Week 2: Love, Loss, and Politics
Section 2: October 21, 5-8 pm

Little Vera, Russia, 1988. Dir.: Vasili Pichul
Presented by Aaron Retish

Little Vera (Malenkaya Vera) tells the story of a teenage girl who has just finished school and feels trapped in her provincial town. Her name, which means faith, can be read to symbolize either a glimmer of hope or her lack thereof. The film is typical of its time, "perestroika," during which many such films, collectively known as charnukha (roughly 'black stuff') were released (Source: Wikipedia)

Dr. Aaron Retish is Associate Professor of History at WSU. He specializes in late Imperial Russian and early Soviet history, especially the revolutionary era. Other research interests include peasant studies, inter-ethnic relations, popular politics, state building, citizenship, and the relationship between power and identity. He has received funding from Fulbright-Hays, the Social Science Research Council, the Kennan Institute, ACTR/USIA, and IREX and published several articles on political rituals and social and political changes in the countryside during the revolution. His book, Russia’s Peasants in Revolution and Civil War: Citizenship, Identity, and the Creation of the Soviet State, 1914-1922 (2008) received a WSU Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award in 2009. Professor Retish received the WSU President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2008.