Thursday, February 25, 2010
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tsalka in Georgia. Von Nicolas Landru
On the Highlands of the Lesser Caucasus behind Tbilisi in the Kvemo Kartli region, the Tsalka region is a remote and sparsely inhabited area of Georgia. Its inhabitants are mainly Armenians and Georgians who where relocated there from their home regions, where their villages got destroyed by lanslides between 1998 and 2005. Formerly, the region was mostly inhabited by Greeks, but they emegrated to Greece in masses during the 1990, thus the Georgians moved into their abandoned houses. Tensions between Georgian Svans and Adjars and Armenian-Greek older communities remain strong, although improvement occured since some years. Roads around Tsalka are in an advanced state of disprepair, contributing highly to isolate this curious highland place.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
PHOTOGRAPHY: James Pomerantz about works "Caspian Dreams" and "The Balance of War: Abkhazia" (jamespomerantz.com)
Photography by James Pomerantz
interview by Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching
Website: www.jamespomerantz.com
Sunday, February 14, 2010
EXHIBITION: Letters, Irma Sharikadze - 30 january — 6 march 2010 (gmggallery.com)
Letters, Irma Sharikadze
30 january — 6 march 2010
About +++ Exposition +++ Opening +++ Video +++ Art Tea +++ Press
Citizen K. Obsessed with the city В красивой галерее GMG красивые снимки Ирмы Шарикадзе про Фриду Кало
Moscow news. 11 февраля 2010 Frida Kahlo, Georgian-style
Вестник Кавказа.Фотовыставка Ирмы Шарикадзе - проект «Письма»
Радио Культура. 9 февраля 2010, 16:05Программа «Дело вкуса»
ТВЦ. 8 февраля 2010, 00:30Программа «Культурный обмен»
Artgals.info Ирма Шарикадзе и ее проект «Письма»
Аргументы и факты. Дэви БЕРДЗЕНИШВИЛИ «Письма» Ирмы Шарикадзе
Seasons Письма Фриды Кало - литературная мистификация и уникальный художественный проект
Радио СИТИ-fm 87.9. 24 января 2010 Коллекция СИТИ
SAY 2 DAYСплошные письма
Ваш досуг. 18 января 2010 Грузинская художница Ирма Шарикадзе примеряет на себя образ сестры-близнеца своей знаменитой мексиканской коллеги Фриды Кало
Радио Маяк. 22 января 2010 Ирма Шарикадзе в гостях у Тутты Ларсен и Гии Саралидзе
GMG Gallery presents Letters - photo project by Georgian artist Irma Sharikadze. The project is composed of several parts: 18 variously sized photos; correspondence between Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her twin sister Maritsa; Frida’s Dream video and unique jewelry by Georgian designer Sofia Gongliashvili. Style and colours of the Asian Collection excellently matched Frida theme.
Correspondence between Frida Kahlo and her twin sister Maritsa is demonstrated in Russia for the first time. The text was written exclusively for the project by Georgian writer Maka Goguadze. The penscript can be found below the photographs.
Irma Sharikadze about her photo project
When I was trying to sum up the past 10 years of my artistic career (I matured as an artist during this time) I noticed the image of Frida Kahlo and decided to make it the topic of my future project.
But I saw her neither pierced by iron handrail, nor punctured by nails or stabbed with knife (as she depicted herself). She was in a lightful grief of her loneliness, childishly looking forward to her high day, her Ascension Day. She hasn’t yet forgotten her pain. She’s still eagerly scrutinizing herself, she keeps a strange diary mystifying epistolary intercourse with her alter ego – fabled Slavic twin sister in whom Frida confides her pain and fears.
The project includes Frida’s Dream video. I designed it as a controlled dream of a gifted person, whose creative impulse is awake even when the artist is dreaming. This impulse imposes artistic forms on uninhibited creations of the artist’s mind.
Thus, Frida’s invisible eye creatively elaborates the artist’s experience in struggling with bitter ambiguity of her attitude towards life and its inner surmount; her human wistfulness and, finally, her commitment to become a martyr.
Accreditation: gmg.communications@gmail.com
Internet: www.gmggallery.com
Saturday, February 13, 2010
OLYMPIA: Beileidsbekundungen über den Tod des georgischen Rodlers Nodar Kumaritaschwili
Vor Beginn der offiziellen Reden hatte Jacques Rogge, der Präsident des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees, in seinem und im Namen von Furlong sein Bedauern über den Tod des Rodlers Nodar Kumaritaschwili ausgesprochen sowie den Freunden, der Familie und den Teamkollegen seine Anteilnahme übermittelt. Die Eröffnungsfeier war dem jungen Georgier gewidmet, ein Song ("Hallelujah") wurde für ihn performt und eine Schweigeminute abgehalten.
Nur wenige Stunden vor der Eröffnung hatte der tragische Unfall im Eiskanal in Whistler zu Bestürzung in der olympischen Familie geführt und selbst Rogge die Tränen in die Augen getrieben. Der 21-jährige war am Freitag beim Training gestürzt und seinen schweren Verletzungen erlegen. Der Schock saß auch im österreichischen Team tief, dennoch waren die rot-weiß-roten Doppel- und Einsitzer der Damen wie geplant in Vancouver bei der Eröffnungsfeier dabei.
Quelle: kurier.at
Nur wenige Stunden vor der Eröffnung hatte der tragische Unfall im Eiskanal in Whistler zu Bestürzung in der olympischen Familie geführt und selbst Rogge die Tränen in die Augen getrieben. Der 21-jährige war am Freitag beim Training gestürzt und seinen schweren Verletzungen erlegen. Der Schock saß auch im österreichischen Team tief, dennoch waren die rot-weiß-roten Doppel- und Einsitzer der Damen wie geplant in Vancouver bei der Eröffnungsfeier dabei.
Quelle: kurier.at
AUSSTELLUNG: Armin T. Wegner "Am Kreuzweg der Welten - Fotografien 1915-1929" (monopol-magazin.com)
Das Armin T. Wegner nicht nur Schriftsteller, Essayist und kritischer Beobachter seiner Zeit, sondern auch leidenschaftlicher Fotograf war, zeigt sich vom 21. Februar bis zum 18. April. „Am Kreuzweg der Welten“ ist der Titel der Ausstellung im Museum Baden, die in Zusammenarbeit mit der Berliner Guardini Galerie, der Wuppertaler Armin-T.-Wegner-Gesellschaft und der Else-Lasker-Schüler-Gesellschaft entstanden ist. Zu sehen ist ein charakteristischer Teil der fotografischen Arbeiten, die an Wegners Reisen durch den Kaukasus nach Persien, Palästina und Ägypten erinnern. Da der gebürtige Elberfelder zu den „weithin vergessenen Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts“ zähle, wollen ihn die Veranstalter wieder ins Bewusstsein rücken - mit Bildern, die Wegener mit seiner Leica aufgenommen hat, unter anderem von der Vertreibung der Armenier. Infos: 2 58 14-0. red
21.02.2010 - 18.04.2010, Solingen pdf-flyer >>>
"Bekannt wurde Wegner durch seinen von spätromantischen Naturbildern geprägten Lyrikband „Zwischen zwei Städten“ (1909) und seiner expressionistisch anklagenden Lyrik gegen den voranschreitenden Kulturverlust in „Das Antlitz der Städte“ (1917). Zum berühmten Bestsellerautor avancierte er in den zwanziger Jahren mit seinen Reiseberichten „Fünf Finger über Dir“ (1930) und „Am Kreuzweg der Welten“ (1930). Die Texte des vom Orient faszinierten Schriftstellers erzählen von seinen ausgedehnten und abenteuerlichen Reisen, die er zusammen mit seiner Frau, der jüdischen Dichterin Lola Landau, unternahm und zeugen zugleich von seiner Leidenschaft zum Leben und Erleben. Bei all seiner Lebensfreude und seinem unbändigen Maß an Weltvertrauen vergaß er jedoch nie, auch hinter die Kulissen des Zeitgeschehens zu blicken. So z.B. während seiner Zeit als Krankenpfleger des Roten Kreuzes in Bagdad, wo er 1915 von der Vertreibung der Armenier durch die Türken erfuhr. Trotz Verbots begab er sich in die Flüchtlingslager, fotografierte mit einer einfachen Plattenkamera und schmuggelte Briefe der Verfolgten zur amerikanischen Botschaft und die Bilder zusammengerollt unter seiner Bauchbinde nach Deutschland.Geprägt von den Erfahrungen im Ersten Weltkrieg wurde Wegner zum Pazifisten, der Gerechtigkeit, Gleichheit und Menschlichkeit unter den Menschen forderte. Seinen unbestechlichen Gerechtigkeitssinn brachte er schließlich in seinen pazifistischen und revolutionären Aufrufen wie etwa „Der Ankläger – Aufruf zur Revolution“, seinem Dia-Vortrag „Vertreibung des armenischen Volkes in die Wüste“ oder in seinem „Brief an Hitler“ zum Ausdruck.
