“I was welcomed to stand on this personā€™s land, in his home,” says Grace Ellrodt ’20, describing what it was like to visit, interview, and photograph an elderly Chilean farmer during her semester abroad in 2019.

For Nicole Kumbula ’21, whose program took her to four cities on four continents, studying abroad brought empowerment, the feeling that she could “proudly share where I come from, the places I had been, and where I was going.”

Such are the outcomes of study abroad ā€” helping students realize that spending time in another culture demands gratitude and humility even as it instills pride and self-confidence.

Below are 12 images that were selected for this year’s Barlow Off-Campus Photography Exhibition, including one that Ellrodt took of the Chilean farmer, part of her project looking at loneliness among elderly persons, and Kumbula’s photo of the small Buenos Aires eatery where she gained language skills.

(Usually mounted in Pettengill Hall and comprising dozens of photographs depicting ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ studentsā€™ study-abroad experiences, the annual Barlow exhibition was another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Amaile, Samoa

Photographer: Ariel Abonizio ’20 of CuiabĆ”, Brazil
Majors: Anthropology; Art and Visual Culture (studio art)
Program: SIT Samoa ā€” Social and Environmental Change (winter semester 2019)

Ariel describes the photograph: Four Samoan boys race toward the village’s church in Amaile, Samoa.

Ariel Abonizio ’20

The Catlins, New Zealand

Photographer: Zoe McKinney ā€™21 of North Conway, N.H.
Major: Psychology
Program: University of Otago (fall semester 2019)

Zoe describes the photograph: Sunset over the Catlins on the South Island of New Zealand.

Zoe McKinney ā€™21

Dharamsala, India

Photographer: Liz Casey ā€™21 of Holderness, N.H.
Major: History
Program: SIT Nepal ā€” Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples (fall semester 2019)

Liz describes the photograph: The young students of the Tibetan Children’s Village Day School in Dharamsala take a break from their studies with a competitive soccer match. While we huddled for shelter from the heavy afternoon thunderstorm, the kids didn’t seem to mind a little rain.

While abroad, I researched the cultural repercussions of language loss in the Himalayas as a result of educational migration. My visits to boarding and day schools in India and Nepal provided foundational understanding of the threat of language endangerment as well as the complexity of Himalayan youth identity.

As an education minor at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½, I was thrilled with the opportunity to be back in the classroom and working with kids!

Liz Casey ā€™21

Makewa, Chile

Photographer: Grace Ellrodt ’20 of Lenox, Mass.
Major: Environmental Studies
Program: SIT Chile ā€” Public Health, Traditional Medicine, Community Empowerment (winter semester 2019)

Grace describes the photograph: This is Juan, who lives in Makewe, a primarily Mapuche indigenous community in southern Chile. He is pictured on his farm, where his animals ā€” including this pig ā€” are like his children. I interviewed him and others for site, my capstone project about a pressing public health issue: loneliness among older adults.

I was welcomed to stand on this personā€™s land, in his home, to capture an everyday rhythm to him ā€” and an explorative one for me. My study abroad gifted me these exchanges over and over.

Juan is alone while his wife gets medical treatment for three days at a time. His church community and his faith are loneliness antidotes. He told me, “El Creador de arriba, Ɖl es lo que te cuida de la noche. Entonces, uno no puede sentirse demasiado solo.” (“The Creator above is the one who cares for you at night. So, one canā€™t feel too alone.”)

Grace Ellrodt ’20

Galicia, Spain

Photographer: Liz Folsom ’21 of San Mateo, Calif.
Major: Geology
Program: University of Virginia in Valencia (fall semester 2019)

Liz describes the photograph: A new friend made on a misty morning somewhere along the Camino de Santiago trail in Galicia, Spain.

Liz Folsom ’21

Yangshuo, China

Photographer: Owen Greenwood ’21 of Wellesley Hills, Mass.
Majors: Chinese and History
Program: Inter-University Program in Beijing (fall semester 2019)

Owen describes the photograph: From under the arch of the Moon Hill, this photo was taken looking out at a town in the distance outside of Yangshuo, China. Behind the town are karst mountains, for which this region is well-known. My roommate and I had zigzagged through town on rented motorbikes about 30 minutes to reach this destination and hike up to the view.

In Yangshuo, I experienced a distinct local culture uniquely separate from the hustle and bustle of Chinaā€™s mega-cities.

Owen Greenwood ’21

El Calafate, Argentina

Photographer: Lexie Jamieson ā€™20 of Scarborough, Maine
Majors: Politics and Spanish
Program: IFSA Butler in Buenos Aires (winter semester 2019)

Lexie describes the photograph: This photo was taken while I was glacier-trekking in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The picture depicts the sun behind the Argentine flag, flying proudly over the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park.

