Upload
eliyana-r
View
214
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
This article was downloaded by: [University of California Santa Cruz]On: 17 November 2014, At: 21:10Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Nationalities Papers: The Journal ofNationalism and EthnicityPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cnap20
Jews and the imperial state:identification politics in Tsarist RussiaEliyana R. Adler aa University of MarylandPublished online: 02 Aug 2012.
To cite this article: Eliyana R. Adler (2012) Jews and the imperial state: identification politics inTsarist Russia, Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 40:5, 813-815, DOI:10.1080/00905992.2012.689134
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2012.689134
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
conditions and actors (p. 18). Like most contributors, Sasse points out that the leverage of
the EU greatly disappears after accession, when the role of the domestic factors increases
even more. After distinguishing between “hard” and “soft” instruments of conditionality,
Sasse remarks (p. 22) that “only two minority groups were consistently stressed in the
Regular [Monitoring] Reports: the Russophone minority in Estonia and Latvia, and the
Roma minorities of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
This ‘hierarchy’ of minority issues reflects the EU’s interest in good relations with its
most powerful neighbor and energy supplier Russia and its own soft security concerns
linked to migration. Furthermore, a non-territorialized, internally diverse and margina-
lized minority like the Roma is politically less of a group to focus on, compared with ter-
ritorialized and politically mobilized minorities, such as the Hungarians in Slovakia and
Romania and the Turks in Bulgaria.” The Roma, she adds, undoubtedly “face severe pro-
blems of systematic discrimination and social exclusion, segregation and poverty, but this
is not a feature specific to the candidate countries”.
Indeed. The enforced expulsion of the Roma from countries like France and Italy in
2010 plainly indicates that the accusation of applying “double standards” is not unjustified,
as it proves that domestic actors bent on building electoral capital by exploiting anxiety
and prejudice are not a trait characteristic of Central and Eastern Europe alone.
Michael Shafir
Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
# 2012, Michael Shafir
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2012.688266
Jews and the imperial state: identification politics in Tsarist Russia, by Eugene
M. Avrutin, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2010, 232 pp., US$39.95 (hard-
cover). ISBN 978-0-8014-4862-1
Part of a generation of scholars that began its dissertation research as archival collections
in the former Soviet Union were opening up, Eugene Avrutin took a different tack from
many of his peers. Whereas other students of imperial Russian history arrived at the
archives with set and easily defined topics, and then searched out appropriate sources,
Avrutin seems to have allowed the sources to define the topic. The “identification politics”
of the title is the result. By paying close attention to the laws passed by the state and the
responses of the Jews, Avrutin has carved out a new area of scholarship. Rather than pro-
viding new information on a single aspect of the Russian Jewish experience, he suggests an
entirely new approach to understanding the mutually reinforcing interactions between
Jews and the state.
Certainly there are precedents for examining imperial efforts to control the Jewish
population through legislation. Indeed, the earliest historians of Russian Jewry, some of
them trained as lawyers, devoted much of their efforts to codifying the dizzying array
of laws directed at the Jews. Two major factors differentiate this book. Firstly Avrutin con-
textualizes the administrative development of the Russian Empire with that of other Euro-
pean states and shows where the efforts to change the Jewish community fit into this
broader project. Secondly, he portrays how the Jews reacted to the changes, highlighting
the interrelationship. In his own words, “. . . Jews and the Imperial State provides a case
Nationalities Papers 813
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
alif
orni
a Sa
nta
Cru
z] a
t 21:
10 1
7 N
ovem
ber
2014
study of how one imperial population, the Jews, shaped the world in which they lived by
negotiating with what were often perceived as contradictory and highly restrictive laws
and institutions” (3–4).
The first chapter, “Making Jews Legible,” focuses on the earliest attempts of the
Russian government to regularize its newly incorporated Jewish population. Avrutin
manages to show how a variety of laws ranging from restrictions on traditional attire to
the abolition of local religious self-governance were all part of a greater effort to transition
from a system that interacted with populations according to their collective identity toward
one that interacted with individuals. As Avrutin points out, the Jews had no tradition of
keeping records of births, deaths, and other life cycle events. Nor did they see any intrinsic
value in such an endeavor. This would frustrate the state’s project and later lead to major
problems and manifold petitions.
As military conscription, education and mobility increasingly brought the state and the
Jews into closer contact, exact records became a necessity. Chapter two, “The Power of
Documentation,” looks at how developments in the latter half of the nineteenth century
necessitated exact records. This period also brought out the inherent flaws in the
system, including the difficulty of correctly capturing Jewish names in official documents
and the confusion brought on by frequent relocation. Indeed, Avrutin shows that the wide-
spread view of Jews as draft-dodgers had more to do with faulty record keeping than with
resistance to conscription.
