Alexander Etkind 
Internal Colonization [EPUB ebook] 
Russia’s Imperial Experience

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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