barriers to tenderness in Russian society

[Ksenya Gurshtein]

I'm not sure how well this responds to the original query, but to follow up
on Alina's comment, I remember being really fascinated by the story on
Radio Lab (http://www.radiolab.org/2011/mar/08/) that talked about the way
most approaches to recovery from alcoholism in Russia rely on fear rather
than positive reinforcement (which is offered by the 12 Step programs so
prevalent in the U.S.). The same issue, I think, is currently playing out
in the scandal around Evgeny Roizman (
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/russian-anti-drugs-crusader-under-growing-pressure),
who is described here as an anti-drug crusader, but whom many others have
described as exemplary of the Russian approach to treating drug users as
non-human (http://publicpost.ru/blog/id/10652/)
I hope this is of some use.
Ksenya

On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 11:00 AM, Alina Israeli <aisrael at american.edu>wrote:

> Melissa is right.
>
> Alice Miller known in the US as a Swiss psychologist (after her death I
> found out that she was Polish, but certainly not "Polish psychologist" a
> Wikipedia states
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Miller_%28psychologist%29) wrote a
> book, *For You Own Good* (http://www.alice-miller.com/books_en.php?page=2)
> [I hope I am correct about the source, because I read half a dozen of her
> books at least]. There she describes "black Pedagogy" (*Schwarze
> Pädagogik)* in German tradition (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisonous_pedagogy) and what it leads to in
> adult life.  What is interesting is that all the precepts described in her
> book are recognizable to a Russian reader.
>
> Considering that Russian pedagogy was based on German thought and German
> models, it is hardly surprising. * *
>
> On Nov 30, 2012, at 10:26 AM, Melissa Smith wrote:
>
>  Sounds interesting. Could you explain the idea a little more?
>
> I recall being told once that the main form of discipline recommended to
> parents in Soviet society was withdrawal of affection. This probably would
> be an acculturated barrier to tenderness, and there would therefore be
> examples of it in literature.
>
> In "Our Crowd," (Свой круг) by Liudmila Petrushevskaya (one of her most
> anthologized stories), the narrator, attempts to show cruelty towards her
> child because, as it is later explained, she has a terminal illness and
> wants her friends to rally around to support the child because she is an
> unfit mother.
>
> Melissa Smith
>
>
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> WLC, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387  fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Ksenya Gurshtein
Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow
Department of Photographs
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Phone: (202) 789-3054 (work); (347) 567-8425 (home)
Fax: (202) 789-4620
ksenya at gmail.com

"Art is what makes life more interesting than art."
--- Robert Filliou

"What is true for writing and for a love relationship is true also for
life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we don't know what will be the end."
--- Michel Foucault

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