Caucasus in the Modern World

1 CAUCASUS IN THE MODERN WORLD: syllabus and course outline by Dr. Vladimir BOBROVNIKOV Institute for Oriental Studies, Moscow, Russia [email protected]

COURSE STRUCTURE Centre: Higher School of Economics (VShE), Moscow ,Quarter/year: (Autumn, 2006- 2007) Instructor: Dr. Vladimir Bobrovnikov Course’s section subtitle: CAUCASUS IN THE MODERN WORLD Key-topics: Post-socialist globalization, Mental Mapping, Frontier, Imagined Communities, Nation-State Building, Invention of Traditions, Islamic Networks, Parallel Islam, Islamophoby Language of instruction: English Units: 6 Number of meetings per week: 2 Hours per week: 4 Course type (lecture, seminar, language course, other): lecture and discussion Course taught before: for the first time in the autumn quarter, 2005

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The vision of Caucasus like the other ex-socialist Southern borderlands of Russia by most scholars and politicians is still very confused at the moment. It is often thought of as either the realm of an unchanging primitive custom or the berth of Islamist globalization and terrorism opposing all non-Muslim societies. Both images are quite divorced with reality. There are also other numerous myths and fears associated with the post-socialist Caucasus. The proposed interdisciplinary special course aims to dissolve these wrong images of the region and introduce students into Caucasian studies. It includes basic information on regional geography, political organization and economics.

The course concentrates on key societal issues of the region including mental, political and economic mapping the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, invention of local tradition and legacy of the Russian and especially socialist rule, local responses to challenges of post-socialist globalization, the growth of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, issues of common security, etc. Addressing post-graduate students specializing in the field of political science, economics and sociology this short-term special course consists of 6 main thematic units. The course requires neither academic background in Islamic studies nor knowledge of Russian and Oriental languages.

The list of assigned and recommended readings is delivered to students before the first class in the very beginning of October. Given rapid changes in contemporary Central Asia, some recent new readings on the Islamic globalization of the region might be included into the course.

SYLLABUS Autumn Quarter 2005-2007 The class meets twice a week. The first part of each class will be held as the discussion of the readings. Each lecture is regularly followed by a structured discussion of the materials studied in the corresponding section. The discussions will also be the place for further inquiry into questions raised in the lectures. Attendance of the classes and participating discussions are 2 strictly required.

Unit 1. Mapping the Post-Socialist Caucasus Topics: i. Caucasus as a Region: its Unity and Diversity ii. Aproaches to Frontier Societies and Economics iii. From the Empire to Nation-State Building? iv. Russia and Newly Independent States in the 'Big Game' Assigned reading C. Cem Oguz, "From the Idea of Caucasian Unity to Regional Fragmentation: The North Caucasus, 1990-1999", in Moshe Gammer (ed.), The Caspian Region. Vol. II. The Caucasus, (London, Routledge, 2004), pp. 42-61. Eduard Kazaryan, "Strategic Re-Integration in the Transcaucasus", War Report, (June 1996, number 42), pp. 36-37. Olivier Roy, The New Central Asia. The Creation of Nations, (London and New York, 2000), pp. vii-xvii, 62-68, 130-132, 137-138, 1905-198.

Unit 2. Caucasian Profits and Costs Topics: i. Projects of Economic and Military Cooperation for the Caucasus ii. Rivalry Around the Caspian Oil. Where Do Pipelines Go? iii. Land reforms Go On. What to Do with Post-Soviet Collective Farms? iv. Russian and American Military Bases v. How Much Will the Caucasus Exploitation Cost? Assigned reading Mustafa Aydin, "Oil, Pipelines andSecurity: The Geo-Politics in the Caspian region", in Moshe Gammer (ed.), The Caspian Region. Vol. I. A re-Emerging region, (London, Routledge, 2004), pp. 3-31. Azad Isa-Zade, "Who Gets the Oil?, War Report, (June 1996, number 42), pp. 40-41. Austin Lee Jersild, Orientalism and Empire. North Caucasus Mountain People and the Georgian Frontier, 1845-1917, (Montreal, 2002), pp. 6-11, 145-159.

