Teaching Geography Workshop 6: Russia – Part 2: Dagestan
JIM BINKO:
Russia is the world's largest country, and it is both physically and
culturally diverse. Today's challenge for Russia includes a constant
struggle to knit together the vast mosaic of cultures within its boundaries.
Examining the characteristics, distribution and complexity of the
earth's cultural mosaics helps us sort through some of the forces at
play in Russia's struggle to remain whole. Understanding these forces
allows us to explain how culture influences each group's unique view
of itself and others.
Our case study in point is Dagestan, located in the Caucasus Mountains
of Russia's southwest. After the Soviet Union collapsed many small
republics achieved independence from Moscow, but Russia kept control
of the Caucasus republics.
Today, as nationalist rebellions churn in the region surrounding
Dagestan, what factors are keeping this mostly non-Russian population in
line? In this case study, you will see how a look at the patterns and
networks of economic interdependence on the earth's surface can
help untangle such complex political issues.
Then we visit a 12th-grade class which has been investigating the
sources of the region's most violent recent conflicts. In a role-playing
exercise, they focus quite naturally on the changes that occur in the
meaning, use and distribution and the importance of resources.
To be geographically informed citizens, they-- and we-- must be able to
analyze how these changes influence the stability and future of a region.
Of course, understanding the complex processes we see unfolding in the
Russian Federation requires a view through many lenses.
NARRATOR:
Dagestan-- the name means "land of mountains." Part of the Russian
Federation, Dagestan lies in the Caucasus Mountains on Russia's
southern border. Most people here live in small villages that are often
very isolated. The beauty of these mountain people so struck a 19thcentury German scientist that he coined the term "Caucasian," as he
believed that the entire white European race must have arisen here.
(\lively dance music plays\)
But in recent times, the Caucasus region has gotten international
attention for something far less romantic.
(\gunfire\)
Here in neighboring Chechnya, Russian troops and rebel guerrillas have
clashed for nearly a decade. Along this stretch of Russia's southern
border are a string of small republics. Five, including Dagestan, are
largely Islamic. The conflict in Chechnya is partly religious but mostly
nationalist, reflecting Chechnya's distaste for Russian control. But
Dagestan's case is quite different from that of neighboring Chechnya.
Despite similar histories and religion, Dagestan exhibits little of the
volatility that characterizes Chechnya.
To explore this difference, we begin with Dagestan's physical geography
and its impact on culture.
Here are remote mountain peaks and steep-walled valleys. The brown
lowlands are exceedingly dry and provide a poor basis for farming. But in
Dagestan, an increase in altitude brings moisture and green grass.
Geographer Ron Wixman.
RON WIXMAN:
This is one of the few places in the world where people lived high in the
mountains because it was the only area where there was enough rainfall
to support some agriculture.
NARRATOR:
Up here, sheep and goats support the economy. But the same mountains
that provide the rain also thwart travel. Villages within these high
mountain valleys have been largely isolated from one another for
centuries.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
In Dagestan, every village is actually a small society in itself. Each has its
own distinct cultural tradition, its own craft specialties: the coppersmiths,
the goldsmiths and so on. Most have their own newspapers and journals,
printed in different languages, even in different alphabets.
NARRATOR:
These distinct ethnic groups, numbering over three dozen, are referred to
as the "nationalities." Former prime minister Abdurazak Mirzabekov is of
Kumyk nationality.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
In our government you will find Avartsy, Dargintsy, Lezghinis, Kumyks,
Laktsy, Agultsy, Nogaiki. Each people requires respect. This is a
necessary condition for conducting normal politics in the republic.
NARRATOR:
In addition to being ethnically distinct from other Russians, they also differ
in religion.
(\man making call to prayer\)
NARRATOR:
A majority of the people here are Muslim. And here, Dagestan's location
is key, for Dagestan lies on Russia's southern flank, the northern edge of
the Islamic world.
Today, Muslims here construct many new mosques. Despite the violence
in Chechnya, we are reminded that Islam, like Dagestan, is multifaceted.
WIXMAN:
When they go to a mosque, we think of them as being fundamentalist
Moslems, which is not the case. It's funny that we see Russians going to
churches and rebuilding churches, and this is called Russian culture. But
when a Dagestani reincorporates part of Islamic culture, now they're
called fundamentalist Moslems.
