International Collaborative Network of Geographers: U.S. and the Southern Tier of Post-Socialist States

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Prof. Robert Kaiser of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will lead this effort to construct an international collaborative network of geographers that involves U.S. researchers and Eurasian counterparts from post socialist countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. On the US side, members of the Russian, Central Eurasian and Eastern European Specialty Group (RCEE) of the Association of American Geographers will serve as core participants. The overall goals are to identify and connect geographers and scholars working in disciplines related to priority subfields and to build a virtual network linked electronically and through research partnerships. To accomplish their objectives, Prof. Kaiser and University of Wisconsin graduate students will create and maintain a specialized website and a listserver for this participant community. They also will organize and hold a first year planning workshop in Madison to define a future research agenda. Topics of special interest include: new forms of reterritorization of power and identity across a multiplicity of geographic scales; socioeconomic transformation of the states in the region; environmental conditions and issues related to environmental justice, and regional geopolitical and geocultural realignments at differing geographic scales. Initial results will be presented at a substantive conference in Baku during the second year. The establishment of this geographers' network and the anticipated research results should add significantly to our understanding of the dynamic ways in which these regions are being transformed socio-economically, culturally, demographically, and politically. If successful, results may be useful to national and international decision-makers, including those in the nations of the study region. These collaborative networking activities fulfill the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling experts in the United States and Central and Eastern Europe to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence.