DOCSLIB.ORG

Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: the (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: the (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: The (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory by Katherine A. Maximick BA, from the University of Victoria, 2006 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History © Katherine A. Maximick, 2009 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: The (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory by Katherine A. Maximick BA, from the University of Victoria, 2006 Supervisory Committee Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Department of History. Supervisor Dr. Rob Alexander, Department of History. Departmental Member Dr. Nick Galichenko, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Department of History Supervisor Dr. Rob Alexander, Department of History Departmental Member Dr. Nick Galichenko, Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies Departmental Member The Russian people and the steppe nomads have maintained a symbiotic relationship for 2600 years that was undeniably fluid; however, for the most part mental and sometimes physical barriers have been erected in Russian society and historiography in an attempt to deny or suppress many aspects of Russia’s “Asian” features or historical past. This thesis aims to bring to light the fluidity and cross-cultural exchanges of this relationship, the substantial influences of steppe societies on Russian society and history, as well as to examine the motives and ideologies behind Russia’s anti-nomadic sentiments that ultimately shaped and censored Russian national history. The invaluable benefits of nomadic and steppe customs in Russian society and on Russian identity have previously been ignored, dismissed or downplayed in Russian historiography, and revisionist historians hope to reverse this and introduce the concept that the rise of the Russian nation would not have been possible without the influence of steppe nomadic societies. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee...................................................................................................................ii Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................v Dedication.......................................................................................................................................vi Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1........................................................................................................................................18 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................................................43 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................................................78 Epilogue.......................................................................................................................................108 Bibliography................................................................................................................................110 v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my immense gratitude to Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, whose insightful knowledge, patience and encouragement enabled me to see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that is thesis work. As I prepare to move forward in my scholastic life, it has become quite clear to me that Serhy has been the most influential figure in my academic career during my long enrolment at the University of Victoria. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Rob Alexander, Dr. Megan Swift and Dr. Nick Galichenko for their invaluable assistance, advice and companionship over the years. A substantial thank-you is owed to Dr. Elizabeth Vibert for not only her assistance with financial applications and research proposals, but also for her belief that I could aim higher than I thought possible and truly hit the mark. I also must acknowledge our graduate secretary Heather Waterlander for her priceless advice and the tireless work that she does every day to make graduate life operate as efficiently as possible. Thank you to both the History and Germanic and Slavic Studies departments at UVic for their academic and financial support. I would also like to recognize that the successful and early completion of my thesis would not have been possible without the significant financial assistance from the University of Victoria. Finally, I must thank my friends and family for supporting me throughout the years. vi This thesis is dedicated to my parents. Thank you for believing in me. 1 Introduction Since the first mention of Slavs in the historical record, nomadic peoples have interacted with them, on good terms or bad, up to the present day. The “Scythian plowmen” described by Herodotus in the fifth century BCE are now widely accepted by historians to portray a group of proto-Slavs living in the borderlands of the steppes. Those who ruled and possibly lived amongst these Slavs and sold them as slaves to the Persians were the Scythians, one of the most successful nomadic warring peoples to terrorize the ancient world. According to the Russian historian B.A. Rybakov, it was during this period that the first oral heroic epics appeared, describing mighty defenders of the Slavic land against steppe invaders like the Scythians and later Sarmatians.1 For the next 2000 years, Slavs would encounter many other nomadic groups roaming the steppe as well as the many problems that came with them; the steppe, a Eurasian highway, brought with it raiders, diseases, terrifying armies, enslavers and the invaluable silk route. However negative the portrayals of these nomads have been in Russian chronicles, literature and historical records, the nomads ironically contributed greatly to the Slavic, Muscovite and Russian societies – most significantly to the Russian identity. By ‘othering’ nomads, as well as other minorities in their empire, Russians were able to define themselves by defining their own culture against those who were not Russian. The Mongols would not only shape Muscovite autocracy, governmental institutions and military organization, but they would ultimately strengthen the relationship between Russians and their faith, which resulted in the inseparable link between Russian identity and the Orthodox Church. Much later, another group of semi-nomadic people 1 Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, Russian Identities: A Historical Survey, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 15. 