Переселенський колоніалізм у СРСР: творення повоєнного Криму
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Date
2017
Authors
Свєженцев, Максим
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Abstract
У статті проаналізовано повоєнні перетворення в Криму, що стали наслідками радянської національної
політики. У цей час спустошений та знелюднений Крим починає (чи, радше, продовжує)
змінюватися не лише в плані демографічного складу його мешканців, але й образно: радянська влада
продовжує колонізацію півострова та творить нове уявлення про нього. Спираючись на теоретичний інструментарій постколоніальної теорії, зроблено спробу проаналізувати фактори, які впливали на творення нової спільноти радянських «кримчан».
This article makes a first step towards applying the methodology of settler colonial studies to the history of the Crimea. Based on the archival and historiographical research, the article argues that the end of the Second World War and the deportation of the Crimean indigenous nations marked the beginning of yet another stage of the settler colonial imperial project on the territory of the Crimea. Settler colonization of the Crimean peninsula corresponded to the centuries-old traditions of the Russian and Soviet imperial policies towards the border regions populated by non-Russian (non-Slavic) peoples. The Crimea became a “melting pot” of people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and no cultural ties to their new home. Therefore, Soviet policies of relocating Slavic people to the depopulated and cleansed territory allowed the state to create a new ethnic, cultural, and historical image of the colonized space. The Crimea finally became “an indigenous Russian land,” and for the first time the state created itself strong enough arguments to support this claim: the history and geography of the colonized space were changed according to new realities. The new image of the peninsula united features of a military stronghold against the West and all-Soviet health resort, which created imaginary ties between the peninsula and the people of the Soviet Union. In addition, the Crimean population existed in a context of power structures of the Soviet society and had to ensure loyalty of the territory to the Soviet centre. The new “Crimeans” consisted of peasants relocated from the Ukrainian and Russian Soviet republics, and retired military personnel who decided to move to the Crimea and occupied the highest places in the social hierarchies of the new community. These hierarchies and power structures, together with the colonial Crimean identity, created as a result of the Soviet policies, persisted through the dissolution of the USSR and became the basis for the present-day Russian settler colonization of Crimea.
This article makes a first step towards applying the methodology of settler colonial studies to the history of the Crimea. Based on the archival and historiographical research, the article argues that the end of the Second World War and the deportation of the Crimean indigenous nations marked the beginning of yet another stage of the settler colonial imperial project on the territory of the Crimea. Settler colonization of the Crimean peninsula corresponded to the centuries-old traditions of the Russian and Soviet imperial policies towards the border regions populated by non-Russian (non-Slavic) peoples. The Crimea became a “melting pot” of people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and no cultural ties to their new home. Therefore, Soviet policies of relocating Slavic people to the depopulated and cleansed territory allowed the state to create a new ethnic, cultural, and historical image of the colonized space. The Crimea finally became “an indigenous Russian land,” and for the first time the state created itself strong enough arguments to support this claim: the history and geography of the colonized space were changed according to new realities. The new image of the peninsula united features of a military stronghold against the West and all-Soviet health resort, which created imaginary ties between the peninsula and the people of the Soviet Union. In addition, the Crimean population existed in a context of power structures of the Soviet society and had to ensure loyalty of the territory to the Soviet centre. The new “Crimeans” consisted of peasants relocated from the Ukrainian and Russian Soviet republics, and retired military personnel who decided to move to the Crimea and occupied the highest places in the social hierarchies of the new community. These hierarchies and power structures, together with the colonial Crimean identity, created as a result of the Soviet policies, persisted through the dissolution of the USSR and became the basis for the present-day Russian settler colonization of Crimea.
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Keywords
переселенський колоніалізм, Крим, Радянський Союз, депортація, міграція, settler colonialism, Crimea, Soviet Union, deportation, стаття
Citation
Свєженцев М. Д. Переселенський колоніалізм у СРСР: творення повоєнного Криму / Свєженцев М. Д. // Наукові записки НаУКМА. Історичні науки. - 2017. - Т. 194. - С. 72-81.