Tucked Between History's Great Empires Lies a Sliver of a Country, a Little Slice of Land

A Terrapsychological Analysis of the Republic of Georgia
Emily Baratta
Planetary Psychology
John F. Kennedy University
September 2009

Tucked between history's great empires lies a sliver of a country, a little slice of land that legend has it God saved for himself. When He was handing out homesteads to the varied nations at the beginning of time, the Georgian people forgot to show up. They were drunk. After the festivities died down, they went to God to ask for a homeland. The only place left was a beautiful spot He had picked out for Himself. That land is Georgia.

Background

I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Georgia from June 2005 to June 2006. During this period I spent most of my time in the village of Akhalgori, although I spent extended periods in the capital as well as other villages. My analysis will therefore focus on Akhalgori as the lens through which I experience Georgia and her people.

You may notice that much of my writing is in the past tense. This is not only because I have not visited Georgia for some time, but more importantly because in 2008 Russia invaded Georgia and occupied Akhalgori along with the rest of South Ossetia (Barnard, 2008). The Georgian population was forced into exile and the town remains occupied by Russia as part of South Ossetia (Landru, 2009). I have no idea what sort of shape Akhalgori is in today. My heart goes out to the wonderful people I met there and I hope it will be peaceful enough one day that I might return.

Bioregion

Just locating Georgia is difficult. The CIA World Factbook classifies it as a Middle Eastern country (CIA, 2009). The UN considers Georgia to be a Western Asian country (UN, 2009). While the BBC includes Georgia as part of Europe (BBC, 2009). The Georgians themselves will passionately declare themselves to be European, while insisting that the neighboring Azeris and Armenians are clearly Asian.

Akhalgori is similarly hard to pinpoint. During my stay in Georgia, regions were attempting to gain independence, Abkhazia in the northwest and South Ossetia in the center. The Abkhazians have had de facto independence from Georgia since the civil war in 1992, during which nearly the entire ethnically Georgian population of the region was killed or expelled to Georgia proper (War in Abkhazia, 2009). South Ossetia, on the other hand, although dominated by ethnic Ossetians, had not seen war at the time I was in Georgia. South Ossetia is home to the Ossetian people who extend into North Ossetia within the Russian border. During Soviet times, the South Ossetian region was administered from the capital in Tskhinvali and included the neighboring valley where Akhalgori lies. In 2005, the South Ossetian conflict was limited to Tskhinvali's valley. Georgians and Ossetians lived together in Akhalgori as they had for generations, without incident.

Georgia is framed by the Greater Caucasus to the north and the Lesser Caucasus to the south. The mountainous terrain creates many micro-climates within Georgia, ranging from subtropical in the west to alpine in the high mountains. Oak, chestnut, beech, pine, alder, fir, and eucalyptus forests cover approximately one third of the land. There are also large citrus groves, especially in the west. Georgia is home to mountain goats, lynx, black bears, antelope, bearded eagles, and hawks. The rivers of Georgia have trout while the Black Sea is home to a variety of fish (Georgia, 2009).

In Akhalgori I saw few wild animals but many chickens, cows, and especially pigs roaming free through the village. The "forests" seemed short and wiry compared to what I was used to in California. Our valley was small, maybe a half mile across with the river Ksani running through it. My experience of nature in Akhalgori was dominated by the six months of cold that we spent huddled around wood stoves in the dark.

Infrastructure

The story of Georgian infrastructure is largely the story of a nation changing from self-organizing villages to Soviet cookie-cutter infrastructure to privatization. Outside of a few major cities, most Georgians are subsistence farmers, as they have been for hundreds of years. Most village homes have their own well but also have running water piped in from the nearby river. Many families do not have indoor toilets or showers. Water is plentiful due to consistent rainfall and melting snow each year (Georgia, 2009). Pipes routinely freeze in the winter leaving families to haul snow indoors to melt for water. This was the case for my family in Akhalgori.

Natural gas is used to heat water and homes in Georgia. Gas for most of the nation is piped in from Russia. Gas is expensive, so bathing is limited in the villages and wood stoves are used to heat homes outside the major cities. The dependence on Russian gas was highlighted in 2006 when the pipeline was mysteriously bombed and the Russians were unable (unwilling?) to repair it until the spring. Virtually the entire nation went without gas for the winter. The villagers heated all their water on wood stoves, often in the living room. In the capital, most people lived in apartments unequipped with chimneys. They had to break holes in the walls to accommodate wood stoves as temperatures fell below freezing (Chivers, 2006).
The Georgian electric grid is extensive, a holdover from Soviet times, but the power supply is unreliable. Georgians are unaccustomed to paying for basic services like electricity, which was supplied free of charge by the Soviet Union. Following the fall of communism the Georgian electric system was sold to an American company, which attempted to begin charging for power. The results were so bad (and hilarious) that the Americans gave up and sold their interests to a Russian firm (Devlin, 2003). Being without electricity wasn't really so bad though, even for days on end, in comparison to being without water.

