Virtual Guest Speaker Joins Soviet Union Elective

On October 17, historian Dr. Douglas Northrop from the University of Michigan virtually visited students in Upper School History Teacher Marian Smith's Soviet Union elective for an engaging hour-long Q&A session on his book, Veiled Empire. Students read three chapters from Northrop's book, which focuses on Central Asia in the Stalin era from both Soviet and Uzbek perspectives. In particular, Dr. Northrop's research examines Bolshevik campaigns to force Muslim women in Central Asia to unveil themselves publicly. In addition to answering students' questions about the book, Dr. Northrop also discussed his experiences as a Stanford History Ph.D. student conducting research in Russia and Uzbekistan in the mid-1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Dr. Northrop served as Marian's mentor when she was a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan and was delighted to discuss Central Asia with Baldwin students.