[Recenzija] : Etkind, Alexander. Internal colonization : Russia’s imperial experience

Abstract

As Ella Shohat (1992) argues, it is hard to find a territory on Earth which has not been colonized or colonizing. However, the concepts of colonialism and colonization are still used within rigid chronological and geographical settings. Colonialism is understood basically as an expansion of Western European power during the 16th to 20th centuries into overseas colonies. Colonial and postcolonial studies remain largely western academic enterprise, through which these countries rethink their relations with their former colonies, omitting or marginalizing the role of Russia. The arguments of water and pigment are typically brought to support these claims. The water argument, broadly perceived, states that the real colonies were far away, separated from the home country by large bodies of water. The pigment argument claims that there were obvious racial differences between colonized and colonizer. For long time, these arguments have been shaping the understanding of classical western overseas colonialism, and disqualifying Russia from the category of colonial powers.[...]