Mit dem Jahr 1933 veränderte sich das Leben Wegners radikal. Sein Name fand sich auf der ersten „Schwarzen Liste“, seine Werke wurden verbrannt, er bekam Berufsverbot und wurde im August von der SA verhaftet. Während seiner viermonatigen Haft durchlief er mehrere Konzentrationslager u.a. Börgermoor. Auf Druck internationaler Kräfte freigelassen, ging er 1936 ins lebenslange italienische Exil. Nach dem Krieg galt Wegner als verschollen, zeitweilig hielt man ihn sogar für tot. An seine Erfolge während der Weimarer Republik konnte er nicht mehr anknüpfen, obschon er von Israel, Armenien und auch der Bundesrepublik für seinen zivilen Mut geehrt wurde und Nachdrucke früherer Werke ebenso erschienen wie Essays und etliche Rundfunkbeiträge.
Der umfangreiche Nachlass des Dichters und leidenschaftlichen Fotografen liegt im Deutschen Literaturarchiv Marbach. Neben Briefen, Tagebüchern, Arbeitsmaterialien und einigen Romanfragmenten finden sich darin auch etwa 6700 Fotografien.
Das Kunstmuseum Solingen zeigt einen charakteristischen Teil dieser fotografischen Arbeiten, von eben jenen Reisen durch den Kaukasus nach Persien, Palästina und Ägypten. Er ist in sofern kulturhistorisch bedeutsam, als er ergänzend zu den Reisebüchern „Fünf Finger über Dir“ und „Jagd durch das tausendjährige Reich“ tiefe Einblicke in das Alltagsleben der frühen Sowjetunion sowie des damals noch „illegalen“ Staates Israel gewährt. Von den Aufnahmen, die Wegner mit einer einfachen Plattenkamera von der Vertreibung und den Morden an den Armeniern machte, sind nur die Glasdiapositive zu einem Vortrag überliefert, den er zwischen 1919 und 1924 hielt, um die breite Öffentlichkeit zur Hilfe für das armenische Volk zu mobilisieren. Sie sind in neuen Drucken ausgestellt. Die zahlreichen, auf den Reisen mit der Leica aufgenommenen Bilder sind zumeist nur noch in Form maschineller Papier-Abzüge vorhanden. In Familienbesitz fanden sich vor einiger Zeit Kopien von etlichen dieser Aufnahmen, die Wegner in Vorbereitung zu seinen Büchern montiert und beschriftet hat. Neben den erschütternden Bildern von der Vertreibung der Armenier bilden sie den Kern der Ausstellung."(Quelle: Museum Baden)
Museum Baden
Wuppertaler Straße 160
42653 Solingen
T +49 (0) 212 / 25 81 40
F +49 (0) 212 / 25 81 444
www.museum-baden.de
museum-baden@t-online.de
Öffnungszeiten: Di - So 10 - 17 Uhr
21.02.2010 - 18.04.2010, Solingen pdf-flyer >>>
"Bekannt wurde Wegner durch seinen von spätromantischen Naturbildern geprägten Lyrikband „Zwischen zwei Städten“ (1909) und seiner expressionistisch anklagenden Lyrik gegen den voranschreitenden Kulturverlust in „Das Antlitz der Städte“ (1917). Zum berühmten Bestsellerautor avancierte er in den zwanziger Jahren mit seinen Reiseberichten „Fünf Finger über Dir“ (1930) und „Am Kreuzweg der Welten“ (1930). Die Texte des vom Orient faszinierten Schriftstellers erzählen von seinen ausgedehnten und abenteuerlichen Reisen, die er zusammen mit seiner Frau, der jüdischen Dichterin Lola Landau, unternahm und zeugen zugleich von seiner Leidenschaft zum Leben und Erleben. Bei all seiner Lebensfreude und seinem unbändigen Maß an Weltvertrauen vergaß er jedoch nie, auch hinter die Kulissen des Zeitgeschehens zu blicken. So z.B. während seiner Zeit als Krankenpfleger des Roten Kreuzes in Bagdad, wo er 1915 von der Vertreibung der Armenier durch die Türken erfuhr. Trotz Verbots begab er sich in die Flüchtlingslager, fotografierte mit einer einfachen Plattenkamera und schmuggelte Briefe der Verfolgten zur amerikanischen Botschaft und die Bilder zusammengerollt unter seiner Bauchbinde nach Deutschland.Geprägt von den Erfahrungen im Ersten Weltkrieg wurde Wegner zum Pazifisten, der Gerechtigkeit, Gleichheit und Menschlichkeit unter den Menschen forderte. Seinen unbestechlichen Gerechtigkeitssinn brachte er schließlich in seinen pazifistischen und revolutionären Aufrufen wie etwa „Der Ankläger – Aufruf zur Revolution“, seinem Dia-Vortrag „Vertreibung des armenischen Volkes in die Wüste“ oder in seinem „Brief an Hitler“ zum Ausdruck.
Mit dem Jahr 1933 veränderte sich das Leben Wegners radikal. Sein Name fand sich auf der ersten „Schwarzen Liste“, seine Werke wurden verbrannt, er bekam Berufsverbot und wurde im August von der SA verhaftet. Während seiner viermonatigen Haft durchlief er mehrere Konzentrationslager u.a. Börgermoor. Auf Druck internationaler Kräfte freigelassen, ging er 1936 ins lebenslange italienische Exil. Nach dem Krieg galt Wegner als verschollen, zeitweilig hielt man ihn sogar für tot. An seine Erfolge während der Weimarer Republik konnte er nicht mehr anknüpfen, obschon er von Israel, Armenien und auch der Bundesrepublik für seinen zivilen Mut geehrt wurde und Nachdrucke früherer Werke ebenso erschienen wie Essays und etliche Rundfunkbeiträge.
Der umfangreiche Nachlass des Dichters und leidenschaftlichen Fotografen liegt im Deutschen Literaturarchiv Marbach. Neben Briefen, Tagebüchern, Arbeitsmaterialien und einigen Romanfragmenten finden sich darin auch etwa 6700 Fotografien.
Das Kunstmuseum Solingen zeigt einen charakteristischen Teil dieser fotografischen Arbeiten, von eben jenen Reisen durch den Kaukasus nach Persien, Palästina und Ägypten. Er ist in sofern kulturhistorisch bedeutsam, als er ergänzend zu den Reisebüchern „Fünf Finger über Dir“ und „Jagd durch das tausendjährige Reich“ tiefe Einblicke in das Alltagsleben der frühen Sowjetunion sowie des damals noch „illegalen“ Staates Israel gewährt. Von den Aufnahmen, die Wegner mit einer einfachen Plattenkamera von der Vertreibung und den Morden an den Armeniern machte, sind nur die Glasdiapositive zu einem Vortrag überliefert, den er zwischen 1919 und 1924 hielt, um die breite Öffentlichkeit zur Hilfe für das armenische Volk zu mobilisieren. Sie sind in neuen Drucken ausgestellt. Die zahlreichen, auf den Reisen mit der Leica aufgenommenen Bilder sind zumeist nur noch in Form maschineller Papier-Abzüge vorhanden. In Familienbesitz fanden sich vor einiger Zeit Kopien von etlichen dieser Aufnahmen, die Wegner in Vorbereitung zu seinen Büchern montiert und beschriftet hat. Neben den erschütternden Bildern von der Vertreibung der Armenier bilden sie den Kern der Ausstellung."(Quelle: Museum Baden)
Museum Baden
Wuppertaler Straße 160
42653 Solingen
T +49 (0) 212 / 25 81 40
F +49 (0) 212 / 25 81 444
www.museum-baden.de
museum-baden@t-online.de
Öffnungszeiten: Di - So 10 - 17 Uhr
SEMINAR: Der Krieg in Tschetschenien. Ein Konflikt und seine Hintergründe. (bildungswerk-boell.de)
Zeit: 6. März 2010, 11-18 Uhr
Ort: Projekthaus Potsdam - Inwole e.V.
Rudolf-Breitscheid-Str. 164, 14482 Potsdam
Über das kleine Land im Nordkaukasus und seine konfliktreiche Geschichte kursieren viele Bilder und Stereotypen. Entsprechend vielfältig sind auch die Interpretationen der Beweggründe Russlands, in das Land einzumarschieren. Um diesen Konflikt in seinen ganzen Ausmaßen und seiner Bedeutung zu begreifen, bedarf es jedoch einer tieferen Analyse, die über die üblichen Ansätze hinausgeht.
In unserem Tagesseminar werden wir uns in Gruppenarbeit und anhand von Vorträgen den komplexen Hintergründen des ersten und zweiten Tschetschenienkrieges nähern, Konfliktparteien und Interessen herausarbeiten. Dabei werden auch die Folgen des Krieges für die Menschen beleuchtet und die Situation im gesamten Kaukasus mit seinen verschiedenen Nationalitäten und geopolitischen Interessenlagen dargestellt. Auch auf völkerrechtliche Fragenstellungen sowie die Menschenrechtslage wird eingegangen.
