Faculty panel focuses on current state of Russia

The Russian Studies program brought Russia into the sharp relief of a current events context this past Wednesday with its annual presentation. The annual event started in the 1980s, and this year the panel featured Professors Phillip Kohl and Adam Van Arsdale from the Anthropology Department and Adam Wiener from the Russian Department. The panel also included Kathryn W. Davis Professor of Russian Economics (Emeritus) Marshall Goldman. Professor of History Nina Tumarkin moderated. The presentation was composed of four sections, with each professor giving his own perspective of post-USSR Russia.

Weiner spoke of the upcoming publication of Nabokov's unfinished novel, "Origin of Laura." Weiner explained that it was Nabokov's dying wish that the unfinished manuscript be burned at his death, just as the destruction of the Aeneid was Virgil's last wish. "Thankfully, these requests were ignored," Weiner joked. Nabokov's only son, 75 years old Dmitri Nabokov, held on to the invaluable manuscript, threatening literary critics to burn it,or finish writing the book himself. Professor Weiner highlighted the drama between Ron Rosenbaum, a prominent journalist, and Dmitri Nabokov leading up to the confirmed publication of the novel.

Kohl's presentation focused on tensions, conflicts and issues in the Northern Caucasus. Having conducted archaeological field investigations in Dagestan, Kohl, Kathryn W. Davis Professor of Slavic Studies, spoke about increasing violence and political instability in the region. He gave examples of the progressively violent political climate such as a school bus bombing this past summer and the very recent murder of seven female employees in a massage parlor. In addition, he spoke of rising suicide bombings due to increasing radicalization and desperation of Islamic militants and inherently contradictory Russian response to this violence.

A newcomer to the presentation, Van Arsdale, who had recently visited Georgia, concentrated on its relations with Russia after the conflict last summer. Through his photo slides, he demonstrated how there were very few visible signs of conflict, but emphasized the still existing tension between President Saakashivili of Georgia and its residents.

Returning to Wellesley for this panel, Goldman addressed the economic and political side of post-soviet Russia. He explained that the origin of the current economic crisis in Russia is due to its one-commodity economy based heavily on oil and natural gas. "Recessions are a new phenomenon in Russia," Goldman explained. Furthermore, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that Russians don't have any planned mechanisms for dealing with the recession. As for the political aspect, Goldman commented, "It is really dangerous right now. I don't envy Putin or Medvedev." He added, "Part of the problem is that they haven't had this problem before…I think politically there's going to be a mess."

This was the first Russian panel for a lot of the attendees, who included first-years, other professors, and even town residents.

Linda Lee '11, a history and economics major, is currently enrolled in a seminar on women in Russia with Tumarkin and had previously taken two history classes on Russia last year. "When my professor mentioned this panel, I wanted to attend and learn more about present-day Russia," Lee stated. "Since I'm a big fan of literature, I enjoyed listening to Professor Weiner's presentation about Nabokov and his posthumously published book." Overall, she was impressed with the presentations. "I'm glad I went to the panel," Lee said. "There was so much to learn from each presentation, and I realized how much more I need to learn about Russia and its geographic, ethnic and cultural diversity."

It was the first lecture for Samira Daswani '12 as well and she also enjoyed the panel. "I think what was particularly good was the diversity in the topics covered as well as the difference in styles in which the information was conveyed," Daswani commented. She visited Siberia this past summer, which increased her interest in Russian Area Studies. Daswani added, "What I would have liked even better, would have been if the Russia Now seminar would have included Russian science and technologies as well."

Camille Hamilton '13 attended the lecture after being impressed by Kohl in her anthropology course. "I thought it was a well rounded look at the area, like literature, history, culture and not just the political aspect of things," Hamilton explained. "I haven't heard about Nabokov's new book, so that was interesting...I haven't heard much about Georgia and Russia conflict so it was nice to be updated in that area." She claimed that the panel had increased her interest in Russian Studies and concluded, "I'd like to look at more courses in the department."