Works Dealing with the Deportation of the Volga Germans on 28 August 1941.

This year is the 75th Anniversary of the deportation of the Volga Germans to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The day of commemoration is the 28th of August. This blog post is basically an annotated series of links to articles and book chapters I have written dealing with various aspects of the deportation and the subsequent exile and forced labor of ethnic Germans in the USSR. "In our Hearts we Felt the Sentence of Death": Ethnic German Recollections of Mass Violence in the USSR, 1928-1948" coauthored with Eric Schmaltz and Ron Vossler deals with the 1941 deportations in the context of increasing Soviet violence against its ethnic German citizens after 1928. It looks at this violence from central and peripheral perspectives using both regime sources and letters from the German victims. "The Loss, Retention, and Reacquisition of Social Capital by Special Settlers in the USSR, 1941-1960" deals with the relative failure of the ethnic German deportees to recover from the damage done by their dispersal in comparison to other deported groups. Their lack of social capital was a key factor in this failure. "Ethnic Erasure: The Role of Border Changes in Soviet Ethnic Cleansing and Return Migration: compares the Volga Germans and Crimean Tatars with regards to the importance of their autonomous territories in their respective national movements after their deportation. "A Caste of Helot Labourers: Special Settlers and the Cultivation of Cotton in Soviet Central Asia: 1944-1956" looks at the ethnic Germans sent to Tajikistan after 1944 to work on cotton kolkhozes as part of the larger use of national deportees in growing cotton in the USSR. "Suffering in a Province of Asia: The Russian-German Diaspora in Kazakhstan" deals with the deportation and subsequent life of ethnic Germans sent to Kazakhstan as special settlers in 1941. "Colonialism in One Country: The Deported Peoples of the USSR as an Example of Internal Colonialism"  views the deportation of the Volga Germans and other repressed peoples through the theoretical framework of internal colonialism. "Soviet Apartheid: Stalin's Ethnic Deportations, Special Settlement Restrictions, and the Labor Army: The Case of the Ethnic Germans in the USSR" compares the legal situation of the German special settlers deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia in 1941 to the apartheid laws enacted in South Africa in the late 1940s and early 1950s. "Volk auf dem Weg: Transnational Migration of the Russian-Germans from 1763 to the Present Day" is a history of the various migrations of ethnic Germans to the Russian Empire within the Russian Empire and USSR and out of the Russian Empire and USSR. It has a substantial section on the 1941 deportations and their aftermath. "Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water: The Russian-Germans in the Labour Army:" focuses on the mobilization of ethnic Germans in 1941-1943 into the labor army and their use by the Stalin regime as a slave labor force until 1957. Feel free to leave any comments on any of these works in the comments below.

Random Observations of Kurdistan

I haven't been in Kurdistan a week yet so my observations are still quite preliminary. First, people here are very nice and polite. But, at the same time security is very tight. There are armed guards everywhere and going into one of the many modern malls involves being patted down and an inspection of all bags. Fortunately, they are very fast and professional. The city including the huge bazaar is very clean. It is also very hot. It is not unusual to reach 47 or 48 degrees Celsius. Food and taxis here are incredibly cheap and you don't need to haggle to set a price before getting in the taxi to avoid being seriously ripped off. The food has a lot more similarities to Turkish cuisine than Arab food in my opinion. But, obviously there are also Kurdish peculiarities that distinguish it from both of them. Kebabs, rice, tomato and cucumber salad, beans, and okra all seem quite common. I have also seen a number of places around the city selling pizza, hamburgers, fried chicken, and other American style foods. The Kurds drink a lot of tea. I mean a lot of tea and I say this as a tea addict who has lived in the UK and Central Asia. Other than tea and water, popular beverages include ayran and various fruit juices. Yesterday I had a pureed melon drink that was fantastic. The Kurdish flag is displayed everywhere, sometimes imposed upon a map of Greater Kurdistan incorporating the Kurdish territories not only of Iraq, but of Syria, Iran, and Turkey as well. One such map colored with the Kurdish flag has been drawn on the sides of the mountains visible from the university. Next to the map and flag combination it says Slemani. Over all my impression so far has been extremely positive. So come on over and visit me.

I have arrived in Kurdistan

I arrived in Kurdistan two days ago. The people here are extremely nice and polite. My flat is giant. It is much larger than two people need. But, I am not going to complain. The university is extremely impressive. I also have had the best kebabs in my life and I haven't even started my hunt for the best kebabs in Kurdistan.

Kurdish Victories

I fly to Kurdistan in less than a week. So I am very happy to see that the Peshmerga are systematically defeating Daesh in both Syria and Iraq as they move towards liberating Mosul. I don't have a lot of analysis to add on the recent Kurdish military victories other than to hope they continue. I have a feeling I am about to enter one of the most interesting phases of my life yet.

The USSR as part of Afro-Asia

I have been doing some research on the Afro-Asian Writers' Association (AAWA) and its journal Lotus recently. A group of people at American University of Beirut have been doing some good work on the history of the organization and journal in the last few years. The AAWA was founded in Tashkent in 1958. Its journal Lotus ran from 1968 to 1993. One thing that is apparent is that the line between the Second (Soviet bloc) and Third (post-colonial Africa and Asia) worlds was fuzzy at best. The AAWA like AAPSO (Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization) included the USSR as a member from its very beginning. The founding conference of the AAWA took place in the USSR in 1958 as did its 1973 conference and the vast majority of funding for Lotus came from the Soviet Union and East Germany. Part of this merger of the Second and Third Worlds was geographic. The Central Asian republics made the USSR an Asian state in many ways and thus AAWA conferences were held in Uzbekistan (1958) and Kazakhstan (1973). A perhaps larger part was political. The geopolitical issues that gripped African and Asian writers in the 1960s and 1970s were US military intervention in Indochina, Portuguese colonialism in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau, white rule in Rhodesia, apartheid in South Africa, South Africa's occupation of Namibia, and the issue of Zionism and Palestine. On all of these issues the Second and Third worlds were united in support of national liberation and opposition to imperialism, colonialism, and racism.

