A contested landscape: Monuments, public memory, and post-Soviet identity in Stavropol’, Russia

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Foxall

Much recent literature in cultural, political and social geography has considered the relationship between identity, memory, and the urban landscape. This paper interrogates such literature through exploring the complex materialisation of memorialisation in post-Soviet Russia. Using the example of the statue of General Alexei Ermolov in Stavropol’, an analysis of the cityscape reveals interethnic tensions over differing interpretations of the life and history of the person upon whom the statue is based. The existence of a rich literature on Ermolov and the Russian colonial experience in the North Caucasus helps to explain this. The symbolic cityscape of Stavropol’ plays an important role in interethnic relations in the multi-ethnic city; it is both an arena through which Russian identity is communicated with people and produced and reproduced, and an arena through which Russian citizens compete with each other for authority on historical narratives that operate at and between a number of scales. People’s readings of the cityscape can reveal much about power and space in contemporary Russia.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-407
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Ganin

The article analyzes the image of a historical figure of the White Army agent Nosovich in A.N. Tolstoy’s novella Bread. Former General A.L. Nosovich in Soviet Russia in the spring and summer of 1918 held the post of chief of staff of the North Caucasus Military District, but at the same time was an agent of the White Army and carried out clandestine subversive work. His image in the novel was introduced as an antihero, who was opposed to the shrewd commissar Joseph Stalin. The attitude to Nosovich in the novel is negative. He is shown as a pragmatic and cruel cynic, for whom the aim justifies any means. Tolstoy did not fail to emphasize the connection between Nosovich and the leader of the Red Army Lev D. Trotsky ostracized in the USSR. When creating the character of Nosovich A.N. Tolstoy relied on genuine documents, including the report of Nosovich to the White Army command about his underground work. Tolstoy’s novel contributed to the strengthening of the personality cult of Stalin and the mythology of the history of the Russian Civil War in line with party attitudes. The image of the White Army agent General Nosovich served the same task.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdel-Hafez Fawaz

Czarist Russia, the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia had a history of relations with their Muslims that varied between integration or coexistence and resistance or conflict. Russia had perpetually reaffirmed that its war in Chechnya in the 1990s was not against Muslims per se, but rather against terrorist groups that were attempting to disseminate their radical ideas in the Muslim Chechen Republic as well as throughout the other republics of the North Caucasus. From their standpoint Chechen fighters described the struggle as a new round of Russian efforts to bury Chechen demands for independence. Nevertheless, this historical experience of struggle also coincided with periods of peaceful coexistence witnessed in other regions such as the Volga and Ural River Basin. Thus, the question remains: what of the contemporary challenges faced by the Muslims of Russia in their relations with the state and their relations among themselves? This research seeks to answer the following questions: How is it that religious and sectarian tolerance came to predominate in Tatarstan but regressed in Chechnya and Dagestan? Why have relations between Sufis and Salafists been subject to increasing tensions in the North Caucasus? Do the tensions witnessed in Dagestan and Chechnya reflect a genuine sectarian struggle or is the matter more complicated than that? How has the Russian media impacted – positively or negatively – ethnic and sectarian relations within the state?


Author(s):  
Vasilina Klopikhina

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of forming the narrative on the history of the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks during the Civil war in the system of Istparts (Commissions on the history of the October revolution and the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)) of the North Caucasus. The experts had not only the task to write a “different” history of modern times, but also to form a historical narrative, which was to reflect the interpretation of events permitted by the authorities as the basis for a new model of historical memory. Creating the narrative in the operation system of Istparts determined the principles of selecting material and formulating key research issues. Methods and materials. The study is based on the methodology of “new local history”. The author analyzes local historical narratives as images of the past created by Istparts of the North Caucasus with the help of discursive analysis. Analysis. The paper analyzes the interpretation of the Cossacks’ history in the period of the socio-political crisis. It was found that in the 1920s the attention of researchers was focused on the search for class differentiation and struggle in the Cossacks’ history. As a result, local historical narratives present an original interpretation of the Cossack stratification, which demonstrates the authors’ desire to present the history of the Cossacks in accordance with the methodological instructions of the Commission on the history of the October Revolution and the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). At the same time, they reflect judgments that are not limited to the ideological paradigm. This is due to the fact that in local historical narratives it was not always possible to combine the peculiarities of the historical process in the region with the proposed scheme and settings of the center. In the 1930s, there was a change in substantial aspects of constructing a new model of historical memory and historical narrative as its basis associated with the assertion of Stalin’s sole power. Published works were publicly criticized and banned. The authors of such works were repressed in the era of the Great terror. At this time there appeared new ideological interpretations of the Cossacks’ history. Since 1936, the political campaign “for the Soviet Cossacks” had been reflecting in creating the narrative in the system of Istparts. Results. Scientific analysis of sources and coverage of complexity and ambiguity of the historical process in the region were replaced by simple but “correct” ideological statements. With the help of interpreting the past focusing research attention on class stratification and explanation of the Cossacks’ place in the history of the Civil war a new image of the Cossacks was formed in public consciousness.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 22-33
Author(s):  
B G Aliev

