popularization of women’s studies among the georgian...

International Journal of Research in Teaching, Learning, Creativity & Technology (IJRTL)

An Online International (Double-Blind) Refereed Research Journal

2019 Vol: 2 Issue: 1

121 www.globalbizresearch.org

Popularization of Women’s Studies among the Georgian Students through

the First Institutionalized American Studies English Program at the

International Black Sea University, Tbilisi-Georgia

Tamar Shioshvili,

Dean of the Faculty of Education and Humanities,

Head of the American Studies BA, MA, PhD Programs,

International Black Sea University, Georgia.

_____________________________________________________________________

Abstract

The establishment of the first American Studies English program in Post-Soviet Georgia at the

International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia in 2002, has turned out beneficial for

students in many ways:

As the first multidisciplinary and simultaneously interdisciplinary program, it

gives chance to Georgian as well as foreign students in Georgia through

Western interactive methodology, to work out analytical thinking towards

conceptual issues around the super power, that interest the whole world, and

Georgia specifically, as its main strategic partner; explore differences and

cultures, providing them with a rich portrait of American multicultural society.

The three-level program provides opportunity to raise American Studies

doctors, professors, so rare in Georgia.

The English program based on Western methodology gives more chance for

student exchange or continuity of studies above BA level at European and

American universities.

The inclusion of the course “Women’s Studies in the US” in the curriculum of

the American Studies opened new chance for students to concentrate on

women’s equality issues through comparative cross-cultural analysis between

Georgian and American women’s identities, values, perceptions at micro,

meso, macro global levels; their roles in family and relations with family

members.

___________________________________________________________________________

Key Words: Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, American Studies, Women’s Studies,

breadwinner, gender





1. Expansion of American Studies

Despite the fact, that the unique field of American Studies is comparatively young –

established in 1930s in the US, it has expanded and altered speedily since 1970s as a result of

changes of social, cultural, and intellectual developments. One reason for the field’s expansion

can be observed in the enhancement of the US based American Studies Association’s

membership list and, in the growth, and diversity for its annual conference. A number of

international associations for American Studies have increased their memberships and

expanded the publication of researches about the United States. As the field has expanded, it

has changed too. The change has been so extensive that, hot debates are going on among

scholars about the character, sources, and consequences of that change. There is a consideration,

that the field has been affected by the race-based scholarship and ethnic studies; by the

development of feminist intellectual inquiry; by efforts to understand the United States as part

of international, global system; and by burgeoning interest in previously neglected cultural

forms, everyday life and the incompletely expected archives in which their history rests

(Radway, et al., 2009, p.1).

As a result of these changes, new initiatives, projects, conferences have been designed in

the last decades to take a stock of the field and outline its likely future.

In this article, I’d like to introduce the reasons of the importance of American Studies field

and its course “Women’s Studies” in the Post-Soviet Republic of Georgia.

Globalization and internationalization are now central issues for higher education

worldwide, and particularly for the International Black Sea University, founded in 1995, to

develop Western educational methodology and establish memorandums with European and

American universities to provide student exchange and scientific exchange projects. American

Studies Department with only English BA, MA, PhD programs in Georgia first time established

at the International Black Sea University in 2002, is a good example of this. Your obedient

servant is the initiator and head of the programs.

2. History of Institutionalizing American Studies in Post-Soviet Georgia

Now I’d like to share how the history of my personal relations with the U.S. shaped the

formation of the first American Studies program in Georgia.

American Studies in Eastern Europe developed along different lines during Soviet period.

There were American Institutes, like the prestigious Arbatov Institute in Moscow, which largely

served the political, economic and historical study of the “class enemy”, or political antagonist.

At these institutes American literature and culture were taught on the academic margins. Due

to underdevelopment of cultural area studies in Russia and the ideological domination of

educational institutions, that existed under the soviet regime, American studies didn’t exist in

Russia. Deficiency of pedagogical reforms, information resources, and personal contacts with





colleagues in the United States has hampered the advancement of this field even during the

progress of East-West relations. In Moscow universities interdisciplinarity in the American

Studies field was foreign in 1990s; moreover in Post-Soviet Georgia in 2001 not only

interdisciplinary, but multidisciplinary program of American Studies field was unknown too.