For the two decades between 1958 and 1978 the Soviet state and its Eastern European allies stood on the same side of these issues as most of the prominent writers and political figures of Asia and Africa. By the mid 1970s a number of these issues had been resolved in their view. In 1975 the Portuguese Empire collapsed and Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau gained independence. In the same year the North Vietnamese Army rolled into Saigon and liquidated the Republic of Vietnam. Only Rhodesia, Namibia, South Africa, and Palestine remained as unresolved issues. By 1994 all of the unsolved issues of colonialism, apartheid, and white minority rule in Southern Africa had been resolved leaving only Palestine as the last unresolved issue common to Africa and Asia. Before 1994, however, both the Third World and later the Second World had ceased to exist as political blocs.

Open Thread on the Deportation of the Volga Germans 28 August 1941

This month is the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Volga Germans to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The deportation is commemorated on the 28th of August each year. Here are posts I have made in previous years to remember the victims. Consider this an open thread on the topic.

74th Anniversary

73rd Anniversary

71st Anniversary

70th Anniversary

65th Anniversary

64th Anniversary

For those looking for longer and more substantial pieces covering the deportation see the articles listed here.

A Picture from Almaty

The Tashkent Conference (1958)

I found this rare clip of the first Afro-Asian Writers Association conference in Tashkent in 1958. The sound is basically non-existent. But, you do get a sense of the importance of India in the movement with its large and prominent delegation to the conference.

Turkmenistan Bans all Tobacco Sales

The government of Turkmenistan has outlawed the sale of all tobacco products. Stores caught selling cigarettes face a fine of over $1,500. Black market cigarettes now sell for $10.50 a pack in Turkmenistan. That is about what they sell for in the highest priced legal markets in the world in places such as London. I had a lot of Turkmen students when I taught at AUCA and all of the men smoked. Given the high prices of black market cigarettes in Turkmenistan and its relatively low wages there is a lot of financial pressure now for Turkmen smokers to quit. It will be interesting to see how successful this experiment turns out to be.

Ghanaian Radio Talk Show Hosts Imprisoned and Fined by Supreme Court

This map to the right is now outdated. The recent sentencing of three radio talk show hosts to four months imprisonment as well as fines for them and the radio station totalling 90,000 cedis means that Ghana is no longer among those countries with a completely free press. Ironically, the talk show hosts sentenced to jail are supporters of the current ruling party and president even if they are strong critics of some members of the Ghanaian Supreme Court. The same Supreme Court has now sentenced them to jail.  This sentencing has sparked demonstrations by members of the NDC (National Democratic Congress) against their own president.The online Ghanaian media is awash with articles on this story. The incarceration and imposition of severe fines upon radio personalities is a throw back to the repressive practices that characterized the darkest days of military rule. During the more than five years I lived in Ghana it had a very free if not very competent press. Now it appears that the Ghanaian Supreme Court wishes to change that and not for the better.

The Origins of the Modern Kyrgyz State

Present day Kyrgyzstan is a direct successor state of the Kyrgyz SSR which started out as the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast after the initial delimitation of the borders of Soviet Central Asia in October 1924. The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was nearly 172,000 square versts and consisted of the Pishkek, Karakol-Naryn, Osh, and Jalal-Abad okrugs. It was further divided among 75 volosts. In total it had six cities, 721 villages, 727 auls, and five khutors. Its population numbered 737,000 people of which 63.5% were Kyrgyz, 16.8% Russian, 15.4% Uzbek, and 4.3% other nationalities. In 1926 the Soviet government upgraded the territory to the Krygyz ASSR. Ten years later they upgraded it again to a full Soviet republic.

Source: Sait Omurzakov, Istoriia Kyrgyzov i Kyrgyzstana (Bishkek: Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz State Juridical Academy, 2012), 151-152.

What will happen to International Ataturk Alatoo University?

The Turkish government is going all out to persuade foreign governments to shut down schools and other institutions related to the Gulen movement. Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and the Russian Federation had earlier shut down or taken over all such entities in their states before the coup attempt. Now Ankara has called upon Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Pakistan to do likewise. Here in Bishkek there are two major Turkish universities. The first one, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, is affiliated with the Turkish government. The second one, International Ataturk Alatoo University, is affiliated with the Gulen movement. It will be interesting to see what happens now that the Turkish government has called upon the Kyrgyz government to close Gulenist institutions.

Suggested Readings on Kurdish History?

Since I will be living and working in Kurdistan come the end of August I have been trying to educate myself on the region and its people. So far this has largely consisted of keeping up with news stories on the region, watching a few documentaries and interviews on Youtube, and listening to a lot of Kurdish music on Youtube. Granted these are rather superficial sources. But, one has to start somewhere. So I am asking for suggested readings on Kurdish history here. Currently I am in Kyrgyzstan so unfortunately I do not have access to JSTOR and other academic databases right now. Please bear that in mind regarding accessibility.

A Sunny Saturday in Bishkek

It is a beautiful sunny Saturday in Bishkek today. The temperature is 27 C (80 F) with only 38% humidity. In previous summers, especially 2012, Bishkek has been really hot so this mild weather is a really welcome change. I think the greater than normal rainfall is responsible for it being considerably cooler this year.

Bishkek in July

This summer Bishkek has had an usually large number of rainy and cool days. Usually it is hot all the time. But, this summer has been anything other than usual.

I have been having extensive dental work done here prompted by the need for an emergency root canal. Since dental work here is very cheap and relatively good in quality I suppose it is a good thing in the long run. But, I really don't like people sticking sharp instruments in my mouth.

Next Month is the 75th Anniversary of the Deportation of the Volga Germans

Next month will mark the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Volga Germans followed by the remainder of the Russian German population west of the Urals to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The official date of the commemoration is 28th August in accordance with the Ukaz issued by the Supreme Soviet even though the CC of the CPSU and SNK (Council of People's Commissariats) had already passed a decree ordering the deportation two days earlier. Of the nearly 800,000 ethnic Germans deported in 1941 from European areas of the USSR eastward about half came from the Volga region including Saratov and Stalingrad oblasts as well as the Volga German ASSR. The other half came from eastern Ukraine, the Caucasus, Crimea, and various areas of Russia outside the Volga region including Moscow. I have written quite a bit on this blog and elsewhere about the deportation and subsequent life of the Russian Germans under special settlement restrictions and in the labor army. You can find those pieces by searching this blog. But, this August marks the 75th anniversary and I think perhaps something more is called for to honor the memory of the victims of this crime against humanity. So if you have any suggestions leave them in the comments below.

