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innashtakser's review against another edition
5.0
Another brilliant book by Etkind, where he analyzes a special kind of colonization - a case where the elite is colonizing its own territory and people with help of the state, but itself is vulnerable to a change of status due to the fragility of the modes of differentiation. For example, somebody losing social status due to one reason or another would be treated as colonized. The problem was that the difference between colonizers and colonized in a case like Russia, where both belong to the same ethnicity and the same culture was a matter of education and appearance (bearded versus shaved) and that could have easily changed. Etkind claims that after external colonization of the North became impossible due to scarcity of furs, Russia had to turn to agriculture and thus to treat its own peasants as colonized subjects. That entailed cultural differentiation between the elite and the peasantry, emphasis on real or invented foreignness of the elite and serfdom which, according to Etkind, was not overall profitable (he claims that grain export from the areas of mass serfdom was unprofitable, since these were too far from the ports), but was upheld as part of the political arrangement within the state. Etkind also claims that this arrangement was supported by orientalist views of the exotic peasantry and, surprisingly, by the Russian literature which, due to its humanistic impulse, attracted all kinds of people and created a sort of unity within the Russian empire, an empire constantly widening its borders and its orientalist views. Even though, as Etkind points out, the enserfed were largely ethnically Russian. Overall Etkind claims that in Russia the normal experience of colonialism was as both a colonizer (a peasant sent to fight in the Caucasus) and a colonized (the same peasant in relation to Russian government and its representatives). Similar examples would be rebellious students sent to the North as colonized subjects but there working in the local administration and acting as colonizers towards the local populations. Or a Polish noble acting as a colonizer towards the peasants, but sent to Siberia as a political exile. Etc.
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
In Internal Colonization: Russia’s Imperial Experience, Etkind has aimed to show a new perspective of the cultural history of Russia. He states that he is determined to take the ‘risky task’ of ‘incorporating different disciplines, voices, and periods’ to create a wide-ranging history of the great empire.
In his introduction, he sets out the two widely accepted and incredibly contradictory views of Russia which have been discussed by students and scholars alike. The first of these is that Russia is a ‘great country that competes successfully, though unevenly, with other European powers’, and the other is that Russia is a country rife with ‘economic backwardness, unbridled violence, misery, illiteracy, despair, and collapse’. Etkind states from the outset that he believes in both of these analyses of Russia, deeming it paramount to merge the two differing standpoints in order to create something closer to the truth.
The author has used many different quotes and opinions throughout, ranging from Russian historians to sociologists and experts on such constructs as Orientalism, in order to structure his writing. He also draws upon the outlooks of writers as diverse as Rudyard Kipling and Dostoevsky. Many other Russian authors have been woven throughout the text in order to reinforce points.
Internal Colonisation is incredibly informative. Etkind outlines the enormous span of the Tsarist empire in his introduction in order to set the scene, and includes a wealth of information with regard to border disputes, revolts and the ‘imperial resurgence of post-Soviet Russia’. He has focused attention upon three main elements – the historical, cultural and political.
Within Internal Colonisation, Etkind discusses the concept of internal colonisation within the framework of Russia, with regard to both classical and more modern definitions of the phrase. The book itself is split into four separate parts which deal with ‘The Non-Traditional Orient’, ‘Writing from Scratch’, ‘Empire of the Tsars’ and ‘Shaved Man’s Burden’. The first of these sections covers education, the language used in Russia, the class war and the concept of ‘worldliness’, the second deals with what it means to ‘colonize oneself’, the third ‘instability’ and ‘negative hegemony’ and the fourth with philosophy under Russian rule, sects and revolution.
References and dates of the more important events have been placed throughout the text, making this an extremely useful book for students. Illustrations have also been used throughout. Headings effectively split up each section and enable the reader to find exactly what they are looking for within the book.
Etkind spans a wide period within Internal Colonisation and discusses Russia not just as a separate entity, but from a wider global context. It is an extremely interesting and informative book.
In his introduction, he sets out the two widely accepted and incredibly contradictory views of Russia which have been discussed by students and scholars alike. The first of these is that Russia is a ‘great country that competes successfully, though unevenly, with other European powers’, and the other is that Russia is a country rife with ‘economic backwardness, unbridled violence, misery, illiteracy, despair, and collapse’. Etkind states from the outset that he believes in both of these analyses of Russia, deeming it paramount to merge the two differing standpoints in order to create something closer to the truth.
The author has used many different quotes and opinions throughout, ranging from Russian historians to sociologists and experts on such constructs as Orientalism, in order to structure his writing. He also draws upon the outlooks of writers as diverse as Rudyard Kipling and Dostoevsky. Many other Russian authors have been woven throughout the text in order to reinforce points.
Internal Colonisation is incredibly informative. Etkind outlines the enormous span of the Tsarist empire in his introduction in order to set the scene, and includes a wealth of information with regard to border disputes, revolts and the ‘imperial resurgence of post-Soviet Russia’. He has focused attention upon three main elements – the historical, cultural and political.
Within Internal Colonisation, Etkind discusses the concept of internal colonisation within the framework of Russia, with regard to both classical and more modern definitions of the phrase. The book itself is split into four separate parts which deal with ‘The Non-Traditional Orient’, ‘Writing from Scratch’, ‘Empire of the Tsars’ and ‘Shaved Man’s Burden’. The first of these sections covers education, the language used in Russia, the class war and the concept of ‘worldliness’, the second deals with what it means to ‘colonize oneself’, the third ‘instability’ and ‘negative hegemony’ and the fourth with philosophy under Russian rule, sects and revolution.
References and dates of the more important events have been placed throughout the text, making this an extremely useful book for students. Illustrations have also been used throughout. Headings effectively split up each section and enable the reader to find exactly what they are looking for within the book.
Etkind spans a wide period within Internal Colonisation and discusses Russia not just as a separate entity, but from a wider global context. It is an extremely interesting and informative book.
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