Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:28:21.948Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Historiography and the politics of land, identity, and belonging in the twentieth-century North Caucasus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Ian T. Lanzillotti
Ian T. Lanzillotti*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Tennessee Wesleyan College, 204 E College Street, Athens, TN 37303, USA
*
∗Corresponding author. Email: ilanzillotti@twcnet.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Intercommunal, socio-economic, and political relations in the North Caucasus have historically revolved around access to this mountain region's prized pasturage and scarce farmland. Given the centrality of the land question in the North Caucasus, it is unsurprising that historiography on land relations in the region has been highly politicized. This article examines how indigenous writing on the history of land relations in the central Caucasus – a region inhabited by today's Kabardians, Balkars, Ossetians, Ingushes, and Karachais, and dominated by the princely confederation of Kabarda before the tsarist conquest – has been subject to wide revision in response to changes in local and national political dynamics and the emergence of ethnicized identity politics. In the late-imperial and early Soviet periods, Karachai, Balkar, and Ossetian elites-cum-historians, writing for an audience of imperial policy-makers, crafted histories to influence state policies toward land reform. By the 1930s, historians from the region tailored their histories of land relations to the prerogatives of Soviet nationality policies. The ideas contained in these histories impacted the construction of national identities in the Soviet period. Post-Soviet Karachai and Balkar intellectuals, seeking to establish new post-colonial national histories for their peoples, have reinterpreted the history of land relations in order to depict their ancestors as independent of Kabarda's land-based dominance. This revisionism is part of the struggle of the Karachais and Balkars against their historiographical erasure, which was a product of the exclusion of the Karachais and Balkars from the family of Soviet nations during their deportation and exile to Central Asia from 1944 to 1957 and their subsequent political and cultural marginalization.

Keywords

Kabardino-BalkarianationalismpoliticsOssetiaKarachaiNorth Caucasus
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , July 2016 , pp. 503 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abaev, Misost. 1911. “Balkariia.” Musul'manin 14–17: 586–627.Google Scholar
Abaeva, Fatima. 1995. Umar Aliev: prosvetitel'skaia, pedagogicheskaia i obshchestvennaia deiatel'-nost'. Maikop: Adgyeia.Google Scholar
Aliev, Umar. 1927a. Karachai. Rostov-on-Don: Krainatsizdat.Google Scholar
Aliev, Umar. 1927b. Karakhalk: Ocherk istoricheskogo razvitiia gortsev Severnogo Kavkaza i chuzhezemnogo vliianiia na nikh islama, tsarizma i pr. Rostov na Donu: Sevkavkniga-Krainatsizdat.Google Scholar
Aloev, Timur. 2008. “Retsenziia na avtoreferat doktorskoi dissertatsii Z.B. Kipkeevoi ‘Narody Severo-Zapadnogo i Tsentral'nogo Kavkaza: migratsii i rasselenie v period ikh vkhozhdeniia v sostav Rossiiskoi Imperii (60-e gody XVIII–60-e gody XIX v.)'.” Istoricheskii Vestnik Instituta Gumanitarnnykh Issledovanii KBR (7): 252–254.Google Scholar
Aloev, Timur. 2010. “Fenomen M. Budaia I ‘istoricheskie’ improvizatsii B. Kuchmezova.” In Vymysel i istina, edited by I. M. Borei, R. K. Dzagulov, and Kolesnikov, M. F., 242–267. Piatigorsk: RIA-KMV.Google Scholar
Aloev, Timur. 2011. “Avtoreferat doktorskoi dissertatsii Z. B. Kipkeevoi: ‘Narody Severo-Zapadnogo i Tsentral'nogo Kavkaza: migratsii i rasselenie v period ikh vkhozhdeniia v sostav Rossiiskoi imperii (60-e gody XVIII-60-e gody XIX v.).” In Etnopoliticheskie i religioznye problemy Kabardino-Balkarii: predposylki, kharakter i perspektivy resheniia, edited by Kazharov, A. G., 202–214. Nalchik: koordinatsionnyi sovet adygskikh obshchestvennykh ob'edinenii KBR.Google Scholar