Am Ende des Seminars werden wir die Gelegenheit haben, mit einer Vertreterin des Frauennetzwerks Kummunika Osteuropa e.V. über ihre Friedensarbeit in tschetschenischen Schulen zu reden.
In Zusammenarbeit mit Youth Human Rights Movement Berlin.
Eine Veranstaltung des Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Diese Veranstaltung wird realisiert aus Mitteln der Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin Teilnahme frei.
Anmeldung unter: global@bildungswerk-boell.de
____________________________________________
Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Kottbusser Damm 72
10967 Berlin
Tel.: 030-61 12 89 67
Fax 030-618 30 11
e-mail:global@bildungswerk-boell.de
Homepage: www.bildungswerk-boell.de
Die Jugendseiten: www.alt-l.de
Ort: Projekthaus Potsdam - Inwole e.V.
Rudolf-Breitscheid-Str. 164, 14482 Potsdam
Über das kleine Land im Nordkaukasus und seine konfliktreiche Geschichte kursieren viele Bilder und Stereotypen. Entsprechend vielfältig sind auch die Interpretationen der Beweggründe Russlands, in das Land einzumarschieren. Um diesen Konflikt in seinen ganzen Ausmaßen und seiner Bedeutung zu begreifen, bedarf es jedoch einer tieferen Analyse, die über die üblichen Ansätze hinausgeht.
In unserem Tagesseminar werden wir uns in Gruppenarbeit und anhand von Vorträgen den komplexen Hintergründen des ersten und zweiten Tschetschenienkrieges nähern, Konfliktparteien und Interessen herausarbeiten. Dabei werden auch die Folgen des Krieges für die Menschen beleuchtet und die Situation im gesamten Kaukasus mit seinen verschiedenen Nationalitäten und geopolitischen Interessenlagen dargestellt. Auch auf völkerrechtliche Fragenstellungen sowie die Menschenrechtslage wird eingegangen.
Am Ende des Seminars werden wir die Gelegenheit haben, mit einer Vertreterin des Frauennetzwerks Kummunika Osteuropa e.V. über ihre Friedensarbeit in tschetschenischen Schulen zu reden.
In Zusammenarbeit mit Youth Human Rights Movement Berlin.
Eine Veranstaltung des Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Diese Veranstaltung wird realisiert aus Mitteln der Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin Teilnahme frei.
Anmeldung unter: global@bildungswerk-boell.de
____________________________________________
Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Kottbusser Damm 72
10967 Berlin
Tel.: 030-61 12 89 67
Fax 030-618 30 11
e-mail:global@bildungswerk-boell.de
Homepage: www.bildungswerk-boell.de
Die Jugendseiten: www.alt-l.de
MUSIC: Tradition and heritage along the Silk Route (centralasia-southcaucasus.com)
Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA)
Music and musicians have historically played a vital role in the cultures of Central Eurasia and the Middle East. Music traditionally served not only as entertainment, but as a way to reinforce social and moral values, and musicians provided models of exemplary leadership. Whether bringing listeners closer to God, sustaining cultural memory through epic tales, or strengthening the bonds of community through festivity and celebration, musicians have been central to social life. In 2000, recognition of this important role led His Highness the Aga Khan to establish the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) with the aim of assisting in the preservation of Central Asia's musical heritage by ensuring its transmission to a new generation of artists and audiences, both inside the region and beyond its borders. more...
Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
This disc introduces Yo-Yo Ma's latest and most ambitious adventure, the Silk Road Project. It explores the cultures that flourished along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East. Founded by Ma in 1998, the project aims to create connections, mutual trust, and cultural interchange between people from different parts of the world through their only shared language: music. This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians from all those countries, as well as America, on both Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song native to her region. For the uninitiated Western listener, the music requires some getting used to. Much of it is based on rhythmic ostinatos. The melodies use Oriental scales; the intonation is untempered; the music seems all color, texture, and atmosphere, without what might be called themes; and repetition takes the place of development. Contrast is achieved through sudden change, buildup by adding instruments. However, the music is often beautiful, delicate, dreamy, or peaceful; every listener will find his or her own favorite pieces. The playing is splendid, with much inventive improvisation. Inevitably, Ma's tone and personality stand out, but he never dominates in fact or spirit. The booklet offers essays by Ma and the project's musicologist, Theodore Levin, photographs of the players, and drawings of the Eastern instruments. --Edith Eisler. more...
more articles here >>>
Music and musicians have historically played a vital role in the cultures of Central Eurasia and the Middle East. Music traditionally served not only as entertainment, but as a way to reinforce social and moral values, and musicians provided models of exemplary leadership. Whether bringing listeners closer to God, sustaining cultural memory through epic tales, or strengthening the bonds of community through festivity and celebration, musicians have been central to social life. In 2000, recognition of this important role led His Highness the Aga Khan to establish the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) with the aim of assisting in the preservation of Central Asia's musical heritage by ensuring its transmission to a new generation of artists and audiences, both inside the region and beyond its borders. more...
Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
This disc introduces Yo-Yo Ma's latest and most ambitious adventure, the Silk Road Project. It explores the cultures that flourished along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East. Founded by Ma in 1998, the project aims to create connections, mutual trust, and cultural interchange between people from different parts of the world through their only shared language: music. This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians from all those countries, as well as America, on both Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song native to her region. For the uninitiated Western listener, the music requires some getting used to. Much of it is based on rhythmic ostinatos. The melodies use Oriental scales; the intonation is untempered; the music seems all color, texture, and atmosphere, without what might be called themes; and repetition takes the place of development. Contrast is achieved through sudden change, buildup by adding instruments. However, the music is often beautiful, delicate, dreamy, or peaceful; every listener will find his or her own favorite pieces. The playing is splendid, with much inventive improvisation. Inevitably, Ma's tone and personality stand out, but he never dominates in fact or spirit. The booklet offers essays by Ma and the project's musicologist, Theodore Levin, photographs of the players, and drawings of the Eastern instruments. --Edith Eisler. more...
more articles here >>>
TRAVEL: Monastery Tour in Georgia, July 1st-11th, 2010 (georgianchant.org)
Georgianchant.org is committed to supporting projects that preserve, protect, and promote the study and practice of Georgian liturgical chant. Please see a list of project initiatives listed at left.
Contact: John A Graham johnananda@georgianchant.org
Monastery Tour 2010
Includes new sites in central and southern Georgia - Vardzia, Zarzma, Gelati - See our 2010 tour Itinerary
Articles on Georgian Chant
Review two articles in English by Georgia's leading chant scholars, Malkhaz Erkvanidze and David Shugliashvili, on the Resources page.
Archival Music
See our updated Archival Recordings page for Gramophone recordings of Georgian chant from the early 20th century
In our fifth season, join us for an exploration of Georgia's oldest monasteries, founded in the sixth century by Christian ascetics from Syria. Be among the first westerners to rediscover the frescoes and acoustics of these ancient houses of worship set amidst rolling vineyards, towering peaks, and the desert vistas of the Caspian basin. Led by co-authors Luarsab Togonidze and John A. Graham, this unique tour seeks to investigate the sounds and wonders of medieval Georgia, while presenting the world-famous hospitality and charm of modern Georgia ...
Upcoming Tours
2010 Monastery Tour, July 1st-11th
Basiani Ensemble Tour, October 2011
Past Tours
Pacific Northwest Workshop Tour, September 2009
Zedashe Ensemble Tour, October 2007
Chant History
Transcription Movement
Music Websites
General
Georgian Choir Websites
Notation
Liturgy Chants
Recordings
Recent Recordings
Archival Recordings
Anchiskhati Church Choir Tour, October 2005
Websites
Orthodox Chant
Literature
"Introduction," by Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Gelati Monastery Chants, Vol. II
"Introduction," by David Shugliashvili, Georgian Church Hymns, Shemokmedi
Project Links
Agsavali Transcription Project
Downloads
Agsavali Project Details.doc
Contact: John A Graham johnananda@georgianchant.org
Monastery Tour 2010
Includes new sites in central and southern Georgia - Vardzia, Zarzma, Gelati - See our 2010 tour Itinerary
Articles on Georgian Chant
Review two articles in English by Georgia's leading chant scholars, Malkhaz Erkvanidze and David Shugliashvili, on the Resources page.
