Altstadt The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920-40

Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-1-317-24543-8
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

Reihe: Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe

The early Soviet Union’s "nationalities policy" involved the formation of many national republics, within which "nation building" and "modernization" were undertaken for the benefit of "backward" peoples. This book, in considering how such policies were implemented in Azerbaijan, argues that the Soviet policies were in fact a form of imperialism, with "nation building" and "modernization" imposed firmly along Soviet lines. The book demonstrates that in Azerbaijan, and more widely among western Turkic peoples, the Volga and Crimean Tatars, there were before the onset of Soviet rule long standing, well developed, forward looking, secular, national movements, which were not at all "backward" and which had different visions to the Soviets. The book shows how in the period 1920 to 1940 the two different visions competed with each other, with eventually the pre-Soviet vision of Azerbaijani culture losing out, and the Soviet version prevailing. The book examines the details of this Sovietization of culture: in language policy and the change of the alphabet, in education, higher education and in literature. The book concludes by exploring how pre-Soviet Azerbaijani culture survived to a degree underground, and how it was partially rehabilitated after the death of Stalin and more fully in the late Soviet period.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Altstadt, Audrey

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

1. The Azerbaijani Enlightenment: Constructing and Disseminating A Turkic Identity

2. Soviet Cultural Policies, 1920-1940: Modernization or Imperialism?

3. Dotting the I's: Alphabet Change and Language Reform in Soviet Azerbaijan

4. Schools: Educating Citizens or "Human Material"?

5. Scholarship Meets Voch-Tech: The Continuous Purge

6. The End of Laughter: Proletarian Literature Is Born

Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Audrey L Altstadt is a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US.