Discussing racial attacks with students

[sunnie rucker]

Hello everyone, 

I appreciate everyone's stories--good and bad--about their experiences in Russia, but it must be stressed that the world becomes a bit different if you are a person of color travelling, not just in Russia, but in other parts of Eastern Europe as well. The issues of safety become more than worrying about being robbed or being ripped off; you wonder what lies beyond dark corners and which bald headed person  is actually a skin head who might attack you.  Perhaps feeling unsafe in any big city is not particular to race, but having someone look at you with hatred and attack you for no other reason is.  With this being said, though our students of color are few, they need to be aware of the racial climate in the countries to which they are travelling. That is the only way that they can make an informed decision about studying abroad in Russia or anywhere else. 

I have already shared my ideas with Amanda off list, but I would like to offer some suggestions to other SEELANGers on how to handle the problem of discussing the racial climate in Russia, or other Eastern European countries, with our students, and especially those of color: 

 a) Inform them of the problems, and suggest that they get on to the BBC news website and see what stories there are about the African students in Russia. They have done a pretty good job of explaining the problems that they have. 

b) Propose the possibility of studying abroad in or, at least visiting, a Central Asian republic. My husband believes Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, at least, to be relatively more racially tolerant and in the capitals, at least three years ago, Russian was widely spoken. In the same vein, you can suggest that they travel to a smaller city. Here at Ohio State we have a program in Tomsk, for example.

c)Educate them about what skinheads are and what they look like so that they can try to avoid them once they are in Russia. This may sound silly, but many of our students know nothing about skinheads, and some of us found out about them the hard way. 

d) Though extreme, if you know that your students may be unable to handle constant stares, seemingly incessant passport checks, and possible verbal and/or physical attacks, suggest that they not go (to Russia). I have an Asian-American friend who was told not to travel to Russia by her sponsoring study abroad group, and yet continued to take Russian. If they need or love the language our students will not drop it because they cannot travel there. 

I apologize for the length of this response, but it is important that we understand that  in the same way that some students learn differently than others, our students of color, who are travelling abroad, may have different needs than our students who are not of color.  Thank you for your time. 

Best, 
 Sunnie Rucker-Chang,
 PhD Candidate, Russian literature
 Member, Slavic department Diversity Committee
 The Ohio State University,
 Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures
  1775 College Rd
 400 Hagerty Hall
 Columbus, OH 43201
 (614) 292-6733 
 



 		
---------------------------------
 The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------