From Social Classes to Ethnicities: Ethnocentric Views in History Textbooks in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

The dramatic transformations experienced by Russia in the 1990s were accompanied by the radical changes in views of the past. Whereas social class struggle was emphasized by the Soviet Marxist historiography, ethnicity became the focal point of the post-Soviet one. This replacement was especially sensitive for historical education at school where an image of the class enemy was forced out by that of ethnic enemy. It is in this context that an ideology of national-liberation movement was replaced by an idea of the clash of cultural values as a universal explanation of wars and ethnic conflicts. This new paradigm is analyzed with reference to images of the North Caucasian highlanders in the post-Soviet history textbooks, especially with respect to their participation in the Caucasian war in the early 19th century and their deportation in 1943–1944. I will also discuss how the new North Ossetian and Ingush history textbooks represent ethnic neighbors – the Ingush by the Ossetians and the Ossetians by the Ingush. I will argue that cultural fundamentalism and ethnocentrism, which make up the basis of the post-Soviet historiography, cultivate soil for cultural racism – the most powerful type of racism in the contemporary world.