1st Edition

Russia's Regional Identities The Power of the Provinces

Edited By Edith Clowes, Gisela Erbslöh, Ani Kokobobo Copyright 2018
    308 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    306 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Contemporary Russia is often viewed as a centralised regime based in Moscow, with dependent provinces, made subservient by Putin’s policies limiting regional autonomy. This book, however, demonstrates that beyond this largely political view, by looking at Russia’s regions more in cultural and social terms, a quite different picture emerges, of a Russia rich in variety, with different regional identities, cultures, traditions and memories. The book explores how identities are formed and rethought in contemporary Russia, and outlines the nature of particular regional identities, from Siberia and the Urals to southern Russia, from the Russian heartland to the non-Russian republics.

    Table of Contents

    0. Introduction (Edith W. Clowes, Gisela Erbslöh, and Ani Kokobobo)

    Part I: Framing Russia’s Regions

    1. "The Six Waves of Russian Regionalism in European Context, 1830-2000" (Susan Smith- Peter)

    2. "Provinces, Regions, Circles, Grids: How Literature Has Shaped Russian Geographical Identity" (Anne Lounsbery)

    Part II: Rethinking European Russian Identities

    3. "Militarized Memory: Patriotic Re-branding in Post-Soviet Pskov" (Victoria Donovan)

    4. "Wayfinding, Map-making and the Holy Springs of the Orel Region" (Jane Costlow)

    5. "‘How is Voronezh not Paris?’ City Branding in the Russian Provinces" (Lyudmila Parts)

    Part III: Russian Identities in the Urals

    6. "The Strange Case of a Regional Cultural Revolution: Sverdlovsk in the Perestroika Years" (Mark Lipovetsky)

    7. "Enchanted Geographies: Aleksei Ivanov and the Aesthetic Management of Ural Regional Identity" (Bradley Gorski)

    Part IV: Russian Identities in Siberia

    8. "Siberian Regional Identity: Self-Perception, Solidarity, or Political Claim?" (Alla Anisimova, Olga Echevskaya)

    9. "Tomsk Regional Identity and the Legacy of the Gulag and Stalinist Repression" (Wilson T. Bell)

    Part V: Regional Identities outside the Orthodox Zone

    10. "National Identity in Post-Soviet Tatarstan: Orthodox Missionaries in Twenty-First Century Tatar Literature and Film" (John Romero)

    11. "Women, Memory, and Resistance: Dealing with the Soviet Past in the Volga-Ural Region" (Yulia Gradskova)

    12. "‘Why Does Russia Need Hadji Murat’s Head?’ Hadji Murat, Dagestani Identity, and Russia’s Colonial Exploits" (Ani Kokobobo)

    Afterword: "The Power of the Provinces" (Catherine Evtuhov)

    Biography

    Edith W Clowes is a Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.

    Gisela Erbslöh is a freelance journalist and literary critic, who has written extensively on Russian, Belorussian, and Northern Caucasian culture, history and social life

    Ani Kokobobo is Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Kansas, USA.