Soviet Russia

The First Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) left an important mark on the history of the country. One hundred years have passed since the occupation of Georgia by Russian troops. However, during the Soviet era, Soviet propaganda did not portray the incident as such; on the contrary, on February 25, 1921, the day the capital was captured, the country's population celebrated “Sovietization.” During the three years of independence, a lot has been done by the national government for the development of the country, as a result of selfless work in terms of establishing democracy. Thus, the chapter deals with the annexation and conquest of the independent republic of Georgia by Soviet Russia. Especially, it gives the analysis of the events of February-March 1921 which has its reflection even nowadays. Moreover, it clearly illustrates the Russian-Georgian War of 2008, which practically divided the country into three parts and damaged Georgia's territorial integrity.

Information behaviour of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia

Introduction. In this study, we examined the information behaviour of people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia. The research took place before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Methods. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants. Analysis. The content of interviews was analysed for a priori and emergent themes and iteratively categorized. In addition, we used k-means clustering to identify the types of information users. Results. People living with HIV used government AIDS and CDC centres, primary care physicians, television, websites and their personal networks as their information sources. Some participants reported that receiving COVID-19 information increased their stress levels. Threats to their privacy and the fear of disclosing their HIV-positive status were identified as some of the barriers to seeking and sharing information they encountered. Three types of information users were identified: Netizens, Traditionalists and Lurkers. Conclusions. The findings of this study can be used to help design effective health communication campaigns and information systems for people living with HIV in general and to provide COVID-19 information in particular.

Human Devils: Affects and Spectres of Alterity in Eerie Cities of Georgia

This chapter focuses on traditional folk devils in the form of goblins and spectres in cities of the Republic of Georgia. The goblins and spectres are traditional figures of local folklore that have not disappeared with modernity but rather re-emerged through new anxieties and moral conditions. Moreover, while devilry is often perceived as humans taking on non-human (or devilish) characteristics, the chapter presents a case where the opposite is actually at stake, namely where non-human entities such as goblins take on human characteristics. In describing this, the authors add a fascination aspect to how folk devilry and panic or anxiety may intertwine.

Unity in diversity—food plants and fungi of Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Caucasus

Background The Republic of Georgia is part of the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot, and human agricultural plant use dates back at least 6000 years. Over the last years, lots of ethnobotanical research on the area has been published. In this paper, we analyze the use of food plants in the 80% of Georgia not occupied by Russian forces. We hypothesized that (1) given the long tradition of plant use, and the isolation under Soviet rule, plant use both based on home gardens and wild harvesting would be more pronounced in Georgia than in the wider region, (2) food plant use knowledge would be widely and equally spread in most of Georgia, (3) there would still be incidence of knowledge loss despite wide plant use, especially in climatically favored agricultural regions in Western and Eastern Georgia. Methods From 2013 to 2019, we interviewed over 380 participants in all regions of Georgia not occupied by Russian forces and recorded over 19,800 mentions of food plants. All interviews were carried out in the participants’ homes and gardens by native speakers of Georgian and its dialects (Imeretian, Rachian, Lechkhumian, Tush, Khevsurian, Psavian, Kakhetian), other Kartvelian languages (Megrelian, Svan) and minority languages (Ossetian, Ude, Azeri, Armenian, Greek). Results The regional division was based primarily on historic provinces of Georgia, which often coincides with the current administrative borders. The total number of taxa, mostly identified to species, including their varieties, was 527. Taxonomically, the difference between two food plant groups—garden versus wild—was strongly pronounced even at family level. The richness of plant families was 65 versus 97 families in garden versus wild plants, respectively, and the difference was highly significant. Other diversity indices also unequivocally pointed to considerably more diverse family composition of wild collected versus garden plants as the differences between all the tested diversity indices appeared to be highly significant. The wide use of leaves for herb pies and lactofermented is of particular interest. Some of the ingredients are toxic in larger quantities, and the participants pointed out that careful preparation was needed. The authors explicitly decided to not give any recipes, given that many of the species are widespread, and compound composition—and with it possible toxic effects—might vary across the distribution range, so that a preparation method that sufficiently reduces toxicity in the Caucasus might not necessary be applicable in other areas. Conclusions Relationships among the regions in the case of wild food plants show a different and clearer pattern. Adjacent regions cluster together (Kvemo Zemo Racha, and Zemo Imereti; Samegrelo, Guria, Adjara, Lechkhumi and Kvemo and Zemo Svaneti; Meskheti, Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli; Mtianeti, Kakheti, Khevsureti, Tusheti. Like in the case of the garden food plants, species diversity of wild food plants mentioned varied strongly. Climate severity and traditions of the use of wild food plants might play role in this variation. Overall food plant knowledge is widely spread all-across Georgia, and broadly maintained.

