Внутренняя колонизация России и формирование нации: в контексте земельных взаимоотношений русских с калмыками в конце XIX – начале XX в.

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the relations between Russian peasants and Kalmyks at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. “Life of the Kalmyks of the Stavropol province before the publication of the law on March 15, 1892” by the Orthodox missionary and ethnographer Ya.P. Dubrova [5] is the basis of the work. The analysis was carried out on the method­ological basis of decolonial theory (V. Mignolo, E. Dussel, A. Quijano, M. Tlostanova), as well as the theory of internal colonization of Russia (V. Morozov, A. Etkind). The first paragraph provides an overview of the academic research on the topic. Core provisions and approaches are identified. The problem of insufficient consideration of the aspect of ethnic differences in the theory of internal colonization of Russia is highlighted. The second paragraph examines the national policy of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. The mechanisms for constructing colonial hierarchies between the higher and lower classes, as well as ethnic Russians and foreigners are shown. The theory of na­tionalism by the British sociologist B. Anderson provided the way to classify social phe­nomena as signs of official and civil-republican nationalism. Fragments of Dubrova’s book are presented and analyzed, demonstrating the problems of relations between Rus­sian peasants and Kalmyks in the Russian Empire. The third paragraph presents an analy­sis of Soviet-era nationality policies. Within the framework of the concept of Soviet modernity by M. David-Fox, the preservation of the subaltern position of Russians is shown. At the same time, the status of ethnic Russians as a “savior people” is demon­strated – the most important plot of the Soviet colonial matrix. Finally, conclusions are presented.