The course introduces the students to nationalism through the creation and (mis) use of history for state and nation-building, with a focus on the Central Eurasian Area (Central Asia/Caucasus) and cases related to the wider area (Middle East, Post-Soviet Area, Central/Eastern Europe). Apart from some overview of theoretical concepts, the case studies of various historical myths will be examined.
Poslední úprava: Horák Slavomír, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
Cíl předmětu - angličtina
Learning outcomes of the course:
Specific knowledge
The ability to employ research and develop analytical and argumentation skills are indispensable features for those willing to succeed in the course. In addition to learning basic facts on the topic of the course, this seminar-style course is intended to develop methodological and analytical skills among the students. Students are also encouraged to familiarize themselves with the basics of the history of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Transferable skills
Capacity for logical inference, distinguishing between history and historical myth. Students are encouraged to explore and apply the historical myths used by historiography, politicians, or historians in their own home countries/regions in their in-class presentations, discussions, and final interviews.
In the process of learning, students are expected to sharpen their abilities in conducting a discussion, delivering a presentation, and drafting an argumentative piece. To achieve these skills, students should behave cooperatively and mutually supportively.
Values
After completing the course, students will have a clear understanding of scholars' and analysts’ academic responsibility towards society.
Poslední úprava: Horák Slavomír, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
Podmínky zakončení předmětu - angličtina
Basic criteria of evaluation:
In-class participation (1 absence in the course is accepted unless agreed upon with the lecturer due to serious reasons). Missing more classes without serious reasons and agreement with the course leader may decrease the evaluation.
- Reading assignment check (10%). Each class will start with questions on the reading assignments (students are encouraged to ask what they eventually did not understand, argue with the texts or point out interesting facts and arguments)
- 1-2 in-class presentation(s) (depending on the number of students in the course) based on the additional readings and self-research, which develop the class topic and stimulate the discussion. Alternatively, the coursework was based on the presentation topics in the cases agreed upon by the class leader (40%).
- Final Interview (50%). The interview will be conducted orally (personally or online) and will be based on the topics discussed within the course and the reading assignment. The interview does not want to seek a deep knowledge of the history of Central Asia or the Caucasus, but it mostly focuses on the ability to think about the historiographical concepts and apply them to different contexts (Central Eurasian/Post-Soviet/European/student's homeland, etc.).
Achieving at least half the percentage from each part is essential to pass the course.
The final result will consist of a summation of the above-mentioned three parts according to a following criteria:
Each class will start with questions related to the mandatory readings. The questions will not aim to replicate the facts from the text; however, the answer should make clear that the student read the text and can pick up its main idea.
Presentations (40%)
Students are supposed to write a short (ca 1-2 page) handout outlining their presentations’ main points—in accordance with the outlined structure (see below)—and distribute it among their colleagues and the lecturer before their presentations start. (Note that handouts are not thought to be essays.)
· Failure to hand in a handout before one’s presentation may lead to either disqualification or a lower grade.
· Presentation topics are to be chosen by students until the 2nd week of the course at the latest. Otherwise, students will be given a free topic based on their agreement with the lecturer.
Presentations should last about 20 minutes, so the topic should be tailored accordingly. Presentations significantly above (more than 25 min) or below (less than 10 min) the time limit can be accepted only in exceptional cases.
Only presentations given in class can be accepted. Unless agreed upon with the class leader, no written texts can substitute for missed presentations.
Topics of already-taken presentations cannot be changed unless the lecturer has previously approved them (7 days in advance).
The dates of delivering presentations cannot be changed unless previously approved (in exceptional cases, such as illness). A student who cannot give it in class for any reason is encouraged to inform the lecturer as soon as possible.
Failure to deliver the presentation without a preliminary agreement automatically disqualifies the student from the course evaluation.
Students are strongly encouraged to start researching their respective topics of presentations well in advance!
Information on the structure and evaluation of presentations
Successful presentations should follow the rules below:
Be as concise and straightforward as possible;
In the introduction, explain the main theses (what the text/topic will unveil) and underline the connection of the text/topic with other reading assignments for the particular class (how does your presentation extend the main readings).
Do not replicate the text you read; its interpretations and your inputs are more important.
