Making Russians

Meaning and Practice of Russification in Lithuania and Belarus after 1863
Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-90-420-2267-6
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 11, 465 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 889 g

Reihe: On the Boundary of Two Worlds

Making Russians is an innovative study dealing with Russian nationalities policy in Lithuania and Belarus in the aftermath of the 1863 Uprising. The book devotes most attention to imperial confessional and language policy, for in Russian discourse at that time it was religion and language that were considered to be the most important criteria determining nationality. The account of Russian nationalities policy presented here differs considerably from the assessments usually offered by historians from east-central Europe primarily because the author provides a more subtle description of the aims of imperial nationalities policy, rejecting the claim that the Russian authorities consistently sought to assimilate members of other national groups. At the same time the interpretation this study offers opens a discussion with western and Russian historians, especially those, who lay heavy emphasis on discourse analysis. This study asserts that the rhetoric of officials and certain public campaigners was influenced by a concept of political correctness, which condemned all forms of ethnic denationalisation. A closer look at the implementation of discriminatory policy allows us to discern within Russian imperial policy more attempts to assimilate or otherwise repress the cultures of non-dominant national groups than it is possible to appreciate simply by analysing discourse alone.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Staliunas, Darius

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Semantik & Pragmatik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Postkoloniale Geschichte, Nationale Befreiung und Unabhängigkeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Kolonialismus, Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Map of the North Western Province and the Suvalki Gubernia (Kingdom of Poland)
Introduction
I. Administrative Boundaries and Nationality Policy
II. The Search for a Nationality Policy Strategy in the Early 1860s
III. The Meanings of Russification
IV. Separating “Them” from “Us.” Definitions of Nationality in Political Practice
V. Confessional Experiments
VI. Metamorphoses in Language Policy
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Darius Staliunas received his M.A. from Vilnius University (1993) and his Ph. D. from Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University (1997). He joined the Lithuanian Institute of History in 1992. Since 2000 he is a deputy director at Lithuanian Institute of History, member of editorial board of Lithuanian Historical Studies. His research interests include issues of Russian nationality policy in the so-called Northwestern Region (Lithuania and Belorussia), as well as problems of historiography and places of memory in Lithuania. In conducting research, he has worked in archives and libraries in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, Warsaw, Poznan, Cracow, Vilnius, and Kaunas. He has published articles in Kritika, Ab Imperio, Lithuanian Historical Studies, Nordost-Archiv, Przeglad historyczny, Lituano-Slavica Posnaniensia, East European Jewish Affairs, etc. He also lectures at Klaipeda University. His teaching interest include Russian and Polish history.