PAUL W WERTH: “Russia Within: The Romanov Empire, the USSR, and the Problem of Territorial Scope”
- Date: 5 March 2024, 10:15–12:00
- Type: Seminar
- Lecturer: Paul W Werth
- Web page
- Organiser: Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS)
- Contact person: Sandra Rekanovic
Paul W Werth (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study & University of Nevada, Las Vegas) will give a seminar on the topic “Russia Within: The Romanov Empire, the USSR, and the Problem of Territorial Scope”. The seminar will be followed by a Q&A session. Hybrid event - see the webpage for the Zoom link.
Abstract
For a good part of its modern history, Russia has in fact constituted only part of a larger state, whether the Romanov Empire before the Revolution of 1917 or the USSR after. This talk posits that “Russia” could refer not only to the expansive, multinational country ruled from St. Petersburg or Moscow, but also to a smaller entity within that larger state—the “Russia within.” The emergence of this distinction in the nineteenth century and the attendant challenge of defining Russia's territorial scope represent central issues for conceptualizing Russia's historical experience and for resolving the question of national borders today.