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Rereading Russia through the Contact Zone of HBCUs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2021

Kelly Knickmeier Cummings  and
B. Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz Open the ORCID record for B. Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

This article examines contributions Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have made and continue to make to the interdisciplinary fabric of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES). HBCUs are a uniquely American phenomenon and reminders of the history of enslavement and segregation in the United States. But HBCUs are also vibrant intellectual contact zones, which Mary Louise Pratt defines as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power.” Contact zones result in intercultural competencies, multilingualism, new methodologies, and critical reassessments. Faculty and alumni have described the extent to which HBCUs function as cultural and discursive sanctuaries. As such, HBCUs are places where legally, culturally, and racially segregated communities develop(ed) alternate ways to engage, experience, and (re)envision “Russia.”

Type
Critical Discussion Forum on Race and Bias
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 80 , Issue 2 , Summer 2021 , pp. 307 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

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References

1. Defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association…” http://www.thehundred-seven.org/hbculist.html (accessed April 26, 2021).

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27. Ibid.

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38. Baldwin, Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain, 171.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

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