UNIT ON RUSSIA

Hello! Welcome to the unit on Russia. Items here are unpublished items which have the potential of extending and consolidating our understanding of the evolving situation in Russia and other parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Anecdotal Reports from Annual Study trips to Russia.

These timely and unique accounts have been posted to various listservs by Eric Fenster, the leader and organizer of the trips. Fenster offers an opportunity to observe the chronological development of economic, social and political restructuring in the past five years. Read the anecdotes in chronological order, track the paths of various people, places and institutions as seen through the eyes and ears of a repeated and informed visitor. Fenster has provided a brief personal background and details of future trips to Paris, Moscow or both.

DO NOT PRINT THEM OFF -- I FORMATTE D THE TEXT TO BE READ ON THE SCREEN -- IF YOU WANT TO PRINT, COPY THE TEXT INTO WORD AND SHRINK THE FONT TO A MINIMAL SIZE (TO DO THIS PRESS CTRL-A HIGHLIGHT THE DOCUMENT, CTRL-C TO PUT IT INTO THE CLIPBOARD, OPEN A BLANK DOCUMENT IN WORD, and then PRESS CTRL-V TO PASTE IT IN)

- PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS REQUEST. IF YOU PRINT DIRECTLY FROM THESE PAGES IT WASTES PAPER, TONER, ENERGY AND DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE OF MAKING THESE PARTICULAR READINGS AVAILABLE IN THIS FORM.

Students: Having read the accounts, write a brief note to your peer discussing the most striking aspects of these accounts. What concepts from our class discussions and readings seem most relevant here? How has Fenster's view of the situation changed? Does his tone change? Why?

Other viewers: Feel free to contact Richard Kujawa on aspects of this and other pages, or to contact Eric Fenster with comments on the anecdotes or questions about future trips

Another perspective:

Another useful perspective on changes in Russia was posted to LISTERVS in mid-1995. Posted to the list MIDEUR-L by Jan George Frajkor (gfrajkor@ccs.carleton.ca) and from there to the GEOGED-L by Stan Brunn. It is an original piece by Vladimir Shlapentokh (21434vs@msu.edu). It is a more formally analytical account providing insight into the predicament contemporary Russia and Russians face. Compare the ideas in this text to the anecdotal reports from Fenster and other concepts related to class. The account is presented here exactly as originally posted with some minor HTML editting for readibility. AGAIN DO NOT PRINT THIS DIRECTLY!!!

THE WEST AS A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR RUSSIA

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