GOVT 545 History and Politics of the Caucasus (Fall 2009)

Tuesday 4:15-6:05pm, ICC 219B
Professor Charles King, School of Foreign Service and Department of Government 

Overview
Requirements and Grading
Policy on Make-Ups, Extensions, Incompletes, and Academic Dishonesty 
Texts
Topics and Readings

Overview 

This graduate-level seminar examines the history of the north and south Caucasus from the late eighteenth century to the present. Themes include the origins of group identity, imperial rule and resistance, modernization and development, social conflict and cooperation, and liberalization and democratization. Readings include major works on the modern history and contemporary politics of the region, as well as primary texts. Grades will be based on completion of several writing assignments, including a major research paper using original sources or other empirical data. MA/PhD only. Reading knowledge of Russian, Turkish or another regional language is required.

Requirements and Grading 

  1. Attendance and informed participation (roughly 20 percent of course grade).
  2. Two essay assignments (roughly 15 percent each), with rewrites if necessary.
  3. One research paper (roughly 50 percent). The largest proportion of this grade will be based on the final product, but a substantial portion will come from the initial draft of the paper and its presentation in class.

Nature of the writing assignments

We will go over the details of the writing assignments in class, but here are some general guidelines:

Essays: Essays are 5-page responses to a question drawn from the
English- and Russian-language materials. (For students offering Turkish or another regional language, other questions will be assigned.) The questions are:

 

Essay 1 (Russian): Evaluate the concept of “governance” in traditional Caucasus societies, based on the work of Khodarkovsky, Bobrovnikov, and Pokrovskii.

 

Essay 2 (Russian: Compare the views of Barrett and Shnirelman with respect to the formation and development of social identities in the Caucasus.

 

Essay 1 (Turkish): Based on the work of Khodarkovsky, Sever, and Avagyan, analyze the relationship between population movements and social identity in Caucasus history.

 

Essay 2 (Turkish): Compare and contrast the views of Grant, Kramer, and Demir with respect to the Caucasus as a single geopolitical space. 

Research paper: The paper should be a substantial (around 25 pages, including notes) piece of research. You must use a significant number of primary sources and engage with the recognized secondary literature on your chosen topics. The paper should be more than a "literature survey." I will work closely with you in choosing a topic and pointing you toward the relevant literatures and sources.

Deadlines

 

Essay 1: Tuesday, Oct. 6
Essay 2: Tuesday, Nov. 3
Research paper drafts: Must be at least 10 pages, plus a substantial bibliography, due on the Tuesday before you are scheduled to present. 
Research paper final version: Tuesday, Dec. 15.

 

Note: There will be NO CLASS on Tuesday, September 22

Format for papers

All essays and papers should be typed, double-spaced, on one side of plain white 8.5 x 11 paper. Pages should be numbered consecutively. Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page and should follow a recognized style for citations. The typescript should be secured with a staple or clip. Do not submit the paper in a loose-leaf binder, plastic report cover or other folder. 

Evaluation of papers

Grades on research papers will be based on the following criteria:

 

Overall argument: Is there a strong and clear argument running throughout the paper? Is the argument stated clearly at the beginning and then developed throughout the text? Does the paper address a clear and important question? 

Writing style: Do you write in an interesting yet formal style? Have you eliminated cliches? Have you reined in your metaphors? 

Thoroughness of research: Does the paper demonstrate a good knowledge of the literature on the topic at hand? Does the paper distill the major issues in a key debate? 

Originality of ideas: Is the paper more than a literature review? Have you engaged critically with the literature and arrived at your own interpretation of an important issue? 

Based on these criteria, papers will be assigned grades according to the standard university grading scale. 

Sources and Expectations

This course requires reading not only in English but also in either Russian or Turkish. I also expect that you will follow up with suggested readings on this syllabus (in addition to those that are “required”). I expect you to use primary sources in your research papers.

 

Some of the major primary sources on Caucasus history and contemporary politics are given below. This is meant to be only a sample, and I will be happy to help you find more. Many of these are readily available at the Library of Congress or in Lauinger Library. All are available via inter-library loan.