Archival Music
See our updated Archival Recordings page for Gramophone recordings of Georgian chant from the early 20th century
In our fifth season, join us for an exploration of Georgia's oldest monasteries, founded in the sixth century by Christian ascetics from Syria. Be among the first westerners to rediscover the frescoes and acoustics of these ancient houses of worship set amidst rolling vineyards, towering peaks, and the desert vistas of the Caspian basin. Led by co-authors Luarsab Togonidze and John A. Graham, this unique tour seeks to investigate the sounds and wonders of medieval Georgia, while presenting the world-famous hospitality and charm of modern Georgia ... Upcoming Tours
2010 Monastery Tour, July 1st-11th
Basiani Ensemble Tour, October 2011
Past Tours
Pacific Northwest Workshop Tour, September 2009
Zedashe Ensemble Tour, October 2007
Chant History
Transcription Movement
Music Websites
General
Georgian Choir Websites
Notation
Liturgy Chants
Recordings
Recent Recordings
Archival Recordings
Anchiskhati Church Choir Tour, October 2005
Websites
Orthodox Chant
Literature
"Introduction," by Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Gelati Monastery Chants, Vol. II
"Introduction," by David Shugliashvili, Georgian Church Hymns, Shemokmedi
Project Links
Agsavali Transcription Project
Downloads
Agsavali Project Details.doc
PHOTOGRAPHY: Stepantsminda In Kazbegi. By Unknown Photographer
Anybody knows the photographer of this awesome view ??Through face book some days later a friendly young woman sent me the author of this photo: Avtandil Gurgenidze
POLICY: The Turkish-Armenian Border and the Karabakh Conflict: Normalisation as Geopolitics (caucaz.com)
Article published in 04/12/2009 Issue
By Christian KOLTER in Yerevan/Leipzig
Translated by Tanja TSCHOERNER
On April 23rd of this year, Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement and created a road-map to normalise their relations. Switzerland and the USA were mediators. This agreement will open the Turkish-Armenian border in the near future. The border has been closed since 1993 and it is the hope that its re-opening will be a sign of good faith between the two nations. On the other hand, whether the good intentions of opening the border can be understood outside of the context of the agreement remains to be seen.
full article >>>
By Christian KOLTER in Yerevan/Leipzig
Translated by Tanja TSCHOERNER
On April 23rd of this year, Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement and created a road-map to normalise their relations. Switzerland and the USA were mediators. This agreement will open the Turkish-Armenian border in the near future. The border has been closed since 1993 and it is the hope that its re-opening will be a sign of good faith between the two nations. On the other hand, whether the good intentions of opening the border can be understood outside of the context of the agreement remains to be seen.
full article >>>
ARTIKEL: Der Markt von Kabali in Kachetien: Regionale Integration durch das Pferd? Von Nicolas LANDRU (caucaz.com)
Artikel erschienen am 26/01/2010
in Kabali/Ninigori
Übersetzt von Astrid HAGER
Der Viehmarkt von Kabali in Kachetien, an der südöstlichen Grenze Georgiens und einige Kilometer von der Grenzelinie zu Aserbaidschan entfernt, erscheint wie die Wiederkehr einer anderen Epoche. Dieser Markt ist der größte seiner Art in Georgien, im Herzen einer Region, in der sich Völker und Kulturen überlappen. Hier treffen sich Weidewirtschaft und Sesshaftigkeit und lassen Einblicke in den beispielhaften Tropismus von Dutzenden von Lokalwirtschaften im Transkaukasus zu.
Der ganze Artikel >>>
english article >>>
in Kabali/Ninigori
Übersetzt von Astrid HAGER
Der Viehmarkt von Kabali in Kachetien, an der südöstlichen Grenze Georgiens und einige Kilometer von der Grenzelinie zu Aserbaidschan entfernt, erscheint wie die Wiederkehr einer anderen Epoche. Dieser Markt ist der größte seiner Art in Georgien, im Herzen einer Region, in der sich Völker und Kulturen überlappen. Hier treffen sich Weidewirtschaft und Sesshaftigkeit und lassen Einblicke in den beispielhaften Tropismus von Dutzenden von Lokalwirtschaften im Transkaukasus zu.Der ganze Artikel >>>
english article >>>
PHOTOGRAPHY: IDPs from Abkhazia in Tbilisi: Lives' Shipwrecked. By Tamara Jalaghania (caucaz.com)
Since 1993 and their expulsion from Abkhazia, 150 families of refugees invested a disused building, the former "Kartli" sanatorium, alike a shipwreck in the surroundings of an lake, the "Tbilisi sea". What is this weird abandon? Which horizons are they heading to? Following the collapse of the Soviet Union (1992-94),the nationalistic upheaval and the ethnic conflicts in Georgia entailed the secession of the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In Abkhazia, around half of the population, i.e. 250’000 persons of Georgian origin, was forced to exile in Central Georgia.
Like many other IDPs, these men and women from the "Kartli" sanatorium live here, in the periphery of Georgia's capital Tbilisi, forgotten and as strangers in this isolated land. They form a community of uprooted, who practice solidarity as their sole mean of survival. When one follows them in their daily lives, they reveal and tell the meaning of their existences as exiles.
The collective centre where they live makes us think of a shipwreck, abandoned and deteriorated, suspended in time. The endless corridors, the crumbling walls, the washed-out number of these room-flats, such as hermetic boxes, illustrate the hazards of existence, the difficulty to reconstruct one’s destiny.
Tamuna Jalaghania is an independant photographer, an author of photographs which are on the edge between Arts and documentary, especially centered on humans and portraits. She is preparing a documentary film together with a French director on the Kartli sanatorium's IDPs, which will be called "Life in Transit".
Tamuna Jalaghania's Website - fleurcerise@yahoo.fr
On the same topic, see the article Portrait of Displaced Georgians: Current Situation and Prospects
ARTIKEL: Porträt der georgischen Vertriebenen : Stand der Dinge und Perspektiven. Von Sophie TOURNON (caucaz.com)
Artikel erschienen am 26/01/2010Ubersetzt von Félix KRAWATZEK
Die georgischen Vertriebenen sind eine mittlerweile mehr als 15 Jahre andauernde soziale, ökonomische und politische Realität – ein Thema welches teilweise in die politische Agenda des Landes Einzug gefunden hat. Die in etwa 200 000 Personen, ungefähr 5% der Gesamtbevölkerung, befinden sich nicht nur am sozialen Rande der Gesellschaft, sondern werden darüber hinaus politisch instrumentalisiert. Stand der Dinge einer empflindlichen Frage ...
Die Frage der Vertriebenen drängte sich Georgien mit dem Abchasienkrieg zu Beginn der 1990er Jahre auf. Der Konflikt endete 1993 mit der de facto Unabhängigkeit Abchasiens und ethnischen Säuberungen in der Region: praktisch alle Georgier aus Abchasien haben die Flucht ergriffen, wurden somit zu Vertriebenen. Der Konflikt, in welchem sich 1992 Tbilissi und Süd-Ossetien gegenüberstanden, gefolgt im August 2008 von einem fünf Tage anhaltenden Krieg gegen Süd-Ossetien und Russland, hat zu weiteren Wellen von Vertriebenen geführt. Dieser letzte Konflikt vergewissert die Vertriebenen in dem Fortbestand ihrer Situation, denn eine Rückkehr ist seither immer unwahrscheinlicher.
Der ganze Artikel >>>
ESSAY: Georgiens Skandal während der ukrainischen Wahlen: Setzt die Anti-Kreml-Front alles auf eine Karte? Von Nicolas LANDRU (caucaz.com)
Artikel erschienen am 11/02/2010Übersetzt von Jennifer EGGERT
Die Präsidentschaftswahlen in der Ukraine werden für den Verbündeten des scheidenden Präsidenten Wiktor Juschtschenko – das Georgien von Micheil Saakaschwili – entscheidender sein als bisher angenommen. Diese strategische „Anti-Kreml“-Allianz wird durch die persönliche Freundschaft der beiden Männer bestärkt, welche durch die farbigen Revolutionen groß geworden sind. In diesem Rahmen hat die Hilfe, die Tbilissi dem Land der orangenen Revolution während dessen Präsidentschaftswahlen zukommen lassen wollte, nun zum größten politischen Skandal in Georgien seit dem Augustkrieg von 2008 geführt. Versucht die georgische Regierung, die ukrainischen Wahlen zu Gunsten ihrer antirussischen Verbündeten Julija Timoschenko zu beeinflussen? Dessen beschuldigt sie der Gegenkandidat Wiktor Janukowitsch, genauso wie die georgischen Oppositionsparteien.
Der ganze Artikel >>>
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
ART: At Tate Modern, Gorky’s Power and Poetry (intransit.blogs.nytimes.com)
Starting tomorrow, fans of Arshile Gorky should head straight to the Tate Modern (Bankside, SE1; 44-207-887-8888; www.tate.org.uk/modern/), which is hosting the first major retrospective of the enormously influential artist to be seen in Europe in about 20 years.
One of the most revered painters of the 20th century, the Armenian-born Gorky produced paintings of haunting grandeur. Synthesizing the work of artists like Breton, Cézanne and Picasso, he helped to create the Abstract Expressionist movement (he was a teacher to Mark Rothko and a friend to Willem de Kooning). But Gorky, who escaped the Armenian genocide in 1915, also led a difficult life — evident in the evolution of his work — and ultimately committed suicide.
The Gorky exhibition, which originated at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and runs at the Tate through May 3, features the particularly searing painting “The Artist and his Mother,” which exposes the rawness of Gorky’s pain at seeing his mother die of starvation. In contrast, after spending time in the countryside with his wife in the ’40s, he began painting radiant works, such as the luminous “Waterfall,” with its fluid, amorphous shapes and drips of liquid paint.