In 2001 after visiting the United States as a member of the International Visitor’s program,

entitled “American Studies Curriculum Design” to travel around Washington D.C., and five

states: New York, New Mexico, Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania to explore oldest, diverse,

traditional and leading American Studies programs at: The George Washington, Michigan,

Penn State, Memphis New Mexico universities, I got stimulated to initiate a curriculum design

project for a new four-year bachelor degree English program in American Studies first time in

Georgia at the International Black Sea University (IBSU) where I had been working as a

Professor of English Lexicology, head of the English Department, teaching different skills of

English. In 2002 I founded the first and only English American Studies BA program in Georgia

as a Department. The program is simultaneously multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.

As a multidisciplinary program, it provides an opportunity for students to investigate the

heritage and contemporary developments of the USA from the variety of disciplines: American

Geography, American Culture and Society, American Multicultural Studies, American History,

American Literature, American Short Story, American Novel, American Media, American

Politics, American Pop Culture, American Economics, American Business, NATO,

Hollywood, American Art.

As for interdisciplinarity, American Studies was one of the first interdisciplinary areas of

inquiry in the US, emerging in the 1930s out of crossing boundaries between history, literature,

anthropology and (it turnes out) many other disciplines. In the years between then and whatever

“now” you happen to occupy, many of the writers and thinkers of interdisciplinary practice and

to fill it with all kinds of methods, ideas, theories (Deloria & Olson, 2017, p. 19).

After winning the Fulbright Scholarship and being a Fulbright professor-researcher at the

George Washington University in Washington D.C. in 2004/2005, I developed the B.A.

program into “American Studies” M.A. program in 2006; another M.A. program “U.S. Foreign

Affairs” in 2011, and “American Studies” Ph.D. program in 2007, which is quite successful, as

since 2010 – we have produced eleven American Studies Doctors, Associate Professors, and

Professors, that is great achievement for Georgia, as it is a rare specialty in our country. During

my research at the George Washington University I tried to investigate and find the right choice

of disciplines to combine while designing the interdisciplinary courses, which I’ve been

delivering at BA program: American Culture and Society; American Multicultural Studies;

American Women’s History; Women’s Studies in the U.S., and the Ph.D. course - American





Ethnicity. The courses combine: American History, Cultural Diversity in the U.S., American

Politics, Anthropology, Sociology.

Our American Studies Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary English programs give chance

to Georgian, as well as foreign students to get education based on Western interactive

methodology, working out in students analytical thinking towards conceptual issues around the

super power, that interest the whole world, and Georgia specifically, as its main strategic

partner; give them the opportunity to explore differences and common characteristics between

American and other cultures through comparative cross-cultural analysis, thus providing them

with a richer portrait of American multicultural society. This mission of the program is carried

out by the qualified Georgian, as well as American Fulbright professors from different

American universities invited by the US Embassy in Georgia (Claton Parr, Mark Simakovsky,

Martin Naughton, Alan Lambert, etc.).

Another benefit of IBSU American Studies English program for Georgian students is the

opportunity for exchange, and continuity of studies in M.A. program at European and US

universities.

American Studies B.A. program students have had a brilliant opportunity to be selected as

best out of all Georgian universities students to participate in an exchange project at

Washington University in St. Louis from 2002-2012. This was an educational and cultural

exchange project, covered by the Washington University plus grant obtained by the university

professor Dr. Joachim Faust. The project included free living during a month and attendance

and participation in lectures, delivered by the American professors; exposure of students to

American culture. On the other hand, by the end of the second semester Prof. Faust regularly

brought 10-12 American students, distributed among Georgian students’ families, who were

exposed to Georgian culture (Faust, p. 2011, p. 76).

Besides, American Studies has been contributing to the development of research since 2008

through holding annual American Studies International Research conference where American

and Georgian professors, scholars from diverse disciplines and Ph.D.C.-s and some outstanding

M.A. and B.A. program students are encouraged to exchange ideas on the United States,

examine the ways how American life relates to different parts of the world. The results have

been published in eleven issues of the American Studies Periodical.

