Galina Starovoitova

Slain Russian Duma member was a visiting scholar at Brown University

For nearly five years, Galina Starovoitova was affiliated with Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. She conducted research and writing on national self-determination and taught a popular international relations seminar series on the recent historical changes in the former Soviet Union.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The loss of Galina Starovoitova, a pro-democratic member of the Russian Duma who was shot and killed Nov. 20, 1998, in St. Petersburg, is being felt at Brown University, where she held an appointment as a visiting scholar at the Watson Institute for International Studies.

"We at the Watson Institute are deeply saddened by this great loss," said Professor Thomas M. Biersteker, director of the institute. "Galina Starovoitova was an outspoken, independent, and courageous member of the Duma. During the past decade, she was at the forefront of the democratic movement in Russia."

Starovoitova was affiliated with the institute for nearly five years. During 1994-95, she was the Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor, conducting research and writing on national self-determination. That year, she also taught a popular international relations seminar series on recent historical changes in the former Soviet Union. Since then, she maintained her visiting scholar status and lectured each year at the institute on her research and the changing Russian political scene.

A member of the Russian Federation's Duma since 1995, Starovoitova was one of the founders and co-chairs of the Democratic Russia Party, and in 1996 she was the only woman from any party nominated to run for president of Russia.

From 1991-92, she was an adviser on ethnopolitical issues to President Boris Yeltsin, and served from 1990-93 as a member of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Starovoitova was a member of the Soviet Parliament in the Congress of People's Deputies.

She published extensively in her field - anthropological theory, crosscultural studies, and the anthropology of the Caucasus region.

For more information about Starovoitova's work at Brown, contact Nancy Hamlin Soukup at the Watson Institute, (401) 863-3438.