2 would play the most crucial role in Russian self-identity. The image of the Cossack would somehow transcend the terrible experience of the Soviet regime to become the leading symbolic figure of the Russian people, as well as their history, in post-Soviet times. For as long as the Eurasian steppe has been in existence, groups of nomads have wandered its endless grassy expanses in search of sufficient pasture to sustain their herds and, simultaneously, settled peoples have lived on its edges, protected by the forests but taking advantage of the rich soil it offered them in their agricultural pursuits. The image of the solitary, pensive nomad mounted on a shaggy horse comes to mind, but this compassionate, objective image would hardly be recognizable (or, even, correct) to a person living on the edges of the steppe. To them, the nomad represents usually one of two things. The first is something alien, backwards and unpredictable, something that has terrorized the bordering forestland of the steppe for 2600 years. The second is that courageous free spirit galloping across the open steppes without the mundane concerns of the urban, material life weighing down his thoughts. It is understandable that these images of the nomad have developed along the steppe frontier, as well as beyond it, as a result of the destruction brought about by Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Mongols and Cossacks. Later, romantic sentiments were aroused by the independent and natural lifestyle lived by them. The relationship between the sedentary and the pastoral environments is symbiotic, as is that between the settled and the nomadic peoples who live within those environments.2 This relationship can be advantageous and destructive for both civilizations and, like most long-term relationships, experiences periods of peace and tension. Despite the complexity of all relationships, historians have been unchallenged in their unbearable bias and antagonism towards 2 Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, trans. by Naomi Walford (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), ix. 3 nomadic peoples and their relationship with ‘civilized’ peoples until very recently in modern historiography in regards to their relationship with ‘civilized peoples.’ Whether they
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and the Rise of the Russian Empire*
    STRUGGLE FOR EAST-EUROPEAN EMPIRE: 1400-1700 The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and the Rise of the Russian Empire* HALİL İNALCIK The empire of the Golden Horde, built by Batu, son of Djodji and the grand son of Genghis Khan, around 1240, was an empire which united the whole East-Europe under its domination. The Golden Horde empire comprised ali of the remnants of the earlier nomadic peoples of Turkic language in the steppe area which were then known under the common name of Tatar within this new political framework. The Golden Horde ruled directly över the Eurasian steppe from Khwarezm to the Danube and över the Russian principalities in the forest zone indirectly as tribute-paying states. Already in the second half of the 13th century the western part of the steppe from the Don river to the Danube tended to become a separate political entity under the powerful emir Noghay. In the second half of the 14th century rival branches of the Djodjid dynasty, each supported by a group of the dissident clans, started a long struggle for the Ulugh-Yurd, the core of the empire in the lower itil (Volga) river, and for the title of Ulugh Khan which meant the supreme ruler of the empire. Toktamish Khan restored, for a short period, the unity of the empire. When defeated by Tamerlane, his sons and dependent clans resumed the struggle for the Ulugh-Khan-ship in the westem steppe area. During ali this period, the Crimean peninsula, separated from the steppe by a narrow isthmus, became a refuge area for the defeated in the steppe.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Iranian Nomads in Western Central Asia
    ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5 ANCIENT IRANIAN NOMADS IN. 1 ANCIENT IRANIAN NOMADS IN WESTERN CENTRAL ASIA* A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov Contents Literary sources on the ancient Iranian nomads of Central Asia ............ 25 Society and economy of the Iranian nomads of Central Asia .............. 26 Culture of the Iranian nomads of Central Asia ..................... 29 The territory of Central Asia, which consists of vast expanses of steppe-land, desert and semi-desert with fine seasonal pastures, was destined by nature for the development of nomadic cattle-breeding. Between the seventh and third centuries b.c. it was inhabited by a large number of tribes, called Scythians by the Greeks, and Sakas by the Persians. The history of the Central Asian nomads is inseparable from that of the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe zone. Their political and economic life was closely linked, and their material culture had much in common. It should also be noted that, despite their distinctive qualities, the nomadic tribes were closely connected with the agricultural population of Central Asia. In fact, the history and movements of these nomadic tribes and the settled population cannot be considered in isolation; each had its impact on the other, and this interdependence must be properly understood. * See Map 1. 24 ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5 Literary sources on the ancient Iranian. Literary sources on the ancient Iranian nomads of Central Asia The term ‘Tura’¯ 1 is the name by which the Central Asian nomadic tribes were in one of the earliest parts of the Avesta. The Turas¯ are portrayed as enemies of the sedentary Iranians and described, in Yašt XVII (prayer to the goddess Aši), 55–6, as possessing fleet-footed horses.2 As early as 641 or 640 b.c.
