Russia's Own Orient :The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the Late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods - Oxford Studies in Modern European History

4.46 ( 13 Ratings by Goodreads)
Russia's Own Orient

Russia's Own Orient :The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the Late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods - Oxford Studies in Modern European History

(Author)
4.46 (13 Ratings by Goodreads)
hardback
Published: 10 February, 2011
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Description

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.
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More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9780199594443
ISBN10 0199594449
Number Of Pages 216
Item Weight 482 g
Product Dimensions 156 x 238 x 20 mm
Publisher / Reseller Oxford University Press
Format hardback
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Media Reviews

Erudite and closely argued * Rachel Polonsky, Times Literary Supplement *
Vera Tolz admirably condenses in this short book what is essential for a critical understanding of the complex situation in late Imperial Russia and the early Soviet Union. Russia's Own Orient provides us with starting line for new research. * Takehiko Inoue, The NEP Era *
Russia's Own Orient has considerably enriched and advanced the literature on scholarship and imperialism in Russia * Nathaniel Knight, Journal of Contemporary History *
Tolzâs highly informative, thought-provoking and well-researched book will be of interest to specialists and general readers interested in linguistics, history, cultural developments in Russia in the 1880sâ1920s and in the legacy of modernist ideas in the post-Soviet period. * Alexandra Smith, Europe-Asia Studies *

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Author's Bio

Vera Tolz is Sir William Mather Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Manchester. She is the author of Russia: Inventing the Nation (London, 2001); Russian Academicians and the Revolution: Combining Professionalism and Politics (London, 1997) and The USSR's Emerging Multiparty System (New York, 1990); she is also co-editor of Nation and Gender in Contemporary Europe (Manchester, 2005); European Democratization since 1800 (London, 2000) and The Demise of the USSR: From Communism to Independence (London, 1995).

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