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This is slightly out of order from the last post, but for my first paper this past semester I managed to incorporate Khanty, Mansi, Selkup, and Buryat into it. My paper was about Stalin's nationality policies towards the indigenous communities, while keeping in mind Rogers Brubaker's theory on sub-state identity and its applicability to understanding the nationalities question under Stalin (and subsequent leaders). During the paper, I found a multitude of contradictions: the government said one thing and leader at whichever period contradicted it, stating that the opposite is such a great thing and should be kept. Papers or articles which may be of interest:-Humphrey, Caroline. "Buryatiya and the Buryats." 2nd Ed. In The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States, Graham Smith, 113 - 125. New York: Longman, 1996.-Ruttkay-Miklián, Eszter. "Revival and Survival in Iugra: Minority Peoples of the North in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia." Nationalities Papers 29, no. 1 (2001): 153 - 170.-Smith, Graham. "The Soviet State and Nationalities Policy." 2nd Ed. In The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States, Graham Smith, 2 - 22. New York: Longman, 1996.-Sobanski, Florian. "The Southern Selkups of Tomsk Province Before and After 1991." Nationalities Papers 29 no. 1, (2001): 171-179.-Vitebsky, Piers. "The Northern Minorities." 2nd Ed. In The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States, Graham Smith, 94 - 112. New York: Longman, 1996.
Wow, I haven't blogged in 6 months...hmm, I guess my latest news for this blog is that I've been accepted to a conference! I found out in November, and wasn't expecting to hear back since I applied after the deadlines for background info submittals and and abstract submittals. Imagine my surprise and shock when I logged into Gmail and see an e-mail with an attachment from the conference's secretary. I open it and my jaw drops. They accepted me to the conference next summer, to present! Oh gosh! I think I'm one of the younger people there! A few of the guys presenting are a few years older than me, but then most of the other people are 15 - 20 years older...Not to mention that THE guy on the planet in charge of the panel I submitted for, must have read through my abstract at some point, and liked it!Well, that's not so intimidating now, is it?
There's also information about how to pay...wow, the fees are high! 120 Euro just for registration! And if I pay after a certain date in April, the price jumps 30 Euro. Dorm accommodation is about 10 a night. Airfare -- one-way -- won't be that expensive. Man, that's a lot of money. I asked friends what to do who have been to conferences, and they said to ask my department.
After the initial e-mail to my department, I found out a couple of weeks ago that they'll reimburse me up to £200 for fees! Wow...that's amazing! Turn around time for getting reimbursed is about 2 weeks. So, after my refund checks come in for tuition next semester, I think I'll pay for the conference so I have it out of the way.
Oh, and I know a professor in the field. And she'll be at the conference! Around the same time I found out about my acceptance, my department was in the middle of a Finno-Ugric week, which consisted of films and lectures about, mostly, the Khanty and Mansi, though there was one about the Saami. A visiting professor whom I asked/told about the conference, will be there in August. She wished me luck then left with her colleagues. But back to the films: My tolerance is low for freshly-slaughtered-reindeer-being-eaten-raw-on-camera, thankyouverymuch...The Saami film though had a cool soundtrack. "Liekkas" by Sofia Jannok was the final track, and lo and behold, her videos are on YouTube! I like "Irene" because the pink sky is gorgeous! I wonder if the skies are that pink in Tromsø? Anyhow, I'd love to go that far North and see everything. One of my professors went to Kirkenes for a research workshop, and only had good things to say about the area (though we only chatted about for a few minutes, but still...). The Barents' Institute is Head-Quartered there, and it has some relation to barentsindigenous.org
But...yeah, I have conference funding! Since it's winter break from school, and, being the vintage clothing aficionado I am, I decided to go around to the vintage shops by the university to see if I could find anything for the conference (which will be a week long and have 2 receptions, in addition to people presenting everyday). Stopping in to one shop with a friend to show her a coat, a beaded sleeve caught my eye. I moved the items around and pulled off the rack a bubblegum pink sheath dress and matching coat! I tried them on and fell in love with the outfit! It fit perfectly and has princess seaming on the dress and the coat and just enough detail to make it dressy. All the original beading is still on, too, though 2 beads are a bit loose, but they can be easily fixed. I found my reception outfit! All I need now are heels and a handbag, plus an similar outfit, in more subdued shades, for presenting. I thnk I'll try my luck again at this store after the holidays. Maybe my presenting outfit will be there. :-DOh, and there is the drama of the visa process. Next September I'm supposed to go to Budapest as part of my university's Master's degree. We do the first year here in Glasgow and the second at 1 of 4 universities on the continent. I'm going to Budapest (hopefully anyhow), and their academic year starts September 1. The conference is August 9 -14. I'd rather have my visa start from the conference date; maybe a couple of days before, instead of dealing with it after the conference, so afterwards, I can just settle into a routine before school starts. Wow, that's a lot of work. It's almost New Years' and trying to set things up for next September is a bit frustrating; at least right now. I hope things will work out though. Maybe it'll be easier as April is around the corner.
