Not all Slavs are Russians

[J. Rouhier-Willoughby]

>>Russian is passe and old hat and all that.  The other Slavic
>>languages appear to students as new and fresh and exocic.
>
>I would like to point out that not all Russians are Slavs, that's why the
>citizens of Russia are called "rossijane", and there are many "fresh and
>exotic" languages out there: itel'menskij, mansijskij, udmurtskij and many,
>many, many others.

Yes, there are. The question is, can we expect people we are training in
the field to know the language and literature of two separate groups,
whether of the same heritage or not? Can we also reasonably expect these
people to teach all of these varied topics with the same fluency? If one is
an expert in Czech or Mansijskij, should one also be required to be an
expert in 19th century Russian literature as well as culture? All this
because the market is so awful that employers feel believe can demand
outrageous requirements to get a job. JRW

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Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby           telephone:  (606) 257-1756
Department of Russian and Eastern Studies      fax:  (606) 257-3743
1055 Patterson Office Tower                email:  jrouhie at pop.uky.edu
University of Kentucky           URL: http://www.uky.edu/~jrouhie/
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
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