Tuesday, January 14, 2025
James Thomas Andrews
James Thomas Andrews is a University Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Modern Russian and Comparative European History at Iowa State University.
When did you first develop an interest in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies?
I first developed an interest in Russian Studies in High School in Fairfield, CT in the 1970s. I was enrolled in an honors humanities program my junior year; and one English teacher, who taught comparative literature, had us read Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Turgenev. That year (1977), we also saw The Cherry Orchard performed at Lincoln Center, which was inspiring, especially with a talented Meryl Streep and starring Raul Julia as Lopakhin in the play. As an undergraduate at Tufts University, which had an excellent international studies program, I was encouraged to go on one of the early CIEE exchange programs at Leningrad State University, which I did later, after I graduated. A summer at the Russkaya Shkola (Russian School) at Middlebury College, where I had the opportunity to hear poetry readings in Russian, and take mini-courses/attend lectures from Soviet-era cultural figures such as Vassily Aksyonov, was also an invaluable experience. I then found my graduate school education, as an M.A. student at Tufts University’s Fletcher School for Global Studies, and then a Post-Graduate Certificate Program at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, as invaluable, preparing me for my Ph.D. at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Sheila Fitzpatrick.
How have your interests changed since your initial interest in the field?
I first started teaching in the early 1990s as a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 and 1993, then SUNY and the University of Connecticut at Storrs – throughout the 1990s and early 2000s my books and articles focused, such as Maksim Gor’kii Revisited: Science, Academics and Revolution (1995) and Science for the Masses (2003), on the history of science and public or popular culture. Starting around 2005, however, I began working more in the sub-discipline of the cultural history of technology, and wrote/edited two other books on the cultural history of the Soviet space and rocketry program, which included both Red Cosmos (2009) and Into the Cosmos (2012).
What is your current research/work project?
I am currently working on two books. I am completing a survey text entitled Wondrous Visions: A History of Science and European Culture from Copernicus (1543) to the Nuclear Age. I have also been working on a research monograph, using a myriad of diverse Russian archives, on the history of the Moscow Metropolitan (subway) from 1902 to the present. The book is currently entitled Iconic Metropolitan: Mass Mobility, Architectural Visions, and the Politics of Urban Space in Modern Russia.
Tell us about your most interesting/enjoyable research or work experience.
I have spent the last three decades, or more, working in Russian archives, mostly which are filled with either typed or hand-written documents/letters. As of late, over the last decade or so, however, I have been working in a number of fascinating and enriching architectural and photographic archives in Moscow. They include the Schusev State Museum & Archive of Architecture in Moscow, the Moscow Communist Party Photographic Archive, and the Museum of the History of Moscow to name a few. I have been working with both original photographic negatives (see the photo here of the Kirovskaia Metro Station – 1935 – Courtesy of the Archive of the Museum of Moscow, fond 8398), as well as architectural drawings/plans – using these visual sources has been exciting, fascinating and challenging methodologically in new ways for me. It has also led me recently to a new co-edited volume that is interdisciplinary in nature, entitled Art and the Global City (2022).
What do you value about your ASEEES membership?
I have been a member of the association for almost four decades, since the 1980s when it was the AAASS. I not only appreciate seeing old friends and colleagues at these annual conferences over the years, but have most appreciated the multi-disciplinary aspect of the yearly convention, which has enabled me to go to panels on such diverse topics, and from a variety of academic fields, in Russian and Eurasian studies.
Besides your professional work, what other interests and/or hobbies do you enjoy?
I was a former ice hockey player in high school, and club hockey at university, so I still like to ice skate and roller blade. My wife and I love to bicycle as well, and Iowa has these repurposed train tracks that are now great paved bike paths all over the state. We also like to take long walks in nature and hike in national parks.