 

Caucasus history—General

 

Akty sobrannye Kavkazskoi arkheograficheskoi komissiei. 13 vols. Tiflis, 1866-1904. This work is a collection of documents on the Caucasus ranging from the early modern period through the late nineteenth century. It is the basic source for charting social developments, the incorporation of the region into the Russian empire, the Caucasus wars, and many other topics.

 

Bugai, N. F., ed. Iosif Stalin-Lavrentiiu Berii: ‘Ikh nado deportirovat’.’ Moscow, 1992. Bugai has been one of the most energetic compilers of documents related to the deportations of the 1940s and earlier. There are many other works by him available as well.

 

Chantre, Ernest. Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase. Paris, 1885-1887. The century’s most important ethnographical account of the Caucasus written by outsiders.

 

Ermolov, A. P. Zapiski A. P. Ermolova, 1798-1826. Memoirs of one of the most famous generals of the Caucasus wars.

 

Jordania, Noe. Moia zhizn’. Stanford, 1968. The memoirs of the president of the Georgian republic, 1918-1921.

 

Kavkazskii sbornik. Tiflis, 1876-1912. One of the tsarist era’s most important periodicals on Caucasus history, culture, language, religion, etc.

 

Nogma, Shora. Istoriia adykheiskogo naroda. Nalchik, 1994. One of the most important indigenous histories of Circassia.

 

Omarov, Kh. A., ed. 100 pisem Shamilia. Makhachkala, 1997. Shamil left a substantial written record in the form of edicts and “memos” to his subordinates. This is one collection, in the original Arabic with Russian translations.

 

Pobol’, N. L., and P. M. Polian, eds. Stalinskie deportatsii, 1928-1953. A large collection of documents on the Stalin-era deportations.

 

Sbornik materialov dlia opisaniia mestnostei i plemen Kavkaza. Tiflis, 1881-forward. Important collection on Caucasus history, folklore, and other themes.

 

Sbornik svedenii o kavkazskikh gortsakh. Tiflis, 1868-forward. Important collection on highlander history and culture.

 

Vakhusht Bagrationi. Description géographique de la Géorgie. St. Petersburg, 1842. Perhaps the most important description of Georgia by a local prince.

 

Over the last several years, the St. Petersburg publisher Zvezda has produced many first-hand accounts of the Caucasus wars, written by Russian officers and soldiers.

 

Caucasus history—Travelers’ Accounts

 

If used with care, travelers’ accounts can be an important source on virtually every aspect of Caucasus history. Travel intersected in interesting ways with what would now be called “research,” especially in the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries. Some of the most important travelers were:

 

Abercromby, John

Alcock, Thomas

Baddeley, John

Bell, James Stanislaus

Bodenstedt, Friedrich

Bryce, James

Cunynghame, Arthur

Ditson, George Leighton

Dubois de Montpéreux, Frédéric

Freshfield, Douglas

Freygang, Frederika von

Gamba, Jacques-Francois

Glen, William

Güldenstädt, Johann Anton

Henry, J. D.

Kennan, George (the elder)

Ker Porter, Robert

Keun, Odette

Klaproth, Julius von

Longworth, J. A.

Spencer, Edmund

Thielmann, Max von

Wardrop, Oliver

 

Caucasus politics and other fields

 

The nature of a primary source in political science and other fields differs depending on the topic. Memoirs might be appropriate if one is studying political leadership. Survey data or opinion polls are important in studying public opinion and civil society. Electoral data are critical if one is studying elected institutions. Interviews can be used to get at elite opinion or to flesh out the details of a contemporary case for which no documentary evidence exists. Be aware of an important point: You are attending a university in Washington, DC—the epicenter of international politics and diplomacy. Please be daring in your use of the many political, diplomatic, and nongovernmental resources this city has to offer. Papers that claim to speak to contemporary political or policy questions but do not make use of the plethora of Washington-based resources will not receive high marks.