3. Establishment of Women’s Studies through American Studies –

innovative course in Georgia

Besides American Studies beneficial sides for Georgia that I’ve already mentioned, there

was another innovative trend in Georgian university curriculums, that I established – Women’s

Studies, introduced through two courses in the American Studies B.A. degree program:

American Women’s History and Women’s Studies in the U.S. I was encouraged by the well-

known Women’s Studies Institute activities at the Michigan University during my visit as a





member of American Studies Curriculum Design Project in 2001. Why was this trend

innovative in the XXI century in Georgia? Soviet system of education didn’t involve the course

in the curriculums at all.

How apolitical were women in previous decades in Georgia? As though officially they had

all human rights, but actually weren’t enjoying them. Women were not electing, or weren’t

elected, just were appointed, only in cases when were meeting the stereotypes of the authorities.

Women had certain quota in the legislative or executive bodies. But as a rule, they never

occupied the high positions. They could rarely be appointed just as partisan leaders at the local

level.

Women took it for granted, and were never entertained by the ideas, that could fight for their

rights. And the fight was useless. In the totalitarian state this was unachievable not only for

women, but for men as well who were concerned by a lot of socio-economic problems.

But what’s happening today? How crucial is for today’s Georgian women to fight for equality?

When I talk to my students about this topic, I see an ironic smile on their faces, girls as well

among them. Men consider that Georgian women have never been oppressed. Like in many

patriarchal societies women have a predefined role – to nurture their children and be in the

kitchen. Many women in Georgia think that today the society has much more serious problems,

than their equality. I underline the real equality, otherwise according the legislation we are

equal. Although the glass ceiling, that is not a problem only for Georgians, exists in our country

too.

In order to cope with this problem, organizations should activate their operation in this line,

like they are in the U.S. It should be admitted that women in Georgia have started thinking

about their rights in the last decade. Quite a number of women’s organizations have been

created and women’s problems came to the forefront. Many came to the conclusion, that

without changing the systemic changes, raising the consciousness of women, it’s impossible to

reach real equality.

I believe the main tool to reach improvements in this line, is to use the experience of the U.S.

What can we learn from the American friends?

Through the prerequisite course “American Women’s History” Georgian students explore

the processes changing the lives of American woman so dramatically throughout very

significant historical periods (colonial period – 1960), as ripping any particular period would

distort historic facts, thus producing incomplete picture of their lives (Norton & Alexander,

2003). The first books on Women’s history belong to the mid – nineteenth century. As the field

of women’s history has matured in the United States over the past four decades, students

investigate scholars’ emphasis on women’s broadened “public” activities, as well as American

women’s lives in the “private sphere” (Faragher at al., 2004). Students constantly express





unanticipated astonishment about the hard lives and obstacles American women had to

overcome throughout centuries. The course is followed by the course “Women’s Lives in the

U.S.”, considering contemporary American women’s lives from the standpoint of cultural,

psychological, conflicting, physical, geographic, political, historical and social factors, which

may cause not only trifle, but serious problems in American women’s lives.

Georgian students are particularly keen on studying Georgian women’s problems and

comparing them with American women’s conditions from the point of view of the above-

mentioned issues; Georgian and American women’s identities at micro, meso, macro, global

levels; their role in family and relationship with family members, values, perceptions and

attitudes related to the family. During the last decade more students have been choosing their

dissertation topics to research public perceptions regarding women’s role and function in a

Georgian family, stimulated by the course “Women’s Studies in the U.S.”.

4. Method

In the scientific method, experiments build on one another. A “no” answer or “null result”,

is a valid outcome. It simply tells the scientists to consider the problem again, develop

alternative hypothesis and keep trying. In American Studies, we live in a very different world,

one of interpretation and argument, which has far less certainty about it. Our questions are not

like those of scientists who seek clear, simple explanations as part of a long sequence of

investigations. This is not to imply that American Studies is somehow more sophisticated than

the sciences. Scholars in American Studies (and other interpretive fields) actively seek out

open-ended questions. In our line of work, a question that does not have multiple possible

answers is, quite simply, a bad question. This is partly because human action is difficult to

explain (Deloria & Olson, 2017, p. 121).