    [Show full text]
  • Steppe Nomads in the Eurasian Trade1
    Volumen 51, N° 1, 2019. Páginas 85-93 Chungara Revista de Antropología Chilena STEPPE NOMADS IN THE EURASIAN TRADE1 NÓMADAS DE LA ESTEPA EN EL COMERCIO EURASIÁTICO Anatoly M. Khazanov2 The nomads of the Eurasian steppes, semi-deserts, and deserts played an important and multifarious role in regional, interregional transit, and long-distance trade across Eurasia. In ancient and medieval times their role far exceeded their number and economic potential. The specialized and non-autarchic character of their economy, provoked that the nomads always experienced a need for external agricultural and handicraft products. Besides, successful nomadic states and polities created demand for the international trade in high value foreign goods, and even provided supplies, especially silk, for this trade. Because of undeveloped social division of labor, however, there were no professional traders in any nomadic society. Thus, specialized foreign traders enjoyed a high prestige amongst them. It is, finally, argued that the real importance of the overland Silk Road, that currently has become a quite popular historical adventure, has been greatly exaggerated. Key words: Steppe nomads, Eurasian trade, the Silk Road, caravans. Los nómadas de las estepas, semidesiertos y desiertos euroasiáticos desempeñaron un papel importante y múltiple en el tránsito regional e interregional y en el comercio de larga distancia en Eurasia. En tiempos antiguos y medievales, su papel superó con creces su número de habitantes y su potencial económico. El carácter especializado y no autárquico de su economía provocó que los nómadas siempre experimentaran la necesidad de contar con productos externos agrícolas y artesanales. Además, exitosos Estados y comunidades nómadas crearon una demanda por el comercio internacional de bienes exóticos de alto valor, e incluso proporcionaron suministros, especialmente seda, para este comercio.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter Baldwin UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
    Features Forum Conference Reports GHI News WHY ARE UNIVERSITIES OPEN ACCESS LAGGARDS? Peter Baldwin UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES Copyright was invented in the eighteenth century to give cultural producers property rights in their works, allowing them to live from their eff orts.1 It was specifi cally intended to benefi t those who worked independently, not for wages or salary. Work-for-hire was the only element of copyright dealing with salaried employees. That evolved only later in any detail, and then not equally in all nations. Work-for-hire gives employers — not the creators — most rights in works produced by their employees. It was introduced in the nine- teenth century to deal with commissioned art works. Who owned a portrait, the painter or the commissioner? But it was elaborated in law mainly in the twentieth century, especially in the U.S., and largely at the behest of the fi lm industry. It is not hard to see why. Film is an inherently collaborative art form, demanding cooperation among scores of diff erent creators, all with reasonable claims to be important participants. Copyright stakes two primary claims: the artistic or moral rights, like those of attribution and integrity, and the economic or monopoly rights. The fi rst give authors the right to be identifi ed as such and to prevent their works from being changed without approval. They are largely uncontroversial and need no further comment here. The property right grants a temporary monopoly over dissemination, thus stimulating creators to further eff orts by rewarding them. Equally important, copyright’s monopoly made dissemination possible in the fi rst place.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Works of Chokan Valikhanov Selected Works of Chokan Valikhanov
    SELECTED WORKS OF CHOKAN VALIKHANOV CHOKAN OF WORKS SELECTED SELECTED WORKS OF CHOKAN VALIKHANOV Pioneering Ethnographer and Historian of the Great Steppe When Chokan Valikhanov died of tuberculosis in 1865, aged only 29, the Russian academician Nikolai Veselovsky described his short life as ‘a meteor flashing across the field of oriental studies’. Set against his remarkable output of official reports, articles and research into the history, culture and ethnology of Central Asia, and more important, his Kazakh people, it remains an entirely appropriate accolade. Born in 1835 into a wealthy and powerful Kazakh clan, he was one of the first ‘people of the steppe’ to receive a Russian education