Ron Wixman Status:   Specialty:   Range:   Active Bulgarian Bulgarian, Armenian, Macedonian, Balkan

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Ron Wixman began folk dancing in New York City, New York, as a youth. Ron is quite knowledgeable about the languages, dances, and costumes of the Balkans, Middle East, and Far East, to which he has made many research trips, including:

• Winter 1993 - Field research on Ethnic Groups in New Zealand, 3 week research trip.
• Summer 1991 - Field research on Ethnic Problems in Daghestan.
• Summer 1990 - Field research in Khanda, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia on changes of mode of living among the Evenks during the Soviet Period.
• Spring 1989 - Field research in Szeged, Hungary on the ethnic geography of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• Summer 1988 - Field research on the location and morphology of ancient Greek and Roman towns in Western Turkey.
• Summer 1987 - Field research in Yugoslavia on modernization in rural areas with specific reference to differences resulting from cultural diversity.
• Summer 1986 - Field research in Southern China and Tibet on cultural landscapes and ethnic diversity in China.
• Summer 1985 - Field research in Uzbekistan, Soviet Central Asia on why Soviet Moslems do not urbanize.
• 1984 Academic Year - Field research in South and Southeast Asia on ethnic and religious landscapes.
• Summer 1979 - Field research on cultural landscapes of Japan with specific reference to the influence of Shinto and Buddhist values and locations of temples.
• Summer 1978 - Field research on religious landscapes in Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia and Egypt.
• Summer 1975 - Field research on impact of political systems on urban and rural landscapes in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Thracian Turkey.
• Summer 1974 - Yugoslav-American Geography Field Seminar.
• Summer 1973 - Field research on cultural landscapes in Spain, Portugal, France, and Morocco.
• Summer 1971 - Field research on urban and rural landscapes as reflections of ethnic value systems in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Austria.
• Summer 1968 - Summer language study program in Leningrad, USSR, with extensive travel through the Soviet Union.
• Summer 1967 - Field research on ethnic and religious landscapes in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Greece, (including trip to Ukraine and Moldavia in the USSR).
• Summer 1964 - Field research on ethnic diversity and cultural geography in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, and Austria.

He has an excellent knowledge of English, Russian, Yiddish, and Bulgarian, and a working knowledge of Serbo-Croatian, German, French, and Spanish. Ron shares with Stephen Glaser one of the largest collections of authentic Yugoslav costumes in the United States.

Ron danced with several ethnic groups, including the Armenian Folkdance Society of New York, and for a while was a professional flamenco dancer. He received his B.A. degree from Hunter College in 1968, his M.A. degree from Columbia University in 1972, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in Illinois in 1978. He joined the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1975 and is currently is a professor of geography, teaching Ethnography of the Balkans, Balkan Dance, Geography of Eastern Europe and the USSR, and Soviet Nationality Policy. He has taught at several folk dance festivals and camps in North America, including the University of Chicago Folk Dance Festivals in 1977 and 1989, and has lectured on several Smithsonian Institution trips.

Dr. Wixman has received many fellowships and awards, including:

• Teacher of the Year, Friars (senior honor's society), Spring 1997.
• Keynote speaker, Golden Key Society, University of Oregon, Spring, 1995.
• Teacher of the Month, November 1995, University of Oregon.
• Charles E. Johnson Memorial Award, University of Oregon, Spring 1994.
• Faculty Achievement Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Oregon, Spring, 1993.
• Negotiator of Inter-University Exchanges between the University of Oregon and three institutes of higher learning in Irkutsk, USSR, Summer 1991.
• IREX Grant, Ethnography and Archeology Among Evenk in Irkutsk Oblast (The Evenks of Khanda: changes in way of life during the Soviet Period), Summer 1990.
• Keynote Speaker, Golden Key Society, University of Oregon, Spring, 1989.
• USIA University Affiliations Grant, Research at Jozsef Attila University, Szeged, Hungary on Ethnographic Groups in Historical Hungarian Kingdom, Spring 1988.
• Soviet American Joint Ethnographic Research Trip (Los Angeles) - research on ethnic trends among Armenians in the USSR and the USA.
• Soviet-American Joint Ethnographic Research Trip (Moscow, Kiev), Soviet Academy of Sciences, Institute of Ethnography, Summer 1985.
• NDFL, Title VI, University of Chicago, 1974-75.
• Yugoslav-American Geographic Field Seminar, Summer, 1974.
• Fellowship, University of Chicago, 1973-74.
• Fellowship through Soviet Nationalities Studies Program, Columbia University, 1971-73.
• President's Fellowship, Columbia University, 1970-71.
• Council for Educational Exchange in the USSR, Summer, 1968.