Almaty

I just got back from two days in Almaty Kazakhstan. Due to the collapse of oil prices Kazakhstan is now cheaper than Kyrgyzstan despite the fact that Almaty has a level of development comparable to most European cities. Indeed going from Bishkek to Almaty is a lot like going from Mexico to the US in terms of architectural modernity. The cityscape of Almaty thus is in many ways much closer to that of cities in the EU and North America than it is to Bishkek. Even the old Soviet apartment blocks in Almaty look a lot newer and better maintained than those in Bishkek. The huge Megacenter mall has a lot of US franchises that I have not seen in many years including Burger King, Costas, Gloria Jean's, and Hardees. In addition to Central Asian food it has restaurants serving Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Georgian, Italian, and Croatian dishes among others. The tiny Ramstor at Vefa Center left Bishkek after 2010. But, the Megacenter has a huge and fully stocked Ramstor. Besides the Megacenter we also took the cable car ride above the city. It is like a ski lift but you take it down from the mountain and back. You get up the mountain in the first place on a minibus. I am not sure of all the reasons for the much greater development in Almaty than Bishkek. One clear reason is of course Kazakhstan's natural resources most notably oil and gas and the recent long run of high prices for these commodities. Another is undoubtedly political stability. Kazakhstan has been under the rule of the same man for its entire existence as an independent state. He was head of the Kazakh SSR for two years before that. In contrast Kyrgyzstan has had two major revolutions in recent years. They had one in 2005 and another in 2010. These two factors are undoubtedly major contributors to the much higher foreign investment Kazakhstan has received compared to Kyrgyzstan in the last decade. Finally, Almaty is a welcome relief from Bishkek and Accra in being free of NGO parasites from the EU and North America. For instance there is no Peace Corp in Kazakhstan. The absence of such organizations and their extremely corrupting influence on society undoubtedly has also played a significant role in Kazakhstan's recent social and economic development.

On the Move Again (Kurdistan)

In September I will be starting work teaching in the Social Sciences Department of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. The university and surrounding city are located in Iraqi Kurdistan. The flag to the right is the Kurdish flag. I am very excited about this opportunity although I am sad to leave Ghana. But, for a variety of reasons it is time for me to move on. Interestingly enough my PhD and MA are from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) which specializes in the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. I have taught in Central Asia and West Africa, and now I will be working in the Middle East. I have heard a lot of very good things about Kurdistan in general and Sulaimani in particular and I look forward to arriving there in person soon.

Happy Independence Day to all my American Readers

Happy Independence Day to all my American readers both in the US and abroad.

Another Walk

I went back to the Afghan War memorial in Ata-Turk Park today and noticed that there were another ten slabs with the names of dead soldiers from the Kyrgyz SSR on them on the other side of the statue. So that would bring the number of names up to about 265. The actual number of dead must be greater, however.

Ramadan in Kyrgyzstan

In many ways Bishkek in the summer seems like a city frozen in time. Sure everybody has a smart phone and there are other technological and consumer items now that did not exist during Soviet times here. But, in many ways the city still seems very Soviet. The way of life of people, the functioning of the state, and the people in control of the state haven't changed nearly as much as for instance in Estonia and other countries that had been under socialist rule. The single biggest change in fact seems not to be the introduction of consumer capitalism which resembles Soviet state socialism in a number of important ways. Rather the single biggest change and it is a fairly recent one is the revival of Islam as an actually practiced religion rather than just an assertion as part of an ethnic identity. Kyrgyzstan is still fairly secular but people even in Bishkek now actually attend Mosque, celebrate Ramadan, and have otherwise started actually acting as Muslims. Many Americans tend to freak out about any increase in Islamic piety in the world. But, given the actual existing record of radical secularism in both its Soviet and capitalist forms I don't see why this should be the case, especially in Kyrgyzstan and other parts of Central Asia.

Istanbul

I fly fairly frequently through Istanbul. For the last five years I have flown through Ataturk International Airport from Ghana to Kyrgyzstan and back. Most recently I was in the airport for the entire day of June 8th. I am scheduled to go back through the airport on August 4th.

Mission Accomplished

This morning I went to the US embassy to pick up my daughter's new passport. I have now accomplished my most important task of the summer. It was much easier to renew the passport than to get the first one.

The Cityscape of Bishkek

It is strange that the socialist part of the urban landscape of Bishkek remains constant as the capitalist part constantly change. Some businesses have some staying power. Coca-Cola has been here for 20 years and Kyrgyz Concept (a travel agency) has been in existence since 1990 even before independence. But, a lot of the cafes and stores here seem to last only one or two years before being replaced by new ventures. So there are two layers to Bishkek. An older Soviet layer of largely empty or re-purposed buildings and then newer and constantly changing businesses. It is more striking here than other places because very few of the visible symbols of Soviet rule were ever dismantled. The statue of Lenin is still standing behind the History Museum. During Soviet times it stood in front of the museum but other than that it is unchanged. The statue of Marx and Engels that Khrushchev replaced the statue of Stalin with is still just a very short walk away from the Lenin statue. Almost all the sickles and hammers on Soviet built buildings including the old Supreme Soviet which was the campus of AUCA for many years are still up. The 1963 Soviet mosaic on the Ala-Too Cinema is still the same despite showing a never ending parade of Disney movies. In short there has been almost no architectural de-Sovietization in Bishkek unlike other cities in the former USSR. On top of this is all of the new capitalist construction of the last quarter of a century.