First off, in the response to my title, hopefully not ever! So...Was catching up on my F.U. blogs over the weekend and found an interesting article on this blog:http://mariuveren.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/russification-efforts-in-mari-el-disturb-hungarians/Yes, it's 6 months old but that's not what caught my eye. The title did. Entitled "Russification efforts in Mari El disturb Hungarians," I thought, 'Wow, there are others who know about the Mari, cool, and they're Hungarian! Maybe I can find one to talk to about it.' Nevermind that I don't know how to talk about ethnic identity stuff at all yet, but just the idea of meeting someone who can talk about it, or tell me about in a way I'll understand it, is someone I'm looking forward to.Parts of the post I found amusing, such as:"And their anger (that of the Hungarians [note the use of the definite article here]), reflected in an article that appeared on a Budapest website last week (barikad.hu/node/21278) has now been translated into Russian by the Inosmi.ru agency (www.inosmi.ru/translation/246103.html) and has now been disseminated to the Finno-Ugric world (on) an Estonian site (mariuver.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/russifikacija-me/)."Does that strike anyone else as funny or is it just me? Yes, the post is serious but I couldn't help but shake my head in wonder and laugh with a smile on my face. In an oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-I-just-read-that kinda' way.First: Hungarians flipped out over (hopefully-not-in-the-near-future) Mari Russification.Second: the Hungarian article was put into Russian, Three: then went Russian > Estonian, Fourth, Estonian > English where it was transmitted to the English-speaking world and then commented on in English blog, called MariUver, run by a non-native English speaker!
Wow, is that a mouthful or what?Another section of the blog post I like is:"The appeal, which called on the Hungarians not to forget their fellow Finno-Ugrics who are now subject to methods intended to deprive them of their “national self-identification that Hungarians should appreciate because of what has happened to them in Slovakia and Transylvania, prompted the Hungarian response on the internet."Hmmm, Hungarians definitely know about self-identification after Trianon. Though Wilson *did* want them to decide for themselves how to govern, but *no*, European powers *had* to mess it up after the war. Instead of letting the Hungarians decide their own borders, it was done for them. Due to that border shift (and a huge one at that), Hungary's borders changed significantly, as did the population. Today, as a result of the 1920 decision, Hungarians live all over the Carpathian Basin; the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Austria. Furthermore, in Slovakia and Romania there has been anti-Hungarian sentiment. Articles I read in the New York Times and on the BBC,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1827214.stmindicate that both countries were facing anti-Hungarian sentiments throughout both countries.In my opinion, since Hungary has dealt with this before, they were prompted to take action involving their brethren since they previously experienced animosity toward themselves. Those countries with whom they had once had a good relationship, now faces(-ed?) souring due to the legislation regarding minority rights in each.In terms of the title, if either happened, Europe (and the rest of the world) would be divided (again!). This time how to treat minorities; those with bias or dislike toward one or more ethnic groups would lead the pack, and before long, war between neighbors might ensue! Again, hopefully not, but I sometimes think worst-case scenarios...