(\fast drum music plays\)
NARRATOR:
The history of the Caucasian mountain people is painted in centuries of
oppression by the Russian invaders. In 1834, Islamic leader Shamil the
Avar unified the entire North Caucasus in revolt, culminating in an epic
defensive battle here at Ahulgo. The mayor of Gimry-- Shamil's historic
home-- explains.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
Ahulgo is the holiest place in Dagestan and for all Muslims of northern
Caucasia. This is where the most important battle of the Caucasian War
was fought. The Russians assaulted this mountain for three months and
could not take it.
NARRATOR:
Eventually the Russians prevailed, but the Caucasians' dream of
autonomy outlived the czars and the Soviet Union and finally surfaced
again in 1994 as the Chechens began a guerrilla war against the
Russians. (\gunfire\)
Since then, the Chechens have tried to enlist the Dagestanis in their fight
for an independent Islamic state. However, the Dagestanis have been
mostly resistant to this cause. Why don't the Dagestanis join their cultural
brethren in fighting Russia? One reason is their differing experience of
Soviet rule. The Chechens were treated brutally and carry that memory
with them to this day.
WIXMAN:
During World War II, the entire Chechen nation was deported to Siberia
and to the northern part of Kazakhstan, where somewhere between a
third and a half the people died. Therefore, the Chechen bitterness is
much greater. Another thing is the Chechens were not permitted to return
to their homes, whereas the Dagestanis are living in their traditional
homes.
NARRATOR:
The diversity of Dagestan's cultures, shaped by its physical geography,
also reduces nationalism there. Concerns focus more on the needs of
individual villages and clans than with nationalist goals. Language itself is
a factor in Dagestan's more accommodating response to the Russians.
The dozens of languages spoken here are so distinct that many
Dagestanis cannot understand each other unless they speak in the
common language of the marketplace. That language is Russian.
(\many people speaking at once\)
By contrast, all of Chechnya is ethnically Chechen and therefore much
more unified. Chechen solidarity is supported by a common language.
90% of the people there speak Chechen.
A third factor is Dagestan's poor economy, exacerbated by the harsh
physical landscape. Dagestan is among the poorest of Russia's republics.
WIXMAN:
One of the things we also need to recognize is that the abject poverty of
Dagestan makes them fully aware that they do not have the ability to be
independent. They don't have oil as Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan. They
don't have anything. They have barren mountain regions with some
remote resources that are impossible to take out.
NARRATOR:
In 1994, average per-capita income was only $49 per person.
WIXMAN:
They simply accept that without Russia, they have no economy at all.
NARRATOR:
Financed by Moscow, this huge dam demonstrates Russia's impact. The
construction projects improve the regional road system, provide the
villages with electricity and drinking water and provide jobs for Dagestanis
of all ethnic backgrounds.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
Some 3,000 people work here in Erganai. All Dagestan nationalities are
represented. Russians who live in Dagestan also work here.
NARRATOR:
As they work with Moscow~ to improve their economy, the Dagestanis
are also reviving cultural traditions-- stories, dance and religion that had
long been repressed under Russian rule.
WIXMAN:
During the Soviet period, no Dagestani or Chechen was permitted to
name a street, a village, a public square, a park or anywhere for any
Caucasian national hero that ever fought against the czars.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
Our national traditions were oppressed under socialism but the people
succeeded in keeping their habits and traditions alive.
(\lively dance music plays\)
But today, men and women-- especially of the young generation-- study
our traditions with great interest.
NARRATOR:
The monument to Shamil commemorating his valor at Ahulgo is a tribute
to the persistence of cultural and religious values.
WIXMAN:
Now, when you consider that they're Moslems and they're forbidden to
have pictures in their memorials, it shows that Islam as a culture is like
Christianity or Judaism as a culture-- it bends.
NARRATOR:
In their hearts, most Dagestanis would probably prefer to be politically
independent, but common sense and history make them pragmatic.
(\speaking Russian\)
TRANSLATOR:
We have been part of Russia for more than 100 years...~ so I cannot
imagine the future of Dagestan without Russia. Of course, Dagestan
needs certain autonomous rights... but as a whole it has to be part of the
Russian Federation.