Unit 3. Fears of the Caucasus Topics: i. Post-Socialist Disintegration and Civil Wars. Comparing Cases of Karabakh, Abkhazia and Chechnia ii. Guerilla Warfare in the Mountains iii. Violence, Order and Common Security iv. Mountaineers in International Terrorist Networks: Myths and Realities Assigned reading Valeri Tishkov, Chechnia: Life in a War-Torn Society, (Berkeley, London, 2004), pp. 140-150, 219-231, 3-15. Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "The Beslan Massacre", ISIM Review, (Spring, 2005, number 15), p. 13. Riaz Hassan, "Suicide Attacks: Life as a Weapon", ISIM Review, (June, 2004, number 14), pp. 8- 9. Sabine Damir-Geilsdorf, "Martyrdom and Resistance in the Middle East", ISIM Review, (June, 2004, number 14), pp. 10-11.

Unit 4. Old and New Myths about the Caucasus Topics: i. Making Wildness in (Post-)Colonial Ethnography and Politics ii. On the Use and Abuse of Local Custom 3 iii. Imagined Communities in the Nation-State Building iv. Post-Socialist Cases of Hybrid Societies Assigned reading Valeri Tishkov, Chechnia: Life in a War-Torn Society, (Berkeley, London, 2004), pp. 16-21, 197-203. Susan Layton, Nineteenth-Century Russian Mythologies of Caucasian Savagery", in D. Brower and J. Lazzerini, Russia’s Orient, (Bloomington, 1997), pp.80-99. Austin Lee Jersild, "From Savagery to Citizenship: Caucasian Mountaineers and Muslims in the Russian Empire", in D. Brower and J. Lazzerini, Russia’s Orient, (Bloomington, 1997), pp.101- 114.

Unit 5. Islamic Realities at the Age of Post-Socialist Globalization Topics: i. Rethinking Post-Socialist Islamic Boom of the 1990s ii. Colonial Roots of Local Islamic Networks. Official and Parallel Islam. iii. Collective Farm as a Keeper of Local Muslim Traditions iv. Post-Socialist Forms of Islam: Caycasian Wahhabis Assigned reading Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "Mythologizing Sharia Courts in the post-Soviet North Caucasus", ISIM Newsletter, (June 2000, number 5), p. 25. Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "Post-Socialist Forms of Islam: North Caucasian Wahhabis", ISIM Newsletter, (March 2001, number 7), p. 29. Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "al-Azhar and Shari‘a Courts in Twentieth-Century Caucasus", Middle Eastern Studies, (October 2001, vol. 37, number 4),, pp. 1–24.

Unit 6. Crossing the Borders Following the 'Cold War' Period Topics: i. The 'Cold War' Legacy in the Modern Caucasus ii. Russian Exile in Mountaineers' Cultural Memory iii. Population Movements in the 19th and the 20th Centuries iv. Caucasian Diaspora in Russia and Abroad Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "Common Law Transformation in Collective Farms of the Caucasus", RSS Network Chronice, (1999, number 7), pp. 25–26. Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "The Islamic Revival and the National Question in Post-Soviet Daghestan", Religion, State & Society, (1996, vol. 24, nos. 2/3), pp. 233–238. Vladimir Bobrovnikov, "Ethnic Migration and Common Security in Post-Soviet Daghestan", CSF Newsletter, (Spring 1996), pp. 4, 14. 4 QUESTIONS TO THE MID-TERM ORAL EXAMINATION What does the Caucasus mean as a region? How can it be defined? What is the relation of Caucasus to Middle East, Caspian Region and Central Asia? Who, why and when 'made' the region? What local and international actors took part in the 'Big Game' in the Caucasus? What does North and South Caucasus before and mean after 1991? Please define their borders and composition. Are they changing in the post-socialist time? What economic resources are there in the Caucasus? To whom do they belong? What is the international legal status of the Caspian sea? How is it changing today? What competing Transcaucasian pipeline projects are there in the 2000s? Who are their actors? How can you define their merits and demerits? What are economic arguments for Caucasian unity/fragmentation today? What parallels and difference do exist between post-imperial and post-socialist times? How are historical narratives used in today politics in the Caucasus and why?