Because our interest will be in people, human social relations, domination, and uneven

power, we will apply the broader methodological instrument – social theory, where we will

elaborate generalizable arguments.

The main aim of the article is to clarify the benefits of the introduction of the American

Studies multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary methodology at the Georgian University (IBSU)

through which the establishment of the course “Women’s Studies” became possible, and the

possibility of comparative cross-cultural methodology between Georgian and American

women’s identities, their roles in family and relations with family members.

Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used in the study. 60 face-

to-face interviews were conducted in the scope of the quantitative study. Qualitative research

included 10 women focus group discussions.





5. Family Structure in Georgia

More than half (54 percent) of the population in Georgia is married and lives with a spouse.

Nine percent does not live with a spouse, but some of them (four percent) are still officially

married. Every fifth person (21 percent) is single. 5 percent of respondents state they are

divorced. It should be underlined, that the number of the divorced is larger in urban areas (7

percent) in comparison with rural settlements (2 percent). 18 percent are widows, while the

number of widowers – does not exceed five percent. 7 percent of the population lives with a

partner out of wedlock.

The majority (95 percent) of citizens are in a civil marriage, and fewer – 37 percent are in a

religious marriage. It’s worth underlying that the bigger number of young couples are in a

religious marriage compared to older generations, and there is a reason for that: Before getting

independence in 1991 in Georgia the Soviet regime persecuted the people entering churches,

moreover religious marriage ceremonies. If any couple still dared to enter the religious

marriage, and the bridegroom, or any member of his or bride’s family occupied a good position,

would be fired and persecuted. 63 percent of families are nuclear. 28 percent of couples live

with husband’s parents or relatives, and 9 percent with the wife’s parents or relatives. It’s

insulting for many Georgian men to live with wife’s kinship.

It’s interesting to note, that though the number of people living separately increases, only

14 percent of young couples (18-24 age range) do not live with their parents. (see table #1). If

it has been a normal American lifestyle for a century, in Georgia it started later due to the

Georgian traditional extended family system.

Table 1

Marriage and Domestic Partnership “To Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia”. UNDP Georgia,

2013, p. 11

5.1 Marriage and Family Life

Young people in the United States and Georgia currently face changes, and sometimes

contradictions concerning marriage and family life. Marriage is romanticized: The partners

marry for love and are expected to live happily ever after. Although most families no longer

arrange a daughter’s marriage, they usually have expectations of the kind of a man they want





her to fall in love with. Women marry for many reasons: They may believe that marriage will

make their relationship more secure or provide a stronger foundation for their children. It is a

respected way of publicly affirming one’s commitment to a partner and being supported in this

commitment by family and friends, as well as societal institutions. However, under the

excitement and romance of the wedding and despite the fact that many partnerships are thriving,

marriage as an institution is taking a buffeting in the U.S., mainly because of changes in the

economy and changing ideas of women’s role in society (Coontz, 1997; Risman, 1998; Kirk,

Oakzava-Rey, 2004).

Researches conducted in Georgia in the last decade show that family is a very important

value for the Georgian society. Family takes the first place in hierarchy of values for the vast

majority of women and men (89 percent) (See table 2).

Table 2

(UNDP Georgia, 2013, p. 17)

Family institution is related to Georgian traditions and national identity. There is established

belief regarding an ideal Georgian family, how family members should behave and what duties

and responsibilities each family member should have. These perceptions are rather traditional.

There is a certain hierarchy and subordination among family members which is based on

stereotypical, traditional and often patriarchal beliefs on men’s and women’s roles. One such

belief refers to a man as the main breadwinner in the family. A man is considered as the head

of the family taking responsibility for family’s financial welfare.

Despite the fact, that the majority of the population think ideally – the man should be the

breadwinner (88 percent), 1 percent think the opposite, and only 11 – think -that a man and a

woman should share this responsibility, 34 percent consider that in reality the woman is the

breadwinner in Georgia today (see table 3).





