Russia's Regional Identities: The Power of the Provinces (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series)

Contemporary Russia is often viewed as a centralised regime based in Moscow, with dependent provinces, made subservient by Putin’s policies limiting regional autonomy. This book, however, demonstrates that beyond this largely political view, by looking at Russia’s regions more in cultural and social terms, a quite different picture emerges, of a Russia rich in variety, with different regional identities, cultures, traditions and memories. The book explores how identities are formed and rethought in contemporary Russia, and outlines the nature of particular regional identities, from Siberia and the Urals to southern Russia, from the Russian heartland to the non-Russian republics. Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of figures and table 9 Preface 11 List of contributors 12 Introduction • Edith W. Clowes, Gisela Erbslöh, and Ani Kokobobo 16 Part I: Framing Russia’s regions 28 1 The six waves of Russian regionalism in European context, 1830–2000 • Susan Smith-Peter 30 2 Provinces, regions, circles, grids: how literature has shaped Russian geographical identity • Anne Lounsbery 59 Part II: Rethinking European Russian identities 86 3 Militarized memory: patriotic re-branding in post-Soviet Pskov • Victoria Donovan 88 4 Wayfinding, map-making and the holy springs of the Orel region • Jane Costlow 111 5 “How is Voronezh not Paris?” City branding in the Russian provinces • Lyudmila Parts 135 Part III: Russian identities in the Urals 156 6 The strange case of a regional cultural revolution: Sverdlovsk in the perestroika years • Mark Lipovetsky 158 7 Enchanted geographies: Aleksei Ivanov and the aesthetic management of Ural regional identity • Bradley Gorski 175 Part IV: Russian identities in Siberia 202 8 Siberian regional identity: self-perception, solidarity, or political claim? • Alla Anisimova and Olga Echevskaya 204 9 Tomsk regional identity and the legacy of the Gulag and Stalinist repression • Wilson T. Bell 221 Part V: Regional identities outside the Orthodox zone 242 10 National identity in post-Soviet Tatarstan: Orthodox missionaries in twenty-first century Tatar literature and film • John Romero 244 11 Women, memory, and resistance: dealing with the Soviet past in the Volga-Ural region • Yulia Gradskova 263 12 “Why does Russia need Hadji Murat’s head?” Hadji Murat, Dagestani identity, and Russia’s colonial exploits • Ani Kokobobo 279 Afterword: The power of the provinces • Catherine Evtuhov 293 Index 304 Framing Russia's Regions -- Rethinking European Russian Identities -- Russian Identities In The Urals -- Russian Identities In Siberia -- Regional Identities Outside The Orthodox Zone. Edited By Edith W. Clowes, Gisela Erbslöh And Ani Kokobobo. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.