Alexander Etkind 
Internal Colonization 
Russia’s Imperial Experience

This book gives a radically new reading of Russia’s cultural
history. Alexander Etkind traces how the Russian Empire conquered
foreign territories and domesticated its own heartlands, thereby
colonizing many peoples, Russians included. This vision of
colonization as simultaneously internal and external, colonizing
one’s own people as well as others, is crucial for scholars
of empire, colonialism and globalization.

Starting with the fur trade, which shaped its enormous territory,
and ending with Russia’s collapse in 1917, Etkind explores
serfdom, the peasant commune, and other institutions of internal
colonization. His account brings out the formative role of foreign
colonies in Russia, the self-colonizing discourse of Russian
classical historiography, and the revolutionary leaders’
illusory hopes for an alliance with the exotic, pacifist
sectarians. Transcending the boundaries between history and
literature, Etkind examines striking writings about Russia’s
imperial experience, from Defoe to Tolstoy and from Gogol to
Conrad.

This path-breaking book blends together historical, theoretical and
literary analysis in a highly original way. It will be essential
reading for students of Russian history and literature and for
anyone interested in the literary and cultural aspects of
colonization and its aftermath.

Table of Content

Introduction
Part One. The Non-Traditional Orient
Chapter 1. Less than One and Double
Chapter 2. Worldliness
Part Two. Writing from Scratch
Chapter 3. Chasing Rurik
Chapter 4. To Colonize Oneself
Chapter 5. Barrels of Fur
Part 3. Empire of the Tsars
Chapter 6. Occult Instability
Chapter 7. Disciplinary Gears
Chapter 8. Internal Affairs
Part 4. Shaved Man’s Burden
Chapter 9. Philosophy under Russian Rule
Chapter 10. Sects and Revolution
Chapter 11. Re-Enchanting the Darkness
Chapter 12. Sacrificial Plotlines
Conclusion

About the author

Alexander Etkind is Professor of Russian Literature and Cultural History at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow at King’s College. His most recent book is Internal Colonization: Russia’s Imperial Experience (2011).