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Ethnic Nationalism in the Caucasus∗
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Extract
The study of ethnic nationalism in the Caucasus is problematic. This situation arises not so much from the extreme ethnic and cultural diversity of this region, but more from the same methodological obstacles and problems encountered when studying ethnic nationalism anywhere in the USSR. Before discussing ethnic nationalism in the Caucasus, then, a brief treatment of some of these problems is presented. It is hoped that this format will make this paper more valuable to those interested in the nationality situation in the Soviet Union in general.
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- Copyright © Association for the Study of Nationalities, 1982
References
1. Hegaard, Steven E., “Nationalism in Azerbaidzhan in the Era of Brezhnev,” in Nationalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe in the Era of Brezhnev and Kosygin, Simmonds, George W., ed. (Detroit: University of Detroit Press, 1977), pp. 188–199.Google Scholar
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4. This is not to imply that there are not ethnically oriented leaders around, but rather to stress the point that last names are poor indicators of orientation.Google Scholar
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12. Although an East Slavic State arose in the tenth century (Kievan Rus), one cannot really speak of the Russians as having formed a nation in the Western sense until the time of Ivan I at the earliest.Google Scholar
13. To be more accurate, it is the eastern North Caucasians (Daghestani, Chechen, and Ingush) who are described above. The western North Caucasians (Circassians, Abaza, Karachai, and Balkar) are somewhat less conservative. All however are anti-Russian. In the case of these western North Caucasians the vast majority of their populations opted to emigrate to Turkey in the mid to late nineteenth century rather than live under Russian rule.Google Scholar
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17. During the Caucasian Wars, Shamyl destroyed the nobility of the Caucasus as they were viewed as sell-outs to the Russians. During the Civil War, local Caucasian sympathizers with the communists were often killed by other Caucasians as well. This may explain the extremely low level of party membership among the peoples of the North Caucasus today.Google Scholar
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20. Since marriages in the northeastern Caucasus were traditionally clan-endogamous, this gave, and gives, these clans and orders more cohesion and further insulated them from outside influences.Google Scholar
21. For a discussion on the role of the Armenian church in Armenian ethnic nationalism see Dadrian, Vahakn N., op cit.Google Scholar
22. This was substantiated by a number of Daghestani Jews now residing in New York City. They also indicated that in Baku a number of Daghestani Jews have married Azerbaidzhan girls, and that this is acceptable to both communities. One of the men interviewed, in fact, had an Azerbaidzhan wife.Google Scholar
23. The Tat literary language is based on the Jewish dialect of Tat spoken in Daghestan. The Moslem Tats use the Azerbaidzhan literary language (and have all but been totally assimilated by them), and the Armeno-Gregorian Tats, Armenian and Russian.Google Scholar
24. Nagorno Karabakh and Nakhichevan are not the only “detached” territories in the USSR. Kaliningrad Oblast, which is located between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic coast is detached, yet administered by the RSFSR.Google Scholar
25. The Abkhaz and Abaza are one people speaking two closely related dialects of the same Apswa language. They do not consider each other as being different peoples, but rather as one, geographically divided people.Google Scholar
26. See Wimbush, Enders and Wixman, Ronald, op cit. Google Scholar