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 Barlow 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, didn’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.

What’s your definition of civil society?

A common definition is that it’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 ’80s and ’90s.

You give a few reasons why Russian civil society didn’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. That’s why Russia’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 don’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. You’d be dumb not to. But you don’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. He’s a KGB guy who hearkens back to the notion of a strong state and a great power. He’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 — it’s a big difference — and Bush couldn’t have consolidated such power even if he wanted to, and I don’t know if he did, because the U.S. system doesn’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 — oil prices went up and things got better for Russia — while Bush failed because the Iraq war failed. Point is, both societies are susceptible to chauvinistic rhetoric; we’re both anxious former superpowers.

You’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 Bates from Vienna, telling him about the semester. In sort of a mock protest he said, “We’re very sorry for the 20th century!” Vienna before World War I was a bubbling caldron of modernity — Hitler, Freud, Mahler, Wittgenstein were all there — 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, there’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 there’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 see Jacob Zuma (the current president of South Africa and the president of the strongest political party, the ANC) 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 I’ve had so far. Even though most of Zuma’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: “Viva ANC Viva!”, “Viva Zuma Viva!”, “Roar Young Lions, Roar!”, “Amandla! Ngwethu!“, “JZ, JZ, JZ”. Musical artists and famous comedians within South Africa made appearances that drove the audience wild.

Along with music, dancing and comedy Zuma’s appearance was prefaced with other speakers including the president of the South African communist party. Zuma’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 party’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, “______  _  ____ is an idiot and has no business running our country.” At this rally though, there was no holding back on the part of Zuma and his comrades. I’m still not sure if that’s a better way to handle political beef – it seems a bit reckless. For much of his presentation, Zuma’s audience didn’t seem completely focused (side-chatter was prevalent), but when he finished and broke into his signature song, “Lethu Mshini Wami” – translated into English as “Bring Me My Machine Gun”, 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. It’s one of his trademarks. Here’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 he’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. Here’s a picture of his final moments of stage, breaking it down, “Mshini Wami, Mshini Wami”.

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 Bates moment before going abroad might have been a bit much. I went on more sunrise paddles, sang in some more a cappella shows, 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 don’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 Bates’ 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, Bates’ first Asian studies course offerings focused narrowly on language study. Today, Bates 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. Bates offers more than 70 courses on Asia; an additional 18 include a significant Asia component.

The success of the Asian studies program at Bates, 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.

Bates 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 Bates. Numerous Bates 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 Bates’ 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 Bates. 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 Bates, 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 Bates,” 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.”

Bates’ 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 Bates, 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.