Moscow article ideas please

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m studying to be a journalist. This autumn we’re going to do a big article project and have the opportunity to go abroad to do this. I have the chance to apply for a scholarship to go to Moscow for five to six weeks to write this article.

I’m really interested in the last fifteen years of change in Russia. I was planning to write about the KGB. Find someone who used to work for the KGB and is now retired, see what their old headquarters are used for these days, talk to old people about their view of the KGB and what life is like without it, stuff like that.

Unfortunately, I just found out that the article subject is limited. It has to have something to do with “gender relations and democratic processes”. Now, “democratic processes” is easily fixed; the evolution of the KGB to whatever it is today is certainly a democratic process. “Gender relations” is tougher. Maybe something about female KGB agents and their role, juxtaposed with women’s role in today’s Russian intelligence bureaus. I’m assuming there were female KGB agents? Anything interesting to write about there?

If not KGB, can anyone think of anything else interesting within the subject limitations? There’s probably a lot of prostitution in Russia these days, I could write about that. The downside is, of course, getting shot by the Mafia, but whoever said journalist life was easy?

Any good ideas/advice?

2

Giving this a bump to catch the people living on the other side of the clock.

3

I lived in Russia - not Moscow, down south - off and on in the late 1980s/early 1990s and one thing that was evident, in general, was a relative lack of neccessity on a man’s behalf to provide for his family - the state took care of things. This led, all too predictably, to high rates of alcoholism with many jokes about men being good for nothing and women being the only ones keeping industry, family going etc.
It may be interesting to explore how/if democratisation has altered this situation and whether rates of alcoholism have changed.
This seems to satisfy your criteria …

4

I like Marky’s idea. I also lived in Russia for a couple of years, including two semesters in Moscow.

Another interesting idea might be to look at the economic and political role grandmothers play in Russia. Grandmothers (babushki in Russian) play a big role in Russia’s culture and economy. Throughout history babuski have set the moral tone for Russian society, and provided a surprisingly consistent stream of entrepeneurial energy.

When you get to Moscow, you’ll see babuski sweeping streets, selling goods on every corner and shoveling snow. It would be interesting (to Russian study geeks like me, anyway) to examine how/if babuski’s historic cultural capital has translated into modern political clout. Are they a voting bloc? Do politicians court their vote, if not, are they overlooking an important segment of society?

5

I’ll ponder this some more, but one topic that immediately jumps to mind is one that a grad school classmate wrote her dissertation on; the role of women in the post-Soviet workforce. In a nutshell, the Soviet system provided lots of legal protections for women: long paid maternity leaves and such.

After the breakup, when economic mayhem was the rule, these protections became very costly for businesses which suddenly had to be concerned with making a profit - the result was that women, particularly of childbearing age, became the last hired and first fired, and since any existing legal protections against things like sexual harrassment were essentially impossible to enforce, it was a free-for-all. My classmate reported seeing Help Wanted ads which listed items like specific desired hair color and measurements, and frequently included the phrase “bez kompleksov [no hangups],” which basically meant “will sleep with the boss.”

Things may have leveled out in some places, but I imagine the playing field is still often rather unequal. It might be nice to do an update, now that a decade plus has gone by. If you’re interested, I can give you some ideas for background reading.

Good luck, and I’m jealous!

Eva Luna, Leningrad State U. 1989/Novosibirsk State U. 1995

6

Thanks all. There are some nice ideas here. Luckily, I have quite some time to decide.

I’m definitely interested. You have my email address.

7

[bump]Sorry I got sidetracked, but now I’m back.

I don’t have a ton of stuff handy specifically on women’s issues in Russia - my area of interest is more ethnic politics. But here are a couple of background items on political/social issues that ought to get you started and will be useful reading for any trip to Russia anyway:

Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days fof the Soviet Empire, David Remnick, former Washington Post Moscow correspondent - best all-around book I’ve seen for general readership on post-Soviet Russian politics and social issues

*The Russians * and The New Russians, both by Hedrick Smith, former NYT Russia correspondent. The first is now dated, but still useful for background info on what kind of baggage Russians bring to the table in terms of social issues and historical experience.

These are purposely broad in scope and meant for a general audience; I have lts more esoteric stuff on the shelf, if you end up being interested in a narrower issue. Just post again, and I’ll take a crack at it.

Also, keep an eye on the Radio Free Europe daily digest of Russian news - good to know what’s going on there anyway. www.rferl.org

For some really scathing black humor and no-holds-barred political commentary in English, from an expat point of view, check out www.exile.ru

On women’s issues: Soviet Women: Walking the Tightrope, Francine du Plessix Gray

And you may want to check out this SDMB thread: “Mail Order Bride and Sour Honey”

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=212249&highlight=honey

More if I think of it, or feel free to keep asking questions about Russia in general.