Toktogul Statue

Bishkek is a very walkable city and the various old Soviet era buildings and statues make interesting sights while strolling. Today among other things I saw the statue to the bard Toktogul near the Opera House. Due to his cultural and historical importance during the Tsarist era including his participation in the Andijan Uprising in 1898 (at age 34) it is easy to forget that he in fact lived until 1933, well into the Soviet era. The existing literature, however, largely ignores him after 1917. The English language, A History of Kyrgyzstan (from the Stone Age to the Present) by Oskon Osmonov and Cholpon Turdalieva which came out in 2015 for instance only deals with his life during the Tsarist era and does not say anything about the last 16 years before he died.

Walking is never time wasted

Yesterday I walked through Ataturk Park and saw the Afghan War memorial. In addition to a statue it also lists the soldiers from the Kyrgyz SSR that died in the war from 1979 to 1989. At rough approximation there were 130 names on the slabs that I saw. But, I think this total must be incomplete. In many ways Afghanistan was the Soviet Union's Vietnam.

Today I walked down the Kievskaya side of Ala Too Square rather than the Chui side. Just after the statue of Chingiz Aitmatov I ran into a former student of mine. He is doing quite well. It is kind of strange to think that I have taught hundreds of Kyrgyz, thousands of Ghanaians, and only a half a dozen Americans. At this point I am sure my impact will be much greater in Africa and Asia than it will ever be in my home country.

Another Random Thought

Maybe I should convert this blog into just a listing of various foods and drinks since that seems to elicit the most comments by a huge margin. However, I have already run out of consumables to list for Kyrgyzstan. I suppose I could do a similar list for Ghana when I get back to Africa. Instead, I am just going to keep muddling on in a very random fashion as I always have for lack of any better plan. I wish some of my more academic posts got comments. But, I am pretty sure nobody other than myself reads any of those posts. So there is in fact nobody to comment on them. They exist only as notes to myself in cyberspace.

Kyrgyz Beverages

Since my food post got a comment which almost never happens I have decided to add a beverage post. So here is a list of Kyrgyz beverages I have had since I got here. Many of them I purchased from vendors off the street.

Shalap Shoro

Maksim Shoro

Kvass

Kumis

Mors

Sherbet

Ayran

Tea

Annual Kyrgyz Food Edition

The last couple of summers I have done a Kyrgyz food list. That is a list of dishes my wife has prepared for us during my stay. So far I have had the following this trip. Although some of these I had at cafes or as take out.

Oromo

Chorpo

Manti

Laghman

Shashlik

Samsa

Ganfan

Fried liver and potatoes

Hanshan

Korean salad

Crab salad

Hot Sauce Hunt

Most Kyrgyz people don't like spicy food. But, my family is an exception. So having devoured the jar of Vietnamese chili sauce I purchased last week at Beta Stores I went on a hunt for hot sauce this morning with the boy. In addition to getting a new jar of the stuff from Vietnam we also scored and almost completely finished in one sitting of manti a bottle of sweet chili sauce from Russia.

Doings in Bishkek

Yesterday I submitted the necessary documentation to the embassy to renew my daughter's passport. I also had coffee with a Portuguese colleague. It was the first time I had actually met him in person. He asked that I send him copy of my PhD dissertation which I did later that evening in pdf form. It has been raining here the last couple of days. But, rain in Central Asia is very light compared to the precipitation in West Africa.

Summer Break

Like past summers I am currently in Kyrgyzstan visiting family. Today I went to renew my daughter's passport. That was my number one goal to accomplish while I am here. I also finished peer reviewing an article manuscript that had been languishing on my desk for a long time in Ghana. Now I can devote myself to some more serious writing projects.

New Project Idea

I have been kicking around a project in my head for a while about re-evaluating the relationship of the USSR to the Third World during the 1960s and 1970s particularly with regards to the role played by Central Asia in granting the USSR membership in certain Afro-Asian organizations such as the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization and Afro-Asian Writers' Association. I discussed the idea with Professor Joe on Saturday morning and on Sunday afternoon I wrote 2700 words of a really rough draft. I think there is something there and it is completely different from the other writing I have been doing on Stalinist deportations. It seems to me that nobody has really explored how Central Asia made the USSR an Asian state both politically and culturally in relationship to the rest of the world and in particular with regards to Africa and Asia. But, it seems to me here there are a lot of historical connections and parallels between Central Asia and the rest of Afro-Asia from the late 1950s to the 1980s that have largely been forgotten. The entire Soviet bloc is often excluded from consideration when looking at the Afro-Asian solidarity movements of this era. However, the USSR by virtue of the inclusion of Central Asia in its union was a member and participant in many of the Afro-Asian solidarity organizations and events. Treating Central Asia as part of East Central Europe rather than Asia seems wrong not only geographically but politically and culturally as well. So I want to see if by looking at the involvement of the USSR and particularly its citizens of Central Asian nationalities and its use of cities like Tashkent and Alma-Ata to host Afro-Asian events if I can reincorporate the region into the larger Afro-Asian world. Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism in the comments down below.

Weekend

This weekend I again went to the mall on Saturday and had coffee followed by a Philly cheese steak. But, I did not see Rawlings this time. I had a bigger cheese steak with more cheese and hot stuff this time, however. Today I got to church on time due to getting a ride with a fellow worshipper. I then went to the office. For lunch I walked down to the night market to get some spicy chicken wings and plantains from Meluvs. Then it started to rain so I walked as fast as I could. I still got a little bit wet, but not soaked. I did not think there could be much water left in the air since last night it poured heavily for hours on end. As it was it did not rain very long or very hard by Ghanaian standards this afternoon.

List of my articles dealing with Crimean Tatars on the Internet

"The Deportation of the Crimean Tatars in the Context of Settler Colonialism," International Crimes and History, 2016, Issue: 16.

"Soviet Ethnic Cleansing of the Crimean Tatars," International Crimes and History, 2015, Issue: 15.

“Colonialism in one Country: The Deported Peoples of theUSSR as an Example of Internal Colonialism,” Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion , vol. 5,  no. 7, May 2014.

“Kirim Tatarlina Karşi Dűzmce Vatana Ihanet Suçlaamari [TheFalse Charges of Treason against the Crimean Tatars] trans. Selami Kaçamak, Emel, no. 230,  January-March 2010.

