Irina: Women of color in Moscow. I was always puzzled: after so many Western
feminists and researchers in gender studies visited Russia, many never asked
themselves, besides the normal question of their fascination with us, the more
difficult question - why the majority of them are white? May be, sometimes white
Jewish, which is normal for Russia where there are many Jewish intellectuals,
but none of them Chinese, or Indian, or Native, or African American, or British?
And this question, to my knowledge, has practically not been raised in
literature on Russian feminism / sisterhood / gender studies?
This is just an observation. And probably the two are connected: the
fascination for �Russian women� on the part of white Western women operates
differently within the institutionalized setting of East-European and Slavonic
studies. Now sure - what do you think?
I just feel we are extremely xenophobic, of course - Russians, but
differently than in the West. It simply cannot be the same, as conditions and
histories are different. The same for Orientalism. Country which is East for the
West, and West for the East, is really twisted. Check cnn.com for weather:
Vladivostok is in Europe, while Israel is in Middle East categories. Turkey is
in both. Just in case you have no idea where Vladivostok is (translated as
Vlad�s Orient): it is a boat ride away from South Korean or Japanese
border.
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