and military training. Soon after graduating from Siberian Cadet Corps at Omsk, he was taking part in reconnaissance missions deep into regions of Central Asia that had seldom been visited by outsiders. His famous mission to Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan, which began in June 1858 and lasted for more than a year, saw him in disguise as a Tashkent mer- chant, risking his life to gather vital information not just on current events, but also on the ethnic make-up, geography, flora and fauna of this unknown region. Journeys to Kuldzha, to Issyk-Kol and to other remote and unmapped places quickly established his reputation, even though he al- ways remained inorodets – an outsider to the Russian establishment. Nonetheless, he was elected to membership of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and spent time in St Petersburg, where he was given a private audience by the Tsar. Wherever he went he made his mark, striking up strong and lasting friendships with the likes of the great Russian explorer and geographer Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov-Tian-Shansky and the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
    [Show full text]
  • Montenegro's Tribal Legacy
    WARNING! The views expressed in FMSO publications and reports are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Montenegro's Tribal Legacy by Major Steven C. Calhoun, US Army Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS. This article appeared in Military Review July-August 2000 The mentality of our people is still very patriarchal. Here the knife, revenge and a tribal (plemenski) system exist as nowhere else.1 The whole country is interconnected and almost everyone knows everyone else. Montenegro is nothing but a large family—all of this augurs nothing good. —Mihajlo Dedejic2 When the military receives an order to deploy into a particular area, planners focus on the terrain so the military can use the ground to its advantage. Montenegro provides an abundance of terrain to study, and it is apparent from the rugged karst topography how this tiny republic received its moniker—the Black Mountain. The territory of Montenegro borders Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Serbia and Albania and is about the size of Connecticut. Together with the much larger republic of Serbia, Montenegro makes up the current Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). But the jagged terrain of Montenegro is only part of the military equation. Montenegro has a complex, multilayered society in which tribe and clan can still influence attitudes and loyalties. Misunderstanding tribal dynamics can lead a mission to failure. Russian misunderstanding of tribal and clan influence led to unsuccessful interventions in Afghanistan and Chechnya.3 In Afghanistan, the rural population's tribal organization facilitated their initial resistance to the Soviets.
    [Show full text]
  • Germania TEG1 8/2/2004 2:52 PM Page 16 TEG1 8/2/2004 2:52 PM Page 17
    TEG1 8/2/2004 2:52 PM Page 15 Part I Germania TEG1 8/2/2004 2:52 PM Page 16 TEG1 8/2/2004 2:52 PM Page 17 1 Land and People The Land The heartland of the immense area of northern Europe occupied by the early Germanic peoples was the great expanse of lowland which extends from the Netherlands to western Russia. There are no heights here over 300 metres and most of the land rises no higher than 100 metres. But there is considerable variety in relief and soil conditions. Several areas, like the Lüneburg Heath and the hills of Schleswig-Holstein, are diverse in both relief and landscape. There was until recent times a good deal of marshy ground in the northern parts of the great plain, and a broad belt of coastal marshland girds it on its northern flank. Several major rivers drain the plain, the Ems, Weser and Elbe flowing into the North Sea, the Oder and the Vistula into the Baltic. Their broad valleys offered attrac- tive areas for early settlement, as well as corridors of communication from south to north. The surface deposits on the lowland largely result from successive periods of glaciation. A major influence on relief are the ground moraines, comprising a stiff boulder clay which produces gently undu- lating plains or a terrain of small, steep-sided hills and hollows, the latter often containing small lakes and marshes, as in the area around Berlin. Other features of the relief are the hills left behind by terminal glacial moraines, the sinuous lakes which are the remains of melt-water, and the embayments created by the sea intruding behind a moraine.
