Interrogating the Notion of Russia's Asian "Other" in Soviet and Post-Soviet Literary and Visual Narratives: Orientalism and Indigeneity

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel is dedicated to postcolonial subjectivities and focuses on the relationship between Russia and its Asian "Other(s)” in literature and visual arts. By tracing how the notion of orda shapes the Russian graphic narrative, we first analyze the role of racialization and “Asiatic” motives in post-Soviet comics. As we turn away from the former colonial center, we then discuss Central and North Asian authors and their responses to the Russian and European colonial tropes. Using examples from Soviet and post-Soviet cultural production, we explore the role of (self-)orientalism and indigeneity employed by these authors.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 21st Century

Chair

• Alisa Ganieva, Institute for Advanced Study (Germany)

Papers

• The Dialogue of the Two Shamans: Aleksei Kulakovskii and Platon Oiunskii on World Politics and Sakha Society - Anna Gomboeva, New York University

• Self-Orientalization and Subjectivity in Postcolonial Uzbek Literature - Azhar Dyussekenova, U of Michigan

Discussants

• Tamar Koplatadze, U of Oxford (UK)

• Alexey Shvyrkov, Columbia U