In addition to numerous talks, discussion panel appearances, media presentations, and television and radio appearances, Dr. Wixman is a prolific writer. His research focuses on geographies of ethnicity, culture and religion. Of particular interest to him are those situations related to political geographical questions, ethno-territorialism, and ethno-territorial disputes. Although he has done research on these issues throughout Eurasia and the Middle East, his primary focus is on Eastern and Central Europe, the Former Soviet Union and its successor states, and the Middle East. His publications deal primarily with subjects dealing with Soviet Nationality Policy as construed and applied throughout the USSR. Among Dr. Wixman's books, monographs, articles, and other publications are:

• The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook, New York, M.E. Sharpe and London, Macmillan, 1984.
• Language Aspects of Ethnic Patterns and Processes in the North Caucasus. University of Chicago Geography Research Series no. 191, 1980.
• In Progress: The Rise and Fall of the USSR: Cultural and Regional Perspectives. Under contract with John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Approx. 400 pp.
• "Azerbaijan." Minneapolis: Lerner Pub Co., (part of series on former Republics of the USSR for 7-9th graders), 1993.
• "Macedonian Bridal Costumes," Silverman, Carol and Wixman, Ronald. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Museum of Natural History, Museum Notes No. 1., 1983.
• "The Middle Volga: exploring the limits of sovereignty," in New States, New Politics: Building the Post-Soviet Nations. Frank, Allen and Wixman, Ronald. Eds. Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, Cambridge, Cambridge U. Press, 1996, pp. 140-189.
• "Ethnic and Territorial Conflicts in Eastern Europe," in The Challenge of Ethnic Conflict to National and International Order in the 1990s: Geographic Perspectives. Washington DC, Gov't Printing Office, October, 1995. pp. 25-38.
• "The Middle Volga: An Ethnic Archipelago in a Sea of Russians," Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States. Eds. Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, Cambridge, Cambridge U. Press, 1993, pp. 421-447.
• Bychkov, Oleg, Dumond, Don, and Wixman, Ronald, "A People Dwindling Under Centralized Rule," Cultural Survival, Winter 1992, pp 57-60.
• "Manipulating Territory, Undermining Rights," Cultural Survival, Winter 1992, pp. 21-23.
• "Ethnic Nationalism in Eastern Europe," in Eastern Europe: the Impact of Geographic Forces on a Strategic Region, ed. Harvey Heiges (Washington D.C.; US Govt. Printing Office), 1992.
• "Ethnic Attitudes and Relations in Contemporary Uzbek Cities," Soviet Central Asia: The Failed Transformation. Edited by William Fierman. Westview Press, 1991, pp. 159-185.
• "Applied Soviet Nationality Policy: A Suggested Rationale," Turco-Tatar Past Soviet Present. Edited by Ch. Lemercier-Quelquejay, G. Veinstein and S.E. Wimbush. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1986, pp. 449-468.
• "Demographic Trends Among Soviet Moslems: 1959-1979," Soviet Geography: Review and Translation, vol. XXV, Jan. (1984), pp. 46-60.
• "Demographic Russification and Linguistic Russianization of the Ukraine: 1959-1979," Geographical Studies on the Soviet Union. Edited by George Demko, et al. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Geography Research Series no. 211, (1984), pp. 131-156.
• "Ethno-Linguistic Data in Soviet Censuses: Some Problems and Methodologies," Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 17, no. 4, 1983, pp. 545-558.
• "The Peoples of the North Caucasus," Folk Dance Scene, vol. XVIII, no. 1 (March 1983), pp. 2-4.
• "Ethnic Nationalism in the Caucasus," Nationalities Papers, vol. X, no. 2 (1982), pp. 137-156.