    [Show full text]
  • Scholarly Research and Information
    ISSN 2658-3143 (Online) ТОМ 1, № 1, 2018 WWW.NEICONJOURNAL.COM НАУКА И НАУЧНАЯ ИНФОРМАЦИЯ SCHOLARLY RESEARCH AND INFORMATION В НОМЕРЕ: Отношение российского научного сообщества к открытому доступу: 2018 г. Анализ результа- тов опроса Разумова И.К., Литвинова Н.Н., Шварцман М.Е., Кузнецов А.Ю. Сетевые сервисы БЕН РАН как основа информа- ционного сопровождения научных исследований Каленов Н.Е. Функции библиотеки в наукометрической оценке публикационной активности вуза Дудникова О.В., Смирнова О.А. Библиотеки в программе 5-100, или За 3 года до… Михайлова Ю.В., Плохих М.В., Расплетина Е.Г. Организация единой точки доступа к ресурсам библиотеки: поиск вариантов реализации Литвинова Н.Н. Методика оценки зарубежных журналов в рамках выбранной тематики для публикации российских статей Глушановский А.В. МОСКВА, 2018 Наука и научная информация Том 1, № 1, 2018 Scholarly Research and Information V. 1, No. 1, 2018 Наука и научная информация научный рецензируемый журнал Цели и задачи Цель журнала «Наука и научная информация» — содействие развитию науки и образования за счет интеграции авторитетных электронных научных ресурсов в исследовательский и образовательный процесс. Одной из основных задач журнала является обобщение научных и практических достижений в части развития электронных информа- ционных ресурсов и сервисов, их вклад в процесс научных исследований и решение вопросов государственной политики, направленной на повышение уровня образования и науки, качества научных публикаций и развития си- стемы научных периодических изданий и расширения их присутствия в международном научно-информационном пространстве. Научная концепция издания предполагает публикацию материалов в следующих областях знания: «Науковеде- ние», «Народное образование. Педагогика», «Библиотечное дело. Библиотековедение» (по классификатору ГРНТИ). К публикации в журнале приглашаются как отечественные, так и зарубежные ученые и специалисты в вышепере- численных областях знания.
    [Show full text]
  • Central Asia: Confronting Independence
    THE JAMES A. BAKER III INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY OF RICE UNIVERSITY UNLOCKING THE ASSETS: ENERGY AND THE FUTURE OF CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS CENTRAL ASIA: CONFRONTING INDEPENDENCE MARTHA BRILL OLCOTT SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE PREPARED IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ENERGY STUDY BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE JAMES A. BAKER III INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RICE UNIVERSITY – APRIL 1998 CENTRAL ASIA: CONFRONTING INDEPENDENCE Introduction After the euphoria of gaining independence settles down, the elites of each new sovereign country inevitably stumble upon the challenges of building a viable state. The inexperienced governments soon venture into unfamiliar territory when they have to formulate foreign policy or when they try to forge beneficial economic ties with foreign investors. What often proves especially difficult is the process of redefining the new country's relationship with its old colonial ruler or federation partners. In addition to these often-encountered hurdles, the newly independent states of Central Asia-- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-- have faced a host of particular challenges. Some of these emanate from the Soviet legacy, others--from the ethnic and social fabric of each individual polity. Yet another group stems from the peculiarities of intra- regional dynamics. Finally, the fledgling states have been struggling to step out of their traditional isolation and build relations with states outside of their neighborhood. This paper seeks to offer an overview of all the challenges that the Central Asian countries have confronted in the process of consolidating their sovereignty. The Soviet Legacy and the Ensuing Internal Challenges What best distinguishes the birth of the Central Asian states from that of any other sovereign country is the incredible weakness of pro-independence movements throughout the region.