The Problem of Legal Equality in the Georgian Press of 1918-1921

The subject of research in 1918-1921 is the parameters of the functioning of the media during the period of the Independent republic of Georgia and processes that contributed to the creation of a pluralistic media climate in the country and the establishment of liberal-democratic values. One of the manisfestations of this is the issue of human rights and social equality, which we will discuss in a specific direction – in terms of gender.Based on the plurastic media envionment, based on the contextual analysis of relevant sources, archival and newspaper publications, we gave selected and studied the main print media of the leqding, ideologically different political parties of 1918-1921: Socia;-Democratic Worker’s Party newapaper “Unity” (1917-1921). The Federalist Party “People’s Affairs” (1917-1921) and the National Democrats – “Georgia” (1915-1921). We analyzed how adequately, with what visions and journalistic means these media outlets covered the feminist narrative.We focused on publications on the problems of women’s emancipation, as well as women authors, the number of which, althouigh small, they are quite professionally able to properly focus on gender issues and in-depth understanding of women’s social or political issues (N.Nakashidze, M.Toroshelidze, F.Josh and others).The resuklts of the research showed that the party press of 1918-1921, on the one hand, clearly reflected the positive steps taken by the government of the Independent Republic of Georgia at the legislative level to protect human rights and, in particular, the feminist direction. On the other hand, the government’s lack of interest in the problems of woman’s social or legal equality appeared in a negative light.

First Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921), a Result of the Changes in the International System

The independence of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia was announced on May 26, 1918 by the Georgian Social-Democrats, who were preaching against nationalism and the creation of a Georgian state years prior, therefore, it is evident at first sight, that major international events of the 1910s played a crucial role in the establishing of an independent Georgia. This research paper aims to examine the foreign factors that made the Georgian political elite change their minds and resulted in the creation of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia. First, the paper will analyze the internal political situation in Georgia and the attitudes of the Georgian political elite, then the policies and attitudes of three major powers – Russia, Turkey and Germany, towards Georgia will be examined. The author has presented the reflections of famous Georgian researches on the topic and some archive sources as well.

Unity in Diversity - Food Plants and Fungi of Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Caucasus

Background: The Republic of Georgia is part of the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot, and human agricultural plant use dates bat at least 6000 years. Over the last years lots of ethnobotanical research on the area has been published. In this paper we analyze the use of food plants in the 80% of Georgia not occupied by Russian forces. We hypothesized that, (1) given the long tradition of plant use, and the isolation under Soviet rule, plant use both based on home gardens and wild harvesting would be more pronounced in Georgia than in the wider region, (2) food plant use knowledge would be widely and equally spread in most of Georgia, (3) there would still be incidence of knowledge loss despite wide plant use, especially in climatically favored agricultural regions in Western and Eastern Georgia.Methods: From 2013 to 2019 we interviewed over 380 participants in all regions of Georgia not occupied by Russian forces and recorded over 19800 mentions of food plants. All interviews were carried out in the participants’ homes and gardens by native speakers of Georgian and its dialects (Imeretian, Rachian, Lechkhumian, Tush, Khevsurian, Psavian, Kakhetian), other Kartvelian languages (Megrelian, Svan) and minority languages (Ossetian, Ude, Azeri, Armenian, Greek). Results: The regional division was based primarily on historic provinces of Georgia, which often coincides with the current administrative borders. The total number of taxa, mostly identified to species, was 474. Taxonomically, the difference between two food plant groups - garden versus wild - was strongly pronounced even at family level. The richness of plant families was 66 versus 97 families in garden versus wild plants, respectively, and the difference was highly significant. Other diversity indices also unequivocally pointed to considerably more diverse family composition of wild versus garden plants as the differences between all the tested diversity indices appeared to be highly significant.Conclusions: Relationships among the regions in the case of wild food plants show a different and clearer pattern. In particular, adjacent regions cluster together (Kvemo Zemo Racha, and Zemo Imereti; Samegrelo, Guria, Adjara, Lechkhumi and Kvemo and Zemo Svaneti; Meskheti, Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli; Mtianeti, Kakheti, Khevsureti, Tusheti. Like in the case of the garden food plants, species diversity of wild food plants mentioned varied strongly. Climate severity and traditions of the use of wild food plants might play role in this variation. Overall food plant knowledge is widely spread all across Georgia, and broadly maintained

A Reflection on the April 9 Tragedy and the Civil War of 1991–1993 on Monumental and Symbolic Sites of Memory in Post-Soviet Georgia

This article examines the reflection of the April 9 Tragedy and the Civil War of 1991–1993 in the sites of memory chosen by the presidents of the Republic of Georgia. In Georgian cultural memory, the April 9 Tragedy was changed into an idea of heroic struggle. It also became a part of a memory narrative that legitimized Georgian independence and symbolized the April 9 Tragedy as the beginning of a new future for post-Soviet Georgia. The controversy over the perception of the 1991–1993 Georgian Civil War was equated with the fratricidal struggle in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and regions of the country, which were linked with a memory narrative that was aimed at reconciling opposing social groups.