“Ethnic Erasure: The Role of Border Changes in Soviet EthnicCleansing and Return Migration” in Eero Medijainen and Olaf Mertelsmann, eds., Border Changes in 20^th Century Europe, vol. 1 Tartu Studies in Contemporary History (Berlin, Germany: Lit-Verlag, 2010).

“Loss, Retention, and Reacquisition of Social Capital bySpecial Settlers in the USSR,1941-1961” in Cynthia Buckley, Blair Ruble, and Erin Trouth Hofmann, eds., Migration, Homeland and Belonging in Eurasia (Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center and Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2008).

“A Caste of Helot Labourers: Special Settlers and theCultivation of Cotton in Soviet Central Asia: 1944-1956” in Deniz Kandiyoti, ed., The Cotton Sector in Central Asia: Economic Policy and Development Challenges, (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2007).

“Socialist Racism: Ethnic Cleansing and Racial Exclusion inthe USSR and Israel,” Human Rights Review, vol. 7, no. 3, April-June 2006. 

“The Deportation and Fate of the Crimean Tatars,” presented at the 5th Annual Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University, NY, 13-15 April 2000.

Today (18-05-16)

Today I gave my last exam of the semester at 7:30 am. That meant I had to be at the university at 7:00 am. Which meant that I had to leave my flat at 6:00 am. To do that I had to get up at 5:00 am. Fortunately, I don't have to do that again at least for a couple of months. But, of course all day today I have been feeling like a zombie because I only got six hours of sleep insteard of the eight I usually get on week nights. My brain is certainly not up to doing any marking of final exams today. Tomorrow I will try and plow through as many of the 52 scripts as possible.

Remember

18 May 1944

Tomorrow is the 72nd anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their ancestral homeland to Uzbekistan and the Urals. This year the 18th of May comes just a few short days after Jamala's victory for Ukraine in the Eurovision song contest with her song 1944 about the event. In many ways the Soviet treatment of the Crimean Tatars and the Crimean peninsula resembled better known cases of settler colonialism in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. You can find my article, "The Deportation of the Crimean Tatars in the Context of Settler Colonialism," International Crimes and History, 2015, Issue: 16, here. Feel free to leave any comments about the article here.

Saturday at the mall (Rawlings sighting)

This weekend I was at the Accra Mall. I wanted to try the new Pizza Hut but the line was too long. I did try the new coffee shop and the new Philly cheese steak place, however. In between drinking a huge mug of Sumatran coffee and eating a cheese steak I saw J.J. Rawlings. Or at least somebody who looked almost identical to him. I was outside the mall and had just finished talking to my mother on the phone when I saw him leave the mall. He did not have any visible entourage which I found interesting. At any rate I have never been physically closer to such an historically important figure in my life. Assuming that is of course it actually was Rawlings and not a look a like.

Afro-Optimism

Somedays things look good. Today is one of those days. It didn't start out that way. But, it has evolved in that direction at least since noon. So this Friday the 13th is looking pretty lucky for me. If you want to make it even better you can put some suggestions for where to look for research grants in the comments of the previous post. So far nobody has left any recommendations of places that offer funding for academic research by scholars in Africa. However, given today's trajectory I have hope that somebody might in the next couple of days. Africa has always been the continent of eternal optimism.

End of Semester

The semester is rapidly coming to an end. I gave one final exam on Monday and have almost finished grading the exams. I have five left. My other final exam is next week. It is a larger class but grading might go faster because it is more closely related to my research fields.

As always I am on the look out for small research grants. Even a few hundred dollars helps a lot in the "Third World." So if you have any suggestions of where to apply for funds to study the type of things I write about please leave them in the comments. If you are not sure about what I write about then go see this site and scroll down. There you can see a number of my published works. My latest journal article of course is not available there. But, can be found here if you have access through a university or other institution. Needless to say acquiring primary and even secondary sources is much more difficult here in Ghana than it would be if I worked at a North American or European university in large part due to a lack of research funds.

Publication from 2014 now available online

I have a short article on Kyrgyz national identity in Civitis: Journal of Citizenship Studies that is now available online here. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments below.

Saturday Morning

This morning I had to get up early to get my final exams for Monday printed off. Despite leaving the house before eight I still did not manage to avoid the fruit vendors who have taken to knocking on my door at 6:30 am. I refuse to buy anything that early in the morning. So now that I have gotten my first exam copied I don't intend to do any more work for the rest of the day.

This Week

This week I got my final exam questions typed up and approved by the Head of the Department. I also submitted my article from The Russian Review last month for an award here at the university. Finally, I sent an abstract and grant application off for a conference in Hanoi next March. Next week final exams start.

Monday again

As far as I can tell this blog has three human readers left. That is undoubtedly more than my academic writing garners. But, still only a quarter as many readers as I had a decade ago or a 75% decline. Maybe it is because I have been in one place too long now. Out of the nearly 13 years this blog has lived a little less than one was in London but blogging was very light. Then I spent a year in northern Virginia followed by two years in Arizona, three and a half in Kyrgyzstan, and now five and a half in Ghana. So the African phase has been by far the longest. However, for better or worse it does not look like I will be moving anytime soon. So maybe I am no longer a man on the move.

Labour Day Weekend

Well moving this blog to a personal journal of my daily life in Ghana seems to have greatly reduced my already microscopic readership. At this point it doesn't really matter, however. There isn't much left of the blogging world period. Certainly very few individual blogs have continued to exist for nearly 12 years.

This Labour Day weekend I deliberately avoided doing any work. I don't do that often. I have been thinking today about actually doing this project next semester. I am not sure if I could get enough contributers together to make a go of it. But, if anybody is interested let me know.

Today's Accomplishment

Today I found a journal to send a revised copy of the paper I gave in Jerusalem. I finally found one that did not require extensive stylistic and reference revisions. So that was my big accomplishment for today. Every step closer I come to getting another publication is another tiny movement towards further promotion. I should probably be seeing about getting revised versions of all the rejected manuscripts I still have sitting around so I can move this process along a little faster.

