The Individual and the Empire: The Fate of Subjects in the 18th-Century Russian Empire (The Problem of Source Analysis)

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Our panel is dedicated to the so-called human dimension in history. We ask the question: how can we hear the voice of an individual, often belonging to the "silent majority"? Research experience suggests that those subjects who attracted the interest of the state have the greatest chance of being heard. The sources presented in the reports include denunciations, investigative cases, and consular correspondence. These materials are united by the authorities’ keen attention to individuals deemed dangerous or useful. This research perspective involves combining a microanalysis of sources with the study of macro-processes and mechanisms of imperial governance.

Sub Unit

• Early Slavic Studies

Chair

• Andrey Ivanov, U of Wisconsin-Platteville

Papers

• The 'Infidel' Against the Empire: Based on Materials from the Secret Chancellery and Expedition - Elena Marasinova, U of Münster (Germany)

• An Aegean Merchant in a Caspian Empire: Ioannis Varvakis and Russian Diplomacy in Iran in the 1780s - Kevin Gledhill, Sacred Heart U

• Tradition! L’Affaire of Markel Radyshevskii (1726-1731) and the Debate on the National Church in the post-Petrine Russia - Olga Tsapina, The Huntington Library

Discussant

• Gregory Lynn Bruess, U of Northern Iowa