Table 3

(UNDP Georgia, 2013, p. 18)

In decision-making patriarchal values domineer (Medzmariashvili, 2017). 48 percent of

respondents consider that men should be the main decision-makers, only 2 percent believe the

women should make decisions, however, half of the respondents think that decisions should be

made together. Georgian society believes that getting married is necessary component of life,

family is an exclusive space where women must be self-realized by combining the roles of a

housewife and a mother. 61 percent think that a woman should be more occupied with bringing

up children and taking care of the house than with a professional career, and 79 percent

consider, that a woman is more appreciated for her successful conduction of family

responsibilities than her career success. As a result, it may be considered, that there are

particular hierarchical relations between men and women in Georgian families. This is

confirmed by perceived gender subordination, some perceptions, stereotypes and social norms

of Georgian society related to gender roles.

Power distribution on relationship may have impact on a woman’s emotional and

psychological condition. A woman’s subordinative role or restriction in a family may

negatively impact her self-esteem and can negatively unfold outside the family, for instance, a

woman with low self-esteem may be less ambitious in finding a new job, or in her current

occupation: agreeing to a lower salary and worse conditions. Georgian traditional woman is

described as an obedient wife, housewife and mother. Full self-realization can happen mostly

after marriage, although this attitude is changing in urban areas, among young generation.

Conducted researches show, that many women having low self-esteem and a tendency for

obedience are less active in business, or politics. So, low-self-esteem in women can be

considered as an obstacle to their engagement in political or business activity.

38 percent of Georgian women respondents and 54 percent of men consider that a wife

should endure some humiliation from her spouse to save the marriage, e.g. betrayal form the

husband, even domestic violence in some cases. One reason for this can be the negative attitude

towards divorce form the public, especially in rural areas.





Some justify a woman’s self-sacrifice and enduring character as her value, since she needs

a compensation for her “suffering”. This reward is her status as a traditional, enduring woman,

whose main value is preserving the family at any cost. In some cases, such behavior of women

is related not only to tradition, but morality of Christian religion. Besides considering the

attitude of the surrounding public circle, women think that it will be better for children to

maintain family integrity; and another preventive objective is dependence on men financially,

if a woman is not supported by her parents, or she has no chance to earn for living.

Despite all above-mentioned, 67 percent of contemporary Georgians think, the divorce is

the best option when a couple has relationship problems, often fight and have constant

disagreements. Such attitude is quite progressive.

On the one hand, the creation of a family is one of the most important obligations of a Georgian,

even some consider being in a bad marriage is better than being single. On the other hand, the

society has worked out tolerant attitude towards the divorce, but after getting married officially.

5.2 Georgian Women’s Role as a Bread Winner

It’s amazing, that while Georgian women are characterized as obedient, sometimes weak

and helpless, simultaneously their traits are: strong, enduring and resistant. In modern Georgian

reality a woman often takes a man’s role and becomes a breadwinner. A vivid example of this

is the labor migration of Georgian women abroad fulfilling the status of a bread-winner.

While specifying the cultural differences in the feminization of labor migration, it's

noteworthy to mention, different niches which different female groups choose or where they

are involved. For example, Asian immigrant and Asian American women along with women

working in the "third world", are the "new" workforce within the global reorganization of

capitalism. Since the 1980s, the globalization of capitalism has shifted many manufacturing

operations to Asia and Latin America and has reorganized a mode of production that at one

time employed a US male labor force, white and black, in industrial manufacturing, and

formerly employed white working-class in assembly – blue - and pink-collar, and service work.

in the search for ever cheaper, more "flexible", labor pools, this reorganization also produces a

greater "pull" for new Asian and Latino immigrants, especially for Asian and Latina women,

to fill the insecure assembly and service sector jobs in the United States that have emerged

largely as a result of restructuring and "reengineering" (Lisa, Lowe, 2019, p. 179).

5.3 Labor Migration of Women from Georgia

Until 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, labor migration of women from Georgia

was socially unacceptable. However, nowadays a significant number of women are forced to

seek a way out of poverty in the form of employment abroad. In 1990s the number of Georgian

Immigrants in the U.S. rose significantly and it was called the third wave of emigration (the

first wave took place in 20-s of the XXth century, the second - after the WWII). Due to the





hard-social conditions in Georgia in 1990s, among the Georgian third wave immigrants in the

United States, women prevailed. Georgian women’s goal was to save their families left behind

in Georgia. They had lost their jobs in their motherland, or the wages were so low, that they

couldn’t afford to provide for children and unemployed spouses. Many Georgian women were

graduates of universities, but unfortunately their diplomas were not valid in the United States.

