Gulag

[Andrey Shcherbenok]

I think that "concentration camp" is a technical term that has precise
literal meaning -- just as GULAG has it when it is used to refer to a
particular state institution. The problem with GULAG is that it is nearly
impossible to use it outside the specialized historical study without
implying all the historiographic conceptions that it has accumulated in
political discourse starting with Solzhenitsyn's book and which more or less
fit the so-called "totalitarian model" of Soviet history -- a model which is
far from being universally accepted in historical scholarship. A loaded term
like GULAG is especially dangerous because it does not explicitly articulate
those historical interpretations (which would open them up for critical
scrutiny) but rather imply that these interpretations are inherent in the
historical reality of the GULAG in its literal meaning. I do not think these
considerations apply to the terms like "concentration camps" or "corrective
labor camps" or "prisons", that is why they are safer to use. I hope this
answers your question.

Sincerely,
Andrey Shcherbenok

Columbia Society of Fellows in the Humanities


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward M Dumanis
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 4:08 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Gulag

So, applying the same logic,

Nazi concentration camps "is not a very good example precisely because it 
is a loaded term: if you said that one cannot major in" German "history 
without studying the functioning of" German "penitentiary system, because 
it played a very important part in certain period of this history, that 
would be incontrovertible."

Is this what you proclaim?

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>


On Sun, 3 Feb 2008, Andrey Shcherbenok wrote:
...................../snip/.....................

> My point is,
> however, a more general one: when speaking about educational gaps one
should
> better try to speak about gaps in knowledge and lack of critical thinking,
> not about morally reprehensible positions that result from these gaps.
GULAG
> is not a very good example precisely because it is a loaded term: if you
> said that one cannot major in Soviet history without studying the
> functioning of Soviet penitentiary system, because it played a very
> important part in certain period of this history, that would be
> incontrovertible.

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