The Middle Day

I never get as much done as I hope to in any given day. But, I do make sure to do a little bit each day. Today, I got the process to get my rent subsidy underway. I also wrote another reference letter. Finally, I finished writing a draft of a proposal for an MA sandwich program and sent it to the person who will take over as HOD in August. So I got three things accomplished. I also got to the bank to get money which always seems to take forever. However, I failed to definitively find a journal for my last conference paper. All of them are going to require significant stylistic revisions particularly regarding the citations. I hate having to redo citations. Moving from footnotes to in text citation takes forever and I don't know why so very few journals use either footnotes or end notes anymore. We have to teach our students here that the international standard for historical writing is footnotes in Chicago Style. Yet, a huge number of journals in Russian and Soviet history require in text citations in Harvard Style. The only one that uses end notes instead of in text citations is The Russian Review. So I am probably going to have to go and redo the citations on the paper before submitting it.

Ruby Tuesday

Today the first productive thing I did was drop of laundry at the laundromat. Then I made it to the office to fill out more endless letters of recommendation. I still have students who graduated in 2011 and took the first class I ever taught here coming to ask for reference letters. It seems most of my former students want to become lawyers although given the complete lack of enforcement of law here I am not sure how that will work.

Most of the day I spent working on a book chapter on the Soviet mass campaigns of arrest and expulsion of ethnic Chinese from the Soviet Far East during 1936-1938. I didn't get lunch until after three in the afternoon as a result. I had a chicken shawarma. Like all other food here it was Africanized meaning made spicy.

Munchy Monday

Today I got up and had a hearty breakfast of three bananas, a bowl of ramen noodles flavored with ketchup, soy sauce, and hot sauce, and a couple slices of bread with ketchup washed down with tea. I then took the tro tro to Madina and transferred to one going to Legon. I walked the rest of the way from Bush Canteen to my office. Once at my office I had a number of students show asking for one of two things. Either they still hadn't gotten their mid-term exam back or in two cases they wanted me to write them letters of reference for a history department scholarship that is due next week. I got both of the letters done today, but one I didn't get printed off until late because by the time the former student got to my office it was lunch time.

At lunch I first attempted to go to the housing office in the hopes I could catch them before they went to lunch. This attempt failed. I arrived at an empty office. I then ate some jollof rice and sausage and called my wife before making a second attempt. This attempt was much more successful and I found out what I need to do at least as a first step to renew my housing subsidy for next academic year. Then I walked over to the All Needs Market and purchased some beverages and an ice cream. It is both good and bad that the campus is so huge. It is good in that all the walking got me off the high blood pressure medicine and is probably lowering my cholesterol. It is bad in that it takes an incredible amount of time. Some days I walk upward of five kilometers at work.

After arriving back at the office I wrote out by hand the final exam questions for my European History class. The exam will be on May 9th. Then I did the same for half of the questions for my Aspects of World History, 1945 to Present. That exam is May 18th. I may finish them tonight. But, I got interrupted by the food lady bringing ground nut soup, tilapia, and rice. In retrospect given the size of breakfast and the fact I had both a mid-afternoon and early evening meal it is probably good that I had to walk down to housing and back twice today. Otherwise I might start looking like a moving fufu.

End of Classes for the Semester

Today and yesterday I finished teaching my last classes of the semester. Today I had a class at city campus in Accra and yesterday I had a class at the main campus in Legon or as we call it "the village." So now there are a couple of weeks until my final exams. I have one on May 9th and one on May 18th.

Some Good News

Yesterday, I know I am again behind, I got some good news. I have only ever had one PhD student in any of my classes. An African-American woman took my graduate course on race and ethnicity before leaving UG due to a number of factors. She is extremely talented academically and an excellent writer. After leaving UG to return to the US she spent some time looking for a new PhD program. I wrote six recommendation letters for programs for her plus one for a scholarship. It turns out she got into her first choice school and got the scholarship which covers three years of tuition and living expenses. So even if nobody in the US ever takes me seriously as an academic I hold out the hope that some of my students will be accorded that respect.

Yesterday

Yesterday I couldn't post this because the power went out again. So I am posting it today. But, the events all refer to Wednesday. At 9:30 am I oversaw our last departmental seminar of the semester. We had a guest lecturer from Winneba talk about pedagogy today. This provoked a lively discussion among the National Service Personnel in the audience, most of whom had been students just a year ago. This was followed by another emergency meeting in which I got stuck being seminar coordinator for next year. In fact they named me seminar coordinator for life. But, I did get rid of my seat on academic board after two years finally.

I then finished up grading my mid-terms for European history, ate some waakye provided free by the head of department, and took a walk. After that I called my wife and spoke to my five year old daughter. Her Russian has gotten really good. It is her second language. Her first language is Kyrgyz which I don't speak very much of at all. She even threw in some English phrases for my benefit. She asked about her grandparents a lot.

The rest of the afternoon I spent doing minor tasks that took way too long. One was writing a reference letter for a former student applying for funding for graduate studies. The letter itself did not take long to write. However, getting the printer to work took a long time. I had to reinstall the HP printer program because I updated to Windows 10 a while ago.

The second task I still have not finished. I am searching for a suitable journal to send a revised version of the paper I presented in Jerusalem. I originally sent it to The Russian Review but they rejected it on the basis that they had just published an article by me on ethnic Germans in the USSR during World War II which is fair enough. So far I haven't decided on where to resend the manuscript. Any suggestions are greatly welcomed and should be included in the comments.

Tuesday again

Today I had my last 7:30 am class of the semester. It had three parts. In the first part I went over the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the second part I went over what would be covered on the final exam. Finally, in the third part we discussed what the students liked about the class and their suggestions for improving the class in the future. They evidently really liked hearing about the 20th century from a living fossil that grew up during the Cold War. Their suggestions included more visual aids and slower speaking due to my thick American accent. Overall the class went well this semester. African students seem a lot more capable of learning than American ones from everything I can see on the Internet.

Just another Monday in Africa

Today I got off to a slow start again. I managed to get to the university a little before 11 am. Before I left somebody from the Adenta Municipal Assembly left a property tax notice. The flat owners owe 168 GH in taxes. I called my land lady and told her and she said to drop it by her old office. She retired from working at the university recently. Then I got a taxi to work since I was ferrying laundry to the laundromat. The university security guards don't let taxis drop passengers off by the main gate anymore so I had to walk a lot more than I anticipated.