Policy on Make-Ups, Extensions, Incompletes, and Academic Dishonesty

In principle, deadlines cannot be changed. However, allowance will be made for cases in which genuine emergencies prevent students from completing work on time. Such emergencies might include medical treatment or bereavement. Having a heavy work load, impending deadlines for other courses or extracurricular commitments cannot normally be considered emergencies. Each instance will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Students should let the instructor know as far in advance as possible about any potential problems. 

Georgetown University is an honor-code school for undergraduates. Cases of suspected academic dishonesty will be handled according to the university’s honor code or, for graduate students, according to the normal procedures in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Texts

The following texts have been ordered for this course and may be purchased at the GU Bookstore in the Leavey Center: 

 

  • De Waal, BLACK GARDEN, 0814719457
  • Derluguian, BOURDIEU’S SECRET ADMIRER IN THE CAUCASUS, 0226142833
  • Gammer, THE LONE WOLF AND THE BEAR, 0822958988
  • King, THE BLACK SEA: A HISTORY, 019928394X
  • King, THE GHOST OF FREEDOM: A HISTORY OF THE CAUCASUS, 9780195177756
  • Suny, THE MAKING OF THE GEORGIAN NATION, 0253209153

 

These texts will be supplemented by readings from journals, books, and other sources. 

Topics and Readings

Note: The instructor reserves the right to make changes to required readings and lecture topics during the course of the semester. 

 

Readings in Russian are available on the Blackboard site for this course.

 

The first seven weeks of the course will be a combination of lecture and discussion. The remaining weeks will be devoted to student presentations of their research projects. We will determine dates for individual presentations once the enrollment list for the course is settled.

 

Week 1  Introduction to the Course

 

Week 2  The Caucasus on the eve of Russian engagement

 

1.      King, Black Sea, chaps. 1-4

2.      King, Ghost, Intro and chap. 1

3.      Suny, begin reading

4.      Barrett, Thomas M. “Lines of Uncertainty: The Frontiers of the North Caucasus.” Slavic Review, Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn 1995): 578-601.

5.      Khodarkovsky, Michael. “Of Christianity, Enlightenment, and Colonialism: Russia in the North Caucasus, 1550-1800.” Journal of Modern History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (June 1999): 394-430.

6.      Selections from Bobrovnikov, V. O. Musul’mane Severnogo Kavkaza: Obychai, pravo, nasilie. Moscow 2002.

 

Recommended:

 

1.      Allen, W. E. D. A History of the Georgian People. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co., 1932.

2.      Arutiunov, S. A., A. I. Osmanov, and G. A. Sergeeva, eds. Narody Dagestana. Moscow: Nauka, 2002.

3.      Atkin, Muriel. Russia and Iran, 1780-1828. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.

4.      Barrett, Thomas M. At the Edge of Empire: The Terek Cossacks and the North Caucasus Frontier, 1700-1860. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.

5.      Bennigsen Broxup, Marie, ed. North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance towards the Muslim World. New York: St. Martin’s, 1992.

  1. Bgazhnokov, B. Kh. Adygskaia etika. Nalchik: El’-Fa, 1999.

7.      Boeck, Brian. “Probing Parity Between History and Oral Tradition: Putting Shora Nogmov’s History of the Adygei People in Its Place.” Central Asian Survey, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1998): 319-336.

  1. Colarusso, John. Nart Sagas from the Caucasus. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

9.      Güldenstädt, Johann Anton. Puteshestvie po Kavkazu v 1770-1773 gg. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie, 2002.

  1. Gvosdev, Nikolas K. Imperial Policies and Perspectives Towards Georgia. London: Macmillan, 2000.
  2. Hewson, Robert H. Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

12.  Klaproth, Julius von. Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia, Performed in the Years 1807 and 1808. Frederic Shoberl, trans. London: Henry Colburn, 1814.

13.  Lang, David Marshall. A Modern History of Georgia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962.

  1. Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. Transcaucasia, Nationalism, and Social Change: Essays in the History of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Revised ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996.