In “Movement and Residence,” Avrutin moves into the turn-of-the-century period, and
the introduction and re-introduction of residency requirements on Jews. After several
decades of allowing many categories of Jews to move outside of the saturated Pale of
Jewish Settlement, the government began to reverse its policies. Avrutin shows how
Jews took advantages of loopholes in the tremendously complex laws, and how they
responded to the resultant expulsions. The use of petitions, legal decisions, contemporary
manuals, and documentation from various panels and committees tasked with clarifying
the laws graphically illustrates the confounding nature of the issue, as well as the pain
it caused to individuals and families.
Inasmuch as the tsarist government sought to regularize the Jews, at times they defied
easy categorization. The fourth chapter examines two main categories of “invisible Jews.”
Avrutin documents how both converted Jews and those entirely lacking paperwork tried to
maneuver within the system, as well as outside of it. The numbers of former Jews,
although not large, were significant enough to attract government attention by the end
of the century. Gradually the very rights that originally induced many of these people
to adopt Christian faiths were taken away from them as the state sought to keep track
of even those who had left their Judaism behind decades before. Meanwhile the growth
of the revolutionary movement and its need for false documentation coincided with a
similar need within Jewish communities.
The fifth and final chapter treats Jewish names, a topic raised in passing in several of
the previous chapters. Avrutin shows that the increasing frequency of name change
requests leading up to the First World War had to do with growing ethnic tensions and
ongoing problems with records on the Jewish side. However, at the same time, the auto-
cracy was more and more concerned with keeping track of its subjects and less willing to
consider even very reasonable requests. Once again, however, the different customs of
naming and the arcane nature of the laws led to confusion and repression.
The book ends with an elegant epilogue, suggesting how the imperial policies of
identification continued into the Soviet period. This is an excellent point, and well
worthy of mention, but given the originality and complexity of the book’s subject, a
814 Book Reviews
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
alif
orni
a Sa
nta
Cru
z] a
t 21:
10 1
7 N
ovem
ber
2014
more traditional conclusion would have been useful as well. Avrutin leads the reader on a
fascinating trip through the late imperial period, but he does not fully articulate either his
goals or findings at the end of the path. He raises many important arguments and insights
about Imperial Russia and the Jewish experience there in the course of the book. This
would have been the place to bring them together and demonstrate what identification poli-
tics adds to our understanding of the period.
The use of primary sources in this work is highly effective. Avrutin took advantage of
petitions from numerous archives and his examples show the real struggles faced by indi-
viduals and the state. The chronological sweep of the book, as well as its broad topic,
required erudition in a huge array of topics. Avrutin’s footnotes are truly impressive as
he demonstrates knowledge of the development of European legal and administrative
systems, all aspects of Russian society and governance, and Jewish history and culture.
Thorough coverage of so many topics would not be possible for any scholar, and of
course there are some gaps. In the fifth chapter, for example, the brief overview of
Jewish naming practices cannot do justice to a system developed over centuries. Avrutin’s
examples are only for male naming customs and he does not adequately explain to those
unfamiliar with Hebrew and Yiddish orthography why transliteration proved to be such a
problem. He also refers to two former Jews brought in as experts to help the authorities
make sense of the problems, without discussing the dramatically different reputations
and achievements of Yakov Brafman and Daniel Khvol’son.
Jews and the Imperial State is an important book with an original and thoughtful
perspective. The expectation of background knowledge would make it awkward to use
in an undergraduate classroom, but it would be ideal for a graduate seminar. I applaud
Eugene Avrutin for finding a new angle to approach a familiar subject. His introduction
of identification politics into the discussion of ethnicity in imperial Russia will surely
spark ongoing scholarly discussions.
Eliyana R. Adler
University of Maryland
# 2012, Eliyana R. Adler
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2012.689134
Ferghana Valley: The Heart of Central Asia, by S. Frederick Starr (ed.), Armonk, NY,
M.E. Sharpe, 2011, 442 pp., US$104.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-7656-2998-2, US$39.95
(paperback), ISBN 978-0-7656-2999-9
How does one write an account of the cultural and religious trend-setter of Central Asia,
influential politically and crucial economically in the region, whose complex dynamics
capture key issues facing post-Soviet Central Asia broadly? This difficult task is executed
rather well under the coordination of Fred Starr, the prolific and influential scholar, who
argues that to understand the Ferghana Valley is to understand Central Asia itself. The
Ferghana Valley was the most densely populated rural area of the former U.S.S.R., the
seat of the lucrative cotton monoculture that began under Russian imperial administration
and made into the hard currency-earning agri-industrial machine for the Union. Cotton
was one central driving force behind the tremendous changes across the 20th century in
this expansive valley that stretches some 300 km across and 100 km at its widest. Its
Nationalities Papers 815
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f C
alif
orni
a Sa
nta
Cru
z] a
t 21:
10 1
7 N
ovem
ber
2014