The article deals with historiographic analysis of the data on the Koisubulinsky Union, which the staff captain of the Russian army A.P. Shcherbachev, who participated in military operations in the North Caucasus, presented in his work “The Description of the Mekhtulinsky Khanate, Koisubulinky Possessions and the Avar Khanate”. Only two pages of “The Description” are devoted to the Koisubulinsky Union. Nevertheless, A.P.Shcherbachev considers more than ten problems, which contain many different facts of the socio-economic and political situation of the Koisubulinsky Union in late 1820s - early 1830s. The problems concerning the population, government, and occupations of Koisubula population are of the greatest interest. Although sometimes the facts given in the description of Koisubula are contradictory, they are interesting and their comparison with the information about Koisubula population presented by other authors can provide a more or less correct picture of the situation in late 1820s - early 1830s. This is information about the composition and size of the population of Koisubula, its military forces, the development of one or another branch of agriculture, etc. It should be noted that most facts of A.P. Shcherbachev’s descriptions find confirmation in the works of the authors who wrote before him and those who described Koisubula later. This concerns the form of management of Koisubula population, the development of winegrowing and winemaking, the sale of products to Armenians who came to Koisubula villages, a good state of gardening and agriculture, cultivation of various fruit and grain crops, and the state of cattle breeding. It is impossible not to mention the issue of the relationship of Koisubula residents with other peoples of Dagestan. A.P. Shcherbachev notes that Koisubula residents, when they needed bread and salt, bartered these products for their fruit in the Mekhtulin Khanate and in neighboring societies of other peoples of Dagestan and also considers the problem of raids of Koisubula residents on Georgia. On the whole, A.P. Shcherbachev’s data on Koisubula are of interest to Dagestan scientists who are engaged in history of Dagestan.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3/2) ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
N. F. BUGAI

In the reviewed narrative, a thorough analysis of the book offered to  the reader is made. For the first time in Russian historiography  and as an author, and at the same time, the compiler A.K.  Shaparova draws attention to the collective name of representatives  of various Circassian communities living in the North Caucasus -  Kabardians, Adygeyan ethnic communities, etc. Turning to such a  complex problem as forced resettlement of peoples on the territory  of Russia, the USSR, the author focuses on the Circassians. For a  long period she was engaged in the identification and generalization of materials and documents on the life of Circassian  communities in the study area in the chronological framework of the  1930s-1940s, specifically revealing many of the historical portraits of  Circassians. And it concerns exclusively the peoples of the North  Caucasus until 1917 and as an independent period after 1917, under  the conditions of Soviet power. Of particular interest is the  period until the early 1920s, which was associated with various kinds of transformations of society that had to be overcome by new  state autonomous entities. In fact, the independent period is also the  1940s, when the mechanism of interethnic relations in the state  was actively involved in practice as forced resettlement. It  universally acted as a kind of management of peoples and citizens. It  often resorted to the authorities as before 1917, and in the Soviet  period. The book is intended for a wide range of readers that  have the opportunity to significantly expand their knowledge on this  complex issue of the history of the peoples of Russia, the USSR,  about the complex process when such a method of managing many  aspects of interethnic relations as forced relocations was actively  involved. The book is read with great interest.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10 (108)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Timur Matiev

The article is devoted to the analysis of the peculiarities of the folding and evolution of the attitude of mountain democratic leaders to the policy and practice of the White Guard political and military leadership, as well as to the actions of the troops of the Volunteer Army in the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus. Particular attention is paid to such moments as the position of the white movement on the rights of nations to self-determination; the relationship of whites with the Union of the United Highlanders of the North Caucasus and Dagestan, and after that — with the Mountain Republic; their position in relation to the land and national question in the North Caucasus. The evolution of views and assessments of highland emigration is traced both on the role and place of the White movement in the recent history of the region, and on the past and future of historical ties between the North Caucasus and Russia. An attempt is made to analyze the changes in a number of accents in these assessments over time and under the influence of the development of the situation in the Caucasus, the USSR and the world as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12-1) ◽  
pp. 150-167
Author(s):  
Alexey Grishchenko

