3/1
Paula Garb (1995), “The Return of Refugees Viewed through the Prism of Blood Revenge.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 13(2): 1-5. (CP)
Paula Garb (1998), “Ethnicity, Alliance Building, and the Limited Spread of Ethnic Conflict in the Caucasus.” In The International Spread of Ethnic Conflict: Fear, Diffusion, and Escalation, edited by David A. Lake and Donald Rothchild. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. 185-199. (CP)
Cynthia Keppley Mahmood (1996), “Asylum, Violence, and the Limits of Advocacy.” Human Organization 55(4): 493-498. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: Robert M. Cutler (2000), “Policy Options for Resolving Post-Soviet Ethnic Conflict.” Central Asia Survey 19(3-4): 446-463. (CP)
Chechnya Revisited
Friday 3/3
Anna Brodsky, "Representations of The Chechen War in Contemporary Russian Writing" Article from (handout)
Monday 3/6
Guest speaker Anna Brodsky, Associate Professor of Russian at Washington and Lee University
Wednesday 3/8
Alternative Healing Strategies
Eva Jane Neumann Fridman (1998), “Lost Locale, Return and Healing in Kalmykia.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 16(2): 43-51. (CP)
Galina Lindquist (2002), “Healing Efficacy and the Construction of Charisma. A Family’s Journey over the Multiple Medical System in Russia.” Anthropology and Medicine, Special Issue. Countervailing Creativity: Patient Agency in the Globalization of Asian Medicines 9 (3). Pp. 337-358. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece:
Russell Targ and Jane Katra (1998), “The Healing Experience.” In Miracles of Mind: Exploring Nonlocal Consciousness and Spiritual Healing. Pp. 171-253. (CP)
Friday 3/10:
Guest Speaker Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Research Professor at Georgetown
University in the Sociology/Anthropology Department and the Center for Eurasian,
Russian and East European Studies.
Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer (2001) "Healing Failed Faith? Contemporary Siberian Shamanism" Anthropology & Humanism 26(2): 134-149.
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece:
Glenn H. Shepard (2001), “An Ethnobotanist Dreams of Scientists and Shamans Collaborating.” In Shamans through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge, edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley. New York: Putnam. Pp. 298-300. (CP)
Jeremy Narby (2001), “Shamans and Scientists.” In Shamans through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge, edited by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley. New York: Putnam. Pp. 301-305. (CP)
Monday 3/13
Islam, the State, and Globalization
Dale F. Eickelman (1997), “Trans-state Islam and Security.” In Transnational Religions and Fading States, edited by Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and James Piscatori. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Pp. 27-46. (CP)
Abdujar Abduvakhitov (1993), “Islamic Revivalism in Uzbekistan.” In Russia’s Muslim Frontiers: New Directions in Cross-Cultural Analysis, edited by Dale F. Eickelman. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pp. 79-97. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece:
Ghoncheh Tazmini (2001), “The Islamic Revival in Central Asia: A Potent Force or a Misconception?” Central Asian Survey 20(1): 63-83. (CP)
Wednesday 3/15
Afghanistan during and after the Taliban
Nazif Shahrani (2000), “Resisting the Taliban and Talibanism in Afghanistan: Legacies of a Century of Internal Colonialism and Cold War Politics in a Buffer State.” Perception: Journal of International Affairs 4: 121-140. (CP)
Nazif Shahrani (2002), “War, Factionalism, and the State in Afghanistan.” American Anthropologist 104(3): 715-722. (CP)
David B. Edwards (2002), “Bin Ladin’s Last Stand.” Anthropological Quarterly 75(1): 179-184. (CP)
Nazif Shahrani (2003), “The Challenge of Post-Taliban Governance.” ISIM Newsletter 12: 22-23. (CP)
Interdisciplinary Discussion Piece: A recent article about Afghanistan from a well-known news agency in the United States.
Friday 3/17
Due in class: Draft of paper to give to peer reviewer. Peer Review Done in Class.
Monday 3/20: Student Presentations
Wednesday 3/22: Student Presentations
Due in class: First page of REVISED draft paper
Friday 3/24: No Class.
Monday 3/27: Film in Class: Kandahar
Wednesday 3/29: Film in Class: Kandahar
Friday 3/31: Student Presentations
Monday 4/3: Final draft of research paper due in my mailbox at NOON.
