Vera Tolz

Alexander Semyonov

Eric Lohr

"In this multiauthor collection historians examine the nature, ambitions, and limitations of empire and the role these played in the First World War. The volume further analyzes how and why the war facilitated the rise of national movements across Eastern Europe, bringing about the downfall of centuries-old monarchies and engendering the establishment of vulnerable successor states."--Provided by publisher.

The Empire and Nationalism at War

A Record of Events

The USSR in 1989

Russia's own Orient examines how intellectuals in early twentieth-century Russia offered a new and radical critique of the ways in which Oriental cultures were understood at the time. Out of the ferment of revolution and war, a group of scholars in St. Petersburg articulated fresh ideas about the relationship between power and knowledge, and about Europe and Asia as mere political and cultural constructs. Their ideas anticipated the work of Edward Said and post-colonial scholarship by half a century. The similarities between the two groups were, in fact, genealogical. Said was indebted, via Arab intellectuals of the 1960s who studied in the Soviet Union, to the revisionist ideas of Russian Orientologists of the fin de siècle. But why did this body of Russian scholarship of the early twentieth century turn out to be so innovative? Should we agree with a popular claim of the Russian elites about their country's particular affinity with the 'Orient'? There is no single answer to this question. The early twentieth century was a period when all over Europe a fascination with things 'Oriental' engendered the questioning of many nineteenth-century assumptions and prejudices. In that sense, the revisionism of Russian Orientologists was part of a pan-European trend. And yet, Tolz also argues that a set of political, social, and cultural factors, which were specific to Russia, allowed its imperial scholars to engage in an unusual dialogue with representatives of the empire's non-European minorities. It is together that they were able to articulate a powerful long-lasting critique of modern imperialism and colonialism, and to shape ethnic politics in Russia across the divide of the 1917 revolutions.

The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the Late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods

Russia's Own Orient

A study of unofficial movements in the USSR and their effect on the Soviet political system. Since 1987 the role of these groups has been expanding, starting to pose a threat to the power of the Communist party, and causing a multiparty system to emerge in the Soviet Union.

Vera Tolz

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