Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T12:31:19.282Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethnic Modernity and the Russian Empire: Russian Ethnographers and Caucasian Mountaineers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Austin Lee Jersild
Austin Lee Jersild*
Affiliation:
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Late Imperial Russian society experienced a time of profound social and cultural change in spite of the fact that aristocratic privilege and monarchical power endured until 1917. Contemporary writers bear witness to an emerging working-class consciousness in the cities, a peasant culture increasingly in contact with the wider world of the city and beyond, and a literary culture shaped by the latest currents in the experimental modernism of the West.1 Scholars have long explored the Russian variant of interest group politics that emerged in the wake of the Great Reforms, such as technological innovation and the Russian Navy, the development of a legal consciousness, new cultural expectations about the city and the process of urbanization, the modern aspirations and ambitions of a thriving popular culture, and even an emerging modern set of assumptions about individual sexual autonomy.2

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 641 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Zelnik, Reginald E., trans. and ed., A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia: The Autobiography of Semen Ivanovich Kanatchikov (Stanford, 1986); Cathy Frierson, trans. and ed., Aleksandr Nikolaevich Engelgardt's Letters from the Country, 1872-1887 (New York, 1993); David L. Ransel, ed., Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, trans. David L. Ransel with Michael Levine (Bloomington, 1993); Andrei Bely, Petersburg, trans. and introd. Robert Maguire, A. and Malmstad, John E. (New York: Penguin Books, 1978).Google Scholar

2. Rieber, Alfred J., “Interest-Group Politics in the Era of the Great Reforms” in Eklof, Ben, Bushnell, John, and Zakharova, Larissa, eds., Russia's Great Reforms, 1855-1881 (Bloomington, 1994), pp. 58–83; Kipp, Jacob W., “The Russian Navy and the Problem of Technological Transfer” in Eklof, et al., pp. 115-138; Wortman, Richard S., The Development of a Russian Legal Consciousness (Chicago, 1976); Brower, Daniel R., The Russian City between Tradition and Modernity, 1850-1900 (Berkeley, 1990); Jeffrey Brooks, When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Culture, 1861-1917 (Princeton, 1985); Laura Engelstein, The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-Siecle Russia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992).Google Scholar

3. Pearson, Raymond, “The Historical Background to Soviet Federalism” in Alastair McAuley, ed., Soviet Federalism: Nationalism and Economic Decentralisation (Leicester, 1991), pp. 13–32.Google Scholar

4. Subtelny, Orest, Ukraine: A History (Toronto, 1988), pp. 201–204.Google Scholar

5. RGIA (Russian State Historical Archive, formerly TsGIA), f. 1263, op. 2, 1903, d. 5616, Memorandum, Golitsyn, 11. 165, 163.Google Scholar

6. Ibid., 1. 163.Google Scholar

7. Szporluk, Roman, “The Imperial Legacy and the Soviet Nationalities Problem” in Lubomyr Hajda and Mark Beissinger, eds., The Nationalities Factor in Soviet Politics and Society (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990), pp. 1–4.Google Scholar

8. On the Caucasus in Russian literature, see Susan Layton, “The Creation of an Imaginative Caucasian Geography,” Slavic Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Fall 1986), pp. 470-485; Susan Layton, Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy (Cambridge, 1994).Google Scholar

9. Zisserman recounts his experience in Zisserman, A. L., Dvadtsat' piat' let na Kavkaze (1842-1867), Part 1 (St. Petersburg, 1879). On Marlinsky, see p. 1.Google Scholar

10. Vorontsov, On, see Rhinelander, L. Hamilton, Prince Michael Vorontsov: Viceroy to the Tsar (Montreal, 1990).Google Scholar