Garbage collection is unheard of in most of the country. Each village seems to have its signature animal; my village was full of pigs. Families throw their food scraps in the road or a ditch for the pigs to eat. All other trash is burned or thrown outside of the village in a heap. As the "standard of living" rises, garbage will become a bigger problem. In the past there were very few frivolous purchases that had packaging or other disposable components. I believe there is a particular flavor of self-hatred that can only be experienced as an American passing a pile of Coca-Cola bottles in an otherwise pristine mountain valley.

Georgia is one long valley through which the main highway runs east to west. Smaller roads connect towns and villages to the main highway like ribs connecting to the spine. This nation of 5 million operates on a highway of one lane running in either direction and which is shared by cars and cattle drivers alike. Until recently there were no traffic lights in even the capital city of Tbilisi, which has a population of over 1 million. Likewise there were no crosswalks. Intersections were mediated by roundabouts or blind luck, while pedestrians leapfrogged their way across traffic. The road to Akhalgori was known to Peace Corps volunteers as one of the worst, full of holes and running frighteningly close to the ravine's edge. Only the main street of the town was paved.

One of the more efficient systems in Georgia is that of buses and vans that transport people around the country. Most Georgians do not own cars, but vans and buses connect even the small villages to the rest of the nation. This network is not government-regulated, and although it appears to be self-organized is rumored to be run by the mafia. A ride in a marshrutka (van) promises to be full of Russian pop hits while speeding around snowy mountain cliffs, and if you are lucky there will be a duffel bag full of chickens next to you.

The architecture of Georgia is something to behold. Georgia was one of the first nations to convert to Christianity, dating all the way back to the 4th century (Georgia, 2009). Medieval churches and monasteries dot the mountaintops throughout the country, reminders that over 80% of the population identifies as Georgian Orthodox (CIA, 2009). In most towns, including the capital, one can find an old neighborhood which predates the Soviet Union. In my village of Akhalgori this neighborhood is complete with cobblestone streets, as is the case in Tbilisi. Soviet-era buildings dominate the skylines, especially the enormous concrete apartment buildings that are seen in even small towns. Large concrete statues glorifying the Soviet worker can be seen in bigger towns, as well as statues of Stalin, Georgia's most well-known native son.
In Akhalgori I lived in a typical concrete block apartment building. Concrete is cold in the winter, especially with the unit below us sitting vacant. The school where I taught English was also made of concrete, with a playground consisting of half buried pipes and tires.

Community

Georgia has seen very little tourism since the fall of the Soviet Union. Consequently, Georgians are unaccustomed to non-Russian foreigners. I was often assumed at first to be Georgian, even by Americans on occasion. However, in my village of Akhalgori word spread quickly that a young, single American woman was teaching English at the school. Everyone knew who I was everywhere I went. This created a fishbowl sensation that undoubtedly colored my experience.

Akhalgori was a particularly interesting community. The village was mixed with Georgians and Ossetians getting along very well and intermarrying. Although the town was historically part of South Ossetia, it had escaped the conflict that region saw in the 1990s. In fact, most of the villagers considered themselves to be Georgian nationals through and through.

In addition to these two ethnic groups, there were two other special populations in Akhalgori: orphans and refugees. The orphanage was home to 50 children, some of whom were sent their by families too poor to keep them. The orphans were treated badly by their teachers and the townspeople in general. There were a few refugees from the Abkhazian war living in an abandoned building near my school. Two of them were my students, brothers ages 14 and 17. Their father had died in the war and their mother was working abroad. Their situation was too common to receive much notice from anyone in the village.

As for crime, Georgia was rather lawless at the time and probably more so since the Russian invasion. Despite the lack of official law enforcement, most of the small towns are peaceful primarily because of vigilante justice. Although we did not see much criminal activity, other than ordinary pickpocketing, Georgian villages to this day are hosts to a bizarre tradition: bride kidnapping. A young Georgian man may physically abduct a young Georgian woman (often both teenagers) and take her to a remote location to rape her. No longer a virgin, she usually chooses to marry her captor rather than suffer the shame of being unmarryable. This extreme sort of kidnapping is more rare nowadays, but it still occurs. My own host-sister was kidnapped as a girl, only to be abandoned by her husband a few years later. As a young woman I was not allowed to go out at night without an escort and only went out alone during the day for specific errands.

