In his pioneering work on the Russian nobility of the 18th century, Mark Raeff wrote that "failure to create a genuine estate of the nobility perpetuated the average nobleman's rootlessness and dependence on the state" which, in the long run, "became the seedbed of the intelligentsia" (M. Raeff, Origins of the Russian Intelligentsia: The Eighteenth-Century Nobility, 1966). This view exerts a powerful influence to this day; in a recent study, for instance, we learn that "Images of alienation, absenteeism, economic torpidity, decline, and crisis derive from the multiple and malleable attributes of noble identity" (E.K. Wirtschafter, Social Identity in Imperial Russia, 1997).
The paradigm of the nobility's insecurity becomes most pervasive when applied to the provincial nobility, whose customs, lifestyles, and tastes are habitually associated with backwardness, ignorance, and boredom. However, as Michael Kugler argued with respect to European history, "the nature of provincialism has not been outlined in detail" (M. Kugler, "Provincial Intellectuals: Identity, Patriotism, and Enlightened
Peripheries," 1996). The purpose of this conference is to extend Kugler's insight to Russia and re-examine the provincial nobility in the 18th century.
A revived post-Soviet interest in the Russian provinces has resulted in a good number of new publications, both in Russia and the West. These post-1991 studies can be roughly divided in two major groups: those focusing on the empirical side of local history and seeking to unearth new archival data, and those investing energy in the development of novel theoretical approaches and generalizations. In the words of a recent review, "in the West we are confronted with theory without local, and in Russia we see the local without theory" (Susan Smith-Peter, "How to Write a Region: Local and Regional Historiography," Kritika 5.3 (2004) 527-542).
This conference aims to merge the empirical and theoretical approaches to local history. Ultimately, our goal is to produce a picture of life in the Russian provinces that is both rich in detail and solidly grounded in theory. Our main focus is on the 18th-century provincial nobility's interactions with the state and society. For this purpose we plan to see what can be gained from using local and micro history methods within a theoretical framework of regional studies. It is, we believe, high time to reconsider the still dominant view on the life in the provinces as backward and rude and on the provincial nobility as rootless and alienated. We hope that "re-thinking history" in terms of local studies (Ch. Phythian-Adams) will prove useful to our comprehension of the history of the Russian provinces and challenging to our perception of the 18th -century Russian nobility.
The conference organizers aspire to bring together a group of scholars to present their work and engage in discussions on the provincial nobility in 18th-century Russia. We invite papers on the topic that present empirically significant research based on diverse archival and other sources and are, at the same time, integrated into a strong theoretical framework. Papers with a comparative dimension are particularly welcome.
The following is a by no means exhaustive list of issues the papers might touch upon:
- the provinces versus the capital, regional versus central, local versus national;
- the "provincial" way of life in the 18th century;
- the provincial nobility and the state;
- the provincial nobility and society;
- social mobility in the provinces and its impact on the "provincial" way of life;
- local noble communities;
- local administration and the provincial nobility;
- the provincial nobility's search for an identity;
- the provincial nobility's nakazy to the Legislative Commission of 1767-1768;
- Noble Assemblies and the formation of civil society in Russia;
- economic, social, cultural, and legal interactions in the life of the provincial nobility;
- gender relations in provincial noble families and communities;
- the role of women in creating provincial noble societies;
- the army presence in the provinces and its impact on the local nobility's life;
- the impact of the country's modernization on the provinces;
- life strategies in creating independent spaces in the provinces;
- the role of the provinces in shaping Russian national identity;
- the mythology of the provinces;
- provincialism versus regionalism;
- provincialism in its Russian, European and North American contexts, comparative
perspectives, etc.
Organizational Information:
The organizers have applied for funding at the Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau (DHI).
The conference will take place at the DHI at the Institut nauchnoi informatsii po
obshchestvennym naukam Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk (INION RAN) in Moscow (Nachimovskij Prospekt 51/21). The sponsoring institution would cover the costs for travel and accommodation of all participants.
Conference date: 23-26 April, 2009
Abstracts in Russian or English (maximum length: 500 words) of the paper you intend to give should be sent to: Nobility.DHI@gmx.de
Your abstract should include your email address and institutional affiliation, the title of your intended paper, and the abstract text.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 October 2008.
Notification of applicants: no later than 1 December 2008.
Chosen participants will then be asked to submit their article-length (at a maximum of 10,000 words) original papers in Russian no later than 1 March 2009. The papers will be precirculated among all participants so that there is ample time to read them before the conference.
The papers will be grouped in thematic panels. Paper presentations at the conference will be limited to 15 minutes. At each panel one conference participant will moderate and comment briefly on the papers. The working language of the conference is Russian – no translation services.
After the conference authors will rework their papers for publication in a volume to appear in 2010.
We are looking forward to reading your proposals!
Conference organizers:
Olga Glagoleva, PhD (University of Toronto) olga.glagoleva@utoronto.ca;
Prof. Aleksandr Kamenskii (RGGU) kamenskii@list.ru;
Ingrid Schierle (DHI) ingrid.schierle@dhi-moskau.org .
Abstracts in Russian or English (maximum length: 500 words) of the paper you intend to give should be sent to: Nobility.DHI@gmx.de
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 October 2008.
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