Begeulov, Rustam. 2005. Tsentral'nyi Kavkaz v XVII-pervoi chetverti XIX veka: ocherki etnopoliticheskoi istorii. Karachaevsk: Karachaevo-Cherkesskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet.Google Scholar
Berger, Stefan, and Lorenz, Chris, eds. 2008. The Contested Nation: Ethnicity, Class, Religion and Gender in National Histories. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bgazhnokov, Barasbi, ed. 2008. Kanzhal'skaia bitva i politicheskaia istoriia Kabardy pervoi poloviny XVIII veka: issledovaniia i materialy. Nalchik: Institut gumanitarnykh issledovanii Pravitel'stva KBR i KBNTs RAN.Google Scholar
Borei, I. M., Dzagulov, R. K., and Kolesnikov, M. F., eds. 2010. Vymysel i istina. Piatigorsk: RIA-KMV.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. 2004. Ethnicity Without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Budai, Mukhammad. 2005. “Mif o velikoi Cherkesii.” http://realalania.narod.ru/alanialand/B1/2b/0bud.htm.Google Scholar
Bushuev, Semion. 1959. Istoriia Severo-Osetinskoi ASSR. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.Google Scholar
Butkov, Piotr. 1869. Materialy dlia novoi istorii Kavkaza s 1722 po 1803 god. Sankt-Peterburg: Tip. Imp. Akademii nauk.Google Scholar
Dumanov, Khasan, ed. 2005. Zemel'nye otnosheniia v Kabarde i Balkarii: Istoriia i sovremennost'. Nalchik: Institut gumanitarnykh issledovanii Pravitel'stva KBR i KBNTs RAN.Google Scholar
Gardanov, Valerii. 1967. “Ekonomicheskoe razvitie Kabardy i Balkarii v XVIII v.” In Istoriia Kabardino-Balkarskoi ASSR Tom I, edited by Kalmykov, T.Kh., 132–147. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Gerasimov, Il'ia. 2004. Novaia imperskaia istoriia postsovetskogo prostranstva. Kazan: Tsentr issledovanii natsionalizma i imperii.Google Scholar
Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii. (GARF, State Archive of the Russian Federation), Moscow.Google Scholar
Güldenstädt, Johann Anton. [1791] 2002. Puteshestvie po kavkazu v 1770–1773 gg. Translated by T. K. Shafranovskaia. Sankt Peterburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric. 1983. “Introduction.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Hobsbawm, E. J. and Ranger, Terrence, 1–14. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kazenin, Konstantin. 2009. Tikhie konflikty na Severnom Kavkaze: Adygeia, Kabardino-Balkariia, Karachaevo-Cherkesiia. Moscow: Regnum.Google Scholar
Kazharov, Artur. 2010. “U.D. Aliev i nekotorye problemy natsional'no-gosudarstvennogo razvitiia narodov Severnogo Kavakaza v nachale 1920 gg.” Istoricheskii Vestnik Kabardino-Balkarskoi Respublikanskoi Instituta Gumanitarnykh Issledovanii 9: 76–90.Google Scholar
Kemenchiev, S. R., and Golemba, M. L. 2008. Mif o kanzhal'skoi bitve. Piatigorsk: S. Kermenchiev and M. Golemba.Google Scholar
Khan-Girei. [1836] 2008. Zapiski o Cherkesii. Nalchik: El'-Fa.Google Scholar
Khatuev, Rashid. 1999. “Karachai i Balkariia do vtoroi poloviny XIX veka: vlast’ i obshchestvo.” In Karachaevtsy i Balkartsy: Etnografiia, Istoriia, Arkheologiia, edited by Arutiunov, Sergei, 5–176. Moscow: Institut etnologii i antropologii RAN.Google Scholar
Khatuev, Rashid. 2009. “Vneshnie sviazi.” In Karachai s drevneishikh vremen do 1917 goda: istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki, edited by Khatuev, Rashid, 72–80. Cherkessk: Alanskii Ermitazh.Google Scholar
Khotko, Samir. 2008. Tsivilizatsiia Kabardy. Sankt-Peterburg: Izd-vo S.-Peterburgskogo universiteta.Google Scholar
Khubiev-Karachaily, Islam. 1922. “Kabardino-Karachaevskii vopros.” Zhizn’ natsional'nostei 4 (133): 1–2.Google Scholar
Kipkeeva, Zarema. 2006. Narody Severo-Zapadnogo i Tsentral'nogo Kavkaza: migratsii i rasselenie. 60-e gody XVIII v. 60-e gody XIX. Moscow: Izd-vo Ippolitova.Google Scholar
Kipkeeva, Zarema. 2008. Severnyi Kavkaz v Rossiiskoi Imperii: narody, migratsii, territorii. Stavropol': Izdatel'stvo Stavropol'skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta.Google Scholar