Buenos Aires is a metropolitan, European-style city, and I was so glad I had the opportunity to visit El Calafate and El ChaltƩn and enjoy life at a slower pace. Learning about the indigenous and native populations that inhabit these small towns and witnessing the natural beauty of Patagonia that travelers come from all over the world to see was both eye-opening and breathtaking.

Lexie Jamieson ā€™20

Roskilde, Denmark

Photographer: Abigail Kany ā€™21 of Phoenix
Major: Neuroscience
Program: DIS Study Abroad in Copenhagen (fall semester 2019)

Abigail describes the photograph: I lived at a Danish folk-high school (“fĆølkehĆøjskole”) with Scandinavians my age, exploring music and culture based in the town of the massive Roskilde Festival, which would be celebrating its 50th festival this summer. We would receive free tickets to small local concerts outside of Copenhagen, and though this crowd was no bigger than 30 people, it was the most electric concert ever. The Scandinavian musicians would address the crowd in Danish and English, sometimes Swedish. But everyone was on board.

Abigail Kany ’21

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Photographer: Nicole Kumbula ’21 of Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe
Major: Chemistry
Program: IHP Cities in the 21st Century (fall semester 2019)

Nicole describes the photograph: This image shows a small sit-in and take-away restaurant located a block from my classroom in Buenos Aires. Most important to me was the Spanish menu by the grill. Here I practiced the few Spanish words that I had picked up. I recall how happy I was whenever I walked out with the right order to go.

My host mom had taught me just enough words to get by in the city, ordering my afternoon snack, for example, would be ā€œQuiero dos empanada de carne, para llevar, por favorā€ (ā€œMay I please have two beef empanadas to goā€).

The photo embodies food and language. The two became very apparent and crucial as I moved to Barcelona and Cape Town. In sharing these two aspects with the people I met, I was able to see myself as a Black African woman living in world-class cities and proudly share where I come from, the places I had been, and where I was going.

Nicole Kumbula ’21

Florence, Italy

Photographer: Alexandra Leahy ā€™20 of Cohasset, Mass.
Major: Art and Visual Culture
Program: Syracuse University in FlorenceĀ  (winter semester 2019)

Alexandra describes the photograph: A view out the window of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The Palazzo Vecchio is peeking out in the background beyond a statue and window reflections.

Alexandra Leahy ā€™20

London, England

Photographer: Julien Lewin ā€™20 of Seattle
Major: Economics
Program: University College London (winter semester 2019)

Julien describes the photograph: A Londoner tends to pigeons perched atop the wall along the north side of the Thames River on a brisk February day. This photograph makes me think of walking with my grandfather along the San Francisco Bay. The pigeon flying from this man’s hand represents the growth of my relationship with my grandfather ā€” the effort to prepare me for my own journey of life.

Julien Lewin ā€™20

Near Wanaka, New Zealand

Photographer: Hannah West ā€™21
Major: Biology
Program: University of Otago (fall semester 2019)

Hannah describes the photograph: Taking a break and enjoying the view with friends in Mount Aspiring National Park. On our second day trekking through the park, we stumbled upon what we claim to be the “best bench in the entire world.” We sat there for a few minutes and took in the view.

Going abroad to New Zealand enhanced that feeling of living in the moment and taking advantage of everything there was to offer.

Hannah West ā€™21

ā€œI’m being overcome with waves of nostalgia, so I can’t do this for too long,ā€ wrote Jane Costlow in response to a recent request to round up photographs of her 26 years of taking ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ students to Russia. ā€œSo many amazing and wonderful students and adventures.ā€

Though today she is the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, now in her 34th and final year of teaching at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½, Costlowā€™s academic training is in Russian literature and culture, and she first traveled in the thenā€“Soviet Union during graduate school in the 1980s.

And since joining the ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ faculty, she has led students to Russia on 10 separate occasions, the first in 1988 and the last in 2014.

+Costlow in Russia

Costlow poses with her students in 2006 in front of the “coachman’s cottage” on Tolstoy’s estate, Yasnaya Polyana, near Tula. The folk ensemble had just performed. (Courtesy Jane Costlow)

Fascinated by Russian history, culture, politics, people, and language, Costlow cannot imagine her life as a teacher or scholar without those experiences in Russia. ā€œYou wouldn’t be a marine biologist and not go to the ocean. [Professor of Geology] Dyk Eusden ā€™80 does not do geology sitting in his office in Carnegie. If you’re someone who’s interested in another culture that happens to be a living culture, you go there.ā€

Jane Costlow on why Russia calls to her. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ College)

We recently spoke to Costlow about her experiences teaching and researching in Russia.

Why has teaching in Russia been important to you?

Teaching in Russia allowed me to immerse my students and myself in discovering a place that’s unlike all placesā€” and it’s constantly changing.