NARRATOR:
But for now, there seems little flexibility in the relations between Moscow
and more militant republics like Chechnya. As the Chechens accept
support from international Muslim extremists, Moscow is pushed to
further align itself with the West in order to combat the threat in its
southern borderlands.
Dagestan, too, may face internal tensions. After ten years of stable
leadership, 1997 saw Prime Minister Mirzabekov ousted in a bid for more
control by the Avars, who make up nearly 30% of the population. This
could threaten the republic's fragile ethnic balance. While it is unlikely
that Dagestan will become another Chechnya, it will continue to draw
Moscow's close attention.
LATZ:
Stretching across 11 time zones, Russia is the world's largest country, yet
Russia is a sparsely populated land. Here each dot represents 100,000
people. In Russia, most are concentrated in the western core. What
distinguishes the larger region is its ethnic and environmental diversity.
And this is reflected powerfully in the country's sub-regional organization.
Two examples come to mind. In the north is the remote region of
Vologda. This marginal agricultural area is poorly integrated with the
Russian heartland and highly dependent on primary sector activity. In the
southern periphery of Russia, ethnic nationalist rebellions churn in the
Chechen Republic. Throughout its history, rulers in the Russian core
have sought to control the Caucasus Mountain region.
The identity of ethnic nations within a larger state is a major field of study
by political geographers. Many social scientists represent ethnic groups
simply as a percentage of the larger population. Geographers, however,
are especially interested in the spatial distribution of these groups.
The distribution of people linked by ethnic identity or religion to particular
territories holds immense significance for the future of the Russian
Federation. For Russia to persist as a cohesive state, it must find a way
to accommodate and integrate these diverse populations.
HARDWICK:
This case study provides a dramatic illustration of why the geographic
perspective is so useful in teaching about conflict. On the surface, places
like the Caucasus republics seem to defy understanding.
Only by considering the relationships between cultural, economic, political
and physical characteristics can we begin to make sense out of such
bloody conflicts as we've seen in Chechnya. In Guatemala, poor and
powerless groups began a civil war in an effort to regain political control
over their own territory. And in Lanzhou, China, where a minority Muslim
population maintains its own cultural traditions among the Han Chinese
majority, or in Jerusalem, where bloody conflicts seem to appear as a
daily news story-- the complex interrelationships between national
identity, control of territory, and political power remain potent forces.
Understanding the roots of conflict and the source of solutions lies in
analyzing the full set of interactions between the geographic processes
that shape people and place.
BINKO:
My colleague Susan Hardwick said it well. On the surface, a place like
Dagestan seems to defy understanding. Of course, good geographers do
not rely on surface impressions to answer significant questions.
To illustrate this point, we next see Connie Hudgeons leading her 12th
grade class to a geographic understanding of the underlying causes of
cultural conflicts. Her students will examine how competition for natural
resources-- along with ethnic and religious loyalties-- provokes conflict
within and across national boundaries. We will see Connie utilize a
problem-centered, inquiry-based approach to engage her students in the
investigation of these conflicts. Just as importantly, they will explore the
ways those conflicts might be solved or avoided in the future.
As you observe Connie's lesson, pay particular note to her use and
management of the classroom as a setting for critical thinking and
collaborative learning. At the end of this lesson, you should be able to
describe how those simulated decision-making activities engage
students in critical thinking about geographic concepts. The result of
Connie's teaching is a classroom conspicuous by the active and
prominent role her students assume in organizing and analyzing data,
and expressing their views on world issues. And, Jonathan, are you
staying?
NARRATOR:
Connie Hudgeons teaches Enriched Economics in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Her class is studying the Balkans, focusing on issues of ethnic
conflict. Today's lesson features two role-playing activities that provide an
understanding of Earth's cultural mosaics and the conflicts that arise in
dividing land and resources.
HUDGEONS:
Well, today we're going to look at this problem of boundaries and ethnic
conflict from a different point of view. And what we have here is a brand
new state, just formed-- brand new colony, whatever you want to call it--
and you guys have all been selected to be colonists.
NARRATOR:
In preparation, Connie's students choose paper squares and poker chips,
color-coded to symbolize different ethnic groups. So what I'm going to
give you a minute to do is to choose an area on the map that you would
like to settle. Okay, ready, set, go.