Georgian politics have been disorganized since the fall of the Soviet Union. The first democratically elected president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, died while in office under shadowy circumstances (“Zviad Gamsakhurdia,” 2009). Although there is evidence that his death may have been suicide, many Georgians believe he was killed by political opponents. After Gamsakhurdia's death, the Communist good-old-boy Edvard Shevernadze came into power. As Gorbechev's former Foreign Minister, Shevernadze was closely aligned with Moscow and his government was considered highly corrupt. In 2003, Mikhail Saakashvili led the bloodless Rose Revolution to oust Sheverdnadze and bring democracy and western ideals to Georgia (BBC, 2005). He was extremely popular at the outset of his presidency, but soon faced major difficulties in training the former Soviet populace in the ways of the free market. When I was living in Georgia, there was a big controversy around sales tax, for instance. The Georgians were unused to keeping track of sales, and receipts were unheard of in most places. There were big protests from the bazaar traders when the government tried to force them to buy modern cash registers. The whole thing was rather comical from an American perspective and helped me realize how much we take the American system for granted.

Ecotransference Manifestations

The primary dream that I had in Georgia was the same as it had been in childhood: I dreamed of saving children. Maybe from fire or a flood, or I would find a little baby sitting alone and would pick it up and take care of it. I was always saving children in my dreams. I still have this dream occasionally, but not as often.

The main association I have with Georgia is that it is my second homeland. The Georgian people treated me like a daughter and I will always be grateful to them for that. The land, the food, the music remain very precious to me. Like the founding legend at the beginning of this paper suggests, the life of Georgian villagers is really quite beautiful. They farm for themselves and make their own wine, which gets them through the winter. They toast to their mother country, to their parents, and to Stalin for good measure. We washed clothes by hand and sat in the dark listening to the fire pop. Georgia is somehow more real and more fantastic than any other place I have ever been. It's as if time has habitually skipped over Georgia and they are constantly trying to catch up; meanwhile they are drinking the same wine and dancing to the same songs they have for hundreds of years. It's an almost grotesquely beautiful place.

As amazing as Georgia is, I was miserable for most of my time there. I was lonely, cold, and had been depressed through college beforehand. Of course, there were moment of relief (largely soaked in alcohol, true to the culture I suppose), but overall I was extremely unhappy. My journals from that year are stuffed with regret for ever setting foot in Georgia. In the end I was eating only a bowl of oatmeal each day and sleeping one or two hours. No matter how bad things had been in the past, I was always a good eater and sleeper, so I knew I had to make a big change. I left Georgia halfway through my service and came back to California. Over half of my Peace Corps "class" left early.

I spent the next couple of years unraveling my experience and feeling guilty for abandoning my students and host family. I ran into Georgians everywhere and made spectacularly ill-conceived efforts to repair my Peace Corps karma. I acted out through drinking and sex, hitting a low point on my 23rd birthday, all in what I consider the emotional wake of my Peace Corps experience.

Body states for Georgia can be summed up as: shivering drunken diarrhea. I have never been so cold for so long in my life. Without central heat there is nowhere to hide from the winter, even under layers and layers of clothes. We turned to wine to keep warm and keep sane. I had not drunk much before Georgia, but when I returned people were shocked at my tolerance for alcohol. I am shocked in retrospect. Then, of course, there was the intestinal delight. Thank goodness bread is a staple of the Georgian diet.

Ecological Complexes

A primary recurring motif of Georgia and Akhalgori is that of invasion. Despite being overtaken by so many foreigners, even tp being occupied by the Russians as I write this, Georgia has remained true to herself. The repeated changing of the guards that Georgia has endured seems to have only made her people more faithful to their heritage. The country remains innocent and provincial even as the tanks roll in and the “free” market begins to account for every last inch of her worth.

This process can be seen in reverse. Georgia’s shadow was expelled and projected onto the world stage in the form of Josef Stalin. He led some of the most extensive invasions of land and culture in history as the Soviet Union engulfed much of Asia and Europe. To this day, this legacy lives on in the Russian Federation, which continues to meddle with its former satellites, particularly those that are pro-American like Georgia. Perhaps the centuries of being invaded created the urge to strike back in the form of Stalin.

Heartsteading

When I wrote this assessment, the themes kept reminding me of the personal myth, that of Persephone. From the literal bride kidnappings to the extreme difficulties around seasons to the monstrous projection of Stalin, it seems that the Persephone myth frames my experience of Georgia well.

The land itself has been described in legend and through my own experience as innocent and edenic. The fertility of the land as well as the ancient traditions of winemaking and feasts suggest a paradise that has endured for thousands of years. Despite repeated invasions, the Georgians have retained their language, religion, and customs. This picture-perfect setting's dark side is imaged in part by Stalin. As in the Persephone myth, there is an extreme dichotomy between the darkness and light, so extreme in Georgia's case that the evil it produced burst out of its boundaries and became a global force.