    [Show full text]
  • Seminars in History of Ukraine: Methodological Guidelines for English-Speaking Students
    MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY «KHARKIV POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE» SEMINARS IN HISTORY OF UKRAINE: METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES FOR ENGLISH-SPEAKING STUDENTS Approved by the Editorial-Publishing Council of the NTU «KhPI» Minutes № 2 of May 24, 2018 Kharkiv NTU «KhPI» 2018 Cемінарські заняття з історії України: Методичні вказівки для англомовних студентів / уклад. Є.К.Шишкіна. – Харків : НТУ «ХПІ», 2017. – 37 с. Seminars in History of Ukraine: Methodological Guidelines for English-Speaking Students / ed. Y. K. Shyshkina. – Kharkiv : NTU «KPI», 2017. – 37 p. Укладач Є.К.Шишкіна Рецензент І.В.Дворкін Кафедра політичної історії 2 Foreword The subject of the academic discipline is the basic processes of the Ukrainian national and state building, political, socio-economic and national-cultural changes, which took place in the past of the Ukrainian nation. The goals of the discipline are to improve the students' comprehension of the native history, explain the causes and consequences of political, socio-economic and national-cultural transformations that took place in different periods of Ukrainian history. During the process of learning students get the necessary knowledge of: – political and administrative organization of the Ukrainian lands in different historical periods; – different forms and basic elements of the Ukrainian statehood; – chronology of historical events; – reasons, course, consequences of political, socio-economic and national- cultural events, phenomena, processes on the territory of
    [Show full text]
  • UYGHUR STUDIES in CENTRAL ASIA: a Historical Review
    UYGHUR STUDIES IN CENTRAL ASIA 3 ABLET KAMALOV UYGHUR STUDIES IN CENTRAL ASIA: A Historical Review INTRODUCTION The Uyghurs, a Turkic people comprising a major part of the population of the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China, also have sizable communities in the former Soviet Central Asian Republics, espe- cially in Kazakhstan, where they numbered 220,000 in 1999 (altogether the Uyghur population in the newly independent states numbers more than 300,000). The Central Asian Uyghur community played a signifi- cant role in the Uyghur nation-building process as well as in Soviet- Chinese relations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Soviet authorities used the Uyghurs as a tool in their policy toward Xinjiang (Eastern Turkistan) and for that purpose provided special sup- port for the development of Uyghur culture in Central Asia. A significant part of that policy was the development of Uyghur studies in Central Asia, particularly in Kazakhstan, which became a cultural center for the Soviet Uyghurs. Uyghur studies covers mostly the research done in the sphere of language, literature, history, and culture (art, music, etc). This article will examine the history of Uyghur studies in Soviet Central Asia and outline its trends. 4 KAMALOV THE MAIN STAGES The Initial Stage (1920–1945) The earliest research on Uyghurs conducted in Central Asia exhibited mostly a practical character. The purpose was to pursue specific goals of Soviet national policy aimed at the creation of new socialist “nations” in the region. The Uyghurs, along with other peoples, were recognized by the Soviet state as a “nation” during the period of national delimitation and demarcation in Central Asia during the early 1920s, just after the establishment of Bolshevik power.
    [Show full text]
  • Eurr 4203/5203 and Hist 4603/5603 Imperial and Soviet Russia Wed 8:35-11:25, Dunton Tower 1006
    Eurr 4203/5203 and Hist 4603/5603 Imperial and Soviet Russia Wed 8:35-11:25, Dunton Tower 1006 Dr. Johannes Remy Winter 2014 Office: 3314 River Building e-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Wednesday 3:00-4:00p.m. Phone: To be announced This course will analyze fundamental political, social, and cultural changes across the lands of the Russian Empire and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This seminar course will focus on major topics in the history and historiography of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Themes to be explored include political culture, empire and nationality questions, socialism, revolution, terror, class and gender. In the Napoleonic wars, Russia gained greater international prestige and influence than it had ever before. However, it was evident for many educated Russians that their country was “backward” compared to the Western Europe in its social and political system and economic performance. Russia retained serfdom longer than any other European country, until 1861, and the citizens gained representative bodies with legislative prerogatives only in 1905-1906, after all the other European countries except the Ottoman Empire. Many educated people lost their trust in the government and adopted radical, leftist and revolutionary ideologies. Even after the abolition of serfdom, the relations between peasants and noble landowners contained elements of antagonism. Industrialization began in the 1880s and brought additional problems, since radical intelligentsia managed to establish connections with discontented workers. In the course of the nineteenth century, the traditional policy of co-operation with local elites of ethnic minorities was challenged by both Russian and minority nationalisms.
    [Show full text]