True, you can learn a lot about a place that isnā€™t Lewiston, Maine, when you’re in Lewiston ā€” you can study the history, language, art, and film. The revolution in technology has facilitated that. You can watch the news, you can read today’s papers, and you can read blogs, the equivalent of a kind of Russian Reddit.

But to actually go there and experience it is really diving into the pool. I’ve loved rediscovering the place when you’re introducing it to students. And so in that introduction, in that transaction, you discover new things yourself.

Which is not to say that there aren’t really tough things about going with a bunch of undergraduates to any place, and maybe particular things about Russia. Still, I’ve always loved the informality of teaching while you’re abroad.

Costlow, photographed with a mug of kvas (which is also the word on the barrel) by Peter Olson ’92 during the 1988 Short Term. (Peter Olson’92)

What are the particular difficulties of taking students to Russia?

First, thereā€™s the visa, and with Russia, the application process is complicated. Itā€™s not just a “get your ticket and board the plane” kind of thing.

But beyond that, there’s a sort of paradox of Russian development. On the one hand, itā€™s a modern, ā€œEuropeanā€ country, although whether or not it’s European has always been one of the central questions of Russian identity. Moscow is enormously well-resourced now and seems not that different, quite frankly, from London or Paris or Berlin.

But once you get outside of Moscow, the levels of development can be quite different, and certainly different from what many, if not most of our students, are used to. Over the years, I felt like I needed to make sure that they understood that there were going to be certain kinds of amenities that they’re used to that they probably were not going to find.

That could include not being able to get the things that they want to eat. And Russians live in tiny little apartments. You discover that you’re in a homestay where it’s a two-room apartment with three generations ā€” and you’re the one who’s gotten the bedroom.

This is no longer the case, but students had to deal with the inaccessibility of ATM machines or public facilities or levels of cleanliness. It’s not France. I felt like I always wanted to be clear to our students about that.

But I’ll also say the students have, by and large, been really game. Theyā€™ve been troupers. If anything, the rumors about Russia are far worse than the realities, so I think that there’s probably been a self-selection process for going to a place like Russia. Did I mention negotiating Russian trains?

Jane Costlow, our professor in Moscow, stands on the walkway over the Moscow River near the Kremlin at Zaryad’e Park in June 2018. (David Das)

Tell us about the 1988 visa incident.

Three or four days before we were set to leave for my very first Short Term in the Soviet Union, the packet of passports and visas arrived. All the studentsā€™ visas were there ā€” but mine had been denied.

This was 1988, just my second year on the ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ faculty and the first time that I was going back to the Soviet Union after I’d been there as a graduate student. When my visa was denied, I assumed ā€” to the extent that one assumes that there’s actually a reason for any of this ā€” that some bureaucrat didnā€™t like something in my file. Carl Straub and Jim Carignan ā€™61 [then dean of the faculty and dean of the college, respectively] contacted Sen. Bill Cohenā€™s office ā€” he was vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time ā€” and they were able to get me a visa.

I sometimes think that if I hadn’t gotten it, what would have happened? It was the first time I had taken students to Orel, where I would go many times later, and itā€™s where all of ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ā€™ Russian teaching assistants have since come from.

“Letter of Gratitude” from the foreign language department at the Turgenev State University of Orel, which declares its ā€œprofound gratitude to Dr. Jane T. Costlow, Professor at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ College (USA), for her love of Russian literature and nature; her interest in the Orel region; her many years of collaboration with our institution; contact between ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ students and the students of Turgenev State University of Orel which she made possible; and the creation of the position of Russian Teacher Assistant at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ College, a position which our graduates have occupied regularly, one after the other. We hope for a continuation of our productive cooperation and wish Jane T. Costlow success, health and well-being.ā€

Why did you choose Orel?

I had visited there and developed friendships there in 1984ā€“85, when I had a fellowship in Leningrad. Orel is a small city south of Moscow in the so-called Black Earth, agricultural part of Russia. And it’s where the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, who I had written my dissertation on, was from.

In those days, it was quite unusual to get out beyond either Moscow or Leningrad. The Soviets were quite adept at restricting people’s movement beyond the capital cities. But I had asked permission to go to Orel. I found it fascinating. When I was organizing our 1988 trip, the British company helping us said they could arrange for us to go to Orel.

This was the first time I had been back since 1985. Gorbachev was in power, so things were already beginning to change a little bit. It was breathtaking for somebody who had wondered, only three years before, ā€œHow are the lives of my friends going to get any better?ā€ In Moscow, you could see that the pictures of Leon Trotsky ā€” for decades considered an enemy of the people ā€” were back up on the wall. Trotsky was back in the Museum of the History of Communism!

