Along with the researchers, the director of the Georgian study program of Harvard University, the famous American historian, professor Steven Jones visited BSU. At the meeting with the rector, Merab Khalvashi, the vice-rectors, Tamar Siradze, Anzor Beridze and professors, Professor Steven Jones got acquainted with the results of the scientific research of the BSU Kartveliology Center and spoke about the directions of future cooperation between Harvard University and Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University. According to the agreement of the parties, it was planned to develop and implement joint educational-scientific projects of the universities.
After the meeting, Professor Steven Jones presented the results of the project "Past as a resource for democratic growth in the present (History Politics in Georgia)" to BSU students, professors and researchers. The research project aims to record oral histories of the political events of the 80s and 90s of the 20th century and place them in the archive section of the Harvard University Library with free access. The project also envisages raising the awareness of the events of the mentioned period in the new generation - among the priorities of the project is the development of an oral history component for the curricula of Georgian schools and higher education institutions.
In the oral histories of public figures, politicians and other citizens who worked and lived in the mentioned era, a number of dramatic episodes of the national movement, the collapse of the Soviet Union, civil war, conflicts and the formation of independent Georgia are told.
The project, supported by the US Embassy's 2023 Democracy Commission Small Grants (DemCom) competition, is being implemented in collaboration with the Center for Memory Studies of Ilia State University, the Georgia Studies Program of Harvard University's Davis Center, and the Laboratory for the Study of the Soviet Past (Sovlab).
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