Off to see Yuri and the city of Kazan

So, I've been traveling on and off the last couple of weeks, which has put me a bit behind on blogging. The brief trip to Moscow had distinct benefits--one of which was to see Yuri again, ah bless him the big titanium guy....

The statue really is cool, and much to my surprise (at the time) stands at the Metro stop next to the Russian Academy of Sciences, which as it turned out was where the rural sociology section of the Russian Society of Sociology meetings were being held. Marina (the Dean) got me into the session, and arranged for me to speak to the small group assembled there--it felt very comfortable and rural soc like! There were a couple of dynamic young women, one working in Siberia with whom I exchanged cards. Our focus on development is similar (northern Great Plains and Siberia) as are our population levels (very low) so we had a lot to talk about! A key part of the post-industrial economy in Siberia, too, is the "selling" of space and development of tourism. In addition, they are working to preserve the integrity of indigenous populations, bouncing up and down with the petroleum markets, and trying to hold their small towns together....all quite familiar territory.


The Russian sociology meetings were much like American sociology meetings. At one point, walking into the main conference area, surrounded by outside smokers, and people looking through conference programs, juggling cell phones, arguing theory and generally looking around with serious intent--I just deja vu-ed to recent past American meetings. Very weird....I will say the presentations are more fun. The Russians just go ahead and talk right back to the presenter, there is no such thing as a "question period"--it's ALL a question period if you feel like it! I did of course need translation, and had the able help of some guy named Nikolai who happened to be at the rural soc session, as well as Lisa Gulya, a Fulbright student research awardee (from Fargo by the way), and my colleagues Marina (the Dean) and Tatiana. All in all big fun was had, and it was worth the train ride.
A shorter train ride and longer visit occurred this past week as Hannah and I went to Kazan. The city of Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, an "autonomous republic" in the Russian Federation--which means they have lots of oil money so are able to ask for more benes than other states (like Udmurtia for example) but have a population which is 52% Russian ethnic so will never be entirely independent. The Tatars themselves are descendents of the Mongols, so ethnically are Asiatic in appearance, and incidentally you can find horse milk in the stores (I do have a picture, yes, but am saving that...and by the way it has a sour, tart taste but I'm told it's very good for the digestion).


Also, Kazan just celebrated their 1000th year as a city in 2005 and there are still remnants from the celebration, the biggest of which is the mosque located in the White Kremlin.


It looks incredible, at night or during the day, even with an itty-bitty Meredith in front of it...

It does not, however, look old, and that's because it isn't. It was just built to celebrate the 1000th, although technically it is a replacement for what was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible when he took Tatarstan. (Remember, St. Basil's cathedral in Red Square was built to celebrate the defeat of the Mongols, and it's central spire was built in particular to celebrate the fall of Kazan and the White Kremlin.)

Much longer in physical existence now, although technically not older in spirit, is the Russian Orthodox church, also within the Kremlin walls. The combination is unique--both are splendid examples of their kind, and are separated by a single string of low buildings. Therefore when entering one, you can always see the other sitting on the horizon, as their entrances face one another.

Kazan also won the Russian Football cup while we were there, so many street celebrations were heard and seen. Tatarstan flags were everywhere, even more common to see than the Russian flag. Also, the Tatar language is widely seen on street signs, store windows, etc...I personally found it hard to tell the difference, as they now use the cyrillic alphabet, rather than arabic script or chinese symbology. We had the chance to meet up with Omar, another Fulbright ETA who lives in Kazan and knows both Russian and Arabic and is learning Tatar, so he was able to point out those finer points....We also were able to go to the theater, which was just great. We had our own box on the side, which made us feel very fabulous, here are Hannah and Omar before the show...



Kazan State University is famous for kicking out both the
young Lenin and the young Tolstoy (for "revolutionary activities"), and both are now commemorated in stone as youth. Kazan therefore boasts the only young Lenin statue as counterpoint to the everpresent old Lenin statue found throughout Russia.



The national museum was both great and bit chaotic. In the middle of this huge space, all of a sudden there was a collection of stuffed animals, betraying no real sense of order or relation. There was a rhea (the African bird, Rhee, no worries...), a beaver, a stoat, a polar bear fetus and a belluga whale. Very odd, and striking for the oddity--although the beluga was something else in and of itself, I must say, not having seen one before...weird creature...
There was also a very interesting exhibit of the history of recuitment posters, awards, uniforms, etc. of the Soviet youth. It made much more sense than random animals as well....



But the city itself was also full of surprises. While we were not surprised to find a lot of construction going on, given recent financial gains, we were surprised to stumble on this little bit of McMansion suburbia right on the banks of the Volga. It made it clear that there are people in Russia with this kind of cash for conspicuous consumption, but also was unusual because these are NOT apartment buildings but single family homes. Even now, the majority of building in Russia is new apartments, not single family dwellings.



You'll note too the wall surrounding the place, and here you can see the gate as well. Guards were patrolling the grounds, and the small guard station is visible on the left hand side of the gate.

So, it's either a brave new world, or a small example of elite privilege? Time and the economy will tell...