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Stellungnahmen
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Brief von Prof. Dr. K. Postoutenko (Los Angeles) an die Dekanin
As a longtime admirer and frequent collaborator of the Slavic Seminar at the University of Basel I was shocked to learn that it may soon cease to exist. I am not aware of any other precedent in the post-war European history when one of the unquestionable leaders in its field was forced to close its doors due to bureaucratic calculations. Both in the United States and in Europe the high scholarly profile of the institute, the enviable productivity of its research team and the striking originality of many of its undertakings have made the Seminar one of the pioneers of the entire Slavic field. The best illustration of this guidance is the international scholarly conference "Literature and Commerce" organized by the Slavic Seminar in October 2001. Its methodological innovativeness (for instance, the introduction of the "new Economic Criticism" to the Russian studies) was echoed in the United States and Canada) where several conferences and panels (AAASS (2003) in Toronto, AATSEEL (2003) in San Diego, AAASS (2004) in Boston, "Literature and Exchange (2004)" in Chicago) were organized to promote and further the methodology of the Slavic scholars of Basel The projected shutting down of the Slavic Seminar in Basel had already provoked outrage within the global scientific community. However, the damage to the reputation of the University of Basel is only a minor consequence of the disastrous measure compared to the others. The whole generation of the aspiring young scholars in the Slavic field, the future political experts in Russia, the young businessmen forging links with the Eastern Europe would be inevitably lost by Switzerland to the countries with the more predictable academic policy. I kindly ask you to take all the steps necessary for the survival of the Slavic Seminar. I can assure you that those who traditionally benefit from rich Swiss culture and university of intellectual life would greet such steps with enthusiasm.
British Academy Visiting Fellow of 2001
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