Jupiter, FL (October 12, 2010) – Believing that there is no other way to make their voices heard, a group of radicals resorts to a series of terrorist attacks.  The story sounds like one taken from the evening news, but in the work of Dr. Christopher Ely, an Assistant Professor of History at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University, these events took place roughly 140 years ago. Dr. Ely’s work focuses on the late-imperial period of Russian history (c. 1861-1917) where he studies such topics as the rural landscape, the Russian identity, and the relationship that urban space has to public culture.  He is currently conducting research into how changes within Russia’s metropolitan centers in the 1860s and 1870s affected the political dynamics of the Russian public sphere.
            In May and June of 2010, Dr. Ely was awarded a highly competitive IREX travel grant to conduct research for a forthcoming book on populist terrorism in 19th century Russia. Then in July he presented aspects of this research at the World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) conference in Stockholm. The ICCEES is a global network of research associations, institutes and individual scholars who are active in the field of Russian, Central and East European studies.
            The title of Dr. Ely’s paper at the conference was Space as Power: Radical Populism and the Landscape of Reform‐Era St. Petersburg. It explores the various ways in which the rapidly evolving landscape of reform-era St. Petersburg under Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) facilitated the rise of terrorist violence in Russian cities.  The goal of the radical populists was to encourage revolution among peasants in rural Russia.  What Dr. Ely discovered was that the urban environment fostered association among anti-autocratic groups, created an environment where it was safe to express opinions that undermined the government, and enabled terrorists to conceal themselves close to government targets.  In addition to emphasizing the importance of the physical environment in permitting these attacks to occur, Dr. Ely also critiques interpretations of the 1878-1881 terror movement that have relied nearly exclusively on the role of ideology to generate new forms of political rebellion.
            Dr. Jeffrey Buller, dean of FAU’s Wilkes Honors College, noted, “One of the wonderful things about what Dr. Ely does is that he interweaves so many different approaches to help us understand extremely complex historical occurrences.  He combines expertise in language, extensive first-hand experience abroad, a historian’s facility with primary sources, an artist’s eye for the details of a physical space, and a willingness to reconsider accepted wisdom.  That’s the type of holistic, interdisciplinary approach that we want all of our students and faculty members to develop in their own scholarly activities.”
            When asked how the Honors College has helped him with his research, Dr. Ely said, “The Honors College has let me pursue new interests, especially when I’m teaching interdisciplinary courses and one-time seminars.  It has also helped out with travel to conferences and provided funding for vital research trips, even in these difficult economic times.”  Dean Buller added, “FAU has demonstrated a commitment to research that’s truly phenomenal, and I see the benefit to our students that scholars like Dr. Ely produce every single day.”

byline: WHC Student Intern Tamara Howard