Wow, who woulda' thought!So, after receiving an email from one of my future professors last week I'm getting super excited about school next year (next year? What am I saying, it's a few months away)!The professor told me that there will be Finno-Ugric activities at school in November! They'll be showing some of Lennart Meri's films on the peoples of Russia, and combining that with a series of visiting lectures by famous people in the field! After googling the names I found out that one of the speakers is the son of one of the Baltics' former presidents! Wow, how cool is that?!So then, after looking up the people mentioned in the email and telling facebook Finno-Ugric friends about it, I've been doing research based on back-and-forth discussion/Wall comments with one of them. Said person is into Saami stuff, and wanted to know where to find the films mentioned in the professor's email. I sure didn't know what any of the films were and "ask[ed] Google," as a friend of mine likes to tell me, when she doesn't know the answer. (Thanks Liz!) :-) So, Google had several pages of answers for my search. I found some sites in Estonian, some in Finnish, newspaper articles, a few blogs, and then...one blog post in which the owner wrote excited about receiving "the Encyclopedia cinematographia gentium fenno-urgricarum, or... Lennart Meri's Film [E]ncyclopedia of the Finno-Ugric [P]eoples."http://corcaighist.blogspot.com/2009/05/encyclopedia-cinematographia.htmlI got so exited reading the post I decided to comment and tell the author how cool I think they are, and asked where the aforementioned book was found and if they would like to chat with American Finno-Ugricists (Is that a word?)/or, Americans in Finno-Ugrics. No word yet, neither from the author nor my Saami-studies buddy (<--joke, get it?). :-). Hopefully they'll check their email and or facebook (which incidentally, I invited the blog author to since they weren't already on), so we can chat. Who woulda' thought that there would be a few Finno-Ugric people on both sides of the Atlantic, not to mention the British Isles, AND on the continent...Next year's gonna be fun, I can't wait! :-D Now all I need is my passport back...
I thought I'd start a post about F.U. music. Feel free to add to it.-Elin Kåven, Sami: Norway-Mordens, Mordvinian: Russia. Mordens live in Saransk, Central Russia. You can find them mentioned here:http://liet-lavlut.eu/article.php?l=7&a=301-The Karavan Familia, from Hungary, plays cheerful and original contemporary Romani music.-The Raud-Ants, Votic: Balto-Finnic, Estonian-Russian border.http://www.liet.nl/article.php?l=7&a=69http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drBg5m5TPNM&feature=related-Nox, Hungary. Eurovision 2005Finnish:-Uniklubi-Lovex-Lordi-HIM-The RasmusNot that Russians would have F.U. crossover in their songs but... could Varvara (Варвара)'s "Otpusti menya reka (Отпусти меня река)" and "Dreams" have F.U. influences? They may have been changed for a western audience but are still there, nonetheless:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nos_uH0Y1xs&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPi0rnVHaGUWhat do you think (about the Varvara thing or any of the above)?
I'm so excited! I can do F.U. stuff in grad school next year. There are 2 professors I may work with. One focuses on the Baltics and Nationalism stuff, and the other looks at F.U. minorities within the Russian Federation! Since both fall under the ethnic/minority studies umbrella, and I'll be sending them an email and hope their follow-up response will be a positive one about working with me on this sub-field while working on my Master's in the broader, larger field of Russian, Central, and East European Studies.In other news, I'm finished with finals. I only had one, for Hungarian, and I'm now finished with the language sequence. Yay! :-D I'm hoping to continue Hungarian next year but I'm not sure how that will work exactly, since I'll be in an entirely different education system...But, this summer will be an exciting one. Though I won't be going to Russia or Finland to study, :-(, I found out that I'm the recipient of ACLS funding to study Romanian this summer. I figure it will be a good language to know, if I'm going to have Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin as one of my research interests. :-)I made a new F.U. friend last week: A Finnish violinist who's into Sami stuff and has been to Finland a bunch and has been to Lappland and the (Sami) museums there.
This past year especially, I've found the mythology completely breathtaking!My first introduction to it was with Jankovics Marcell's Fehérlófia cartoon. That and reading Géza Róheim's Hungarian and Vogul Mythology gave me great background for when reading Nándor Pogány's Magyar Fairy Tales From Old Hungarian Legends, followed by Vilmos Dioszegi's Tracing Shamans in Siberia. That was a cool read. I found myself caught up in the story about the Buryat and the 336 rivers, streams, etc that pour into Lake Baikal. I wonder if Dioszegi planned naming the evil witch 'Baykal?' ::grin:: :-DBut the story/legend is romantic. As fairytales go (though this isn't), I found myself sighing when the main girl in the story received letters via white sea-gulls from the prince she was interested in. Too bad she had to run away...But that's how stories go! So I can't complain. For now. Now I just need to find more stories/legends like that and I'm set! :-P