The article tells about the life path and research work of the Don agricultural historian P.G. Chernopitsky. The stages of scientific creativity are determined, the main scientific works in the context of the era are considered, its position on the debatable problems of the Don and North Caucasus history, in particular, on the essence and stages of decossackization is determined. The contribution of P. G. Chernopitsky to the study of the socio -economic history of the Soviet pre -collective farm village, collectivization, the famine of 1932-1933 in the North Caucasus, the history of the Don Cossacks in the Soviet period is demonstrated. Relations with colleagues at Rostov State University are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Valenina Mordvinceva ◽  
Sabine Reinhold

This chapter surveys the Iron Age in the region extending from the western Black Sea to the North Caucasus. As in many parts of Europe, this was the first period in which written sources named peoples, places, and historical events. The Black Sea saw Greek colonization from the seventh century BC and its northern shore later became the homeland of the important Bosporan kingdom. For a long time, researchers sought to identify tribes named by authors such as Herodotus by archaeological means, but this ethno-deterministic perspective has come under critique. Publication of important new data from across the region now permits us to draw a more coherent picture of successive cultures and of interactions between different parts of this vast area, shedding new light both on local histories and on the role ‘The East’ played in the history of Iron Age Europe.


Author(s):  
Д.К. АСРАТЯН

Письма патриарха Константинопольского Николая Мистика архиепископу Аланскому Петру – основной документальный источник по истории христианства на Северном Кавказе в X в. Изучение «Аланского досье» патриарха Николая сохраняет актуальность в связи с ростом интереса к духовной истории народов Кавказа, находившихся на стыке цивилизаций, религий и культур и сформировавших под их влиянием собственные самобытные национально-культурные традиции. Основным методом исследования стало сопоставление лексических и семантических средств, используемых апостолом Павлом и патриархом Николаем в двух различных, но соотносимых исторических и религиозных контекстах. Цель исследования – выявление жанровых и литературных связей писем патриарха с книгами Нового Завета. Научная новизна заключается в обосновании лингвистических, семантических и богословских параллелей между письмами Николая и посланиями апостола Павла, особенно пастырскими (1-2 Тим и Тит). Хотя сравниваемые тексты хронологически разделены почти тысячелетием, отмечается типологическое сходство исторических контекстов, в которых они были написаны (духовный наставник – ученик в епископском сане – молодая христианская община из «варваров», нуждающихся в просвещении). В интерпретации Николая миссия – это именно тяжкий труд, но совершаемый по прямому повелению Бога и ради награды свыше, и в этом смысле патриарх вполне укоренен в новозаветной традиции. Как показали результаты исследования, риторическая и богословская насыщенность писем Николая Мистика не снижает их историческую ценность, однако для корректной интерпретации необходимо учитывать их литературный характер. Letters of Nicholas Mysticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Peter, Archbishop of Alania, remain the chief documentary source for the history of Christianity in the North Caucasus in the 10th century. The study of the "Alan Dossier" of Patriarch Nicholas remains relevant due to the growing interest in the spiritual history of the peoples of the Caucasus, who lived at the crossroads of civilizations, religions and cultures and formed their own distinctive national and cultural traditions under such diverse influence. The main research method was the comparison of lexical and semantic means used by the Apostle Paul and Patriarch Nicholas in two different, but correlated historical and religious contexts. The purpose of the study is to identify genre and literary connections between the letters of the Patriarch and the books of the New Testament. Scientific novelty lies in the substantiation of the linguistic, semantic and theological parallels between the letters of Nicholas and the letters of the Apostle Paul, especially the pastoral ones (1-2 Tim and Titus). Although the compared texts are chronologically separated by almost a millennium, there is a typological similarity in the historical contexts in which they were written (a spiritual mentor - a bishop student - a newly formed Christian community of “barbarians” in need of education). In the interpretation of Nicholas, mission is a hard work, but it is done at the direct command of the God and is rewarded from above, and in this sense, the Patriarch is completely rooted in the New Testament tradition. As the results of the study have shown, the rhetorical and theological richness of the letters of Nikolas the Mysticus does not diminish their historical value, yet for correct interpretation it is necessary to take into account their literary character.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Egor Kotenov ◽  
Vladimir Dubyansky ◽  
Anna Volynkina ◽  
Alexander Zaitsev ◽  
Alexandr Kulichenko ◽  
...  

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