“Gorky is a great artist,” Matthew Gale, a curator at the Tate Modern, said, “and this is an opportunity for a new generation to reassess the power and delicate lyricism of his work in depth. Abstract Expressionism was vitally infused with his example. As is often the case, however, it was the influence of an attitude — in Gorky, passionate, exacting, inventive, ultimately tragic — that was more powerful than any stylistic influence.”
The Tate Modern is open Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
source: intransit.blogs.nytimes.com
BLOG: Der Südkaukasusus bei WELTREPORTER.NET
Schon seit einiger Zeit besuche ich immer wieder diese interessante Seite: www.weltreporter.net. Auch zu der Region im Süüdkaukasus findet man interesante Artikel in diesem proffesionellen Netzwerk.
REPORTERWELT... ist das Blog des Korrespondentennetzes WELTREPORTER.NET. Gemeinsam arbeiten wir an der Verkleinerung der Welt [mehr].
Dienstag, 03. November 2009 - 15:41 Uhr
Georgisch. Schrecklich. Schön. von Stefan Scholl [E-Mail]
Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009 - 17:05 Uhr
Produktionsprozess Abgelegt unter: Reporteralltag, Türkei von Susanne Güsten [E-Mail]
Samstag, 16. August 2008 - 12:53 Uhr
Das viel kleinere Übel. Russland interveniert in Georgien Abgelegt unter: Russland von Stefan Scholl [E-Mail]
Hier ist der Blog: www.weltreporter.net/blog/
REPORTERWELT... ist das Blog des Korrespondentennetzes WELTREPORTER.NET. Gemeinsam arbeiten wir an der Verkleinerung der Welt [mehr].
Dienstag, 03. November 2009 - 15:41 Uhr
Georgisch. Schrecklich. Schön. von Stefan Scholl [E-Mail]
Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009 - 17:05 Uhr
Produktionsprozess Abgelegt unter: Reporteralltag, Türkei von Susanne Güsten [E-Mail]
Samstag, 16. August 2008 - 12:53 Uhr
Das viel kleinere Übel. Russland interveniert in Georgien Abgelegt unter: Russland von Stefan Scholl [E-Mail]
Hier ist der Blog: www.weltreporter.net/blog/
FILM: Anjelika Artyukh: Caucasian Lessons (chtodelat.wordpress.com)
(Guest post by our friend the Petersburg film critic and scholar Anjelika Artyukh. For more information about Russian Lessons, see the film’s official website.)
Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya’s film Russian Lessons will never be shown on Russian television. Not, at least, until Russia becomes a democratic state with a free mass media. It is entirely possible that many western channels will refuse to buy it, because the issues that it touches on also concern the western world and the mass media in the West. The future of Russian Lessons lies at festivals, which makes the fact that its very first festival screening was in Rotterdam, a place where such films usually don’t go unnoticed, particularly important.
more here >>>
Thanks for this tipp to my friend Nini Palavandishvili!
Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya’s film Russian Lessons will never be shown on Russian television. Not, at least, until Russia becomes a democratic state with a free mass media. It is entirely possible that many western channels will refuse to buy it, because the issues that it touches on also concern the western world and the mass media in the West. The future of Russian Lessons lies at festivals, which makes the fact that its very first festival screening was in Rotterdam, a place where such films usually don’t go unnoticed, particularly important.
more here >>>
Thanks for this tipp to my friend Nini Palavandishvili!
FILM: Kaukasus im Mittelpunkt der DOK Leipzig 2010 (mdr.de)
Getreu seiner Tradition als "Fenster zur Welt" präsentiert das Internationale Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm seinem Publikum vom 18.10. bis 24.10.2010 wieder die besten neuen Animations- und Dokumentarfilme aus über 50 Ländern.Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm
Das Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm präsentiert in diesem Jahr vor allem Filme aus dem Kaukasus. Wie die die Organisatoren mitteilten werden Dokumentationen von Filmemachern aus Armenien, Aserbaidschan, Georgien, dem Süden der Russischen Föderation und Tschetschenien zu sehen sein. "Die Besucher können sich einen tiefen Einblick und ihr eigenes Urteil über diese Region verschaffen, die landschaftlich atemberaubend schön und zugleich seit Jahrhunderten heiß umkämpft ist." Im 53. Festivaljahrgang stehen rund 350 Filme von mehreren Kontinenten auf dem Programm.
Politische Konflikte im Fokus
Eine große Rolle in den Dokumentarfilmen spielen politische Konflikte. "Im Kaukasus-Special werden natürlich der Tschetschenienkonflikt, der Konflikt zwischen Georgien und Russland und die Spannung zwischen dem Islam und dem Christentum eine Rolle spielen", sagte Festivaldirektor Claas Danielsen. "Das ist für uns selber auch ein Abenteuer, weil die Produktionsbedingungen dort sehr schwierig sind."
Themenschwerpunkt Geld
Vor dem Hintergrund der Finanzkrise widmet sich ein weiteres Spezialprogramm des Festivals dem Thema "Geld". Gesucht werden laut Festivaldirektor Danielsen Dokumentar- und Animationsfilme, die das Thema zum Teil humorvoll und zum Teil sehr ernst ergründen. Es gehe darum, welche Rolle Geld heute in unserer Gesellschaft spiele und wie sie sich im Verlauf der Zeit geändert hat.
Das Festival von 1955 bis heute
1955 gegründet, war das DOK-Festival das erste unabhängige Filmfestival in der DDR. Zu Zeiten des Kalten Krieges nutzten Filmschaffende aus Ost und West die Veranstaltung als Möglichkeit zur Begegnung und zum Austausch. Nach der Wende konnte sich das Leipziger Festival behaupten. Es entwickelte sich zu einem der führenden internationalen Festivals für künstlerischen Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm. Das Nebeneinander dieser beiden Sparten macht "DOK Leipzig" einzigartig. (mdr.de)
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
LITERATURE: Conversation about Knut Hamsun in Georgia in facebook between Kyrre Johannesen and Giorgi Kvatchadze (facebook.com)
Post #1Kyrre Johannesen wrote on December 29, 2009 at 8:52am
Does anyone know of Georgian references to Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun's travel in the Caucasus region and Georgia?I'v been looking for such for some time without finding it.
Post #2
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wroteo n January 12, 2010 at 12:01pm
The books of Knut Hamsun are still adorning shelves of my library. Unbeliavably fine writer, whom I owe a lot of nice memories and splendidly spent time of my childhood. There are Knut Hamsun's references and descriptions of his travel through the caucasus in Georgian language, however I am not aware of any English version. He seemed quite influenced by this journey, and particularly by Georgia. (Excuse me Mr. Kyrre for such a delayed comment, but hitherto I have not encountered your post. Now I randomly did while skimming through some other posts) If you have any other question regarding Hamsun's travel in the Caucasus, I will be more than happy to reply to them.
Post #3
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:11pm
Thank you so much.I'd love to have those Hamsun-references even if they are in Georgian.
Unfortunately I don't speak the language yet, but I'm trying to learn it.
Any references will be gold for me. I have this old dream to travel in Hamsun's "footsteps" so to say in Georgia, and I have been loking for these references for some time. I know that there has been a Hamsun day i Tbilisi in November 2009 and I have a hope to find out something from that source. Georgia is such a fascinating country, and my dream stays. I thank you for your answer and I'd be so grateful if you could send the references you know.
All the best.Kyrre.
Post #4
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:20pm
My pleasure. I will do my best to find online versions of those sources that I have in hard copy in here. By the way I myself attended the opening of Knut Hamsun's bas-relief in my home city-Batumi. Also I have his 'Mysteries' in Georgian langauge ( check it out on the following link>>> ). I will be further checking if any version of his 'Journey to the Caucasus' is available. I appreciate your valuable respect for my country.
Post #5
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:29pm
Thank you so much. I am so grateful. This brings me a step closer to my dream. Your links are interesting to me, especially your Hamsun bas-relief in the beautiful city Batumi. This lifted my day, Giorgi Kvatchadze. By the way I was born in Lofoten region which is not far from Hamarøy, where Hamsun lived some years of his life and in some of his books the influence from nature scenery in these regions of Norway is visible. Kyrre J.
Report
Post #6
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:31pm
(Here you will see the place in Tbilisi where Knut Hamsun stayed during his stay in Georgia >>>)
Report
Post #7
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:34pm
Knut Hamsun is very specially admired and revered here in Georgia. I dont know how is it in the other part of the world.
Report
Post #8
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:52pm
Well, in my home country, Norway it seems we can never rest the debate on Hamsun. Most people have strong positive view on his literature, and at the same time many cannot forget what position he took for Germany against England and our government abroad during the second world war. My father, Karl Johannesen fought against the german army in Narvik in 1942, (I will send a ref. to a book about this battle if you would be interested) and he didn't appreciate Hamsun's activity during the war, but he never stopped telling me wonderfully about how much he loved Hamsun's books. So you know, my heritige is part of my dream, and I intend to fullfill it some time. Your answer is so positive for me, and it seems I have not been looking closely enough to find some of the references you gave. I thank you so much again. Kyrre.