But when the people on the street in Moscow who wanted to talk to us heard that I was taking these students to Orel, they looked at me aghast and said, ā€œOh my God, how can you go to Orel? There’s nothing to eat there!ā€

ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ students learn to make pelmeni ā€” Russian dumplings that consist of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough ā€” in a restaurant kitchen as part of a cultural program. (Courtesy of Jane Costlow)

Once you arrived, what was the reality like?

There may have been less to eat for some people in Orel than there was in Moscow, and that was part of the Soviet provisioning system. But the hospitality that we received was amazing.

And it started with getting off the train at 4 in the morning and arriving at a motel, where they had tea and cookies and other snacks waiting for us. The people in Orel were extraordinary: thoughtful organization, terrific teachers. And, as my interest became more and more directed towards environmental issues, my relationships with these people became more and more important.

I met Joseph Solomonovich Keselman, an English teacher at the university, whoā€™s still a very dear friend and has taught every single group of students that I’ve taken. And Marina Shimchenok became my on-the-ground contact; she got what I was interested in. She would set up a visit to a dairy farm, or a farm that was in the process of being converted from a collective farm to a privately owned joint-stock operation.

Or we would go to a local national park or a place that made recycled toilet paper. She worked with me over the years as the Short Term became more environmentally focused.

Costlow picnicking in the town of Bolkhov in 1990 with her longtime friend and on-the-ground contact in Orel, Marina Shimchenok, who organized travel for Costlow and her students. (Courtesy Jane Costlow)

What were your goals in taking students to Russia, and how did they change over time as your scholarly focus shifted?

With the exception of 2003, when we traveled to focus more on environmental issues in multiple places, students have always had to take some language no matter what their majors. It was always absolutely key to my understanding of what it means to travel in another country that you at least try to learn a little bit of the language of the country.

My goal for the students is to develop the kind of deeper cultural understanding and growth that you get from being in a place where youā€™re confronted with living with a family, where youā€™re humbled by what you donā€™t know and by the paradoxes and challenging things in other people’s lives.

Iā€™ve always wanted my students to develop friendships with Russians. Maybe that’s still a holdover from the Soviet era of sister-city projects, meeting the so-called enemy, and discovering how much you have in common and what potential that holds for making the world a better place to live.

Costlow’s students participate in a 2006 cleanup effort in Orel. (Courtesy of Jane Costlow)

Did your experiences change significantly after the collapse of the USSR in 1991?

The 1990s were a nightmare economically in Russia, so in 1993, we went to St. Petersburg, which by then had been renamed, with a group of students and only for two weeks, rather than Orel.

That was not a particularly successful trip. The teachers were not as good, and I also think that Russians’ lives were such a mess at that point that it was extremely difficult for them. That was also a period in which there was the sense of criminality. People worried about being endangered on the street, although that was never an issue for us.

And by 2000, you started to see the Putin transformation: peopleā€™s apartments were getting better and lives were stabilizing. Public spaces were becoming cleaner. There was the understanding that Putin had delivered some of that.

Was there a particular experience that stands out for you? High or low?

The low point is easy: Short Term 1999, when a student developed acute appendicitis and needed to have an appendectomy.

We were in Orel, and fortunately I had friends who had friends who were able to get us connected to the best surgeon and the best hospital and to get the medication that we needed, because none of that could be taken for granted at that point.

We had great support from Steve Sawyer [then head of the collegeā€™s off-campus study office] and from the student’s amazing parents. Allā€™s well that ends well, and she did fine. But I actually had to stay in Russia with her while my husband, David, who was visiting with our two children, took the group to St. Petersburg and got everybody home. I stayed in Orel for the better part of a week until she had mended enough that we could get on the plane.

Post-appendicitis surgery memento: ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ student Erica McIninch poses with her Russian doctor. (Courtesy Jane Costlow)

The high point?

There are so many of them that itā€™s really hard to say. They mostly involve studentsā€™ connections to their peers in Russia.

In 2006, we visited Optina Pustyn, a monastery in one of the great religious cultural centers of Russia. Weā€™d spent the night at a house for pilgrims and then visited a women’s convent that was where Tolstoy’s sister had been a nun. And one of our students, Sami Karmout, a wonderful young man from Palestine who had to travel without a passport, saw a French Orthodox monk he knew from home.

I remember sitting outside the monastery with a group of three or four students after we’d been there for several hours, just kind of wandering around, very quietly, letting the monks go about their daily lives. We talked about what religion meant to us and what our spiritual lives were. It was a conversation made possible by that trip, and I really treasured it.

Sometimes, riding on the bus somewhere, youā€™d strike up a conversation with somebody over the backseat about politics or philosophy. I have a really wonderful memory of a student talking about how listening to Bruce Springsteen in Russia was helping him understand the backwoods of, kind of, depressed industrial Russia.