What is the role of great powers in today Caucasus? Whom do they support and why? What were the reasons for civil and inter-ethnic wars in the region? What local and international actors took part in the mountain warfare in Karabakh, Abkhazia and Chechnia? How did the international society contribute to the negociation of these conflicts? What role does the OSCE and OTAN play there? What are unofficial means to prevent escalating violence? How successful are they? What is the influence of civil wars on the growth of international terrorism? What fears are connected to the Caucasus in mass media in Russia and abroad? How did scholars and politics contributed to the myth-making about Caucasus? What does Orientalism mean in the Caucasian case? How did myths about mountain wildness were appropriated in the Caucasus? What does crime and custom mean in Caucasian politics today?

TOPICS FOR THE FINAL WRITTEN ESSAY (of about 3-5 pages) The Caucasus Between Caspian Region, Central Asia and Middle East Post-Socialist Frontiers and Composition of the Region Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and Its Possible Changes Oil, Pipelines and Regional Security Problems Imperial/Socialist Legacy at the Post-Socialist Age Nation-State Building in South and North Caucasus Democracy and Authorianism in Newly Independent States Independence and Separatism in Abkhazia, Karabakh and Chechnia Invented Local Traditions in Modern Ethnography and Politics Official and Parallel Islam in the Past and Present Wahhabis in the 'Big Game' over the Caucasus Demography and Migration in Making Modern Caucasus

RECOMMENDED AND ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY TO THE COURSE: Recommended readings: M. Bennigsen Broxup et al. (eds.), "The Caucasus: Elites, Politics and Strategic Issues", in Central Asian Survey: Special issue (London, December 1999, vol. 18, no 4). V. Bobrovnikov, "Islamophobia and Religious Legislation in Daghestan", in Central Asia and the Caucasus, (Lulea, Sweden), 2000, no. 2, pp. 149-164. idem, "Post-Socialist Forms of Islam: North Caucasian Wahhabis", in ISIM Newsletter, 5 (Leiden, March 2001, number 7), p. 29 (available on-line at www.isim.nl). M. Buttino (ed.), In a Collapsing Empire: Underdevelopment, Ethnic Conflicts and Nationalisms in the Soviet Union, (Milano, 1993), (See: Section 3). M.P. Croissant and B. Aras (eds.), Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region, (Westport, 1999). M. Gammer (ed.), The Caspian Region. Vol. I. A Re-Emerging Region, (contributions of M. Aidin, P. Rivlin, F.S.Hansen), pp. 3-51, 55-72; Vol. II. The Caucasus, (contributions of C.C. Oguz and V. Bobrovnikov), (London, Routledge, 2004), pp. 41-62, 179-197. M. Falkowski, Russia’s Policy in the Southern caucasus and Central Asia, (Warsaw, Centre for Eastern Studies, 2006), pp. 47-87. M. Gabowitsch (ed.), "The Islamic Revival in Russia", in Kultura. Russland- Kulturanalysen, (contributions of V. Bobrovnikov), (Bremen, September 2006, no. 9), pp. 13-20 (available on-line). L. Jonson and M. Esenov (eds.), Political Islam and Conflicts in Russia and Central Asia, (contributions of V. Akaev, A. Shikhsaidov, L. Sykiainen), (Stockholm, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 1999), pp. 47-97. O. Roy, The New Central Asia. The Creation of Nations, (London and New York, 2000), pp. vii-xvii, 62-68, 130-132, 137-138, 1905-198. V. Tishkov, Chechnia: Life in a War-Torn Society, (Berkeley, London, 2004), pp. 140- 150, 219-231, 3-15.

For an additional historical background see the following readings: M. Bennigsen Broxup and A. Avtorkhanov (eds.), The North Caucasus Barrier. The Russian advance toward the Muslim World, (London, Routledge, 1992). D. Brower, E. Lazzerini (eds.), Russia’s Orient. Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700–1917, (Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press, 1997). M. Gammer, (2006). A.L. Jersild, Orientalism and Empire. North Caucasus Mountain People and the Georgian Frontier, 1845-1917, (Montreal, 2002). S. Layton, "Nineteenth-Century Russian Mythologies of Caucasian Savagery", in D. Brower and J. Lazzerini (eds.), Russia’s Orient, (Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press, 1997), pp.80-99. R.G.Suni, The Making of the Georgian Nation, (Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press, 2nd ed., 1994).