Explicate events rather than bring a purely chronological order of text/topic;
The handout should provide some key facts and findings of the text/topic; the presentation could extend the handout;
Draw up a clear conclusion emphasizing the most essential points of your presentation;
Presentation-givers are recommended to prepare 2-3 topic-related questions for class and be ready to answer them if necessary
Presentations will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Format (introduction/conclusion, methodology, interconnections of individual parts of the presentation, compliance with time requirements etc., see below);
Contents (quality of research and prepared questions);
Argumentation skills;
Final Interview (40%)
The interview consists of an open discussion between the lecturer and the student. The discussion can analyze one or more topics from the course program. The student should be able to argue their own view of the topic and make conclusions based on reading assignments, presentation handouts and/or in-class discussions. The interview does not focus on the detailed knowledge of the facts, however, key empirical knowledge is essential for argumentation and discussion
Poslední úprava: Horák Slavomír, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
Literatura - angličtina
John Coakley, „Mobilizing the Past: Nationalist Images of History,“ Nationalism and Ethnic Policies, 10(4), (2005), Pp. 531-560 (Taylor & Francis Database)
Daniel Woolf, "Of Nations, Nationalism, and National Identity: Reflections on the Historiographic Organization of the Past", in: Q. Edward Wang & Franz Fillafer (eds.), The Many Faces of Clio Cross-Cultural Approaches to Historiography, New York: Berghahn Books (2006), pp. 71-103.
Stephan Berger, Constructing the Nations through History. In: Stephan Berger and Christoph Conrad (eds.): The Past as History. National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Modern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan (2015), pp. 1-27.
Eric Hobsbawm, Inventing Traditions. In: Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. The Invention of Traditions, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 1-15.
Galiev, Anuar, Mythologization of History and Invention of Traditions in Kazakhstan. Oriente Moderno, 96(1), 2016, pp. 46-63.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities. Verso, 2006, p. 67-82.
Victor A. Shnirelman, „Politics of Ethnogenesis in the USSR and after,“ Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 30(1), (2005), pp: 93–119,
Gregor R. Suny, Constructing Primordialism: Old Histories for New Nations. Journal of Modern History, Vol 73, Issue 4 (December 2001), pp. 862-896.
Victor A. Shnirelman, “Fostered primordialism: the identity and ancestry of the North Caucasian Turks in the Soviet and post-Soviet milieu.” In Tadayuki Hayashi (ed.) The Construction and Deconstruction of National Histories in Slavic Eurasia. Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University (2003), pp. 53–86
Smith, Graham – Law, Vivien – Wilson, Andrew – Bohr, Annette – Allworth Edward, “Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands,” Cambridge University Press, 2011, chapter 3
Yilmaz, Harun (2015). A Family Quarrel: Azerbaijani Historians against Soviet Iranologists, Iranian Studies, 48:5, 769-783.
Marlene Laruelle, “The Concept of Ethnogenesis in Central Asia. Political Context and Institutional Mediators (1940-50),“ Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 9 (1), (Winter 2008),pp. 169-188.
Sergei Abashin, “Ethnogenesis and Historiography: Historical Narratives for Central Asia in the 1940s and 1950s”. In: Roland Cvetkovski and Alexis Hofmeister (eds.) An empire of others: Creating ethnographic knowledge in imperial Russia and the USSR. Central European University Press, 2014., 2014, pp. 145-68.
Marlene Laruelle, „The Return of the Aryan Myth: Tajikistan in Search of a Secularized Ideology,“ Nationalities Papers, 35(1), 2007, pp. 51-70 (Taylor & Francis Database).
Batiashvili, Natia (2012). The “Myth” of the Self: The Georgian National Narratives and Quest for Georgianess. In: Memory and Political Change (Aleida Assmann, Shortt, Linda, eds.), Palgrave, Basingtone, pp. 186-200.
Martha B. Olcott, The Basmachi or Freemen's Revolt in Turkestan 1918-1924, Soviet Studies, Vol. 33, I ssue 3 (July 1981), pp. 352-369
Slavomir Horák, „The Battle of Göktepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse,“ Central Asian Survey. October 14, 2014.
Aurélie Campana, „Collective Memory and Violence: The Use of Myths in the Chechen Separatist Ideology, 1991–1994,“ Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 29(1), (2009), pp. 43-56. (Taylor & Francis Database)
Erica Marat, “Imagined Past, Uncertain Future The Creation of National Ideologies in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,” Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 55, No. 1 (January-February 2008), p. 12-24.
Bouma, A.: Turkmenistan: Epics in Place of Historiography. Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. Vol. 59 (2011), Issue 4, p. 559-585.