11. Zisserman, A., “Poezdka v Shatil,” Kavkaz, No. 18 (May 3, 1847), p. 69; A. Zisserman, “Poezdka v s. Tioanety,” Kavkaz, No. 20 (May 17, 1847), p. 77; Arnol'd Ziserman [sic], “Iz moikh zapisok,” Kavkaz, No. 22 (June 1, 1846), p. 88. For Marlinsky's descriptions of combat, see A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinskii, Sochineniia v dvukh tomakh, Vol. 2 (Moscow, 1958), “Pis'ma iz Dagestana,” pp. 17–19; and “Pokhod v Dagestan General-Ad'iutanta Pankrat'eva v 1831 godu,” pp. 25–26, 31, 52. On Marlinsky and ethnographic description, see Susan Layton, “Marlinsky's ’Ammalat-Bek‘ and the Orientalisation of the Caucasus in Russian Literature” in Derek Offord, ed., The Golden Age of Russian Literature and Thought (London, 1992), pp. 39–40; and M. O. Kosven, “A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinskii” in M. O. Kosven, Etnografiia i istoriia Kavkaza (Moscow, 1961), pp. 158–168.Google Scholar

12. “Ot redaktsii,” Kavkaz, No. 1 (January 5, 1846), p. 1.Google Scholar

13. “Obiavlenie,” Kavkaz, No. 2 (January 12, 1846), p. 8.Google Scholar

14. Zisserman, A., “Ocherki Khevsuri,” Kavkaz, No. 22 (March 20, 1851), p. 88; Kavkaz, No. 23 (March 23, 1851), pp. 92–93; Kavkaz, No. 24 (March 27, 1851), pp. 96–97.Google Scholar

15. On the Geographic Society, see Alexander Vucinich, Science in Russian Culture: A History to 1860 (Stanford, 1963), pp. 350–353; Tokarev, S. A., Istoriia Russkoi Etnografii (Moscow, 1966), pp. 214–284; Stepanov, N. N., “Russkoe geograficheskoe obshchestvo i etnografiia (1845-1861),” Sovetskaia Etnografiia, No. 4 (1946), pp. 187-206; Lincoln, W. Bruce, In the Vanguard of Reform: Russia's Enlightened Bureaucrats, 1825-1861 (DeKalb, 1982), pp. 91–101; Wladimir Berelowitch, “Aux origines de l'ethnographie Russe: La société de Geographie dans les années 1840-1850,” Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, Vol. 31, Nos. 2-3 (Avril-Septembre 1990), pp. 265-274; Petr Petrovich Semenov (Tian-Shanskii), ed., Istoriia poluvekovoi deiatel'nosti Imperatorskago Russkago Geograficheskago Obshchestva 1845-1895, 3 parts (St. Petersburg, 1896). For a Soviet treatment of Russian ethnography, see Tokarev, Istoriia Russkoi Etnografii. On ethnography sponsored by the Naval Ministry, see Catherine B. Clay, “Russian Ethnographers in the Service of Empire, 1856-1862,” Slavic Review, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Spring 1995), pp. 45–61.Google Scholar

16. On Uslar's life and work, see Zagurskii, L. P., “Petr Karlovich Uslar i ego deiatel‘nost’ na Kavkaze,” ZKOIRGO, Vol. 12 (Tiflis, 1881), p. i-xlviii.Google Scholar

17. Uslar, P. K., “O rasprostranenii gramotnosti mezhdu gortsami,” SSOKG, Vol. 3 (Tiflis, 1870), p. 28.Google Scholar

18. “Etnograficheskiia zametki,” Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie, No. 3 (1889), p. 11.Google Scholar

19. Radde, Gustav, “Khevsuriia i Khevsury,” trans. and ed. Veidenbaum, E. G., ZKOIRGO, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Tiflis, 1880), pp. 57–63.Google Scholar

20. Arnol'd Ziserman [sic], “Iz moikh zapisok,” Kavkaz, No. 22 (June 1, 1846), p. 88.Google Scholar

21. Zisserman, A., “Ocherki Khevsuri,” Kavkaz, No. 22 (March 20, 1851), p. 89.Google Scholar

22. , Radde, “Khevsuriia i Khevsury,” ZKOIRGO, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Tiflis, 1880), p. 72.Google Scholar

23. “Sostav i sposoby otdela,” ZKOIRGO, Vol. 3, p. 300; “Otchet o sostoianii i deistviiakh otdela,” ZKOIRGO, Vol. 6, pp. 24–28.Google Scholar

24. The papers that resulted from the conference were published as V. V. Grigor'ev, ed., Trudy tret'iago mezhdunarodnago s”ezda Orientalistov (St. Petersburg, 1879-1880), and included an essay by Berzhe, A. P., “Etnograficheskoe obozrenie Kavkaza,” which was also published separately as Berzhe, A. P., Etnograficheskoe obozrenie Kavkaza (St. Petersburg, 1879). My thanks to Daniel Brower for directing me to this material.Google Scholar

