Click the link below to see my annotated bibliography on the Union of Composers in the Soviet Union.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s353/sh/88692189-e9fe-4cb8-9b13-c5edeee2c45b/725d2bc38d3b51908e3e98fcfb9967e6
Tag Archives: HIST254
Nuclear Waste Disposal From the Soviet Union to Russia
So excited to move forward on this!!! Here’s my bibliography.
http://goo.gl/9Iolxy
Annotated Bibliography
Here is my bibliography for my final research project on the Tuberculosis epidemic in Russian Prisons. https://www.evernote.com/shard/s322/sh/49d1a2df-726c-483f-ad4d-c929e6ecbdb9/bf81541f9a73dfb6283f27b7e1f3b6dd
I have also included the short url here: http://goo.gl/UAF5pk
Circus
In this film by Grigory Alexandov, a young woman named Marion Dixon (perhaps a play on the Mason Dixon line) joins a Russian circus after being forced to flee her American hometown after the townspeople discover that her son is black. She performs a daring routine called “The Flight to the Moon” which the manager of the circus, Ludvig, wishes to imitate with his own daughter, Raya. One night when Mary is performing, Ludvig shows her act to Ivan Martinov, a performance director. He feels immediately attracted to her and they fall in love. When she has to return to America, she protests, wanting to stay with him. Due to a mixup with the letter she writes for him, he believes she is in love with another man and refuses to say goodbye to her. She tells him the truth and they do the “new” act, “The Flight to the Stratosphere”. She accepts a deal with the manager to be paid in rubles and as he tells her that “in our country, we love all kids”, the audience understands that she is going to stay in the Soviet Union with her family.
One cinematic scene in the film which is meant to show the divide between the young and old in Russia is when Ivan and Mary first meet and her corrupt agent, Kneishitz, spies on them through the window. The camera cuts between Kneishitz and Ivan so the audience notes the stark differences in their faces. Ivan is young, blonde, and strong-jawed while Kneishitz is unshaven, dark, and sinister. Through this portrayal of the young and old in the performance business, Alexandrov is making the point that we should look to the young people of Russia, as the next generation is our future and hope.
Why were people so much more accepting in the USSR, given our nationalist and ethnicity readings? What would have become of Marion and her child had she chosen to return to America?
Annotated Bibliography
This my initial annotated bibliography for a blog on the tuberculosis epidemic in Russian prisons.
Connor, Walter D., ed., Anthony Jones, and David E. Powell. Soviet Social Problems. Colorado: Westview Press, 1991.
This book is a compilation of articles focused on the denial of social problems in the USSR. Esteemed professors of Russian history and politics wrote all the articles.
Filtzer, Donald. The Hazards of Urban Life in Late Stalinist Russia: Health, Hygiene, and Living Standards, 1943-1953. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2010. URLhttp://www.amazon.com/Hazards-Urban-Life-Stalinist- Russia/dp/0521113733
This book examines the health care and hygiene conditions in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. This book will help in my discussion of how tuberculosis spreads. The author is an authority of the subject of Russian history and teaches at the University of East London.
Micheals, Paula A. Curative Powers: Medicine and Empire In Stalin’s Central Asia. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003.
Soviet officials attempted to improve hygienic practices in Kazakhstan. Dr. Michaels is a European history of medicine professor at Monash University.
Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert, et al. “Screening And Rapid Molecular Diagnosis Of Tuberculosis In Prisons In Russia And Eastern Europe: A Cost-Effective Analysis. (Report).” Plos Medicine 11 (2012).
This article develops a cost-effective method of treatment for tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Russian prisons. All of the contributors work for various health care institutions in the U.S. and Europe.
Lobacheva, T, T Asikainen, and J Giesecke. “Risk Factors for developing tuberculosis in remand prisons in St. Petersburg, Russia- a case-control study.” European Journal Of Epidemiology 22, no. 2 (n.d.): 121-127.
