Introduction

Much of Russian history was shaped by the “imperial experience”. Alexander Etkind suggests the process was a simultaneous of internal colonization as well as the more obvious external one. The characteristic phenomena of colonialism, such as missionary work, exotic journeys, and ethnographic scholarship, were directed inwards toward the interior provinces of the Russian empire – villages and timeless peasant lifestyles, as well as outwards and overseas. To an extent Russia is still an ‘undiscovered country’ from the perspective of its urban elites, and we see this starkly in the current war – with the burden of fighting and dying falling on minorities and the impoverished. We also see a radical lack of empathy for other people within the empire experiencing violence, whether that be Belgorod or Buryatia. It even leads us to ask, can Russia even be compared to the modern nation states of Europe? #alexanderetkind #colonisation #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet ---------- SPEAKER: Alexander Etkind is a historian and cultural scientist. Alexander Etkind was born in 1955 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is a professor at CEU Vienna. He was formerly a professor of history and the Chair of Russia-Europe relations at the European University Institute in Florence. He is fellow of the European Institute for International Law and International Relations. Etkind's research focuses on European and Russian intellectual history, memory studies, natural resources and the history of political economy, empire and colonies in Europe, and Russian politics, novels, and film in the 21st century. His has written many compelling books, including Russia Against Modernity, Rethinking the Gulag and Nature's Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources. Links will be added to the video description. ----------   LINKS: Alexander Etkind on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sasha_Etkind Alexander Etkind on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Etkind Alexander Etkind at the Moscow Times: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/author/alexander-etkind-2 ---------- BOOKS: Russia Against Modernity (2023) Rethinking the Gulag: Identities, Sources, Legacies (2022) Nature's Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources (2021) Eros Of the Impossible: The History of Psychoanalysis In Russia (2019) Development and Dystopia: Studies in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Eastern Europe (2018) War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (2017) Cultural Forms of Protest in Russia (2017) Warped Mourning: Stories of the Undead in the Land of the Unburied (2013) Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience (2011) Remembering Katyn (2013) ----------