After getting to work and dropping off laundry which has recently increased in price from 10 GH to 15 GH I checked my e-mail. I had one rejection from a journal. I need to figure someplace to resend that particular piece. I then called the immigration officer at International House and asked if he was in his office. He was. So I took my passport, a bunch of forms, and $300 US to get my work and residency permit renewed. Shortly after returning to my office the power went out as it does almost every Monday.

Lacking electricity I ate a quick lunch of jollof and cabbage, called my wife in Kygyzstan, and then walked down to a small store to buy some beverages. Then I kept walking down Danquah in the heat until I got to the Kwame Nkrumah Complex and went in to steal cool air from the Institute of African Studies. They have generators and unlimited amounts of diesel to run them unlike the history department which has nothing.

After a while I felt okay enough to make it across the field to JQB and browse in the bookstore. Prices for everything except labor have gotten really high recently. Most of the books were running between 80 and 200 GH which is equivalent to $20-$50. Since prices for everything keep skyrocketing while wages and salaries for the vast majority of the population including university lecturers remain absolutely stagnant the standard of living is dropping fast in Ghana. The middle class is evaporating much faster here than in the US.

Finally, I decided there were no books in the store worth the prices being demanded so I walked back to the history department. On the way I discovered that electricity had returned. It was only out for a couple of hours which is a big improvement from the 24 lights out followed by only 12 hours of power we had for a couple of years here.

Writing

To answer derRach's question I am currently working on a couple of projects. The one that is undoubtedly of most interest to him is a book manuscript on the history of Russian Germans in the USSR with an emphasis on Central Asia. It has been coming along slowly for a number of reasons including the fact that books count very little for promotion here. A book currently only equals three peer reviewed journal articles. I also have a couple of shorter pieces on ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan currently being considered for publication.

Coffee

It is on days like this that I wish there was still a place that served real coffee somewhere near campus. The Maxmart across the road used to have a nice cafe that served good Turkish coffee. But, now the only thing in close proximity is that awful Nescafe.

Saturday Morning

Okay this marks the finish of a week of posts on my everyday life. It did not elicit much interest so I am not sure if I am going to continue it. Life in poor countries is generally either boring or terrifying. There is very little good excitement or romantic adventure. So I am okay with the boring. But, I don't think it really makes interesting reading material for other people.

Today I went to the Mighty Jesus Supermarket to buy some stuff and found my balcony filled with the kids from across the way selling fruits and vegetables. I ended up buying two bunches of bananas and five pineapples for 30 GH to get rid of them. I successfully argued for not buying the coco yam leaves because I did not know how to cook them.

After the departure of the fruit vendors I ate a pineapple, some bananas and two slices of bread washed down with a bottle of liquid yogurt, a can of Malta, and a glass of banana and strawberry juice. Then I decided to go to campus just to get away from my flat.

Friday morning

This morning I took a while to get out of my flat. I decided to have cold pizza for breakfast before coming to campus. I purchased two from the food lady at work yesterday. There is still one in my refrigerator. After I got to the office I graded 18 mid-terms for my class at city campus which is in an hour and a half. Now I just have one more class of mid-terms to finish grading. I have gotten so I can do these things pretty fast. Most students get in the B and B+ range. Those few that stick out as exceptional get an A. Unfortunately, there is no longer a grade of A- here. Then there are those that stick out as showing little or no reading of the assignments. They get lower grades. But, fortunately I haven't had any truly bad essays yet this semester. Most students get most of the basic information down.

Thursday

Today we had a departmental meeting this morning. It  had one big surprise which I can't go into here. We also were assigned our classes for next year. I have six classes next year related in large part to the surprise alluded to above. I have a section of Early Modern European History at main campus (the village) and one at city campus in Accra. I also have Aspects of World History, 1914-1945 at both campuses. Finally, I have History of Europe 1789-1945 for distance learning. On top of these five undergraduate courses I also have a graduate course on the history of race and ethnicity again after a year long break. Fortunately, I have taught all three of these classes multiple times before so the preparation time will be limited.

This afternoon I finished up the last lecture for History of Europe, 1789-1945 for this semester. I covered World War II today. I started on 23 August 1939 with the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact and went up to 9 May 1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany. Next week I will finish up my lectures in my two class sections on Aspects of World History, 1945 to Present Day.

Mittwoch

Today I chaired the penultimate seminar of the semester. Today the three first year MPhil students presented short introductions to their research. This year in addition to two Ghanaian students we have a post-graduate student from Slovenia. I was a little worried about time because there were three presenters. But, they managed to stay within the 90 minutes allocated weekly to the seminar.

I returned to the archives today. I found out that the faculty of science used to have a couple of big boats. It sold the last one that I know about in 1984 after somebody stole 80% of its engine parts and the entire gear box.

The food lady came around today with fried tilapia, banku, and pepper. I like the taste of this dish and I have gotten used to the fact that you can't do anything else while eating it because your right hand becomes covered in sticky banku, but I wish all fish could be like shark and be boneless.

Tuesday

Today I had to get up early to teach my 7:30 am class on the Cold War and return their mid-term exams. I covered the late Cold War period with an emphasis on the Soviet war in Afghanistan today. Next week is the last lecture where we cover the end of the Cold War the the break up of the USSR into its component republics. When I got back to the office the department head had a free meal of jollof rice, chicken, and fried plantains for me. It was an unexpected gift. But, it was mighty tasty.

Most of the afternoon I spent at the library going through university archives as part of a departmental project. I came across over 100 documents on how the university administration denied any funds for hiring new staff or promoting old members in the faculty of the sciences from 1966 to 1973. In 1968 the dean began a concerted effort to have this situation reviewed and funding provided for promotion and new hires. Only after they began to lose all of their science faculty and technicians to other institutions due to the lack of promotion at Legon did the administration finally relent and agree to provide funding to give raises. That was in 1972. The following year they funded the hiring of new people in the faculty of sciences for the first time in eight years. The sixties and seventies are  often portrayed as a golden age for higher education in the US. But, in Ghana they certainly were not.

