Tim Lougheed
Taking a good look into the Russian soul can be habit-forming. Just ask Professor Andrew Donskov. He has been there on numerous occasions during his academic career.
Prof. Donskov, director of the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, continues to marvel at the intellectual treasures that are now accessible within Russia. He contrasts the situation with the early 1980s, when the strictures of the former Soviet Union severely limited any exchange of people and ideas.
These limitations have been disappearing gradually since 1991, when the Soviet Union officially ceased to be. Just a year before then, the University signed its first Memorandum of Understanding with the RussianAcademy of Sciences. Soon afterward, researchers like Prof. Donskov and his assistants began to explore literary and historical archives that had been off-limits for decades.
“It’s a reality now, our collaboration with Russian academics,” he says. “More so now than ever before.”
Vice-rector Academic, Dr. Robert Major, right, with Nikolai Skatov, director of the Institute of Russian Literature and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
That reality was reaffirmed just last month, when he accompanied Vice-rector (Academic), Robert Major, to Moscow and St-Petersburg to broaden the interaction between the University and several Russian institutions. They signed two memoranda of understanding with the University of St-Petersburg’s CanadaCollege and Moscow State Institute of International Relations and initiated discussions with MoscowStateUniversity where Vice-rector Major gave a seminar on the bilingual nature of the University of Ottawa. These activities are laying the foundation for specific academic exchanges in the next few years in a variety of disciplines.
Mr. Major emphasizes the vital role that international ties play in the University’s academic development, as well as the importance of collaborative research.
It was Mr. Major’s second trip to Russia. At the invitation of CanadaCollege and Anna Biolik, the Canadian Consul-General in St-Petersburg, he presented a lecture as part of the Alexander Mackenzie Memorial Lecture Series, which was originally initiated by the Government of Canada. His presentation was based on his own research regarding the role of the St. Lawrence River in Canadian literature.
“The Russians are very, very fond of their rivers and their waterways, which have a strong presence in their literary works,” he says, noting that this theme enabled him to open up some common cultural territory between the two nations. Doing so in person, Mr. Major adds, was an interesting experience. While he is very familiar with Russian literature, he admits that he has been fascinated by his first direct encounters with the people and places that spawned this rich, varied culture.
And, according to Professor Donskov, the approach struck exactly the right tone.
“Mr. Major gave a fantastic lecture,” he says. “It was accepted marvellously. More than 150 students studying Canada attended, along with their professors and administrators.”
Russian scholars fascinated by Canada
