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Alexander Etkind
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Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience Illustrated Edition

by Alexander Etkind (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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This book gives a radically new reading of Russia&;s cultural history. Alexander Etkind traces how the Russian Empire conquered foreign territories and domesticated its own heartlands, thereby colonizing many peoples, Russians included. This vision of colonization as simultaneously internal and external, colonizing one&;s own people as well as others, is crucial for scholars of empire, colonialism and globalization.

Starting with the fur trade, which shaped its enormous territory, and ending with Russia&;s collapse in 1917, Etkind explores serfdom, the peasant commune, and other institutions of internal colonization. His account brings out the formative role of foreign colonies in Russia, the self-colonizing discourse of Russian classical historiography, and the revolutionary leaders&; illusory hopes for an alliance with the exotic, pacifist sectarians. Transcending the boundaries between history and literature, Etkind examines striking writings about Russia&;s imperial experience, from Defoe to Tolstoy and from Gogol to Conrad.

This path-breaking book blends together historical, theoretical and literary analysis in a highly original way. It will be essential reading for students of Russian history and literature and for anyone interested in the literary and cultural aspects of colonization and its aftermath.
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780745651309
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0745651309
  3. Edition
    Illustrated
  4. Publisher
    Polity
  5. Publication date
    October 28, 2011
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.98 x 0.68 x 9.02 inches
  8. Print length
    300 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Etkind expands studies of Russia's entangled colonial experience to areas few have reached before, taking us from Leskov's Ladoga to DuBois's Mississipi, from Conrad's Congo to Macaulay's Tweed, from Gandhi's Ganges to Curzon's line. As an example of how to 'conquer foreign territories and domesticate its own heartlands', it remains for us to hope that this book might colonize many people. Russians included.
Cambridge Anthropology

in this clever, wide-ranging book, Alexander Etkind sets out to argue that postcolonial critique is entirely apposite, not just to the Russian empire, but to Russia itself. The insights from postcolonial critique allow us, Etkind argues, to see many familiar issues in a new light and to untangle numerous issues of Russian history and culture. Showing the relevance of Russia to postcolonial theory also provides a way of provincializing western Europe within postcolonial studies.
Slavic Review

The extraordinary breadth of this study will frustrate some historians... Most readers,however, will be inspired and delighted by Etkind's innovative return to major episodes abd figures in history and culture and will be informed by his perspective on the importance of the empire in Russia's pastThe American Historical Review

About the Author

Alexander Etkind is Professor of Russian Literature and Cultural History at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow at King's College. His most recent book is Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience (2011).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0745651305
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Polity; Illustrated edition (October 28, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780745651309
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0745651309
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.02 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.68 x 9.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

About the author

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Alexander Etkind

Alexander Etkind

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Alexander Etkind was born in Leningrad and moved to Cambridge, UK in 2005, and then to Florence, Italy in 2013 - he is now is a professor of history at the European University Institute, Florence. Alexander has PhD from Bekhterev Institute, Leningrad, and another from the University of Helsinki. He was a visiting professor at New York University and Georgetown University, and a resident fellow at Harvard, Princeton, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C., Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, and University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He also taught at the European University at St. Petersburg, which has been all but closed by the Russian authorities in 2017. His research interests are internal colonization in the Russian Empire, comparative studies of cultural memory, history of Russian-American and Russian-European relations, and the dynamics of the protest movement. In 2010-2013, he directed the European research project, "Memory at War: Cultural Dynamics in Poland, Russia, and Ukraine"; he is now working on a new project, which title is too early to disclose. His most recent book is "Roads not Taken: An Intellectual biography of William C. Bullitt".

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
25 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gloria F.
5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2022
Verified Purchase
Written for readers with considerable knowledge of Russian history and literature, Etkind uses postcolonial theory to shed a new and surprisingly illuminating light on both. The dismissive reviews which question the author's scholarship and intelligibility may have been posted by trolls. I found their complaints to be without merit. Nonetheless, this is not a book for readers looking for an introduction to Russian studies.
3 people found this helpful
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Elaine K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Critical Information to Know
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2022
Unfortunately many Russians are giving this book negative reviews, because they are ashamed of Russia's colonial past and don't want Westerners to know about it. It's embarrassing that Westerners should know that Russia was an even more aggressive colonial power than Great Britain or France, especially since the Soviet Union was supposedly a "proletarian paradise."