This study attempts to find all risk factors for developing tuberculosis in remand prisons and spreading of the disease upon release. This article will help in my explanation of what can be done to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in prisons. This study was done by professors at Stockholm University in Sweden.
M McKee, et al. “Prison Health In Russia: The Larger Picture.” Journal Of Public Health Policy 26.1 (2005): 30-59.
This article focuses on the health issues in Russian prisons and how they can be cured. This will explain what prisons can do to help their inmates stop spreading diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.
LGBT Rights Activists Protest Metropolitan Opera Opening Night
On September 23rd, The Metropolitan Opera held its Russian-themed opening gala. The opening was for a piece by Tchaikovsky entitled, “Eugene Onegin”. The activists who protested the opening night gala deplored the recent antigay laws in Russia signed by President Vladimir Putin. The protest against the Met begin when a openly gay composer, Andrew Rudin started an online petition for the Met to dedicate it’s Russian-themed performance to gay rights and the LGBT community in Russia. The petition has been signed by over 9,000 people and spoke of the irony that the work of Tchaikovsky, who was also a gay composer, was being performed by artists who supported a government that had passed anti- LGBT laws.
More interviews with the principal artists and the general manager of the Met can be found in this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/nyregion/gay-rights-protest-greets-opening-night-at-the-met.html?_r=0
Does the Metropolitan have the right to perform a Russian piece without any political undertones? Is it ethical to perform the works of a gay Russian composer without acknowledging the suffering of the Russian LGBT community? Russia is not only denying the evidence that one of its greatest artists was a homosexual but also denying human rights to Russian citizens who identify as homosexual or transgender. Should the Met use its cultural significance to denounce antigay legislation? Can culture and politics be truly separate when human rights are at stake?
Kemerovo region bans foreign adoption
The regional legislature of Kemerovo Oblast, a region in Central Russia, passed a law on Wednesday, September 25th that banned all adoption of Russian children by foreign persons. They cited as their reasoning several cases of Russian children being placed with abusive families abroad, particularly in the United States. Last September the State Duma, or parliament, passed a law making it illegal for Russian children to be adopted by American families; now they are expanding that ban globally. Another reason for the ban, says Galina Solovyova, deputy chairman of the regional education committee, is legalized gay marriage in other countries. Russia sees that type of exposure to its young citizens has dangerous.
Follow the link below to see the original article in The Moscow Times:
Kemerovo Authorities Ban Foreign Adoption
What does this mean for future generations of Russia? What is next, a ban on international travel for youths under age 25? Or, perhaps, just a ban on travel to countries where gay marriage is legalized? Clearly the issue of gay marriage is of concern to Russian authorities and they have been working hard to undermine the movement and quash the public’s notions of reform. But when in history has isolating one’s country ever proved to be successful in the long run? By refusing to grant rights of marriage to same-sex couples, and now this ban on foreign adoption, Russia is setting itself in clear opposition to the other great, liberal powers of the world. Only time will tell if that move is a wise one.
Disappearing Cultures of Northern Siberia
I will be researching the disappearing cultures of the native tribes of the Krasnodar Krai region of northern Siberia. Their traditional livelihood of reindeer herding was severely disrupted with the industrialization of the Soviet Union in the 20th Century, and the changes in Soviet government and social structures have also effected them profoundly. Follow the link to below to view my initial bibliography.
Nuclear Waste in Russia
I hope to explore the development of the way nuclear wastes have been produced and disposed of since the industry’s inception during the early Soviet Union.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s324/sh/4de80b0e-2365-42db-a8d7-378f71811635/2493d2ea17f870ea268fc44cf3a775d0
Bibliography: The Union of Composers in the Soviet Union
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s353/sh/1a4907dc-0b8f-439e-8358-228ac70d3b72/8f9eaeab56c72646ce82f8db55f9bf74
My final project will be on the Union of Composers in the Soviet Union. The project will explore the different aspects of the union including its effects on the composers’ compositions and artistic expression, as well as society. The sources provided above share some insight from many different perspectives on the subject. I hope they are of help to anyone interested in music during the Soviet Union time period.