Costlow and some of her students, aka The Babushkas, at Optina Pustyn, a monastery that has been enormously important for Russian culture, in 2014. (Courtesy of Jane Costlow)

Things stick in your mind. In 1990 Corey Harris ā€™91, who’s gone on to an amazing musical career, was on my 1990 Short Term. He struck me as somebody who was an aural learner, and he picked up Russian really quickly. In those days, Soviet citizens could not have foreigners staying at their houses, so we stayed in this little motel on the edge of town.

And as far as Corey was concerned, we were served far too many beets. In Russian, the word for maybe is ā€œmozhet byt.ā€ Corey took to saying ā€œmozhet, beets?ā€ when we sat down to any meal, meaning ā€œmaybe weā€™ll have beets, oh goodie!ā€ And sure enough, there would be beets, and there would be both laughs and groans.

Costlow horseback riding in the Orel region in 2014, at the Zlynskii Stud Farm, a stable that dates back to pre-revolutionary Russia. (Courtesy of Jane Costlow)

You had hoped to take ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ students to Russia this year, for one last time. Even before the pandemic, you chose not to.

It would have been a wonderful way to end my teaching career. It would have been better than Zoom!

I ultimately decided against it because Marina, who had set everything up in the past, died quite unexpectedly two years ago. I had reached out to people in Orel ā€” there’s actually one of our former teaching assistants who’s essentially taken over Marinaā€™s business ā€” and she was game for trying, but I had this feeling that it was probably better just not to do it.

Any study abroad travel that you undertake with students involves a massive amount of work. In my ā€œno longer spring chickenā€ status, and especially without Marina there, I wondered if I’d be able to pull it off.

Any final thoughts about the study abroad experience?

There has been a deep decline in foreign language study at American colleges and universities. Recognizing that national reality, I hope ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ finds a way to have a serious discussion about its importance and role in a liberal arts education.

On paper, and on balance sheets, these small classes look really expensive. We do not have, and never have had, a language requirement, and I’m not necessarily advocating one. But the study of a foreign language, in my experience and in the experience of many students, is transformational.

Costlow in 2006 with her students in front of the 18th-century Peterhof Palace, home of Peter the Great. (Courtesy of Jane Costlow)

Weā€™re headed into ā€” we are in ā€” rough economic waters. And I don’t know how they’re going to handle that. But the faculty, in terms of being in charge of the curriculum, needs to ask, ā€œWhat does it mean to be a college that attends to global forces if you don’t train your students seriously to speak a language other than the language that they’re born with?ā€

But you know, I’m an old language teacher and I would say, “More rather than less” when it comes to the study of language. Itā€™s what I’ve done, and I think I’ve had an impact on people’s lives. I’ve taken probably a couple hundred students to Russia, and itā€™s really one of the things that I’m most proud of. I certainly hope the college can continue to support that kind of transformative learning.

The students who gathered at Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorfā€™s home on Sept. 12 found commonality in different experiences: Whether they had studied abroad or somewhere else, worked or interned for a semester, or taken leaves of absences, they had all returned to ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ after time away.

To address that often-challenging transition, the Chaplaincy and Multifaith Fellows Keenan Shields ā€™18 and Haley Crim ā€™19 organized ā€œFeeling Weird Back at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½,ā€ an event held each semester to help students reflect on returning and to express feelings and experiences that they feel others might not understand.

ā€œI see it as really giving a space for students to not only say the things that theyā€™re not able to say, but also to be around other people who are feeling weird coming back to ĄÖ²„“«Ć½,ā€ Shields said.

As the event ā€” which is part of programming ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ offers for returning students ā€” began, the students formed a circle in Longsdorfā€™s backyard.

Shields asked them to introduce themselves and make a ā€œmeterā€ by putting one arm on top of the other. In this way they checked in. A right angle ā€” arm pointed upward ā€” meant they felt good. Arms kept close together meant not-so good. Most were somewhere in the middle.

One word in particular seemed to reverberate: ā€œAlone.ā€

Shields and Crim then brought out a ball of yarn and asked the returnees to think of a word to describe their feelings of being back. If another person felt the same way, theyā€™d pass the ball while holding onto the end of the yarn, creating a link from student to student.

As the words tumbled out ā€” ā€œuncomfortable,ā€ ā€œgrateful,ā€ ā€œawkwardā€ ā€” the yarn went around and across the circle. One word in particular seemed to reverberate: ā€œAlone.ā€

ā€œStudents do feel alone and do feel lonely,ā€ said Raymond Clothier, associate multifaith chaplain. ā€œThatā€™s partly because they develop new selves or new parts of themselves and arenā€™t sure where those connect when they come back.”