But the fact remains, Russia was a colonial empire centuries before it was even a State. This is one reason why Russia is so authoritarian; to maintain an empire masquerading as a country, wherein exist a hodgepodge of colonized ethnic and religious minorities, the Russian government since the time of the Czars needed to apply an iron fist to keep said minorities from leaving the empire and seeking Statehood.

Over time, the Czarist and noble families of that part of Russia west of the Ural mountains came to conquer, colonise and extract the resources out of their neighbours. One by one, Russia conquered its neighbours: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Karelia, Chuvash, Avars, Kabardins, Lezgians, Tuvans, Komi, Cherkess and etc. There are tens more colonised ethnic groups which I don't have space to note herein. So many lands, so many people colonized into "greater Russia." In fact, there are over 80 languages spoken in Russia today, and over 80 non-Slavic ethnic minorities. As this book, "Internal Colonization" shows, these ethnic and religious minorities never voted to be part of Russia's empire; they were colonized into it.

Russia's next colonial target is Ukraine. By reading this book, you will understand why Russia's war against Ukraine is par for the course, why they cannot allow Ukraine to exist as a democratic, free and developed country (because then Russians will want freedom, democracy and a developed country of their own), and why if the world doesn't intervene to finally put a stop to Russia's colonial ambitions, we're all in danger. The same history written about in this book is repeating today.
2 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth
2.0 out of 5 stars A Major Disappointment
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2012
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Names and generalizations are spun around and around for many pages, but the core of the book which should have been on internal colonization of the Russian territory is mostly missing. Even when the fur trade is discussed, there are no maps showing major fur trading posts. Neither are there graphs with data showing or even adequate discussion in a clear manner of which furs when and in chronological order, how many, how many involved, etc. Tucked in on page 75 is the statement that "hunting and trapping are intrinsically violent." Does the author think the reader does not know that? It is also stated on page 76 that "Swedes and Poles...Tatars and Jews" were involved in the trade and merchandizing of the furs. Does the author realize that Poland was controlled by the Russians at this time and Swedes lived along the border areas with Russia? Why mention Tatars and Jews as being merchants? Ethnicity only proves that people needed the warmth and the income from the furs. On the topic of internal migration of the great Russian landmasses very little is said and no facts are given for exactly which areas were settled first and when. Once again maps, graphs and concrete facts are necessary.
Etkind, in his giving forth of generalizations, will mix up time periods without references to political realities of the time. 1883, 1886 and then 1912--but 1912 policies reflect a different political situation than 1883. Etkind also takes as fact the "Potemkin Villages"--facades he says, not actual villages. The villages were actual villages built in record time and the facade-theory was put forth by Potemkin's enemies.
Etkind's theory of government permeates the book: all governments are violent and his economic theories can be questioned. He does not seem to understand that Russia's agricultural production is limited by geographical considerations. Internal colonization, but virtually no mention of soil types and climate,etc. I could go on and on.....It is time for a great book on Russian internal migration and colonization. This is not that book.
21 people found this helpful
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Benjamin Trovato
3.0 out of 5 stars Post-Colonial theory
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2012
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This is an attempt to apply post-colonial theory to Russian history. If you prefer ideas to facts you may like this book. If not,not.
7 people found this helpful
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Anton Tomsinov
1.0 out of 5 stars Not an academice work.
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2014
Unresearched, full of groundless generalizations. Lack of proper sources is concealed here by vague ideas and citations from fiction, that prove nothing. Attempt to make comparisons with modern world smell like bad journalism rather than justified analysis.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Joe Zhang
4.0 out of 5 stars A good book but slightly dry
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2021
Verified Purchase
I know it is hard to write history books in everyday language.
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Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on November 6, 2014
Verified Purchase
Very interesting insight on Russian history. Etkind's concept makes so much sense
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DrZ
2.0 out of 5 stars biased & eclectic history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
The book is an eclectic collection of themes with the overarching thesis that Russia's state over time is irreparably problematic. Which is of course a thinly disguised exercise in Russophobia - undermining Russia's sovereignty by way of stealthily distorted reading of its history. Readers should bear this in mind.
And, the chapters on Russian literature are simply opinionated rubbish.
2 people found this helpful
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