Hello all! I know this post is coming embarrassingly late... the past semester has been extremely busy, and hopefully I'll be able to catch everybody up on it.
Where to begin... well. I suppose I'll start by saying that I spent most of the semester driving myself crazy over everything, and either I really shouldn't have worried so much, or all the worrying paid off, because I got all As and A-s, and I made the Dean's List again! I ended up raising my GPA average, when I thought it was going to be falling below what would be accepted for the Oxford program. So. That's been the good news of the past two weeks. I'm supposed to know if I get the Oxford scholarship within the next two days, so... we'll see what happens. I'm very excited, but I don't find myself to be very nervous, which surprises me. I suppose I've sort of realized that there's nothing more I can do, and that I have a back-up plan that I would love just as much as Oxford. That back-up plan is the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. If I go there, it will be for a year, same as Oxford, though because it is not a scholarship, I wouldn't have to go through this application process again... thank goodness. That was responsible for at least three quarters of my stress this semester.
Of course, we had to fill out forms and provide two letters of recommendation. I got mine from Professor Fraser (my advisor, who I adore even more than I did last year, if that is possible) and Professor Sheller, and according to the people who interviewed me (I'll get to that later), the recommendations were "glowing," so... that was covered easily enough. We also had to write an essay about why we wanted to study abroad at Oxford, which I got done with much feedback from my parents and friends. The interview went well, I thought... it was with the Provost and the Associate Dean of International Studies, and I was extremely relieved and pleased to find that most of the questions were about what I was studying. So, most of the interview was spent talking about my 30-page research paper for my senior seminar on Stalinism.
Speaking of Stalinism... what a fantastic class. I absolutely loved it, and I loved writing my paper. I'm not sure if I had my topic the last time I wrote here, but I'll explain it just in case. Very basically, I wrote about how many aspects of Stalinism have roots in Enlightenment philosophy, particularly in that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I've been told it's a rather strange idea, and I suppose it is-- though it doesn't seem that way to me. Most likely because this paper has been my life for the last three or four months. Anyway. If anybody has any interest in reading it, I'll be happy to email it on-- I'm quite happy with it, but I don't think I'll be able to post all 30-ish pages of it here. I'll tack the introduction of it onto the end of this post, though. It gets the general idea across better than I have in the past few sentences.
Funnily enough, Stalinism was the class that caused me the least stress. Next would have to be Imperial Russian History, also with Professor Fraser. My class on the American Revolution, with Professor Hale, ended up going very well, after the initial hitch of the B- paper that I mentioned in my last post. Even that got turned around-- I talked to him, and he agreed to let me do a re-write, and I ended up with a grade of B+ on that paper. I completely made up for it with my second and final paper... I don't think even Professor Fraser has ever been as impressed with one of my papers as Professor Hale was with that one. That being said, things were a bit up-and-down in that class, even though I really enjoyed it, and loved the professor. He was really good to me: very interested in and understanding of what was going on in terms of Oxford, and offering to help in any way he could, etc.... I really hope I have another class with him before I leave Goucher.
My Archaeology of Text class was a lot of fun, even though I don't think any of us (including Professor Sanders) knew what we were doing most of the time... if the situation had been different, I probably would have been very frustrated with it, but this was supposed to be a "fun" class for me, so it was really perfect. I got to exercise the 17th-19th-century handwriting powers I developed at the Historical Society, and I did my final project on the writing systems created by J.R.R. Tolkien and their use in The Hobbit, which the Goucher Special Collections has a 1938 edition of. So, basically, I talked about runes, Anglo-Saxon, and John Mitchell Kemble (Kemble was one of the first Englishmen to study the Anglo-Saxon period and language in an organized way, and his works are seen as somewhat of a foundation of the modern study of the culture. The Goucher Special Collections has some of his journals, and even a few of the sketchbooks he took to museums and sites, which I also made use of).
I'm afraid that's a pretty basic summary of the past semester... it feels like September was such a long time ago. There really is too much to tell.
I will post again as soon as I have news from Oxford, which should be in the next two days... in the meantime, it's a relief to be back in New York and to have a bit of a break before next semester. Not that the break has been uneventful... well. I'll save it for the next post. Until then, my love to all!
Tasha
ps. For anybody who is interested, the introduction to the Stalinism paper follows...
~~~
Where to begin... well. I suppose I'll start by saying that I spent most of the semester driving myself crazy over everything, and either I really shouldn't have worried so much, or all the worrying paid off, because I got all As and A-s, and I made the Dean's List again! I ended up raising my GPA average, when I thought it was going to be falling below what would be accepted for the Oxford program. So. That's been the good news of the past two weeks. I'm supposed to know if I get the Oxford scholarship within the next two days, so... we'll see what happens. I'm very excited, but I don't find myself to be very nervous, which surprises me. I suppose I've sort of realized that there's nothing more I can do, and that I have a back-up plan that I would love just as much as Oxford. That back-up plan is the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. If I go there, it will be for a year, same as Oxford, though because it is not a scholarship, I wouldn't have to go through this application process again... thank goodness. That was responsible for at least three quarters of my stress this semester.