ā€œI hope thatā€™s one thing that they are able to do ā€” to connect with other students and feel like there are other people who can understand or share similar experiences.ā€

Multifaith Fellow Keenan Shields ’18 co-organized ā€œFeeling Weird Back at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½” to help fellow students re-join ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ after spending time away. He’s shown working with schoolchildren in the college’s Wood Street Garden in July, under a program of St. Mary’s Nutrition Center funded by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ College)

At the end of the exercise, the yarn became a web of common emotions. The students were then invited to further reflect in small-group discussions.

ā€œMaybe we just need to take those fleeting moments and take the risk and open up.ā€

Themes emerged: Many are now seniors, about to start their theses. Some were processing loss, having left behind friends or host families in other countries, or feared losing what they had learned through immersion in another culture. Others felt a sense of shock coming back to a residential campus after working or living on their own.

In addition to organizing the event, Shields was a participant. An anthropology major from Pittsford, N.Y., he had spent part of the spring semester doing research in Puerto Rico. He said while his experience was valuable, he came back feeling unsettled and sometimes unable to talk about his time away.

Shields said he found others who felt similarly.

ā€œI think that what we arrived at in our group was, maybe we just need to take those fleeting moments and take the risk and open up in those spaces,ā€ he said.

By providing a space where they could talk to others who felt the same way, Longsdorfā€™s home was a place of reassurance, direction to other resources, or simply understanding.

ā€œItā€™s a gift the students give to one another to open this kind of space, to be honest with each other and be vulnerable,ā€ Clothier said. ā€œI always feel a sense of gratitude that theyā€™re able to be there in the room with each other.ā€

Valentina Calastri ’09, dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali, and Grif Peterson ’09, dressed as the Hindu god Krishna, participate in a senior week activity. Calastri recently traveled through Sri Lanka and southern India, while Peterson studied in northern India during Short Term 2007 and with a Thesis Grant in 2008.

For about a decade after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, hundreds of millions of Western dollars poured into Russia to promote civil society. The money, however, didnā€™t do the trick, and some of the reasons why are explained in a recent article by Professor of Politics James Richter titled “Integration from Below: The Disappointing Effort to Promote Civil Society in Russia,” published in Russia and Globalization: Identity, Security, and Society in an Era of Change (2008), edited by Douglas Blum.

Whatā€™s your definition of civil society?

A common definition is that itā€™s the public space between the state and the household where individuals organize to put forward a common interest. It can include “nice” organizations like the bowling leagues that Robert Putnam writes about. Some even suggest it could include a group like the Ku Klux Klan, though most would argue that an organization has to be legal to be part of civil society.

Was civil society seen as a prerequisite for Russian democracy?

Yes, and not just in Russia. Establishing civil society was seen as very important in the wave of democratization in Latin America and Eastern Europe in the ā€™80s and ā€™90s.

You give a few reasons why Russian civil society didnā€™t proliferate: The West failed to engage existing post-Soviet structures, and Western influence tended to isolate new Russian NGOs from their own society. You also blame the rise of Vladimir Putin.

Putin has a philosophy that I call gosudarstvennost, where the state embodies the collective will of the nation. What this means is that while Putin himself has put a lot of money into various Russian NGOs, he has a narrow conception of civil society: that it should serve the state. Thatā€™s why Russiaā€™s West-funded human rights organizations are often labeled as extremist and illegitimate.

A few years ago, you compared the personal narratives of Putin and President Bush.

They both have this narrative of their youth where they were dissipating their energies, then found self-control. Putin found the KGB; Bush found religion. In that way they did have a personal understanding.

Do you see any similar comparison between presidents Obama and Dmitry Medvedev?

No, and I donā€™t know how Obama is going to respond to Russia. When Obama said in his inaugural address that “we will extend a hand” to certain regimes “if you are willing to unclench your fist,” I thought of Putin. Obviously, Russia is a country you have to talk to. Youā€™d be dumb not to. But you donā€™t expect much, because Putin and the elites are creating a jingoistic vision of the outside world where Russia is this beleaguered place without friends.

Do you have to understand Russian culture if you want to understand something like the natural-gas dispute with Ukraine?

The Russian mindset is very diverse, as is the American mindset. What is true about Russia is that Putin has a vision about wanting control and power. For example, he wrote papers, even before his political career, about how Russia should build itself up as a great power using its energy resources. Heā€™s a KGB guy who hearkens back to the notion of a strong state and a great power. Heā€™s touching those strings of Russian history and not touching others.

What is he not touching?

The intellectual streak. The streak of great skepticism about power, the state, and ideology. Or the idea of charity in the history of Russian political thought.

Some say the Bush administration also made great efforts to consolidate power.