March, A.: The Use and Abuse of History: ‘National Ideology’ as Transcendental Object in Islam Karimov's ‘Ideology of National Independence’. Central Asian Survey, Vol. 21, Issue 4, 2002, p. 371-384 (Taylor&Francis Database)
Smith, Graham – Law, Vivien – Wilson, Andrew – Bohr, Annette – Allworth Edward, “Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands,” Cambridge University Press, 2011, chapters 8-9
Ayşegül Aydingün, Creating, recreating and redefining ethnic identity: Ahiska/Meskhetian Turks in Soviet and post-Soviet contexts, Central Asian Survey, Vol. 21 (2002), Issue 2, pp. 185-197.
Emil Souleimanov, Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp. 51-70; 101-104.
Takayuki Yoshimura, „Some Arguments on the Nagorno-Karabakh History“. Central Eurasian Studies Occassional Papers, Vol. 18 (2007), pp. 52-60.
Ceylen Tokluoglu, "The Political Discourse of the Azerbaijani Elite on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict (1991–2009)." Europe-Asia Studies Vol. 63 (2011), Issue 7, pp. 1223-1252.
Poslední úprava: Horák Slavomír, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
Sylabus - angličtina
Course Content
№
Topic
(Program)
Reading Materials
1
Introduction
(October 3)
The program of the course, online and personal participation, presentations
2
National Past, Historiography, and Historians (October 10)
Key Topics:
Nationalism and Historiography.
- Varieties of Nationalism
- Creation of National Myths
Who are history makers?
- Role of historians and politicians in the history and myth-making process.
Readings:
John Coakley, "Mobilizing the Past: Nationalist Images of History,“ Nationalism and Ethnic Policies, 10(4), (2005), Pp. 531-560 (Taylor & Francis Database)
Marlene Laruelle, "National narrative, ethnology, and academia in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 1 (2010), pp. 102-110.
Daniel Woolf, "Of Nations, Nationalism, and National Identity: Reflections on the Historiographic Organization of the Past", in: Q. Edward Wang & Franz Fillafer (eds.), The Many Faces of Clio Cross-Cultural Approaches to Historiography, New York: Berghahn Books (2006), pp. 71-103.
The alternative to Woolf:
Stephan Berger, Constructing the Nations through History. In: Stephan Berger and Christoph Conrad (eds.): The Past as History. National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Modern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan (2015), pp. 1-27.
Background reading on nationalism:
Eric Hobsbawm, Inventing Traditions. In: Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. The Invention of Traditions, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 1-15.
Galiev, Anuar, Mythologization of History and Invention of Traditions in Kazakhstan. Oriente Moderno, 96(1), 2016, pp. 46-63.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities. Verso, 2006, p. 67-82.
3
Primordialism, Identity, Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis in the post-Soviet area
(October 17)
Key topics:
Primordialism constructions. Ethnicity and Ethnogenesis in post-Soviet Area
Readings:
Victor A. Shnirelman, „Politics of Ethnogenesis in the USSR and after,“ Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 30(1), (2005), pp: 93–119,
Gregor R. Suny, Constructing Primordialism: Old Histories for New Nations. Journal of Modern History, Vol 73, Issue 4 (December 2001), pp. 862-896.
4
Construction of National Narratives in the Soviet times
(October 24)
Key topics:
Soviet national constructivism. Marrism (theory of language turned to be ethnogenesis). Marxist Historiography
Readings:
Marlene Laruelle, “The Concept of Ethnogenesis in Central Asia. Political Context and Institutional Mediators (1940-50),“ Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 9 (1), (Winter 2008), pp. 169-188.
Sergei Abashin, “Ethnogenesis and Historiography: Historical Narratives for Central Asia in the 1940s and 1950s”. In: Roland Cvetkovski and Alexis Hofmeister (eds.) An empire of others: Creating ethnographic knowledge in imperial Russia and the USSR. Central European University Press, 2014., 2014, pp. 145-68.
Presentation: Marrism as a basic of the Soviet historiography
5
Colonialism, post-colonialism and decolonialism in Central Asian and Caucasus historiography
(October 31)
Key topics:
Central Asia and Caucasus. Colonies as usual? The application of colonial, post-colonial and de-colonial discourse in the former Russian/Soviet area
Khalid, Adeeb. "Introduction: Locating the (post-) colonial in Soviet history." Central Asian Survey, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2007, p. 465-473.
6
The Myth of Creation of the Nations
(November 7)
Key topics:
Ethnic and Civic nations concepts. Primordialism in Soviet and post-Soviet times in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Readings:
Victor A. Shnirelman, “Fostered primordialism: the identity and ancestry of the North Caucasian Turks in the Soviet and post-Soviet milieu.” In Tadayuki Hayashi (ed.) The Construction and Deconstruction of National Histories in Slavic Eurasia. Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University (2003), pp. 53–86
Smith, Graham – Law, Vivien – Wilson, Andrew – Bohr, Annette – Allworth Edward, “Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands,” Cambridge University Press, 2011, chapter 3.