Of course, we had to fill out forms and provide two letters of recommendation. I got mine from Professor Fraser (my advisor, who I adore even more than I did last year, if that is possible) and Professor Sheller, and according to the people who interviewed me (I'll get to that later), the recommendations were "glowing," so... that was covered easily enough. We also had to write an essay about why we wanted to study abroad at Oxford, which I got done with much feedback from my parents and friends. The interview went well, I thought... it was with the Provost and the Associate Dean of International Studies, and I was extremely relieved and pleased to find that most of the questions were about what I was studying. So, most of the interview was spent talking about my 30-page research paper for my senior seminar on Stalinism.
Speaking of Stalinism... what a fantastic class. I absolutely loved it, and I loved writing my paper. I'm not sure if I had my topic the last time I wrote here, but I'll explain it just in case. Very basically, I wrote about how many aspects of Stalinism have roots in Enlightenment philosophy, particularly in that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I've been told it's a rather strange idea, and I suppose it is-- though it doesn't seem that way to me. Most likely because this paper has been my life for the last three or four months. Anyway. If anybody has any interest in reading it, I'll be happy to email it on-- I'm quite happy with it, but I don't think I'll be able to post all 30-ish pages of it here. I'll tack the introduction of it onto the end of this post, though. It gets the general idea across better than I have in the past few sentences.
Funnily enough, Stalinism was the class that caused me the least stress. Next would have to be Imperial Russian History, also with Professor Fraser. My class on the American Revolution, with Professor Hale, ended up going very well, after the initial hitch of the B- paper that I mentioned in my last post. Even that got turned around-- I talked to him, and he agreed to let me do a re-write, and I ended up with a grade of B+ on that paper. I completely made up for it with my second and final paper... I don't think even Professor Fraser has ever been as impressed with one of my papers as Professor Hale was with that one. That being said, things were a bit up-and-down in that class, even though I really enjoyed it, and loved the professor. He was really good to me: very interested in and understanding of what was going on in terms of Oxford, and offering to help in any way he could, etc.... I really hope I have another class with him before I leave Goucher.
My Archaeology of Text class was a lot of fun, even though I don't think any of us (including Professor Sanders) knew what we were doing most of the time... if the situation had been different, I probably would have been very frustrated with it, but this was supposed to be a "fun" class for me, so it was really perfect. I got to exercise the 17th-19th-century handwriting powers I developed at the Historical Society, and I did my final project on the writing systems created by J.R.R. Tolkien and their use in The Hobbit, which the Goucher Special Collections has a 1938 edition of. So, basically, I talked about runes, Anglo-Saxon, and John Mitchell Kemble (Kemble was one of the first Englishmen to study the Anglo-Saxon period and language in an organized way, and his works are seen as somewhat of a foundation of the modern study of the culture. The Goucher Special Collections has some of his journals, and even a few of the sketchbooks he took to museums and sites, which I also made use of).
A selection from one of Kemble's notebooks, and a page from The Runes of the Anglo-Saxons, published in 1840.
We had some really fantastic field trips in that class as well... we went to the Evergreen Museum and Library (http://www.museums.jhu.edu/evergreen.php) to see the John Work Garrett Library, which I believe has one of the biggest collections of incunabula (printed books pre-1500) in the United States. We also visited the Walters Art Museum, where an exhibit on the Archimedes Palimpsest was being shown, and got a private tour from William Noel... (http://thewalters.org/exhibitions/archimedes/)
As for my anthropology class... well. If I hadn't just gotten an A- for it, I would have told you it was horrifying. In light of recent information, however, I'll go with "exceedingly frustrating." Most of the assignments for this class were meant to act as steps leading up to our final research paper, to be handed in at the end of the semester. For example: my first big assignment was to write a preliminary bibliography, which I did fine on. My second assignment was to write an introduction, which I got an alarmingly low grade on. Because of the way my schedule worked out this semester, it wasn't possible for me to stay after class to talk to the professor (Professor Frekko), so I emailed her asking if I could meet with her. It took her two weeks to respond, and tell me that she wouldn't be able to meet with me for another week. Then, she missed our appointment. When I finally did get to talk to her, she told me that she didn't like my topic, and that I would have to change it. I ended up changing my topic at least twice. I was genuinely worried about my grades for this class, especially since they seemed so arbitrary... of course, I'm not saying that I was a total victim here. After a while, I really stopped putting as much effort into the class as I should have, and I just didn't (and still do not, to some degree) know how to write an anthropology paper. It's a totally different format from what I'm used to, and I didn't bother finding that out until we were half-way through the semester. Thankfully, one of my good friends, Sara, is an Anthropology and Environmental Science double-major, and she helped me out a lot with that. But for a while, I was convinced that this class was going to cost me Oxford... well. If I don't get in, I won't be able to blame the class, I suppose.
Anyway. I'm signed up for all my classes for next semester now. They are as follows:
Social Theory in Historical Context (Professor Beachy)
England and Colonial America: 1600-1763 (Professor Sheller)
Cryptology (Professor Lewand)
Modern German History: From Unification to Unification (Professor Beachy)
Historical Archaeology and Material Culture (Professor Sheller)
Culture and Change: India (Professor Kirmani)
Yes. That's six classes. (I must really like driving myself insane.)