Bush never went as far as Putin ā€” itā€™s a big difference ā€” and Bush couldnā€™t have consolidated such power even if he wanted to, and I donā€™t know if he did, because the U.S. system doesnā€™t allow it. Having said that, I was talking with an old friend in St. Petersburg in 2007 and commented on the increased feeling of chauvinism and nationalism in Russia. He said he felt the same thing when he visited the U.S. in the early 2000s. The only difference, he said, was that Putin succeeded ā€” oil prices went up and things got better for Russia ā€” while Bush failed because the Iraq war failed. Point is, both societies are susceptible to chauvinistic rhetoric; weā€™re both anxious former superpowers.

Youā€™ve led Fall Semester Abroad programs in Vienna. What was the hot-button era there?

Austrians are just coming to terms with the legacy of the Nazi era. Before I led my last trip, in 2006, I was talking to a man visiting ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ from Vienna, telling him about the semester. In sort of a mock protest he said, “Weā€™re very sorry for the 20th century!” Vienna before World War I was a bubbling caldron of modernity ā€” Hitler, Freud, Mahler, Wittgenstein were all there ā€” but it was a modernity with very dark features.

What books might you recommend in your field?

I am interested in how states think, so I recommend Seeing Like a State by James Scott. Regarding the Soviet Union, thereā€™s Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More by Alexei Yurchak, about how everyone thought the Soviet system would never collapse but once it started to collapse everyone said, “Of course!” And thereā€™s How Russia Really Works by Alena Ledeneva, about behind-the-scenes Russia, the informal ways elections are fixed, books are fixed, and things like that.

Last Sunday, a few friends and I went to seeĀ  speak at a rally. Since the national election is coming up this April, heavy campaigning has begun. In South Africa, instead of voting for one person as president you vote for an entire party, who then makes the appointment. For the first time since 1994 (the year apartheid in South Africa ended) the ANC is not the clear winner, so everyone on both sides is pretty heated about what will happen in the coming months. The rally was one of the best experiences Iā€™ve had so far. Even though most of Zumaā€™s speech was in Zulu, it was great to be near so many who truly trusted this man with their own salvation. Throughout the day numerous phrases were chanted, including but not limited to: ā€œViva ANC Viva!ā€, ā€œViva Zuma Viva!ā€, ā€œRoar Young Lions, Roar!ā€, ā€œā€œ, ā€œJZ, JZ, JZā€. Musical artists and famous comedians within South Africa made appearances that drove the audience wild.

Along with music, dancing and comedy Zumaā€™s appearance was prefaced with other speakers including the president of the South African communist party. Zumaā€™s speech (what I could understand of it) for the most part covered the basics: healthcare, education, crime, housing, and general equality for South Africans. What I was most surprised at was the entire partyā€™s disdain for other parties. Sure, in the States we trash talk the opposition, but not without tip-toeing around hurt feelings. Our politicians are so concerned with playing face that they never flat out say, ā€œ______Ā  _Ā  ____ is an idiot and has no business running our country.ā€ At this rally though, there was no holding back on the part of Zuma and his comrades. Iā€™m still not sure if thatā€™s a better way to handle political beef ā€“ it seems a bit reckless. For much of his presentation, Zumaā€™s audience didnā€™t seem completely focused (side-chatter was prevalent), but when he finished and broke into his signature song, ā€œLethu Mshini Wamiā€ ā€“ translated into English as ā€œBring Me My Machine Gunā€, everyone was on their feet and attentive. The song was used most in the depths of Apartheid oppression as a popular rally cry against the inequality. Zuma has adopted it as his own to show his commitment to fighting oppression, I presume. Itā€™s one of his trademarks. Hereā€™s a picture of a man at the rally with his AK-47 made from ANC/Zuma posters and cardboard:

Clearly, not everyone is down with the song about machine guns; but honestly, Zuma has way more problems to worry about. He has lingering corruption and rape charges that lurk above and around him. I actually think he may be acquitted of at least one of the two, but most people (outside of the die hard supporters we were surrounded by at the rally) still associate him with the crimes, and some of the heinously ridiculous things heā€™s said regarding protection against HIV.

While I am unsure about how I feel about Jacob Zuma as a president, it was really incredible to be apart of a political rally of tens of thousands of people. Besides the size, it was kind of like one big party which included a good message and lots of singing. The fact that Zuma broke out in song and dance after his speech made some level of his popularity clear. He spent so much time making jokes about the opposition that had the audience rolling and closed his words with a performance. Bravo JZ, Bravo. Hereā€™s a picture of his final moments of stage, breaking it down, ā€œMshini Wami, Mshini Wamiā€.

Peace and then some,

Naima

From Naima: As the semester ends, it seems appropriate to give you all a quick little recap. This has been a busy couple of months; I guess taking five classes, working three jobs, and wanting to soak up every ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ moment before going abroad might have been a bit much. I went on more sunrise paddles, sang in , frequented football games, and attended some wonderful dance parties.