• "Territorial Russification and Linguistic Russianization in Some Soviet Republics," Soviet Geography: Review and Translation, vol. XXII, no. 10 (1981) pp. 667-675.
• "Territorial Differences in Population Growth in the USSR, 1970-79." Wixman, Ronald, and Caro, Patricia. Soviet Geography: Review and Translation, vol. XXII, no. 3 (1981), pp. 155-161.
• "The Meskhetian Turks: A New Voice in Central Asia." Wimbush, Enders, and Wixman, Ronald. Canadian Slavonic Papers, vol. XVII, nos. 2 and 3 (Summer and Fall, 1975), pp. 320-340.
• "Recent Assimilation Trends in Soviet Central Asia." The Nationality Question in Soviet Central Asia. Edited by Edward Allworth. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1973, pp. 73-88.
• "The Bosnian Dilemma: The Use and Misuse of Maps," Mercator's World. accepted for pub.
• "Daghestani," Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey. Edited by Richard Weekes. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press. 2nd Edition, 1984, pp. 211-219.
• "Circassians," Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey. Edited by Richard Weekes. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press. 2nd Edition, 1984, pp. 203-209.
• "Adygei," The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union, Dec. (1988), pp. 51-55.
• "Lak," Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. VI. Edited by Paul Friedrich and Norma Diamond. Boston, Mass., G.K. Hall and Co.. 1994, pp. 232-235.
• "Lezgin," Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. VI. Edited by Paul Friedrich and Norma Diamond. Boston, Mass., G.K. Hall and Co. 1994, pp. 238-241.
• "Digor," The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1988.
• "Khemsil," "Khinalug," "Khunzal," "Khvarsi," "Kriz," "Kubaci," "Lak," "Lezgh," "Rutul," "Karakalpak." (Barthold/Wixman) Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition.
• "Doboj," "Prijedor," "Adiyaman," "Afyonkarahisar," "Antalya," "Aydin," "Balikesir," "Batman (Iluh)," "Corum," "Gebze," "Isparta," "Kagithane," "Gorazde," "Postojna," "Zenica," "Denizli," "Elazig." Articles in Microsoft Encarta (1996).
• "The Roots of Ethnic Cleansing: Nation-State Building in the Balkans," a plenary session at the t meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Ft. Worth, Texas, Spring 1997.
• "Ethnicity, Territory, and Ethno-Territoriality in the Bosnian Crisis," at meeting of Political Geography and European Specialty Groups of the AAG, Columbia, South Carolina, Spring 1996.
• "Ethnicity and the Bosnian Crisis," at symposium on the Bosnian Conflict, Seattle, Fall 1995.
• "The Bosnian Conflict," World Affairs Council, Juneau, Alaska, Fall 1995.
• "Rising Regionalisms Within Central Asia," Panel on Spatial Parameters and Nationality Issues in Central Asia, Association for the Study of Nationalities meeting, Columbia University, New York, Summer, 1995.
• "Islam in the Balkans," at symposium on Islam in the World Today, Sioux Falls, S. Dakota., Spring 1995.
• "Regional and Ethnic Identity in Central Asia Today," at meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Chicago, Fall 1994.
• "The Breakup of the USSR," World Affairs Council, Juneau, Alaska, Fall 1994.
• "Ethno-Territorial Aspects of the Kosovo and Macedonian Conflicts," panel on Human Rights-European Implications, at the meeting of the American Association of Geographers, San Francisco, Spring 1994.
• "The New States of Central Asia and the Borderlands of the Middle East," at Political Geography Specialty Group meeting on Challenges to the Modern State System: Political Geographic Perspectives, Eugene, Oregon, Spring 1994.

Dances Dr. Wixman has taught include Brâul pe Opt, Bunjevačko momačko kolo, Čačak (5-figure), Divotinsko horo, Hooshig Mooshig, Jianu, Kalajdzisko, Kjustendilska rŭčenica, Kopčeto, Lilka, Papuri, Sepastia Bar, Trakijska rǜčenica, Tropanka, Za pojas, and Zad krak.

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