(\students talk and laugh\)
HUDGEONS:
Yeah, okay, too close together. Remember, you have to have that sixinch space.
STUDENT:
Shoo, shoo, that's mine.
(\students chuckle\)
HUDGEONS:
Okay, Joe, where did you settle? Why did you pick there?
JOE:
'Cause I have all kinds of resources. I have mineral resources I have
trees, I have water and I have agriculture. So I have it hooked up.
HUDGEONS:
Erin?
ERIN:
I'm right here. And I chose that place because I have plenty of room to
expand outwards and I'm near water and food.
HUDGEONS:
They zero in on the resources because we did Wealth of Nations and so
they understand that, you know, land is where people derive its wealth
from and that you have to hopefully have the best resources possible to
be successful.
What do you think your color represents on your chip?
STUDENTS:
Our nationality.
HUDGEONS:
Very good. Your ethnic nationality. Okay? Uh-oh, um...
GIRL:
This could be interesting.
NARRATOR:
Connie has students create borders for their ethnic territories.
HUDGEONS:
I'm going to give you guys about 20 seconds. Draw your borders.
(\laughter and chatter\)
YOUNG WOMAN:
Why don't we just share the border?
YOUNG WOMAN 2: Okay, now wait a second.
YOUNG WOMAN 3: No, no, no. You can't just encompass everybody else, you guys.
YOUNG WOMAN 1: Yeah, get away. Well, that's our bank.
(\students laugh \and talk over each other\)
STUDENTS:
That's our bank, man. No, no, no. Don't mess with our bank. Cross their
border with our border. Here's where the conflict comes in. There's more
reds up here, right? Blues go over there, reds go over here. I think red
will take over.
YOUNG WOMAN:
Well, if we could just make each of those little places different cities
instead of making them different countries, they would be fine. And being
a city, part of one country, we'd be able to work together. Being different
cities and part of one country we'd be able to work together so we'd all
get the best instead of fighting and bickering over it amongst ourselves.
HUDGEONS:
Okay. We'd be able to get it so we'd all thrive off of what we have. All the
conflict still remains, though, with different religion and ethnicity. Some
people get along, some people don't. There's still racism and stuff in our
country, but we live. If, as a human race, as a species, one of our goals is
to have peace in the world, then kids have to start realizing that warfare
and duking it out isn't the way to do it.
So, you think that if we stepped in and we took out the ethnic
boundaries... that over time there would be more cooperation?
(\students agree\)
YOUNG WOMAN:
As long as every...
YOUNG WOMAN 2: You can teach your children to, like, work together with everyone else
then they would teach their children and it would become normal.
NARRATOR:
Having experienced the roots of conflict, Connie's class moves into their
second activity-- working toward cooperation.
HUDGEONS:
Each group has a folder that deal with a country named Ugeria. In the
folder, you have a set of transparencies that show you the ethnic
settlement patterns, that show the physical characteristics, the economic
geography. You also have a yellow sheet for U.N. negotiators, and then
you have two half sheets that represent the two ethnic groups. Your goal
for this activity is to divide this country to make both sides, group A and
group B, happy.
NARRATOR:
Working in groups, students role-play, organizing and analyzing
geographic information. U.N. negotiators must mediate conflicts between
the ethnic groups, and establish a fair border.
STUDENTS:
If you split it this way, they each have a section of fair land but that would
require moving people. A lot of people. Yeah. And I don't know how
happy they'd be about that. What if they don't want to move, and they just
stay there? We are the more powerful ethnic group. Therefore, we should
be where we want to. Do you two want to share your country or do you
want to become two separate countries? Two separate countries. Oh,
sure. No way. Why? Why? Do you not want to? Well, you guys have got,
like, everything. We don't. And then we've got hydroelectric power. Have
this be the more urbanized section, which it looks like it is. Like, by what
this says, it's 93% literacy rate, so I'm guessing this is going to be...
YOUNG WOMAN:
Here's the economic. Yeah, this is going to be, um... all the urban life,
mostly urban, and this will all be farmland.
HUDGEONS:
I really believe that one of the things that I have to do is teach kids to
think critically about the information that is presented to them and so
there's a lot of cooperative learning and sharing ideas, and that... that's
how we all learn and that's how we do everything in life, as cooperation.