I also went to class. I read Aristotle, explored intoxication, examined the human body, recounted black histories, and recorded literary methods. But now as I write to you, I have finished my four term papers and am beginning my week of tests with little worry. My lack of worry is not because I am excited to sit down for hours with a pencil in hand, pouring my thoughts and revelations from these courses into a blue booklet. Instead, I am drifting between stress and freedom, agony and excitement. Now donā€™t get me wrong, part of me actually enjoys spending late nights in PGill and the Ronj, inhaling caffeine until I place the last period on the page; but sleep is nice too.

The grant is ĄÖ²„“«Ć½’ first from the New York-based foundation, founded in 1992 to increase, strengthen and popularize teaching about Asia at U.S. colleges and universities.

“This award recognizes the extraordinary work of the faculty in all areas of the program in Asian studies and will allow the College to better support their research and teaching activities. As a result, our students will gain a much deeper understanding of and interest in the languages, cultures and histories of East Asia,” Reich said.

Like other colleges, ĄÖ²„“«Ć½’ first Asian studies course offerings focused narrowly on language study. Today, ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ students can major in Japanese or Chinese languages, as well as Asian studies, an interdisciplinary program featuring 13 Asian specialists from the fields of Chinese, Japanese, anthropology, economics, history and religion. ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ offers more than 70 courses on Asia; an additional 18 include a significant Asia component.

The success of the Asian studies program at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½, said Reich, is impressive in light of the relative lack of relevant materials on campus, such as slides for art courses or library resources. “Our limited library and audio-visual resources for newly developed Asian art courses means that many faculty must routinely travel to out-of-state libraries,” she said.

An example of a project poised for potential Freeman funding is a new course being developed by Margaret Maurer-Fazio of economics and Sharon Kinsman of biology. They hope to develop an off-campus course that features field investigation of projects to protect, reclaim and establish forests on arid lands in northwestern China. Another course proposal would take students abroad to examine how people relate to nature in Japan’s cities and villages.

ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ offers extensive study-abroad opportunities to its approximately 1,700 students, ranking fourth in the nation in that regard with 65 percent of the student body pursuing international study during their time at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½. Numerous ĄÖ²„“«Ć½ programs offer Asian travel, and the college is one of just 16 members of the select Associated Kyoto Program, which sponsors yearlong study at Japan’s Doshida University. “Although ĄÖ²„“«Ć½’ formal Asian studies program is relatively new, having been founded in 1997, a significant external confirmation of its excellence is the invitation to membership in the Associated Kyoto Program,” Reich said.

The Freeman grant is the second significant gift secured for the Asian studies program at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½. The college recently won a highly competitive grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to establish the Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies.

The Ruggles Scholars Program was established through a generous gift from Robert T. and Francine Ruggles, the parents of Anne Ruggles Parisier ’83, M.D.

Lee, a studio art major who is also pre-med at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½, plans to use the $1,000 scholarship grant to purchase art materials for the completion of his senior thesis, an exhibit in which he hopes to create large-scale collages that use unrelated items. He also enjoys working with mixed mediums, including painting, drawing and etching.

Fully engaged with his artwork, Lee has also considered a career in medicine. “I’ve been thinking of medical illustration,” he said.

Lee learned of his award just prior to his departure for a semester abroad at the University of Tasmania in Australia, where he will study photography, painting and sculpture. “I went to Australia with my family when I was 8 years old,” he said, “and I promised myself that one day I would go back.”

Donald Lent, Charles A. Dana Professor of art and visual culture, has taught Lee in two courses. “Tim is one of the best students of drawing I have had at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½,” he said. “He has shown great ability in drawing, but also is very inventive, very capable of coming up with fresh ideas in his work.”

ĄÖ²„“«Ć½’ assistant dean of admissions Dean A. Jacoby nominated Lee for the Ruggles Award. Jacoby, who met Lee through his recruitment efforts for the college, developed an enormous respect for the student and his family. “Tim watches his environment and reacts, shaping it in careful, subtle ways. He uses his talents of perception and thoughtfulness to connect the unrelated,” he said.

“That’s Tim’s vital importance to a community attempting to increase the breadth and differences of its make-up, its offerings and its resources while still graduating people who are able to see larger commonalities.”

A dean’s list student at ĄÖ²„“«Ć½, Lee is a 1993 graduate of West High School. He is the son of Timothy and Suellen Lee of 1120 Second Ave.

The goal of the Ruggles Scholar program is to recognize exceptional undergraduate achievement and to offer encouragement and incentive to further cultivate this record of merit. Last year’s first Ruggles Scholar was Nancy Bullet of Auburn, Maine.