Silova Wins the 2006-2007 Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) Book Prize for "From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism"

The Association awards the AABS Book Prize for an outstanding English-language scholarly book in Baltic Studies (humanities and social sciences) with a broadly historical, literary, social, or cultural significance are of particular interest. Founded on December 1, 1968, at the first conference on Baltic Studies at the University of Maryland, the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) is an international educational and scholarly non-profit organization. It promotes research and education in Baltic Studies by sponsoring meetings and conferences, supporting publications, sustaining a program of scholarships, grants, and prizes, and disseminating news of current interest in Baltic Studies. Since 1991, it has been a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies.

From Sites to Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism
is a major breakthrough in case study methodology, multiculturalism and policy borrowing/lending research. The book investigates a puzzle: how is it that one and the same system, the system of separate schooling for Latvian and Russian speakers, is seen as a site of occupation during one period (198701990) and as a symbol of multiculturalism in the next (1991-1999)? The system has stayed in place, but the meaning attached to it has been completely inverted. Is cultural change without structural change possible? Does it mean that the dual school system has become anachronistic, and will eventually disappear in light of the cultural changes of the past decade? The book is the story of a great metamorphosis of one and the same system of separate schooling that, at first unbelievable, gradually makes sense.

REVIEWS:
"Silova's contribution to the analysis of education reform in Latvia undoubtedly has much to recommend it, for it successfully demonstrates the different interpretations of 'integration' that exist within a society partaking in 'semantic construction of the New Europe' (21).
~Reviewed by Timofei Agarin in Journal of Baltic Studies

"Iveta Silova's study is a compelling contribution to understanding the contradictions in the rhetoric and realities of post Soviet/Communist reform. It testifies to how a well-meant, research-grounded reform idea (in this case bilingualism and minority education in Latvia) intended to serve marginalized minorities and create an indusive, just, and peaceful society was turned to serve contrary purposes. This volume is a brave statement of how reform discourse can be manipulated with the international community's tacit cooperation. The dear presentation of issues and actors, breadth and rigor of data, and extensive tables assists in explicating the concepts, contexts, and histories behind the narrative. Silova introduces and applies a culturalist analytical framework together with Foucault's notions of agency to reveal continuities in education reproduction as disciplinary technologies negotiated by the context, local actors, and global dynamics."
~Reviewed by Sarfaroz Niyozov in Comparative Education Review

"Iveta Silova takes an in depth look at the debates and discourses of minority education in post Soviet Latvia. Relying on elite interviews, survey data, media reports and official documents, Silova charts the changes in the discourse surrounding 'integration' and education in Latvia." ~Reviewed by David J. Galbreath in Europe-Asia Studies

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