Report
Post #9
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 1:06pm
You are more than welcome sir. I will be providing more interesting links and resources once they are at my disposition. Yes, indeed Hamsun remains highly debatable person in regards with his views on Nazi Germany during the world war 2, however this cant overshadow legacy and geniality of his literature. He is not the sole non-German writer though who is accused of suppoorting the Nazi Germany. Outstanding Georgian novelist Grigol Robaqidze is also commonly slammed for his inclination towards the Nazi Germany, and particularly towards Hitler. It seems to me that Hamsun's relation to Nazi Germany is as ambivalent and mysterious as his 'Mysteries' and all his literature. Your interest to the subject seems to me very stunning and special. Hence, I will keep in touch with you more frequently, albeit not tonight, as it's too late for Georgian time now. However, I am glad we contacted each other due to the common interest in Hamsun's litelature and his weltanschauung. It was nice to talk with you. Have a good night. Sincerely,Giorgi
Post #4
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:20pm
My pleasure. I will do my best to find online versions of those sources that I have in hard copy in here. By the way I myself attended the opening of Knut Hamsun's bas-relief in my home city-Batumi. Also I have his 'Mysteries' in Georgian langauge ( check it out on the following link>>> ). I will be further checking if any version of his 'Journey to the Caucasus' is available. I appreciate your valuable respect for my country.
Post #5
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:29pm
Thank you so much. I am so grateful. This brings me a step closer to my dream. Your links are interesting to me, especially your Hamsun bas-relief in the beautiful city Batumi. This lifted my day, Giorgi Kvatchadze. By the way I was born in Lofoten region which is not far from Hamarøy, where Hamsun lived some years of his life and in some of his books the influence from nature scenery in these regions of Norway is visible. Kyrre J.
Report
Post #6
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:31pm
(Here you will see the place in Tbilisi where Knut Hamsun stayed during his stay in Georgia >>>)
Report
Post #7
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:34pm
Knut Hamsun is very specially admired and revered here in Georgia. I dont know how is it in the other part of the world.
Report
Post #8
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:52pm
Well, in my home country, Norway it seems we can never rest the debate on Hamsun. Most people have strong positive view on his literature, and at the same time many cannot forget what position he took for Germany against England and our government abroad during the second world war. My father, Karl Johannesen fought against the german army in Narvik in 1942, (I will send a ref. to a book about this battle if you would be interested) and he didn't appreciate Hamsun's activity during the war, but he never stopped telling me wonderfully about how much he loved Hamsun's books. So you know, my heritige is part of my dream, and I intend to fullfill it some time. Your answer is so positive for me, and it seems I have not been looking closely enough to find some of the references you gave. I thank you so much again. Kyrre.
Report
Post #9
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 1:06pm
You are more than welcome sir. I will be providing more interesting links and resources once they are at my disposition. Yes, indeed Hamsun remains highly debatable person in regards with his views on Nazi Germany during the world war 2, however this cant overshadow legacy and geniality of his literature. He is not the sole non-German writer though who is accused of suppoorting the Nazi Germany. Outstanding Georgian novelist Grigol Robaqidze is also commonly slammed for his inclination towards the Nazi Germany, and particularly towards Hitler. It seems to me that Hamsun's relation to Nazi Germany is as ambivalent and mysterious as his 'Mysteries' and all his literature. Your interest to the subject seems to me very stunning and special. Hence, I will keep in touch with you more frequently, albeit not tonight, as it's too late for Georgian time now. However, I am glad we contacted each other due to the common interest in Hamsun's litelature and his weltanschauung. It was nice to talk with you. Have a good night. Sincerely,Giorgi
Sunday, February 07, 2010
PHOTOGRAPHY: The Photographer Arsineh Khachikian (flickr.com)
Interview with Armenian photographer: Arsineh Khachikian
Arsineh is a photographer who followed System of A Down in their Mezmerize Tour in 2005, she delivered to fans outstanding shoots for their favorite band.In 2006, Arsineh followed Serj Tankian & John Dolmayan with her camera in their visit to Capitol Hill Observance and their rally to push the Armenian Genocide bill. She also joined 'Screamers' movie crew and took photos of the movie screening in some different places.Arsineh was nice enough to give us her consent for exclusive interview for SOADFans talking about her experience with shooting System of A Down live on the stage, outside the stage and other things. ... full interview >>>
Arsineh Khachikian currently lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia as a freelance graphic designer and photographer. Her expertise is in concept development, image building, identity branding and publishing. She has received the Indie Music Award for Best CD packaging, the Armenian Music Award for Best Album Cover in 2002 and 2005, and was nominated for the same category in 2003. Arsineh recently published her first autobiographical book expressed through her photography, titled "My Nation: The Trails and Trials of an Armenian Repatriate."
OCTOBER 21 • PAINT THE TOWN RED
I've been saying for a few years now that I would like to see an organized effort to fund graffiti artists local and abroad for a "Yerevan Graffiti" project. All these "dallans" and tunnels around town are hardly architectural treasures, and often depressing. Sometimes you see graffiti like in this photo, but never anything fantastic. I know it's not a popular or appreciated art, but it is one that I love and I hope to make this possible one day, or see someone run with the idea. I hold no intellectual property on this idea, if you like it... do it! :) Also, I had no internet yesterday, so I skipped a day. Sorry.
© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian
DECEMBER 3, 2009 • SEVAN SKIES
Winter time in Armenia carries a peaceful serenity that is over-shadowed by the roars of tourists in the summer time. Sevan in particular was a captivating sight surrounded by snowcapped mountains. Enjoying every minute, every opportunity.
© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian
FEBRUARY 7, 2010 • MOTHERHOOD
A tribute to the mothers who battle every day to keep their family going. Mothers in general have it tough. Mothers in Armenia make motherhood in the rest of the world look like a vacation. This is the wife of a distant cousin of mine in Armenia.
© 2010 Arsineh Khachikian
more here:
www.flickr.com/people/arkreative
twitter.com/arskhach
www.arkreative.com/
Arsineh is a photographer who followed System of A Down in their Mezmerize Tour in 2005, she delivered to fans outstanding shoots for their favorite band.In 2006, Arsineh followed Serj Tankian & John Dolmayan with her camera in their visit to Capitol Hill Observance and their rally to push the Armenian Genocide bill. She also joined 'Screamers' movie crew and took photos of the movie screening in some different places.Arsineh was nice enough to give us her consent for exclusive interview for SOADFans talking about her experience with shooting System of A Down live on the stage, outside the stage and other things. ... full interview >>>
Arsineh Khachikian currently lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia as a freelance graphic designer and photographer. Her expertise is in concept development, image building, identity branding and publishing. She has received the Indie Music Award for Best CD packaging, the Armenian Music Award for Best Album Cover in 2002 and 2005, and was nominated for the same category in 2003. Arsineh recently published her first autobiographical book expressed through her photography, titled "My Nation: The Trails and Trials of an Armenian Repatriate."
OCTOBER 21 • PAINT THE TOWN REDI've been saying for a few years now that I would like to see an organized effort to fund graffiti artists local and abroad for a "Yerevan Graffiti" project. All these "dallans" and tunnels around town are hardly architectural treasures, and often depressing. Sometimes you see graffiti like in this photo, but never anything fantastic. I know it's not a popular or appreciated art, but it is one that I love and I hope to make this possible one day, or see someone run with the idea. I hold no intellectual property on this idea, if you like it... do it! :) Also, I had no internet yesterday, so I skipped a day. Sorry.
© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian
DECEMBER 3, 2009 • SEVAN SKIESWinter time in Armenia carries a peaceful serenity that is over-shadowed by the roars of tourists in the summer time. Sevan in particular was a captivating sight surrounded by snowcapped mountains. Enjoying every minute, every opportunity.
© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian
FEBRUARY 7, 2010 • MOTHERHOODA tribute to the mothers who battle every day to keep their family going. Mothers in general have it tough. Mothers in Armenia make motherhood in the rest of the world look like a vacation. This is the wife of a distant cousin of mine in Armenia.
© 2010 Arsineh Khachikian
more here:
www.flickr.com/people/arkreative
twitter.com/arskhach
www.arkreative.com/
MUSEUM: Ex-Guggenheim Director betting on Bilbao-Style Project for Baku (eurasianet.org)
By Shahin Abbasov
Thomas Krens, the influential former Guggenheim Museum director who oversaw the museum’s dynamic, yet controversial expansion to Bilbao, Spain, now has energy-rich Baku, Azerbaijan, in his sights.
At first glance, Krens’ vision for Baku -- conceived by his New York City-based consulting group, Global Cultural Asset Management (GCAM), along with the American firm Asymptote Architecture -- might be taken for another one of Dubai’s seaside fantasy palaces. The project features a circular walkway projecting out into the Caspian Sea that is dotted with works by celebrity artists Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor. It also envisions a high-rise tower by Guggenheim Bilbao architect Frank Gehry. The walkway, a projected 90-minute stroll, would be anchored to the Baku shoreline by a Bilbao-style modern art museum, as depicted in a YouTube video posted by Asymptote Architecture.
full article >>>
BAKU AZERBAIJAN ECO CULTURAL MASTER PLAN by Asymptote Architecture
Thomas Krens, the influential former Guggenheim Museum director who oversaw the museum’s dynamic, yet controversial expansion to Bilbao, Spain, now has energy-rich Baku, Azerbaijan, in his sights.
At first glance, Krens’ vision for Baku -- conceived by his New York City-based consulting group, Global Cultural Asset Management (GCAM), along with the American firm Asymptote Architecture -- might be taken for another one of Dubai’s seaside fantasy palaces. The project features a circular walkway projecting out into the Caspian Sea that is dotted with works by celebrity artists Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor. It also envisions a high-rise tower by Guggenheim Bilbao architect Frank Gehry. The walkway, a projected 90-minute stroll, would be anchored to the Baku shoreline by a Bilbao-style modern art museum, as depicted in a YouTube video posted by Asymptote Architecture.
full article >>>
BAKU AZERBAIJAN ECO CULTURAL MASTER PLAN by Asymptote Architecture
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The Caucasus Protected Areas Fund
Russian Caucasus media iron curtain
Languages in the Caucasus
Projektentwicklung Caucasus Hostel Telavi
Slavic-type aspect in the Caucasus
R. Galichian: Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps ...
Prüfungsbericht Jahresabschluss zum 31. Dezember 2008 Caucasus ...
Open Innovation Across The Prosperity Gap: An Essay On Getting The ...
The Leopard, Panthera pardus, (Carnivora: Felidae) and its ...
Beitrag
Gntomoj auna
Caucasus Protected Areas Fund, Frankfurt am Main Gewinn- und ...
Berlin-Brandenburger Forum Osteuropa, Rundbrief 18.02.2009
Seminar in Tbilissi vom 24.-28. August 2009
V. Bibliography
Der Kaukasus im Blick
Einige Materialien zur Moosflora des Orients
V. Bibliography Abubakarov, Taymaz (1998). Rezhim Dshokhara ...
Programm des Symposiums Von Majkop bis Trialeti
Eurasian glacier recession and environmental warming, a zonal ...
GTZ Stipendienprogramm für LL.M.-Studien in Deutschland: GTZ ...
Georgische Weine
Lists of German-Russian Settlements & Early Settlers In Russia ...
C:Documents and Settingswis...M_PDF_C_2007_6380_1_XX[1].pdf
Botanische Sammlungen, Museen, Institute etc.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Scout Training Centre Rustavi
CAMERA TRAPS CATCH THE LEOPARD IN ARMENIA
Naturschutz in Armenien
Georgien: Behandlungsmöglichkeiten von Hepatitis C und der Umgang ...
DA V I D TA R K H N I S H V I L I
Recherchemedien Kaukasusgebiet\374
Research Centre for East European Studies / Forschungsstelle ...
Christoph Zürcher Professor Freie Universität Berlin Department of ...
1 Z/2aa AAKROSH : Asian journal on terrorism and internal ...
Sehen Sie hier, welche Sprachen mit den W1G - Download fonts from ...
Bntomof
Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Polizeidepartement EJPD
Berlin-Brandenburger Forum Osteuropa, Rundbrief 09.05.2008
Martin Kaul
Internet: www.pdfgeni.com
Russian Caucasus media iron curtain
Languages in the Caucasus
Projektentwicklung Caucasus Hostel Telavi
Slavic-type aspect in the Caucasus
R. Galichian: Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps ...
Prüfungsbericht Jahresabschluss zum 31. Dezember 2008 Caucasus ...
Open Innovation Across The Prosperity Gap: An Essay On Getting The ...
The Leopard, Panthera pardus, (Carnivora: Felidae) and its ...
Beitrag
Gntomoj auna
Caucasus Protected Areas Fund, Frankfurt am Main Gewinn- und ...
Berlin-Brandenburger Forum Osteuropa, Rundbrief 18.02.2009
Seminar in Tbilissi vom 24.-28. August 2009
V. Bibliography
Der Kaukasus im Blick
Einige Materialien zur Moosflora des Orients
V. Bibliography Abubakarov, Taymaz (1998). Rezhim Dshokhara ...
Programm des Symposiums Von Majkop bis Trialeti
Eurasian glacier recession and environmental warming, a zonal ...
GTZ Stipendienprogramm für LL.M.-Studien in Deutschland: GTZ ...
Georgische Weine
Lists of German-Russian Settlements & Early Settlers In Russia ...
C:Documents and Settingswis...M_PDF_C_2007_6380_1_XX[1].pdf
Botanische Sammlungen, Museen, Institute etc.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Scout Training Centre Rustavi
CAMERA TRAPS CATCH THE LEOPARD IN ARMENIA
Naturschutz in Armenien
Georgien: Behandlungsmöglichkeiten von Hepatitis C und der Umgang ...
DA V I D TA R K H N I S H V I L I
Recherchemedien Kaukasusgebiet\374
Research Centre for East European Studies / Forschungsstelle ...
Christoph Zürcher Professor Freie Universität Berlin Department of ...
1 Z/2aa AAKROSH : Asian journal on terrorism and internal ...
Sehen Sie hier, welche Sprachen mit den W1G - Download fonts from ...
Bntomof
Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Polizeidepartement EJPD
Berlin-Brandenburger Forum Osteuropa, Rundbrief 09.05.2008
Martin Kaul
Internet: www.pdfgeni.com
Saturday, February 06, 2010
ART & ARCHITECTURE: Art Villa Garikula in Georgia (garikula.org)
Art Villa Garikula invites, hosts and promotes contemporary art and culture festivals and meetings in Garikula, Akhalkalaki (Kaspi region, Georgia).
Art Villa Garikula supports residence, exchange and educational programs. See Event archive.
Garikula, or Art Villa Garikula, works on dream and passion to transform Garikula district of Akhalkalaki into a "city of festivals," an art village where visual artists, filmmakers and musicians will work together, promote their art and invite international contributors and audience from cities and villages.
Contact us www.garikula.org
REVIEW: A new war in the Caucasus? Shanibov and the Circassians. (timesonline.co.uk)
Georgi M. Derluguian
BOURDIEU’S SECRET ADMIRER IN THE CAUCASUS
A world-system biography406pp. Chicago University Press, distributed in the UK by Wiley.
Paperback, £17.50.0 226 14283 3
source (timesonline.co.uk) >>>
There is a new war brewing in the North Caucasus, but so far few people seem to have noticed. It will involve places that rarely make it onto the front page of major newspapers, yet it could be as bloody and intractable as the guerrilla conflict in Chechnya, which has dragged on now, with a brief hiatus, since 1994. Over the past several months, the Prime Minister of Ingushetia, which neighbours Chechnya to the west, barely survived an assassination attempt. Bombs and attacks on local police have become weekly occurrences in the eastern republic of Dagestan. In the west, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia are beset by interethnic tensions. In Chechnya, the unrecognized secessionist government recently named Shamil Basaev – the architect of last year’s 2004 school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, which left over 300 children and adults dead – as deputy leader. Basaev’s boss, the Islamic scholar Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, has announced a policy of widening the holy war against “unbelievers”. Fuelled by local authoritarianism, clan politics, religious fervour and Vladimir Putin’s own intransigence, violence in the North Caucasus is likely to escalate. One is reminded of the old saw about pessimists and optimists: the former believe things could not get worse; the latter know they could.
Making sense of the Caucasus has never been easy. The ethnic complexity of the region, its situation at the intersection of competing states and empires, and the volatile mix of poverty, religion, and the covetousness of geopolitical neighbours – for slaves in one era, for oil in another – have long made it a troubled borderland. Georgi M. Derluguian’s curiously titled Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is, without a doubt, the most engaging and deeply analytical guide to this knotty region to have been produced in the past decade. It is even more than that, however, for Derluguian is concerned with answering three gigantic questions about East European and Eurasian affairs. Why did the Soviet Empire collapse? Why did it do so violently in some areas but relatively peacefully in others? And what accounts for the diversity of new polities – from rigid sultanates to consolidated democracies – that now stand on its ruins?
Derluguian’s answers to these questions are unconventional. The collapse of the Soviet system was part of the broader crisis of “developmental states” in the 1980s and 90s, states that had arrogated to themselves a whole host of responsibilities that they were increasingly unable to fulfil. In the context of a collapsing political order, mid-level bureaucrats in these states scrambled for ways of securing their livelihoods; the most resourceful of them turned to nationalism and ethnic exclusivism as alternative sources of legitimacy. The masses, however, were not simply duped by thesenew elites; they, too, found ethnic linkages to be crucial sources of social capital at a time when alternatives – class, for example – suddenly disappeared.
People at all levels of society grasped what they could in the chaotic politics that attended the end of Soviet-style socialism. It is thus no coincidence, as Derluguian points out, that developmental states such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia broke up not along lines of ethnicity, but along lines of turf: the mini-republics and provinces where local elites could carve out some degree of authority. If such internal units happened to bear the name of a distinct ethnic group – Kazakhstan for the Kazakhs, Croatia for the Croatians – all the better. Second-rank bureaucrats and third-rate poets could then refashion themselves as fathers of the nation.
