Gulag

[Edward M Dumanis]

I strongly disagree. You might be missing the point. Following your logic, 
we should not use such "loaded" words as the Holocaust, or, going into 
a relatively recent Russian history, "raskulachivanije" because they imply 
a certain interpretation of history, and we, as somebody having no moral 
values and just trying to stay "neutral," should teach the language and culture 
without any imposition of our own principles.

The reality is that it is a pure fiction. One cannot teach history and 
culture without taking sides. So, "what side are you on, on?" - "that is 
the question." In the Humanities, any human action is a subject of 
interpretation.

I am just wondering if there is any other member of the Columbia Society 
of Fellows in the Humanities, the organization whose name you use in your 
signature, who would subscribe your point of view. If so, I would like to 
hear from them as well.


Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008, Andrey Shcherbenok wrote:

> 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

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