While on a research trip to the Don region of Russia, Sociology Professor Denis O’Hearn and PhD candidate Andrej Grubacic were feted by the people of Ust’-Medveditskaia, a Cossack stanitsa (village) and capital of the Don Cossacks. In a special ceremony, O’Hearn and Grubacic, who is also associate professor of anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, were initiated into the Don Cossack community by the local ataman Andrei Goncharov. After the ceremony, the ataman accompanied the pair to the local high school where they were entertained by the students with traditional Cossack songs and dances. During the trip, the two held a series of discussions and meetings with local Cossack historians and experts. Their research is about direct democracy and autonomy among historical Cossacks in the context of the changing capitalist world-system. O’Hearn and Grubacic also spoke at a series of meetings in Volgograd, Moscow, and Dmitrov. They spoke as the invited international representatives at a conference commemorating the 170th anniversary of the Russian scientist and traveler Petr Kropotkin at the Dmitrovskii Kremlin.
Dennis O’Hearn and Andrej Grubacic
March 28, 2013