7
The Myth of the Golden Age
(November 14)
Key topics: Why should the nation feel its greatness? National myth of the Golden Age. The connection of the Golden Age with contemporary times
Readings:
Marlene Laruelle, „The Return of the Aryan Myth: Tajikistan in Search of a Secularized Ideology,“ Nationalities Papers, 35(1), 2007, pp. 51-70 (Taylor & Francis Database).
Batiashvili, Natia (2012). The “Myth” of the Self: The Georgian National Narratives and Quest for Georgianess. In: Memory and Political Change (Aleida Assmann, Shortt, Linda, eds.), Palgrave, Basingtone, pp. 186-200
Presentation:
Manas epos as a state- and nation-building element in Kyrgyzstan (Sára)
8
The Myth of Resistance: The Basmachi Movement and Anti-Colonial Struggle
(November 21)
Key topics:
The fight for independence, anti-colonial struggle in the past and today
Readings (at least 2 texts):
Martha B. Olcott, “The Basmachi or Freemen's Revolt in Turkestan 1918-1924“, Soviet Studies, Vol. 33, I ssue 3 (July 1981), pp. 352-369
Slavomir Horák, “The Battle of Göktepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse,“Central Asian Survey. October 14, 2014.
Aminat Chokobaeva, “Born for Misery and Woe. National Memory and the 1916 Great Revolt in Kyrgyzstan.” In: Maria Omelicheva, Nationalisms and Identity Construction in Central Asia: Dimensions, Dynamics, and Directions. Rowman and Littlefield, 2014, pp. 37-51.
9
The Historiography of the Colonial Empire
(November 28)
Key topic:
Looking from the colonizer view?
How Russia looked and looks at its former territories in the Caucasus and Central Asia?
Yilmaz, Harun. “A Family Quarrel: Azerbaijani Historians against Soviet Iranologists”, Iranian Studies, Vol. 48, No. 5, 2015, p. 769-783.
Oybek, Makhmudov, “The ‘Virtual Reality’ of colonial Turkestan: how Russian officers viewed and represented the participation of the local population in the 1916 revolt”. In: Aminat Chokobaeva, Cloé Drieu and Alexander Morrison, The Central Asian Revolt of 1916. A Collapsing Empire in the Age of War and Revolution. Manchester University Press, 2016, p. 95-125 (chapter 4).
Presentation topics suggestions:
Russian Tsarist and British Colonial discourses
Turkish discourse of Central Asia and Azerbaijan/Caucasus
10
National Historiography, Élite Ideology, and Nation-Building in the Northern Caucasus
(December 5)
Guest seminar
Key topics:
Current regimes place in the history and history in the current regimes
Readings:
Aurélie Campana, „Collective Memory and Violence: The Use of Myths in the Chechen Separatist Ideology, 1991–1994,“ Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 29(1), (2009), pp. 43-56. (Taylor & Francis Database).
Why language matters within nation- and state-building?
Readings (at least two chapters):
Smith, Graham – Law, Vivien – Wilson, Andrew – Bohr, Annette – Allworth Edward, “Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands,” Cambridge University Press, 2011, chapter 8 (Georgia).
Birgin N. Schlyter, The Status of Uzbek as “National language”. In: Birgin N. Schlyter (ed.), Historiography and Nation-Building among Turkic Republic. Swedish Research Institute, Istanbul, 2014, p. 129-144.
Victoria Clement, “Learning to Become Turkmen. Literacy, Language and Power, 1914-2014. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018, p. 136-159 (chapter 6).
12
The Myth of de facto states and nations: The case of Karabakh
(December 19)
Key Topics:
Non- recognized states and their right to create their own histories
Readings:
Emil Souleimanov, Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp. 51-70; 101-104.
Ceylen Tokluoglu, "The Political Discourse of the Azerbaijani Elite on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict (1991–2009)." Europe-Asia Studies Vol. 63 (2011), Issue 7, pp. 1223-1252.
Gamaghelyan, Philip - Sergey Rumyantsev. “Armenia and Azerbaijan: The Nagorny Karabakh Conflict and the Reinterpretation of Narratives in History Textbooks.” In (Oksana Karpenko and Jana Javakhishvili, eds.) Myths and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Instrumentalisation of Historical Narratives (London: International Alert, 2013), pp. 166-188.
Poslední úprava: Horák Slavomír, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (20.09.2023)
