Nationalism and Historiography in Central Eurasia

(JMM 720)

Professor Assistant Adrian Brisku

Department of Russian & East European Studies, Charles University

https://cuni.academia.edu/adrianBrisku

adrian.brisku@fsv.cuni.cz

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Nationalism as the ideology of the nation-state and historiography as the process of writing defining narratives on the emergence of a nation and its state have been part of a political and intellectual intersection in the modern period in the European continent since the late nineteenth century, which after spread to the other parts of the globe. It is an intersection that has played and continues to play a key role in “Central Eurasia” – a wider region comprised of relatively new independent states in the Caucasus and Central Asia – that share Tsarist colonial and Soviet pasts. The aim of this course is to critically examines how this intersection has manifested itself – mostly as local elites engaged in a myth-making process for reconstructing national political histories and identities – since the early 1990s, by using concepts and rationales from the theories and approaches in nationalism studies as well as importantly by comparing and contrasting individual cases from the region. Applying a student-centred method, this course’s format is seminar-based which means that students’ participation in class – discussing readings’ main arguments, approaches and gaps in the literature – is essential.

A. COURSEDESIGN

1. Introductory Seminar

2. Identity, Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis

3. National Past, Historiography and Historians

4. Varieties of Nationalisms

5. MID-TERM TEST

6. The Myth of Creation of the Nations: Central Asia

7. The Myth of Golden Age: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan

8. The Myth of Resistance: The Basmachi Movement and Anti-Colonial Struggle

9. National Historiography, Élite Ideology, and Nation-Building in Central Asia

10. The Historiography of the Colonial Empire

11. The Myth of Autochtonous Nations: The Karabakh Conflict

12. The Myth of Violence and Suffering: Chechnya

B. READING ASSIGNMENT

1. Introductory Seminar

· Syllabus

2. Identity, Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis

· Victor A. Shnirelman, "Politics of Ethnogenesis in the USSR and after," Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 30(1), (2005), pp: 93–119, http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/3305/1/KH_030_1_003.pdf;

· Natalia Waechter, “Introduction to the Construction and the Interplay of European, National and Ethnic Identities in Central and Eastern Europe’, Identities23(6), 2016, pp. 630-647.

3. National Past, Historiography and Historians

· John Coakley, "Mobilizing the Past: Nationalist Images of History," Nationalism and Ethnic Policies, 10(4), (2005), pp. 531-560 (Taylor & Francis Database);

· Daniel Woolf, "Of Nations, Nationalism, and National Identity: Reflections on the Historiographic Organization of the Past", in: Q. Edward Wang & Franz Fillafer (eds.), The Many Faces of Clio Cross-Cultural Approaches to Historiography, New York: Berghahn Books (2006), pp. 71-103, https://www.academia.edu/420275/Nationalism_and_Historiography.

4. Varieties of Nationalisms

· Joseph Llobera, Recent Theories of Nationalism, Working Paper 164, Institut de Ciences Politiques i Socials, Barcelona

· Alexander Maxwell, “Nationalism as Classification: Suggestions for Reformulating Nationalism Research”, Nationalities Papers46(4), 2018, pp. 539-555.

5. MID-TERM TEST

6. The Myth of Creation of the Nations: Central Asia

· Marlene Laruelle, “The Concept of Ethnogenesis in Central Asia. Political Context and Institutional Mediators (1940-50),“ Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 9 (1), (Winter 2008),pp. 169-188, https://www.academia.edu/7896474/_The_Concept_of_Ethnogenesis_in_Central_Asia_Political_Context_and_Institutional_Mediators_1940_50_Kritika_Explorations_in_Russian_and_Eurasian_History_9_no._1_2008_169-188.

· Gullette, David, “A State of Passion: The Use of Ethnogenesis in Kyrgyzstan,” Inner Asia, 10(2), 2008, pp. 261-279, https://www.academia.edu/379832/A_State_of_Passion_The_Use_of_Ethnogenesis_in_Kyrgyzstan

7. The Myth of Golden Age: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan

· Marlene Laruelle, “The Return of the Aryan Myth: Tajikistan in Search of a Secularized Ideology,“ Nationalities Papers, 35(1), 2007, pp. 51-70 (Taylor & Francis Database).

· Laura Adams, The Spectacular State. Culture and National Identity in Uzbekistan, Duke University Press, Durham – London, p. 38-43.

8. The Myth of Resistance: The Basmachi Movement and Anti-Colonial Struggle

· Martha B. Olcott, The Basmachi or Freemen's Revolt in Turkestan 1918-1924, Soviet Studies, 33(3), July 1981), pp. 352-369 (JSTORE Database)

· Slavomir Horák, “The Battle of Göktepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse,” Central Asian Survey. October 14, 2014 (EBSCO Database)

9. National Historiography, Élite Ideology, and Nation-Building in Central Asia

· Erica Marat, “State-Propagated Narratives about a National Defender in Central Asian States", The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies, 6/7, 2007 [Online].

· March, A.: The Use and Abuse of History: ‘National Ideology’ as Transcendental Object in Islam Karimov's ‘Ideology of National Independence’. Central Asian Survey, Vol. 21, Issue 4, 2002, p. 371-384 (Taylor&Francis Database).

10. The Historiography of the Colonial Empire

· Kuzio, T., "History, Memory and the Nation-Building in the Post-Soviet Colonial Space," Nationalities Papers, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2002, p. 241-264.

· Tuyakbaev, Saparbek: Myth of Pan-Turkism: Turkish Central Asian Policy in the Early 90s. In Cultural Interaction and Conflict in Central and Inner Asia (eds. Michael Gervers, Uradyn E. Bulag, Gilian Long). Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia, No. 6. Asian Institute, University of Toronto, 2004, p. 299-330.

11. The Myth of Autochthonous Nations: The Karabakh Conflict

· Anastasia Voronkova, “Nationalism and Organised Violence in Nagorno-