Oregon Humanities

Geographer looks at impact of Russian and Ukrainian refugees in Oregon

University of Oregon professor uses maps and first-person stories in Spring 2007 Commonplace Lecture in Salem.

23 April 2008 | Permalink

Although much of the recent discussion about immigration has focused on the state’s predominantly Hispanic migrant worker population, Oregon’s Willamette Valley is also home to more than 80,000 Russian and Ukrainian refugees—the second largest population of post-Soviet-era Russians and Ukrainians in the country.
According to University of Oregon geography professor Susan Hardwick, these new residents were, in large part, drawn to the region by “religious networks forged at home, economic opportunities, and the hope of finding freedom and prosperity for their children.” She says that this sizable population has the potential to play a major role in shaping the future of the state.
Hardwick will deliver a free public lecture, “Far from Home: Slavic Refugees and the Changing Face of Oregon,” in Hudson Hall at Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, on Saturday, May 19, 2007, at 5:00 p.m., with a reception to follow. The lecture is part of the Commonplace Lectures series, sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH).
Hardwick has spent the past five years documenting the migration experiences, settlement patterns, and shifting identities of immigrants in the Pacific Northwest. In this lecture, she will explain how the state has changed demographically over the past two decades and how these changes signal other cultural, economic, environmental, and political changes across both the state and country.
As a cultural geographer, Hardwick relies not only on maps, but also on people’s stories to understand and explain larger geographical trends. “Their experiences breathe life into my maps and draw out deeper meanings in the patterns shown there,” she says.
“Far from Home” is part of OCH’s Commonplace Lectures, a series that connects ideas and places. Commonplace Lectures are offered three times a year throughout the state and are also published as chapbooks.
Past presenters include the Oregonian’s architecture critic Randy Gragg, who discussed the past and future of planning and architecture in Oregon at Temple Beth Israel in Portland; Portland writer Matthew Stadler, who talked about community at the historic Liberty Theater in Astoria; Whitman College professor Don Snow, who spoke about rural development at the Slickfork Saloon in Pendleton; and University of Puget Sound professor Mott Greene, who discussed science and democracy at the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center in Portland.