The SRAS Newsletter
A Resource for Students, Educators, and Anyone Curious about Eurasia
 

This summer, head to Cuba and then Russia to discover how cultural diplomacy related to religion, art, and the environment can help us to understand politics, war, and revolution.

Three debuts in one month! First, MuseumStudiesAbroad.org is finally live and will be devoted to exploring museums, high art, and public spaces across Eurasia! Second, our newest Home and Abroad Scholar, Rylin McGee has published her first piece on GeoHistory.org - on the environmental and cultural effects of energy development on native peoples. Last, but certainly not least, we welcome Rachel Stauffer, PhD to our team. She will be overseeing SRAS syllabi, course development, and coursework.

Summer Travel Alert! FIFA host cities will be affected by a special registration regime currently planned for May 25 - July 25, 2018. Under the special regime, foreigners will have just 24 hours after arrival to register their visas (rather than the usual seven business days). For details, click here.

Summer study abroad deadlines start March 15! Study the role of foodways in economy, government policy, and ethnic identity in Georgia. Study cultural diplomacy in Cuba and St. Petersburg. Study environment in Irkutsk, anthropology in Bishkek, museum science in St. Petersburg, security in Warsaw, or learn Russian or intern in nearly any of our many locations. Funding is available.

Oh, and thank you ASEEES organizers and attendees! Each year we are energized and engaged by the insightful discussions you bring to our table! We hope to see you again at AATSEEL (or catch you if we missed you).

Table of contents
GeoHistory     Students Abroad    Eurasian Languages
PopKult     Museum Studies Abroad     Books

Study Abroad in Eurasia!
Study Abroad in Cuba and Russia! Study Abroad in Poland!

- Summer Study Abroad -
Application deadlines: March 15

In most locations: Russian as a Second Language
                            Internships
                            Challenge Grants (funding!)

In Warsaw: Security and Society

In Bishkek: Central Asian Studies

In Georgia: Georgian Foodways

In Russia: The Art and Science of Museums
                Russia and the Environment
                The Cuba-Russia Connection (+in Cuba!)

GeoHistory.today
History and Current Events in Perspective

Russia on the Ground     Foreign Affairs     TV News (History & Identity)
What do Russians think about issues that matter? What is going on in Russian foreign relations? How does Russian TV really report on the main issues of the day? These free monthly resources from GeoHistory.today are meant to keep you informed.

The Nentsy in Russia’s Energy-Heavy Yamal Peninsula
Home and Abroad Scholar Rylin McGee of the University of Richmond debuts with this highly informative article on how energy development and geographic concerns are affecting Russia's native Nentsy population in the far north.

US Elections Come to Moscow
Written by then-SRAS student Anna Weisfeiler in 2008, this article details issues in US-Russia relations that today seem shockingly... normal. Only 4% of Americans were concerned about Russia. Arms control was the major issue of the day. Then-candidate Obama sent representatives to openly meet with Russian officials.

 Students Abroad
Travel, Study, Volunteer, Work Abroad

Kyiv: My Fall Budget
Charlie Bacsik, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, provides this new resource to help future students better prepare for their time abroad in Kyiv!

30 Hours in Ryazan
SRAS Home and Abroad Scholar Katheryn Weaver recently took an invitation from a local friend to travel to Ryazan and live like a local for a day.

Paintballing in Irkutsk
Challenge Grant recipient Alaina DeLeo of the University of Kansas checks out the paintball scene in Irkutsk with fellow students and local friends.

Eurasian Languages
Lessons and Resources from around the Web

SRAS: Tkemali: Georgian Sour Plum Sauce
Highly versatile, highly complex, and with vast variation, tkemali is arguably one of the world's best sauces. This Russian/English recipe, with commentary, comes from Dr. Michael Denner, who will lead SRAS's Georgian Foodways program this summer.

Michele Berdy: The Winds of Russian Change
Moscow Times columnist Michele Berdy writes on how Russians discuss change. With a history as turbulent as Russia's, it should come as little surprise that they have lots of words and phrases for describing different types of change.

YouTube: Learn Kyrgyz
This is an 8-part series of beginning Kyrgyz lessons, available for free on YouTube. Text to accompany this course can be downloaded from the links in the description on YouTube.

PopKult.org
Contemporary Eurasian Popular Culture

Nashe Radio    Polish Pop Hits    Russkoe Radio   Top Russian Movies
Find out what local language hits are playing on local radio stations in Poland and Russia and on Russian silver screens with these free monthly resources from PopKult.org.

Olivier Show: A Russian New Year Tradition
New Year's is coming - and that means so is the Olivier Show. Named for the salad that you'll find on nearly every Russian table for the holiday, the Olivier Show includes singing, comedy, animated politicians, and much more!

Natalia Szroeder
Born of a folk singer and a theatre manager, Natalia Szroeder has been dominating Poland's pop charts of late - with both romantic balads and girl-power rock tunes.

TOP 5 SRAS Facebook Posts
These are the posts from SRAS’s Facebook feed that you have most actively liked, shared, or commented on for the past month. As usual, the list is diverse and eclectic.

Featured Book!

MuseumStudiesAbroad.org
High Culture, Museum Science

Moscow’s Theater Square: History in Old Photos 
Discover how the public space of Moscow's Theater Square has changed over the years. This new translation from MuseumStudiesAbroad.org (now live!) has lots of great photos and interesting history.

GULAG History Museum in Moscow
Home and Abroad Scholar Katheryn Weaver reviews Moscow's museum to the former Soviet GULAG system in light of her extensive knowledge of related literature.

Museum of Partisan Glory in Odessa, Ukraine
The storied catacombs under Odessa were used by the resistance movement against the Nazis in WWII. Today, the space has been converted to a museum.

Books from Amazon
New Releases!

The Experiment: Georgia's Forgotten Revolution 1918-1921
The Georgian Democratic Republic existed independently of Russia, developing its own ideals and policies from 1918-1921. The author argues that the policies and statecraft of the independent Georgian state, often overlooked or glossed over in most histories, shows how socialism could have developed after the revolution into a more humane and egalitarian model.

American Girls in Red Russia
Independent, adventurous, liberated American women chose to migrate to Russia and even the wilds of Siberia in the 1920s or 1930s. This choice was not as unusual as it seems now.

Rival Power: Russia in Southwest Europe
Unpacking the nature and extent of Russian influence in the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey, Bechev argues that both sides are driven by pragmatism and opportunism rather than historical loyalties. Russia is seeking to assert its role in Europe’s security architecture, establish alternative routes for its gas exports, and score points against the West. Yet, leaders in these areas are allowing Russia to reinsert itself to serve their own goals. This guide analyzes the responses of regional NATO members, particularly on the annexation of Crimea and the Putin-Erdogan rift over Syria.

Crime and Punishment in the Russian Revolution
Crime and Punishment in the Russian Revolution looks at how law and order broke down as one regime collapsed but the next struggled to solidify. Both crime and vigilante justice flourished in the vacuum this created. 

Lenin
The first major biography of Lenin in nearly two decades, this book makes use of archival materials and personal papers only recently released to build a clearer picture of not only Lenin's politics, but who Lenin was as an individual.

Long Night at the Vepsian Museum
Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, this book takes readers to the village populated by the Veps or "forest folk" in northern Russia. Davidov uses a tour of the local museum to introduce a cast of human and non-human characters from traditional Vepsian culture and history. In the process, she examines how contemporary political struggles mesh with traditional beliefs while illustrating how Veps make meaning of their history and their unfolding future.

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