On sending our gay students to Russia - or other diverse groups for that matter

Fri Aug 9 16:21:20 UTC 2013

Many of our Russianists at some point have had to kowtow to the star-crossed country whose language we study.  This is just another pathetic humiliation.

Charlie
On Aug 9, 2013, at 11:35 AM, Andrew Wachtel wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

For those people who are concerned about sending students who are not straight white male and female students to Russia, I could suggest that you consider sending them on an exchange to the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek.  While we do our teaching in English, the language of social interaction in Bishkek and the university as a whole is Russian, and as our faculty are almost all native speakers of Russian, we can certainly arrange content courses in Russian as well as teach the language at all levels (which we already do).  Bishkek itself is a fascinating place, and while they are certainly not entirely free of prejudices biases of their own, the Kyrgyz are generally pretty welcoming to all sorts of outsiders regardless of gender, creed, sexual orientation and so forth.  AUCA itself, I think, provides quite high quality instruction, and students who come on an exchange program do so through Bard College and get courses transcripted by Bard.  If anyone needs further information, we will be happy to provide.

Andrew Wachtel
President, American University of Central Asia

On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 5:36 AM, B. Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz <amarilis at bugbytes.com<mailto:amarilis at bugbytes.com>> wrote:
Dear all,
I read Professor Borenstein's blog on sending gay students to Russia. I am thankful for his thoughtful remarks on a superbly complicated topic. I was struck by his closing remarks.

" But we should make sure our students have as much information as possible, and let them know that visibility can bring vulnerability (especially to gay men, who are the primary target of a campaign that is so clearly connected to anxieties about “manliness”). We cannot make decisions for our students, but if the profession does not address the issue publicly and carefully, then we have failed in our responsibility."

I am a Puerto Rican, and I teach Russian at Howard University, a Historically Black University. If anyone has had a chance to work with issues of visibility and vulnerability when studying in Russia, I think I can claim one of the first spots in that line. I have had students go to Russia for three of the years I have worked at Howard -- one as a teaching Fulbright in Omsk, the other two through the CIEE program. I am curious this fall, as I will have my first African-American male student return -- all my other students there have been women until now. I myself worked hard to blend in as an American -- read U. S., not Latin American -- student in Leningrad when I was there in '88.

Dealing with personal markers that cannot be erased -- be it race, gender or sexual orientation -- is one of the main challenges I think we face as educators. It is one of the greatest challenges I have attracting students to Russian language and study abroad in Russia at Howard -- why go to freezing Petersburg when you can study in summery Brazil? During carnaval season? Where you have a big and visible community of African descent?

In one way, Russia has made the issue of tolerance -- or lack thereof -- for our study abroad students -- a lot more visible. In a way, I thank them for that. For better or for worse, it also forces us to face the fact that some of us have to do what is called "disimular" in Spanish - to dis-emulate our identities. As a Latina in WASP country in high school, again and again I was told of the need to "disimular." Sad but true, sometimes that is the only answer we can give our students. But a lot can be gained from that. It sharpens your powers of cultural observation our of necessity, makes your keep your head screwed right at all times, and brings you back as a sharper thinker.

The clear elephant in the room is the failure to "disimular" can result is serious physical and/or legal damage. And that gets really old on month three of a four month stay in Russia.

The only answer I have for my students when they are abroad is to pray and pray hard that I have picked a good program, and that the program is extra careful picking out the families for my students. My girls so far have found the stay with the families thoroughly enriching. I also insist they go to an intensive summer study program -- their program of choice so far has been Middlebury. Going over knowing two or three faces goes a long way in easing the adjustment. It also means they can develop safety networks -- hopefully their classmates will be aware enough to know when absence means trouble.

And yes, some days I wish I had been a Spanish major and gone to Barcelona for study abroad, like my other friends did. But that would be easy. And I can truly say that my students find Russian interesting, enriching, but d morefinitely never easy.

I had my two girls that went together to Petersburg graduate as my first majors this last May. One of my student's parents, who visited her while she was there (big change! My parents could not do that when I was there in '88) came up to me and told me how the experience so enriched their daughter's life. Yeah, not to be hyperbolic, but I did tear up.

Yes, it can be a lot more lonely at times than for a more traditional student. Maybe a topic of a round table at ASEEES?

Regards
Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz
Lecturer, Russian, Howard University

On 8/7/2013 5:22 PM, Moss, Kevin M. wrote:
A thoughtful post from Eliot Borenstein on sending gay students to Russia in the current climate has been making the rounds on Facebook:e ot

http://jordanrussiacenter.org/news/sending-our-gay-students-to-russia/

I've already had some discussions with our Middlebury students about this. I can certainly understand their concern.

Some of my colleagues also wonder if we now should check IDs if we give a university lecture on LGBT topics. I've certainly given lectures there in which I did not point out that same sex relationships and families are inferior to heterosexual ones. That would appear to be a direct violation of the law if any 17 year olds were present.

Kevin Moss
Jean Thomson Fulton Professor of Modern Languages&  Literature
Middlebury College
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