25. Mugeddin Magomed-Khanov, “Istinnye i lozhnye posledovateli tarikata,” trans. Omarov, A., SSOKG, Vol. 4 (Tiflis, 1870), p. 1.Google Scholar

26. Omar-oglu, Abdulla, “Vospominaniia Mutalima,” SSOKG, Vol. 1 (Tiflis, 1868), part 7, pp. 13–64; reprinted in Abdulla Omarov, Dagestan: Vremia i sud'by (Makhachkala, 1990), pp. 31–32.Google Scholar

27. Letter from Omarov to Suleiman, October 25, 1868, in Omarov, Dagestan: Vremia i sud'by, pp. 292–293.Google Scholar

28. Nogmov, Sh. B., Istoriia Adygeiskogo naroda, 5th ed. (Nal'chik, 1947), p. 18.Google Scholar

29. , RGIA, f. 1268, op. 10, 1860, d. 40, Delo “Ob imenovanii kryl'ev kavkazskoi linii pravago-Kubanskoiu i levago-Terskoiu oblastniami,” 11. 1-7. Terek oblast was technically called Terskaia voiskovaia oblast' after the Terek river and the Terek Cossacks (Terskoe kazach'e voisko) .Google Scholar

30. Volkova, N. G., Etnicheskii sostav naseleniia severnogo Kavkaza v xviii-nachale XX veka (Moscow, 1974), pp. 240–241.Google Scholar

31. , RGIA, f. 1149, op. 7, 1869, d. 112, Delo “Ob ustroistve v Predkavkazskom krae dvukh oblastei Kubanskoi i Terskoi,” Temporary establishment of military popular administration of Terek oblast, 11. 108–110.Google Scholar

32. , RGIA, f. 37, op. 55, 1892-1899, d. 69, Delo “O merakh k uporiadocheniiu pazpabotok v kamenalomnakh,” Report of Commander of Terek oblast for 1890, 1. 37. Previously Terek oblast consisted of seven okrugi: Georgiev, Vladikavkaz, Groznyi, Argun, Vedeno, Kizliar, and Khasav-Iurtov. Virtually all the Terek oblast cities, such as Vladikavkaz, Groznyi, Kizliar, Piatigorsk, Georgiev, and Mozdok, were predominantly populated by Russian Orthodox Christians or other non-Russian Christians. See RGIA, f. 1290, op. 11, 1897, d. 2377, Delo “Materiialy Vserossiskoi perepis' po okrugam Terskoi oblasti,” 1. 6.Google Scholar

33. , RGIA, Biblioteka, op. 1, 1884-1909, d. 99, Report for 1909, by General Mikheev, 1. 42.Google Scholar

34. , RGIA, f. 37, op. 55, 1892-1899, d. 69, 1. 44.Google Scholar

35. , Volkova, Etnicheskii sostav, p. 245.Google Scholar

36. , RGIA, f. 560, op. 41, 1883, d. 143, Journal, February 23, 1884, 1. 44.Google Scholar

37. Troinitskii, N. A., ed., Pervaia vseobshchaia perepis' naseleniia Rossiiskoi Imperii, 1897 g. (St. Petersburg, 1905), part II, p. xxviii.Google Scholar

38. Ibid., February 8, 1884, 1. 38. Also see RGIA, f. 1276, op. 21, 1895-1897, d. 45, Delo “Materialy o Chernomorskom naberezh'i Kavkaza,” Memorandum, 11. 1-10. (This RGIA file is mistakenly dated 1917.)Google Scholar

39. , RGIA, f. 1276, op. 17, 1911, d. 165, Delo “Otchety gubernatorov za 1909 god,” Report of Chernomorsk Governor for 1909, 11. 95–96 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40. Begeulov, A., “Sotsialisticheskaia stroika v gorskikh oblastiakh,” Revoliutsiia i Gorets, No. 1 (October 1928), p. 12.Google Scholar

41. On Soviet ideas and Soviet policies, see Yuri Slezkine, “The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism,” Slavic Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 414-452; and Ronald Grigor Suny, The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Stanford, 1993).Google Scholar