Klaproth, Julius von. 1814. Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia, Performed in the Years 1806 and 1808, by Command of the Russian Government. London: H. Colburn.Google Scholar
Kodzaev, Aleksandr. 1903. Drevnie Osetiny i Osetiia. Vladikavkaz: Tipografiia R. Segal’ i S-v'ia.Google Scholar
Kokiev, Georgii. 1933. “Metody kolonial'noi politiki tsarskoi Rossii na severnom Kavkaze v XVIII veke.” Izvestiia iugo-osetinskogo nauchno-issledovatel'skogo institutata kraevedeniia (1): 179–225.Google Scholar
Kokiev, Georgii. 1938. “Kabardino-Osetinskie otnosheniia v XVIII v.” Istoricheskie zapiski Instituta istorii Akademii Nauk SSSR 2: 153–208.Google Scholar
Kusheva, Ekaternina. 1963. Narody Severnogo Kavkaza i ikh sviazi s Rossiei: vtoraia polovina XVI-30-e gody XVII veka. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk.Google Scholar
Kuzio, Taras. 2002. “History, Memory and Nation-Building in the Post-Soviet Colonial Space.” Nationalities Papers 30 (2): 241–264.Google Scholar
Kuzmin'ov, Piotr. 2004. “Etnodemograficheskaia karta narodov Tereka: razmeshchenie, chislennost’ i migratsiia naseleniia v kontse XVIII — pervoi polovine XIX veka.” In Landshaft, etnograficheskie i istoricheskie protsessy na Severnom Kavkaze v XIX—nachale XX veka, edited by F. A. Mugutdinova, compiled by P. A. Kuz'minov, 641–759. Nalchik: El'-Fa.Google Scholar
Laipanov, K., and Batchaev, M. 1986. Umar Aliev. Cherkessk: Karachaevo-Cherkesskoe otdelenie Stavropol'skogo knizhnogo izdatel'stva.Google Scholar
Lanzillotti, Ian. 2012. “From Princely Fiefdoms to Soviet Nations: Interethnic Border Conflicts in the North Caucasus and the Village of Lesken.” Central Asian Survey 31 (2): 209–227.Google Scholar
Nekrich, Alexander. 1978. The Punished Peoples: The Deportation and Fate of Soviet Minorities at the End of the Second World War. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Nevskaia, Valentina. 1967. Ocherki istorii Karachaevo-Cherkesii. Stavropol': Stavropol'skoe Knizhnoe Izdatel'stvo.Google Scholar
Nogmov, Shora. [1861] 1994. Istoriia adygeiskogo naroda, sostavlennaia po predaniiam kabardintsev. Nalchik: Elbrus.Google Scholar
Oshroev, Ruben. 2011. “Tvorets istorii Z. B. Kipkeeva O knige ‘Narody Severo-Zapadnogo i Tsentral'nogo Kavkaza: migratsii i rasselenie (60-e gody XVIII- 60–3 gody XIX v.'” In Etnopoliticheskie i religioznye problemy Kabardino-Balkarii: predposylki, kharakter i perspektivy resheniia, edited by Kazharo, A. G., 214–223. Nalchik: koordinatsionnyi sovet adygskikh obshchestvennykh ob“edinenii KBR.Google Scholar
Pallas, Peter Simon. 1802. Travels Through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire in the Years 1793 and 1794. London: Longman and Rees.Google Scholar
Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial'no-Politicheskoi Istorii. (RGASPI, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History), Moscow.Google Scholar
Saburov, Aslan. 2011. Etnoistoriia: Mezhetnicheskaia i sotsial'naia napriazhennost’ KBR (Obzor politiko-sotsial'nykh protsessov). Nalchik: A. Saburov.Google Scholar
Shnirel'man, Viktor. 2006. Byt’ alanami: intellektualy i politika na Severnom Kavkaze v XX veke. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.Google Scholar
Smith, Graham. 1998. Nation-Building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tebuev, R. S., and Khatuev, R. T. 2002. Ocherki istorii karachaevo-balktartsev. Stavropol': Stavropol’ servisshkola.Google Scholar
Temyrkhanty, Soslan. [1913] 1994. Iry Istori. Vladikavkaz: Alanyston.Google Scholar
Tillett, Lowell. 1969. The Great Friendship: Soviet Historians on the Non-Russian Nationalities. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Unezhev, Kashif. 2005. Istoriia Kabardy i Balkarii. Nalchik: El'-Fa.Google Scholar
Zhemukhov, Sufian. 2012. “The Birth of Modern Circassian Nationalism.” Nationalities Papers 40 (4): 503–524.Google Scholar
Zhemukhov, Sufian, and King, Charles. 2013. “Dancing the Nation in the North Caucasus.” Slavic Review 72 (2): 287–305.Google Scholar