Workshop in Crimea: July 17-29

[Ben Rifkin]

Temple University, the Carnegie Corporation, and The Russkii Mir Foundation
are pleased to sponsor a workshop in Crimea from July 17-29, 2009:

Teaching Russian Culture in the Global Context

This pioneering workshiop will take place on July 17-29 in Crimea, Ukraine
(changes in time and location may occur and will be announced). The duration
of the program is twelve days.

The faculty of the program will include leading historians, linguists, and
specialists in Russian culture from Russia and the United States.

The participants of the program are junior faculty from Russia, America, and
other post-Soviet states. At the program, aside from lectures, seminars, and
roundtables, there will be time and space for exchange and interaction
between American, Russian, and other scholars-teachers.

This program is entirely novel and original. Until now, different groups of
specialists: historians of Russia, specialists in linguistics, and experts
in culture and literature - worked and taught separately from one another.
And, despite long-standing contacts, numerous exchange programs, and various
³summer institutes,² there have been no comparative workshops of the kind
proposed here. The main goals of the program are:

€    Discuss in comparative perspective how to teach Russian language,
culture, and history in Russian and non-Russian (especially American i.e.
quintessentially ³Western²) environments.

€    Discuss and develop comprehensive educational strategies that would
focus on teaching Russian language, culture, and history.

The program/workshop will fill this gap between several different
disciplines and professional groups dealing with Russian history, culture,
and language. A range of issues from linguistics, translation, and cultural
communication, to history and social science will be discussed not for their
own sake, but in connection to the challenges that Russian and American
professors face in their respective countries when they try to increase and
broaden the interests of 21st century students in Russia¹s cultural
heritage. The very contrast between the two existing ³national² schools: a)
teaching about Russia in the United States and b) teaching about Russia in
Russia itself - will guarantee high-powered debates that will stimulate
further research and discussion.

The workshop will help the next generation of American professors of Russian
history and language to be better informed of the issues, values, and ideas
that inform and inspire the teaching of Russian culture at Russian
universities. 

Applications for admission to the program will be accepted until May 1,
2009. Applicants will be informed of the admissions decision by the end of
May. 

Those admitted for participation in the program will be provided room and
board in Crimea for the duration of the workshop and will be reimbursed for
their transportation expenses in full or up to a certain maximum after the
workshop is over. (Transportation reimbursement level will be specified in
notification of admission.)

To apply:  Go to 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MR3t0Sus0fLXzG_2bdH6SeTQ_3d_3d

For more information or questions, contact:

Benjamin Rifkin, Professor of Russian, Temple University brifkin at temple.edu
Vladislav Zubok, Professor of History, Temple University zubok at temple.edu


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