Query

Sat Feb 8 16:33:26 UTC 2014

Cindy,

This is a big open space in our field, as far as I can tell, and the boundaries between East Asian and Slavic have historically not been very porous in disciplinary terms, so it's great to see that you're considering it. There a lots of ways to go about thinking about it. Here are a few suggestions.

You might consider using sources on Siberia, of which there are quite a few. There is also some pretty good travel writing that enables one to introduce things, and then popular histories and treatments of specific questions relating to Russia's and the USSR's "civilizing" role in Northern and Central Asia. In the travel writing category, I'm using Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia now, and while it has some errors, it's entertaining and a good starting point for students who don't know anything. It also discusses George Kennan's Siberia and the Exile System at some length, which is a good intro to the question of the historical usage of Siberia and the Russian Far East as a prison colony. There is also the very entertaining 1930s travel narrative on Central Asia of Fitzroy Maclean (prototype for James Bond) in his Eastern Approaches. I don't recommend Colin Thubron's In Siberia, which is thoroughly depressing and also, now, dated. Still in the realm of travel lit there's Arseniev's Dersu the Trapper, and then Kurosawa's film adaptation.

There's a nice, relatively discrete section in Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance, called "Descendants of Genghis Khan," which details the considerable Mongol/Tatar historical influence on Russian culture, and which does a nice job of countering the common place that the Mongols left the Russians alone and only collected tribute. It also incorporates the work of painters like Vereshchagin on Central Asia, and Levitan on the lonely steppe, with Chekhov's Sakhalin and Steppe alongside. I like Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Mongol World for another intervention in common assumptions about the purely destructive role of the Mongols, though this book only has a small section on Russia per se. There are a couple of intriguing references to the influence of Chinese cuisine on Russian and Eastern European cuisine (pickling technology via the Mongols) in Joyce Toomre's introduction to A Gift for Young Housewives, a translation of the famous Molokhovets cookbook.

Camp literature.

A. J. Haywood's Siberia: A Cultural History appears to be set up like a travel book, but it's actually a pretty thorough treatment, and has some good material on e.g., the construction of the Trans-Siberian RR. On the more popular side Benson Bobrick's East of the Sun does a good job with some of the personalities and descriptions of exploration, especially Bering and Weller, and which also has an extensive bibliography. Steven Marks' has lots of mini-treatments of the export of Russian culture (e.g., Anarchism, Tolstoyan pacificism) through various parts of Asia in his How Russian Shaped the Modern World.

The two Japan-Russia/Soviet conflicts of the 20th-century could function as anchors for an approach from that angle. I'm still looking for a good book-length treatment of the Russo-Japanese war, especially one that incorporates cultural ramifications, and would like to hear of other people's suggestions; on WWII, I find Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's Racing the Enemy very good, though it is essentially a diplomatic history so very thick on the documents and details and maybe not appropriate for many undergraduates.

Anyway, a few suggestions.

Russell

*******************************************************************************
Russell Scott Valentino
Professor and Chair
Slavic Languages and Literatures<http://www.indiana.edu/~iuslavic/>
Indiana University
502 Ballantine Hall
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-3272

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ruder, Cynthia A
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 10:50 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU<mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU>
Subject: [SEELANGS] Query

Colleagues:

As part of an "Asian Studies Graduate Certificate" that we are preparing, we need to produce a prototype syllabus for a course on Critical Issues in Asian Studies.  Since Russia is the largest country in Asia, and since Central Asia must be part of any discussion of Asia, we would like to include readings that address these issues vis-a-vis political, historical, cultural, economic, and other concerns.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to sources--in English--that might be appropriate here?  We have a couple of ideas, but want to draw on the collective experience of SEELANGers to see what we are missing.

Thank you in advance for your advice.  Please reply OFF LIST to me at cynthia.ruder at uky.edu<mailto:cynthia.ruder at uky.edu>

Sincerely, Cindy Ruder

Cynthia A. Ruder, Associate Professor
University of Kentucky
MCL/Russian Studies
1055 Patterson
Lexington, KY  40506-0027
859.257.7026
cynthia.ruder at uky.edu<mailto:cynthia.ruder at uky.edu>
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*******************************************
Russell Scott Valentino
Professor and Chair
Slavic Languages and Literatures<http://www.iub.edu/~iuslavic/>
Indiana University
Ballantine Hall 502
1020 E. Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405-7103
Phone 812-855-2608
Fax 812-855-2107

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