Government professor Richard S. Perles Paula Pickering, first of all, hesitated to put foreign policy at the forefront of his Russian and post-Soviet policy schedule in the spring semester of 2022. But as symptoms of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine increased, Pickering felt he still had no option to restructure course in response to events.
“I follow things very closely in December and January,” Pickering said. “I think it is vital to perceive the historical, national, political, social and economic context of Russia and then to perceive foreign policy and security policy. “
Of all the departments and systems at the University of William and Mary, perhaps none has felt the effect of global events over the past year more than the Russian and Post-Soviet Studies program.
“I don’t forget the night very well,” said former Russian House co-chair Kathryn Webb ’23. “We were all sitting in one of the Hardy [Hall] rooms with our friends who lived in the Russian house, but also in the general apartment. We sat there for a while. No one spoke.
Teachers and academics acknowledge complicated reports for those with relatives in Ukraine, Russia, or both. Many have had to balance academics with the emotional burden of dealing with those events and supporting the surrounding community.
Yasha Barth ’24 and former Russian House co-chair Daniella Marx ’24, both majoring in PRSS, are deeply concerned about the program’s network. Marx emphasized the PSHR network as a protective and welcoming area for other students.
“While it was emotionally difficult, it also brought us together and made us more potent than usual,” Barth said.
Students and teachers said some members of the network have been subjected to unprovoked hostility and discriminatory comments for having Russian ancestry.
“Even other people who don’t have a circle of relatives [there], it’s provocative to see the brutality,” Pickering said. politics, economics, need to examine there. Suddenly, it drastically replaced his chances.
However, the discourse among the PSR network has remained respectful and dark in light of the war.
“I think in the future, I’ve been very introspective about how the branch approaches the Soviet legacy,” Webb said.
On February 27, 2022, the RPSS university issued a strong condemnation of the war and pledged to help Ukraine. Many professors describe the existing war in Ukraine not as a confrontation that began in 2022, but as a confrontation that has lasted almost a decade.
“With the [Russian] annexation of Crimea in 2014,” said associate professor of Russian and post-Soviet studies Alexander “Sasha” Prokhorov. “War has been going on for all those years. “
In March 2022, the Russian House organized an occasion of Ukrainian solidarity in partnership with representatives of Rainbow Coalition and Student Assembly where the members of the network were to show collective unity and pain.
The PSHR program continues to sponsor events and war awareness. Recent speakers at the College come with New York Times Moscow correspondent Valerie Hopkins ’09, geospatial intelligence team leader and Russia analyst at the George Barros ’19 Institute for War Studies and U. S. Army colonel. U. S. Secretary of State (retired) Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, a senior member of the newly established Advisory Group on Criminal Atrocities in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine prompted cutting-edge knowledge science studies and collaboration between the RPSS program and other campus communities, adding the departments of Modern Languages, Film and Media Studies, Gender Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Data Science, the Global Research Institute, and the Reves Center.
Elena Prokhorova, director of the RPSS program, and Dana Willner, senior lecturer in knowledge sciences, are recently teaching a course in which scholars analyze Russian cultural texts by combining elements of humanities and computer science. Prokhorova discussed that about a third of the academics’ latest projects were about the war in Ukraine.
Ongoing student projects include analyzing speeches by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian trolls’ Twitter activity, and comparing Spotify downloads between Russia and neighboring countries.
Beyond the classroom, university studies scholars apply the effects of war to their own work. The Geospatial Observation and Assessment Laboratory conducted studies analyzing the environmental impact of the armed confrontation in Ukraine, and the Exodus Project studied the demanding situations of Ukrainian LGBTQs. refugees.
Since the war began last spring, academics from similar organizations have encouraged greater inclusion. Barth and Marx are the main staff members of the student-led RPSS film series, which features five to six films per semester.
“Since the war, we have tried to incorporate more outdoor films from a particular ethnic Russian context,” Marx said. “Have more variety and post-Soviet and post-communist narratives. “
Barth is president of the Melodia Eastern European Instrument and Vocal Ensemble, formerly known as Russian Music Ensemble.
“Music goes beyond political spheres,” Barth said. “Our ensemble doesn’t make political statements, but uses music to show what country it is and show that we can come together through music to triumph over difficulties. “
The war also led to the move of the summer exam program for Russian language and culture from St. Petersburg College in Russia to Vilnius, Lithuania. After canceling the program due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021, the program was postponed until 2022 after the invasion began.
“When the war started, everything froze,” said associate professor of history and global studies Maria Cristina Galmarini, director of the program’s faculty. “It was for visa and security reasons. “
While many other universities in the United States have relocated similar systems to countries such as Latvia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. However, the university won a Defense Department Global Officer Project Global Officer grant in 2021, which sponsors a nationally must-have language exam and training. for ROTC students. This grant established links between the College and the European Humanities University in Lithuania and National Central Taiwan University. Both programs are expected to have their inaugural sessions this summer if the security scenario remains stable. Bella Ginzbursky-Blum, a teacher of Russian language and culture, will lead the Project GO Russian language program in the states, and Prokhorov will oversee the program internationally.
For the university’s civilian program, the Russian language component will remain similar, but the cultural orientation will change. During the original examination program, a course taught in St. Petersburg required scholars to choose and study the history of a memorial site in the city.
“Now, of course, I can’t keep doing this,” Galmarini said. “Instead, I am going to teach a course on relations between Russia and the Baltic states. “
The PSHP network has had off-campus impacts.
Prokhorova, Prokhorov, Ginzbursky-Blum and the deputy director of Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation, Mike Blum, raised $3500 for Salam Lab, a non-governmental organization in Krakow, Poland, that is helping to resettle Ukrainian refugees.
In January 2023, Prokhorov and her daughter traveled to Krakow for 10 days to deliver budget and goods, as well as volunteer for Salam Lab and the non-governmental organization Soup for Ukraine, to provide food to refugees.
“It’s a very enriching experience,” Prokhorov said. But it is also very heartbreaking how many displaced people were in the area. And everyone wants living space and food. “
Prokhorov the emotional cost of the trip.
“Unfortunately it’s stable,” he said Prokhorov. Se they are bombarded, other people keep coming. It’s heartbreaking. He does not pass away. It makes me cry. “