Building Images of the “Other”

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the history of the development of ethnography in Russia. It includes brief discussions of official policies on ethnic minorities, individual and institutional forces that influenced them, and the channels through which ethnographies were disseminated (publications and exhibitions). It also discusses various features that shaped Russian ethnography’s particular pattern (exile ethnography, the contribution of Russia’s inorodtsy to orientology, the focus on byt) and points out some of its differences from European writings. Some Russian ethnographies on inorodtsy culture and music challenged the popular, predominantly derogatory representation of Russia’s newly acquired citizens, while others reinforced these biases. Case studies of ethnographies about Russian nomads (Aleksei Levshin), Siberian peoples (Alexander Middendorff), and Muslims living in the Volga-Kama region (Alexander Rittikh) and Russian Turkestan (August Eichhorn) reveal that the tone and approach to Russia’s inorodtsy varied according to the academic affiliation, bureaucratic position, or individual interests that stood behind the research.