...and this has been an extremely brief account of my academic life over the past semester! I often joke that I don't have any other life, and that's not so far from the truth. But I have managed to keep together some sort of social life. My friends have been very good about letting me do what I need to do, but also telling me when I need to take a break.
Halloween (not that I actually had a costume or did anything festive...)
Visiting the stables
Working on the TARDIS! (For those of you who don't know, my social life basically revolves around the people I've met in Doctor Who Club, for whatever reason. To be fair, Doctor Who Club has basically become "Let's all get together and talk about Sherlock and The Lord of the Rings" Club. It's much more a group of friends than an actual club that has any focus anymore... but anyway. The "TARDIS" is basically a time/spaceship, and we're building a life-sized model of it.)
It seems to be just one of the facts of life at Goucher that as soon as one gets really settled and comfortable, things get upturned again. Everybody is always sort of coming and going... My friend Sara, who I've only really gotten close to this semester, is leaving for her required study abroad in Costa Rica in a few days... I won't see her again until this summer, and then I'll be away for all of our junior year... the study abroad requirement is a fantastic opportunity, and I know we'll all be very happy with our experiences, but... well. As Sara put it, "I came to Goucher because of the study abroad requirement, and now it's ruining my life." But I suppose I shouldn't focus on that. I've met some great new people this semester, and all being said, I have to consider myself pretty lucky.
I'm afraid that's a pretty basic summary of the past semester... it feels like September was such a long time ago. There really is too much to tell.
I will post again as soon as I have news from Oxford, which should be in the next two days... in the meantime, it's a relief to be back in New York and to have a bit of a break before next semester. Not that the break has been uneventful... well. I'll save it for the next post. Until then, my love to all!
Tasha
ps. For anybody who is interested, the introduction to the Stalinism paper follows...
~~~
The General Will:
“The citizen gives his consent to all the laws, including those which are passed in spite of his opposition, and even those which punish him when he dares to break any of them. The constant will of all the members of the State is the general will; by virtue of it they are citizens and free. …all the qualities of the general will… reside in the majority: when they cease to do so, whatever side a man may take, liberty is no longer possible.” – J. J. Rousseau[1]
“There is no, nor should there be, irreconcilable contrast between the individual and the collective, between the interests of the individual person and the interests of the collective. There should be no contrast, because collectivism, socialism, does not deny, but combines individual interests with the interests of the collective. Socialism cannot abstract itself from individual interests. Socialist society alone can most fully satisfy these personal interests. More than that; socialist society alone can firmly safeguard the interests of the individual.” – J. Stalin[2]
The eighteenth century Enlightenment, at its simplest, can be seen as the application of new scientific methods to problems outside the realm of pure science. Enlightenment thinkers asked themselves many of the same questions: What is man like in a state of nature? How did government come about? How should man be governed, and what legitimizes a government? What does it mean to be a citizen? What should society be like? The philosophes of the eighteenth century came up with many different answers, and the fact that these were sometimes then acted upon in some very dramatic ways makes the Enlightenment a huge turning point in European history. What is just as significant is that the same questions were being asked and answered long after the eighteenth century, and into the twentieth.
Stalinism, like many of the philosophies coming out of the Enlightenment, draws on a somewhat strange mix of utopianism and rationalism. In this mindset, it is possible to use science and reason to understand human society, and therefore to shape perfect human beings, and a perfect society. However, Stalinism was not simply attempting to answer the same questions with the same tools as the Enlightenment—it also drew on, however unintentionally or indirectly, the actual ideas that came out of the Enlightenment. Because the Soviet Union drew on different Enlightenment traditions than many Western societies have, it is too easy to see what happened there as alien—as a Russian phenomenon that happened completely out of context with the rest of the continent. However, if one looks closely, one can see that Stalinism is the result of a long line of adaptations and combinations of Enlightenment ideas.
This essay will look at the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in particular. He represents an Enlightenment tradition seen as somewhat outside the mainstream of Voltaire and salon culture, though his is still one of the most well known names associated with the Enlightenment. He has been seen as an intellectual godfather to many movements beyond the eighteenth century, from Romanticism to Communism to Anarchism. However, it should be emphasized that this view is very simplistic. Instead of perpetuating this view, this essay will attempt to explore the adaptations and borrowings that occurred between 1750, when Rousseau published his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, and Stalin’s rule. What appears to have survived best are ideas about the general will, virtue, and the belief that multiple interest groups are dangerous to society. This is very much connected to the acceptability of using violence to achieve certain ends, and the use of state terror by leaders influenced directly or indirectly by Rousseau. State terror, which has come to be associated with Stalinism, is at least partially the result of ideas surrounding the relationship between the government and the people that have been accumulating since the eighteenth century, and possibly earlier. The ideas of John Locke, as one of the earliest Enlightenment figures, and the adaptation of science to social problems (the creation of social science) will also be looked at in relation to Stalinism.
