"Rossianin"
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
darancourlaferriere at UCDAVIS.EDU
Tue Sep 3 20:48:55 UTC 2002
Dear Katja Hirvasaho,
These are good observations. I would add that, in the Russian case,
"globalization" has been going on for a long time. Consider the use of
French and German among "Russians" in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among
the peasantry this was not so, of course. But the admixture of Finnish,
Tatar, Ukrainian, Turk, Polish, etc. "blood" was significant even among the
peasantry, and there was tremendous biological variation over the "Russian"
space. That is what clinal, as opposed to racial distribution is.
Best regards,
Daniel RL
At 11:33 AM 9/2/2002 +0300, you wrote:
>Dear list members,
>
>The old ethnic-based concept of nationality is changing everywhere in
>Europe these days, including Russia, into something not yet known. What it
>will be, only time will tell.
>
>Here in Finland, for example, the definition for 'Finn' has been largely
>linguistic and cultural, not really ethnic (in the German sense as
>discussed by some members here): anyone who speaks Finnish without an
>accent (= was brought up in Finland) or Finland's Swedish as their mother
>tongue has been 'Finnish', including Gypsies and Lapps, except that these
>have had an additional ethnic identity (as also Finland's Jews, Tatars,
>and Russians. But its meaning has not been greater from some
>regional/dialectal differences between other Finns).
>
>But now, when there are many 'foreigners' (Somalis, Vietnamese, Thais,
>Chileans, and recent immigrants from Russia and Estonia) who speak
>Finnish, and a supranational business sphere that uses English as the
>official language (which means that English is used in internal memos and
>meetings even in the firms' Finnish offices because of an international
>work force), which has made English de facto third official language of
>the country, the whole concept of 'Finnishness' is crumbling. In
>addition, the EU tries to promote a 'common European' identity, which the
>younger, well-traveled and multilingual part of the population seems to be
>eagerly embracing...
>
>Such tendencies of a more 'global' identity are well-evident in St.
>Petersburg and Moscow, and in some border areas, for example, Kaliningrad.
>But, I would argue, these processes of 'globalization' are not creating
>the same 'global' identity everywhere in the world, and the end result
>will probably be some kind of a newly formulated 'national' identity.
>
>Katja Hirvasaho
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Daniel Rancour-Laferriere" <darancourlaferriere at UCDAVIS.EDU>
>To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
>Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 3:04 AM
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "Rossianin"
>
>
> > 1 Sept 02
> >
> > Dear colleagues,
> > I have to agree with Serguei Glebov here. The "russkii"/"rossiiskii"
> > distinction is a chronic problem. The first refers to ethnos, the second
> > to citizenship. But only ideally. As Valerii Tishkov observes, members of
> > an ethnos often want to be regarded as a nationality and to have a nation
> > (in the civic sense) for themselves. This is nationalism. Russian
> > nationalists have managed to get a civic nation for
> > themselves. Carpatho-Rusyns and Kurds have not. When ethnic Russians
> > (russkie) want their imperiia or their federatsiia to be referred to as
> > "russkaia" rather than "rossiiskaia," they are being nationalistic, e.g.:
> > "Rossiia dlia russkikh." Hostility to non-russkie is implied in Russian
> > nationalism, and is expressed in the form of racism (not so common) or in
> > the form of assimilationism (much more common - e.g., Jews being baptized
> > into the Orthodox Church in the late imperial period, Tatars having their
> > names russified, etc.). In assimilationism members of the ethnic group
> > which seeks assimilation are sometimes complicitous in Russian nationalism.
> >
> > Another issue: "blood." Not only is there no such thing as a "rossiianin"
> > "by blood," there is also no such thing as a "russkii" "by blood." To
> > assert that one is an ethnic Russian "by blood" is to assume that there is
> > a Russian race. There is no Russian race because there are no races in
> > humans generally. Racism is both morally and biologically unfounded.
> >
> > To put it another way. "Blood" or "race" is a metaphor for genetic
> > distinction. But human genes have clinal rather than racial distribution
> > (unlike some non-human organisms). So, there is no such thing as a gene
> > (or genes) for Russianness.
> >
> > I explore these and related issues in RUSSIAN NATIONALISM FROM AN
> > INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE: IMAGINING RUSSIA (Edwin Mellen Press, 2000).