The centrepiece of Derluguian’s story is a Circassian by the name of Musa Shanib, known in his earlier Soviet life as Iurii Shanibov. Although the Chechens get all the press today, for much of the nineteenth century it was the Circassians who presented the gravest challenge to the Russian Empire. Their homeland was in the North-West Caucasus, in the plains and hills along the Kuban River and the uplands along the Black Sea. They were within easy reach of the Ottomans, who assisted them from time to time in their resistance to Russian encroachments, and of the British spies and gun runners who saw an independent Circassia as a bulwark against further Russian moves towards Persia and India. The highland resistance in the North-East Caucasus was effectively extinguished in 1859, but the Circassians in the North-West held out for another five years. It took what today would be called ethnic cleansing – the systematic emptying of villages by Russian soldiers and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire – to end the conflict there.
In the late 1980s, Shanibov became the leader of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, “a latter-day Garibaldi”, as Derluguian calls him, who dreamed of a union of Caucasus mountaineers that would at last wriggle free of Russia’s clutches. Shanibov’s was an unlikely career path. He had been a party functionary, a prominent local intellectual, and a passionate student of the Sociology of the French thinker Pierre Bourdieu (hence Derluguian’s title). But the concatenation of the waning of hyperdevelopmentalism as a state strategy and the persistent survivalism of Shanibov’s class of intellectual bureaucrats led him to embrace the national cause.
There is nothing more universally modern than purveyors of ancient identities. The key difference with his counterparts in Chechnya, Bosnia, or elsewhere, though, was that Shanibov turned out to be a rather poor nationalist. He was never beyond using violence, but he soon found himself literally outgunned by a new generation of leaders willing to do the unthinkable, from laying siege to a hospital to bombing passenger trains. In any revolution, resolve is the highest virtue, and Shanibov’s ultimately failed him, especially against terrorists like Shamil Basaev and entrenchedauthoritarians like Valerii Kokov, the President of Shanibov’s own republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Eurasia is not exactly filled with people like Shanibov. He was such an oddity, in fact, that Bourdieu was known to keep a photo of his Circassian adept hanging above his desk. But there were plenty of people who followed a trajectory only slightly different from his. They have now beaten a well-worn path from their homes in the early Soviet dissident movements or the provincial bureaucracy, towards the highest offices of the post-Soviet Eurasian regimes. Today, their power rests on a combination of violence, resource control and a talent for securing the blessings of outsiders, from Saudi zealots to Western governments interested in prosecuting the “war on terror”.
Georgi Derluguian tells how much of Eurasia, in only a decade and a half, traded the promise of liberty and democracy for a political and moral captivity that will be difficult to escape. Clever, original and at times downright funny, Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is both an intimate biography of an unusualCircassian sociologist and an epic account of an entire generation’s trek through modernity. It uncovers the hidden logic behind the tragedies and horrors of the Caucasus – indeed, of the entire late twentieth-century world – and shows how seemingly senseless acts of violence have discernible, and often rather pedestrian, causes.
AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus
BOURDIEU’S SECRET ADMIRER IN THE CAUCASUS
A world-system biography406pp. Chicago University Press, distributed in the UK by Wiley.
Paperback, £17.50.0 226 14283 3
source (timesonline.co.uk) >>>
There is a new war brewing in the North Caucasus, but so far few people seem to have noticed. It will involve places that rarely make it onto the front page of major newspapers, yet it could be as bloody and intractable as the guerrilla conflict in Chechnya, which has dragged on now, with a brief hiatus, since 1994. Over the past several months, the Prime Minister of Ingushetia, which neighbours Chechnya to the west, barely survived an assassination attempt. Bombs and attacks on local police have become weekly occurrences in the eastern republic of Dagestan. In the west, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia are beset by interethnic tensions. In Chechnya, the unrecognized secessionist government recently named Shamil Basaev – the architect of last year’s 2004 school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, which left over 300 children and adults dead – as deputy leader. Basaev’s boss, the Islamic scholar Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, has announced a policy of widening the holy war against “unbelievers”. Fuelled by local authoritarianism, clan politics, religious fervour and Vladimir Putin’s own intransigence, violence in the North Caucasus is likely to escalate. One is reminded of the old saw about pessimists and optimists: the former believe things could not get worse; the latter know they could.
Making sense of the Caucasus has never been easy. The ethnic complexity of the region, its situation at the intersection of competing states and empires, and the volatile mix of poverty, religion, and the covetousness of geopolitical neighbours – for slaves in one era, for oil in another – have long made it a troubled borderland. Georgi M. Derluguian’s curiously titled Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is, without a doubt, the most engaging and deeply analytical guide to this knotty region to have been produced in the past decade. It is even more than that, however, for Derluguian is concerned with answering three gigantic questions about East European and Eurasian affairs. Why did the Soviet Empire collapse? Why did it do so violently in some areas but relatively peacefully in others? And what accounts for the diversity of new polities – from rigid sultanates to consolidated democracies – that now stand on its ruins?
Derluguian’s answers to these questions are unconventional. The collapse of the Soviet system was part of the broader crisis of “developmental states” in the 1980s and 90s, states that had arrogated to themselves a whole host of responsibilities that they were increasingly unable to fulfil. In the context of a collapsing political order, mid-level bureaucrats in these states scrambled for ways of securing their livelihoods; the most resourceful of them turned to nationalism and ethnic exclusivism as alternative sources of legitimacy. The masses, however, were not simply duped by thesenew elites; they, too, found ethnic linkages to be crucial sources of social capital at a time when alternatives – class, for example – suddenly disappeared.
People at all levels of society grasped what they could in the chaotic politics that attended the end of Soviet-style socialism. It is thus no coincidence, as Derluguian points out, that developmental states such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia broke up not along lines of ethnicity, but along lines of turf: the mini-republics and provinces where local elites could carve out some degree of authority. If such internal units happened to bear the name of a distinct ethnic group – Kazakhstan for the Kazakhs, Croatia for the Croatians – all the better. Second-rank bureaucrats and third-rate poets could then refashion themselves as fathers of the nation.
The centrepiece of Derluguian’s story is a Circassian by the name of Musa Shanib, known in his earlier Soviet life as Iurii Shanibov. Although the Chechens get all the press today, for much of the nineteenth century it was the Circassians who presented the gravest challenge to the Russian Empire. Their homeland was in the North-West Caucasus, in the plains and hills along the Kuban River and the uplands along the Black Sea. They were within easy reach of the Ottomans, who assisted them from time to time in their resistance to Russian encroachments, and of the British spies and gun runners who saw an independent Circassia as a bulwark against further Russian moves towards Persia and India. The highland resistance in the North-East Caucasus was effectively extinguished in 1859, but the Circassians in the North-West held out for another five years. It took what today would be called ethnic cleansing – the systematic emptying of villages by Russian soldiers and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire – to end the conflict there.
In the late 1980s, Shanibov became the leader of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, “a latter-day Garibaldi”, as Derluguian calls him, who dreamed of a union of Caucasus mountaineers that would at last wriggle free of Russia’s clutches. Shanibov’s was an unlikely career path. He had been a party functionary, a prominent local intellectual, and a passionate student of the Sociology of the French thinker Pierre Bourdieu (hence Derluguian’s title). But the concatenation of the waning of hyperdevelopmentalism as a state strategy and the persistent survivalism of Shanibov’s class of intellectual bureaucrats led him to embrace the national cause.
There is nothing more universally modern than purveyors of ancient identities. The key difference with his counterparts in Chechnya, Bosnia, or elsewhere, though, was that Shanibov turned out to be a rather poor nationalist. He was never beyond using violence, but he soon found himself literally outgunned by a new generation of leaders willing to do the unthinkable, from laying siege to a hospital to bombing passenger trains. In any revolution, resolve is the highest virtue, and Shanibov’s ultimately failed him, especially against terrorists like Shamil Basaev and entrenchedauthoritarians like Valerii Kokov, the President of Shanibov’s own republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Eurasia is not exactly filled with people like Shanibov. He was such an oddity, in fact, that Bourdieu was known to keep a photo of his Circassian adept hanging above his desk. But there were plenty of people who followed a trajectory only slightly different from his. They have now beaten a well-worn path from their homes in the early Soviet dissident movements or the provincial bureaucracy, towards the highest offices of the post-Soviet Eurasian regimes. Today, their power rests on a combination of violence, resource control and a talent for securing the blessings of outsiders, from Saudi zealots to Western governments interested in prosecuting the “war on terror”.
Georgi Derluguian tells how much of Eurasia, in only a decade and a half, traded the promise of liberty and democracy for a political and moral captivity that will be difficult to escape. Clever, original and at times downright funny, Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is both an intimate biography of an unusualCircassian sociologist and an epic account of an entire generation’s trek through modernity. It uncovers the hidden logic behind the tragedies and horrors of the Caucasus – indeed, of the entire late twentieth-century world – and shows how seemingly senseless acts of violence have discernible, and often rather pedestrian, causes.
AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus
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