Many didn’t know English, moreover the majority found different ways to stay in the U.S. as

illegal immigrants, which made their conditions even worse. The only way for them was, to

accept the jobs of house maids, nannies, employment in service sector, for what they got much

lower remuneration, than the Americans got.

Nevertheless, with the help of low for the Americans, but substantial salary ($1000-$2000)

for Georgian women, they saved their Georgian families economically and are continuing to

do the same today (Medzmariashvili, 2017, p. 206).

Feminization of migration is considered to be a progressive sign in the West, as it is

associated with gender equality, but for Georgia it cannot be counted as a positive sign due to

cultural tradition. While working abroad, especially in the U.S., their income rises sufficiently,

as the demand for certain categories of female labor (house maids, nannies, service sector) on

the international labor market has risen and thus Georgian women created their own labor niche

comprising the above-mentioned categories.

6. Conclusion

The establishment of the first American Studies English program in Post-Soviet Georgia at

the International Black Sea University in 2002, has turned out beneficial for students in many

ways:

a) As the first multidisciplinary and simultaneously interdisciplinary program, it gives

chance to Georgian as well as foreign students in Georgia through Western interactive

methodology, to work out analytical thinking towards conceptual issues around the

super power, that interest the whole world, and Georgia specifically, as its main

strategic partner; explore differences and cultures of ethnic groups, providing them

with a rich portrait of American multicultural society.

b) The three-level program provides opportunity to raise American Studies doctors,

professors, so rare in Georgia.

c) The English program based on Western methodology gives more chance for student

exchange or continuity of studies above BA level at European and American

universities.

d) The inclusion of the course “Women’s Studies in the US” in the curriculum of the

American Studies opened new vista for students to concentrate on women’s equality

issues through comparative cross-cultural analysis between Georgian and American





women’s identities, values, perceptions at micro, meso, macro global levels; their roles

in family and relations with family members.

Accordingly, the analysis clarifies a typical Georgian woman’s character: for Georgian

woman family is a primary value, she is dedicated and loyal to the family.

Loyalty to the family is expressed through the fact, that she is a good housewife, spouse

and mother, at the same time she is hospitable and is a great hostess for guests which is one of

the important aspects of a good housewife. It’s interesting that while Georgian women are

featured as obedient, weak and sometimes helpless, they can also be described as strong,

enduring and resistant, that is confirmed by the substantial level of labor migration of Georgian

women abroad, where they take a men’s role and become breadwinners.

References

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Deloria, P.J., Olson, A.I. (2017). American Studies. Oakland, California.

Kirk, G., Okazawa, M.R. (2004). Women’s Lives. U.S.

Faust, J. (2011). Global Integral Humanities – the Experience of an Exchange program between IBSU

and Washington University in St. Louis. American Studies Periodical. 4th Edition, Tbilisi.

Norton, M.B., Alexander, R.M. (2003). Major Problems in American Women’s History. USA: New

York. ISBN:0-618-12219-2

Faragher, J.M., Buhle, M., Czitrom, D., Armitage, S.H. (2004). Out of Many. USA: New Jersey. ISBN:

0-13-18243-7

Coontz, S. (1997). The way we really are: coming to terms with American’s changing families. New

York: Basic Books;

Risman, B.J. (1998). Gender vertigo: American families in transition. New Haven, Conn.: Yale

University Press.

Public Perceptions on Gender Equality in Politics and Business. (2013). Published with financial support

of the UN Joint Programme “To Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia”. UNDP, Georgia.

Radway, J.A., Gaines, K.K., Shank, B., Eschen, P. V. (2019). American Studies. An Anthropology. Wiley

Bleackwell, UK.

Medzmariashvili, E. (2017). Women in the Twentieth Century U.S. Politics. Publishing House “KLIO”.

ISBN 978-9941-441-67-7, Tbilisi, Georgia.

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