> >
> > Cheers to all,
> >
> > Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
> >
> >
> > At 11:44 AM 8/31/2002 +0400, you wrote:
> > >It is hardly a sign of "westernization" since definition of citizenship by
> > >"blood" or ethnicity is absolutely not exclusively "eastern"
> invention. Such
> > >definition of citizenship is still the law of the Bundesrepublik. Does
> > >"German" refer to ethnic Germans or all citizens of the Bundesrepublik? I
> > >wonder what would an average German say should a Turkish gastarbeiter be
> > >called "German"? And the French example of civic nationhood is also
> filled
> > >with ethnic connotations of Frenchness. In general, the Hans Kohn
> > >distinction between good civic western nationalism and bad ethnic eastern
> > >nationalism has long gone from nationalism studies as naive and schematic.
> > >
> > >On the other hand, "Russian" as "russkii"
> > > was used periodically to designate state and citizenship (e.g.
> manifestos -
> > >"vsem russkim liudiam, bez razlichia ikh ver, iazykov i natsional'nostei)
> > >
> > >The problem of russkii-rossiiskii is the problem of the growing national
> > >consciousness of Russians within the imperial state that often presented
> > >itself as a Russian national state. Correspondingly, the name of the
> > >empire - Rossiiskaia - differed from the name of the ethnos - russkie. The
> > >Soviet period did not make things any clearer, because USSR was a
> > >supranational formation that was often taken to be a Russian national
> state.
> > >
> > >Serguei Glebov
> > >
> > >
> > > actually a step towards westernization. It is all because
> > > > "nationality" in Russian and in most Western languages means different
> > > > things. In France (as elsewhere in Europe or in the US) anyone with a
> > > > French passport is French, regardless of his/her ethnic origins.
> > > > Consequently the French president addresses the nation by saying
> "Cheres
> > > > Francaises et chers Francais" or something like that (I am deliberately
> > >not
> > > > using US as an example because everyone knows what an ethinc
> hodge-podge
> > > > the US is, and there is no such thing as an "ethnic American").
> > > >
> > > > So instead of saying "dorogie grazhdane Rossijskoj federacii" which is
> > >also
> > > > an innovation (there were only "zakony Rossijskoj federacii", I
> believe;
> > >in
> > > > other words, "Rossijskaja federacija" had a very limited use prior
> to the
> > > > break up) "Rossijane" was reintroduced as a unifying name. Thus the
> split
> > > > between the blood and the citizenship has occurred and the new term
> > > > reflected a new state.
> > > >
> > > > "Russian" means strictly the blood, and Nickolas II was only 1/256
> Russian
> > > > by that measure and resented by many because of that. Meantime one
> of his
> > > > daughters refused to marry a Romanian saying that she is Russian and
> > > > doesn't want to live abroad (and she was already 1/512 Russian by
> blood).
> > > >
> > > > For many Russians, someone named Isabelle Ivanov (or Ivanoff) not
> speaking
> > > > a word of Russian and not knowing much about the culture, being the
> third
> > > > or fourth generation born in France, would be Russian, but for
> French she
> > > > is French.
> > > >
> > > > I believe this reflects the Eurasian element in Russian culture,
> since it
> > > > is a more Eastern approach to one's identity. I was told that in Arab
> > >world
> > > > answering the question "Where are you from?" one actually speaks of the
> > > > father, not oneself. For example, a man born and raised in Jordan
> told me
> > > > that a proper answer for him is "I am from Jerusalem." because his
> father
> > > > is from Jerusalem.
> > > >
> > > > Alina
> > > >
> > > > _____________
> > > > Alina Israeli
> > > > LFS, American University
> > > > 4400 Mass. Ave. NW
> > > > Washington, DC 20016
> > > >
> > > > phone: (202) 885-2387
> > > > fax: (202) 885-1076
> > > >
> > > >
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> >
> > Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
> > Professor of Russian
> > Director, Russian Program
> > University of California
> > One Shields Ave.
> > Davis, CA 95616 USA
> > 530-752-4999
> > darancourlaferriere at ucdavis.edu
> >
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Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Professor of Russian
Director, Russian Program
University of California
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616 USA
530-752-4999
darancourlaferriere at ucdavis.edu
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