YOUNG WOMAN:
Do we have to sign a treaty or anything? That way, now you're happy.
You got what you wanted, I got what I wanted.
HUDGEONS:
Okay, is anybody ready to start presenting?
YOUNG WOMAN:
We're ready.
BOY:
We're ready? Well, group A is a large secular society and group B is the
smaller religious society. We kind of wanted to divide it right here, so it's,
uh... we wouldn't have to move as much. But she also needs
hydroelectricity. That's her main source of power, and so we decided we
were going to give that group this lake and this lake and a good portion of
the Mediterranean area.
HUDGEONS:
You've got to go back as leaders of your people. Do you think they're
going to support this?
YOUNG WOMAN:
My people might be a little upset with it. But I avoided war, and we did get
two lakes. And it's very important because we're very into hydroelectricity.
HUDGEONS:
Do you like this?
BOY:
I like this, Because we got a bunch of land.
HUDGEONS:
You got a bunch of land.
YOUNG WOMAN:
Well, what about the fact that your primary resource is the water? And
you guys have even less than group A does.
YOUNG MAN:
We only have 23% of the population, though, so... It curves up in the
Mediterranean area.
HUDGEONS:
I constantly ask them why:
"Explain this, analyze it, tell me why, bring it
together." And I consider it a compliment when a teacher says, "Oh, you
had so-and-so in class. I know you had that person." And it's, like, "Why?
"Well, they question everything." You know, and it's like, "Yes, that's the
idea. I want them to constantly question."
HUDGEONS:
If the U.N. leaves Bosnia, do you think... are the people going to just start
cooperating?
STUDENTS:
Yeah, probably. Not in Bosnia, no.
(\laughter\)
HUDGEONS:
Why not?
STUDENTS:
Because they're too different. They've been at war for a really long time.
NARRATOR:
Connie wraps up with a discussion, personalizing some of the issues
raised during the activity.
HUDGEONS:
You guys like where you live at home now? What if somebody came in
and said, "Excuse us, we're changing the boundaries and you have to
move 75 miles west." Are you guys going to just pack up and move?
STUDENTS:
No.
YOUNG MAN:
If it keeps us from getting killed in war, I mean, and all we have to do is
move, then I think it's worth it.
HUDGEONS:
Okay, do you see any similarity between this activity and maybe what has
happened here in the Southwest?
BOY:
Yeah, like, with the Indians-- how they were all forced to go on small
reservations.
HUDGEONS:
Do... you think they did that willingly?
BOY:
No. I think they were forced into it.
HUDGEONS:
So, as a minority representative~~ in your country, did you feel kind of
forced into this?
BOY:
Yeah, a little bit. Because we didn't have much choice. They could have
taken us out.
HUDGEONS:
So you were forced to cooperate to avoid...?
BOY:
Conflict?
HUDGEONS:
The evaluation essays that they have to write-- in bringing it all together-one of the questions is Do you believe that there will ever be peace in this
region? And what will have to change for this peace to occur? I want
them to be realistic, but yet the greatest changes that have occurred in
the world, in world civilization, have come about by people who are great
visionaries and great idealists and so I don't want them to lose that.
BINKO:
I think you will agree with me that these students took very seriously their
investigation of cultural issues associated with present-day Russia.
Their ability to pose solutions with an eye toward possible consequences,
and to raise questions of the teacher and each other reflects the kind of
geographic thinking we should promote in every classroom. We saw the
students use maps to great advantage in explaining their ideas about the
complex ethnic and religious issues involved in the conflict. It is worth
noting here the teacher's use of fictitious nations as a way of preventing
the students from relying on stereotypes during the analysis phase of
their investigation.
Connie provides another important example for teachers: her skill in
managing a lesson from the perimeter-- that is, as a facilitator. She is a
teacher who intervenes only to provide direction and to pose questions
useful for promoting critical thinking or refocusing the students' efforts.
This teaching skill was particularly apparent and effective as her students
organized and presented their findings. Students were motivated in their
discussions of the issues by a self-imposed need to make sensible
comments based on the results of their own investigations, rather than
comments intended to match the views of the teacher. That is good
teaching. It is also good geographic inquiry.
.