The Spaces Between Us: Meetings in Moscow. Xenophobia

chicago 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.