I then returned to the office and wasted time talking to national service people and graduate students for about an hour. After that I noticed the food lady outside and picked up some ground nut soup, chicken, and rice. Interestingly enough I eat a lot more rice in Africa than I did when I lived in Asia. There I ate a lot more bread than I eat here.

A Monday

Today I got off to a slow start. I didn't get out of my flat until after 10 am. I skipped the tro tro because I found a taxi willing to take me to campus for 15 GH. Once I got to campus I went and got a haircut and beard trim. My barber operates out of a section of converted shipping container behind the Legon campus in a small bazaar called "Bush Canteen." After getting my hair and beard shorn from the Karl Marx look to the Vladimir Lenin look I went and got some passport photos taken. You can never have too many of these photos since all kinds of official forms require them.

For a change we had electricity at work today so I was able to get some work done even though I got off to a late start. After checking my e-mail I went across the street and had a big plate of jollof. Then I came back to the office and graded all of the mid-term exams for my class on the Cold War. In total there were 51 tests. Midway through grading them the food lady came by to sell me a bunch of coconut cookies and a meal of rice with chicken and tomato sauce and carrots. It didn't include any utensils so I had to eat it African style with my right hand.

One Sunday in my life

Well it seems my three readers think I should write more on everyday life here in Ghana. Although to be perfectly honest life in poor countries is not very exciting despite being romanticized in the US and Europe. You are limited in what you can do when you don't have electricity for instance.

But, it is something I can write about. Today I got up early and went to church. The English language service of the Presbyterian church I attend starts at 7:00 am. It is supposed to be finished by 8:30 am but almost always runs late, especially on days like today when we take Holy Communion. So I got up at 6:00 am and managed to get out the door by 6:30 am and walked to church. Ghanaians tend to get up very early in the morning. At 5:30 am there is a shoe repair man banging on his tool box in the courtyard of our apartment complex. So by 6:30 am on Sunday there are lots of people already wondering about. I got to church ten minutes early today.

The churches in Ghana are the one thing that seem to work well because Ghanaians actually do believe in them. Everybody outside the 20% Muslim minority from the north is a member of a church and all of them even mainstream denominations like the Presbyterians would be considered a fundamentalist and evangelical church by US standards. That of course doesn't stop the much larger Pentecostal denomination or the Jehovahs' Witnesses from trying to convert you. But, I do find it annoying to have to tell people almost daily that I already found Jesus and accepted him as my savior. Are there not heathens in Osu or Cantonments that need converting?

After church I had some ramen noodles. I buy Indomie which is an Indonesian brand that is popular here and fortified with some vitamins and other nutrients. They are manufactured for the West African market in a factory in Nigeria because Ghana produces almost nothing. I flavored them with hot sauce, soy sauce, and ketchup. All also imported. Then I did some reading.

On Sunday afternoons my cleaning lady comes. I pay her 200 GH ($50) a month and she comes once a week for about three to four hours to clean up my flat. On an hourly basis I pay her almost as much as I make which I think is fair. I obviously can't afford to pay much more. Usually, like today, I take a nap on the couch in the living room while she cleans.

After Eve finished cleaning my flat I went to the Mighty Jesus Supermarket around the corner and purchased a can of Coke, a can of Malta, and a bottle of sobolo. I then went to the phone credit vendor and purchased 50 GH of MTN credit. I got a bonus of 2 GH credit today. I then called my wife in Kyrgyzstan which used up about 15 GH. Then I walked home.

The rest of the day included another nap and finally finishing up the latest Jo Nesbo novel I have been reading. Sundays might be my most laid back day of the week since other than going to church I generally don't do much other than sleep and eat. I can also stay up late since I have no classes scheduled on Mondays this semester.

Annual Reader Survey

If I have any readers left now might be a good time for you to express your opinion of what I should do to bring this blog back to life. Or is it a hopeless cause?

First Steps

I am thinking about trying to revive this blog from its current nearly comatose condition. I am not exactly sure what I could do to attract any readers. But, obviously the first step in reanimating the blog is to start putting up some posts.

Random Economic Thoughts

Today I went to the new supermarket in Adenta, Shop and Save. Western style grocery stores are still a rarity in Ghana. Until the opening a couple weeks ago of the Shop and Save the nearest supermarket to me was in the Accra Mall half way between the university and the airport. It seems like it took forever to build the new supermarket. But, now that it is done there is another small piece of modernity in the Greater Accra area.

After I came home I finished reading Mira Kamdar's Planet India. In the last thirty years India has made incredible strides in modernization. Indian manufactured goods like cars, trucks, and tractors are everywhere here in Ghana. I don't think I have ever seen one of the few cars or trucks actually built in Ghana. The skyrocket in Indian production of goods not only for their domestic use but export has been nothing short of amazing. If you told me in the 1980s that India would be a major exporter of cars and trucks I would not have believed you. I think one of the big differences between India and Ghana that allows the former to be much more economically successful is attitude. Indians believe in their products and they themselves buy them. Most Ghanaians seem to believe that imports are by definition better than local products and refuse to buy things made in Ghana. If not even Ghanaians will buy Ghanaian manufactured goods how can anybody expect foreigners to buy them? They will just say "not even Ghanaians think their products are any good." India doesn't have that mindset.

Russian Review Article Link

It appears that you can get an electronic copy of my article "The Persecution of Ethnic Germans in the USSR during World War II", The Russian Review, 75 (April 2016): 284-303 at this link provided by the publisher. I am not sure if everybody can get access to the Wiley site or not. It may only be available through institutional access. Let me know if it works or not for you in the comments. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could access an electronic version of the publication at all this early. Feel free to leave any commentary, criticism, or questions about the article in the comments below.

Random Musings

I know that updates on this blog have been really infrequent this year. Other than announcing new publications I feel I am running out of things I can write in the blog format. I suppose I would have been more motivated to write more entries if I ever got any comments. But, those largely ceased about a decade ago. I feel I should probably write something about my brief trip to Jerusalem last month where I participated in an academic conference. However, I was there for such a short period of time I really did not get to see much other than the campus of Hebrew University. I need to go back so I can see some of the actual city.