SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

Anthropology Newsletter, February 1998.

SOCIETY FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF EUROPE

Diane O'Rourke, Contributing Editor

One of the issues facing Europenist anthropologists as we approach the 21st century is how to incorporate our colleagues working throughout the territories of the former Soviet Union. Bob Rotenberg brought the issue to the attention of the SAE executive board and, at their network meeting, the East European Anthropology Group extended a welcome to anthropologists working in post-Soviet societies across Asia.

Networking with a Vengeance

Continuities between eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were also addressed in "Networking with a Vengeance: Clans and Mafia in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," organized by Janine Wedel (George Washington) and Robert Rotenberg (DePaul). Examples from post-Soviet contexts presented by panelists Wedel, Hilda Eitzen and Ruth Mandel show that informal groups and networks, shaped by communist-style social organization and the expansionist state, are playing a crucial role in contemporary market and institutional outcomes. One important question raised by these papers is whether these groups will serve as crucial supports for or obstacles to the development of new types of state institutions. Cliques united by what Wedel terms "dirty togetherness" flourish in an environment where the role of law is not firmly established and have survived the 1989 collapse of centralized power in the communist states. Ruth Mandel, who discussed the importance of Kazahk clans known as zhuz in diplomacy, development and the booming gas business, asks whether these clan relations will prove an obstacle to the development of civil society characterized by rule of law.

A related focus of the session was the perception of post-Soviet clans and mafia by Westerners. Mandel noted that Westerners dealing with Kazahkistan share a sense that zhuzare critical in many spheres but are not quite sure how. Discussant Peter Schneider pointed out that although the image of Russia and the former Soviet Union as a haven for mafia and organized crime is widespread in the West, these terms may not mean the same thing in the US. Wedel noted that while the focus in the US is on the activities of organized crime, the focus in the former Soviet Union is on the relationships that support these cliques. Discussant Caroline Humphrey commented on a related point: while clan and mafia are often interchangeable in Russia, in some contexts in the former USSR, they may be seen as opposites. Whereas the aim of mafia is to elude state control, clans can counteract mafia and actually strengthen the state.

Clans can also be a source of pride and a means of enhancing identity and public image. Hilda Eitken cites the celebration of clan linkages and identities among Kazakhs that emerged to counter Russian beliefs that nomads like Kazakhs wandered "without a place or a past." Wedel argued that conventional Western models drawn from comparative politics, public administration and sociology are inadequate for the analysis of these informal groups and how they are shaping the nature of the region's emerging states and suggests alternatives grounded in anthropology. The papers from this panel are to be published in PoLAR. the publication of the APLA, which cosponsored the session.