 

Week 3   The Caucasus wars and Shamil  

 

  1. King, Black Sea, chap. 5
  2. King, Ghost, chaps. 2-3
  3. Barrett, Thomas M. “The Remaking of the Lion of Dagestan: Shamil in Captivity.” Russian Review, Vol. 53 (July 1994): 353-366.
  4. Selections from Gordin, Iakov. Kavkaz: Zemlia i krov’. St. Petersburg: Zvezda, 2000.
  5. Selections from Pokrovskii, N. I. Kavkazaskie voiny i imamat Shamilia. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2000.

 

Recommended:

 

  1. Allen, W. E. D., and Paul Muratoff. Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828-1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953.
  2. Baddeley, John. The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908.
  3. Bell, James Stanislaus. Journal of a Residence in Circassia During the Years 1837, 1838, and 1839. 2 vols. London: Edward Moxon, 1840.
  4. Bliev, M. M., and V. V. Degoev. Kavkazskaia voina. Moscow: Roset, 1994.
  5. Degoev, V. V. Imam Shamil’: Prorok, vlastitel’, voin. Moscow: Russkaia panorama, 2001.
  6. Gammer, Moshe. Muslim Resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the Conquest of Chechnia and Dagestan. London: Cass, 1994.
  7. Habiçoğlu, Bedri. Kafkasya’dan Anadolu’ya göcler ve iskanları. Istanbul: Nart, 1993.
  8. Kemper, Michael. Herrschaft, Recht und Islam in Daghestan: Von den Khanaten und Gemeindebünden zum Gihad-Staat. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2005.
  9. Layton, Susan. Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  10. Potto, V. A. Kavkazskaia voina. Reprint ed. 5 vols. Stavropol’: Kavkazskii krai, 1994.
  11. Zelkina, Anna. In Quest for God and Freedom: The Sufi Response to the Russian Advance in the North Caucasus. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

 

Week 4   Socialism, the first republics, and diasporas

 

1.      King, Black Sea, chap. 6

2.      King, Ghost, chap. 4

3.      Suny, continue reading

4.      Selections from Todorskii, Al. Krasnaia armiia v gorakh. Moscow: Voennyi vestnik, 1924.

 

Recommended:

 

  1. Akçam, Taner. A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. New York: Metropolitan, 2006.
  2. Anchabadze, Iu. D., and N. G. Volkova. Staryi Tbilisi: Gorod i gorozhane v XIX veke. Moscow: Nauka, 1990.
  3. Auch, Eva-Maria. Muslim—Untertan—Bürger: Identitätswandel in geselschaftlichen Transformationsprozessen der muslimischen Ostprovinzen Südkaukasiens (Ende 18.—Anfang 20. Jh.). Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2004.

4.      Berzeg, Sefer E. Kuzey Kafkasya cumhuriyeti, 1917-1922. Istanbul, 2003.

5.      Gokce, Cemal. Kafkasya ve Osmanlı İmparatorluğun Kafkasya siyaseti. Istanbul, 1979.

6.      Jones, Stephen F. Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.

7.      Kazemzadeh, Firuz. The Struggle for Transcaucasia (1917-1921). New York: Philosophical Society, 1951.

8.      Nalbandian, Louise. The Armenian Revolutionary Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963.

  1. Reiss, Tom. The Orientalist. New York: Random House, 2005.
  2. Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Baku Commune, 1917-1918: Class and Nationality in the Russian Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972.

11.  Swietochowski, Tadeusz. Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

12.  Villari, Luigi. Fire and Sword in the Caucasus. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906.

13.  Winter, Jay, ed. America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

 

Week 5   The Soviet system

 

1.      Derluguian, begin reading

2.      Suny, continue reading

3.      King, Black Sea, conclusion

4.      King, Ghost, chap. 5 and conclusion

  1. Grant, Bruce. “The Good Russian Prisoner: Naturalizing Violence in the Caucasus Mountains.” Cultural Anthropology. Vol. 20, No. 1 (February 2005): 39-67.

 

Recommended:

 

  1. Altstadt, Audrey L. The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1992.
  2. Baberowski, Jörg. Der Feind is überall: Stalinismus im Kaukasus. Munich: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2003.
  3. Suny, Ronald Grigor. Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
  4. Bruce Grant, The Captive and the Gift: Cultural Histories of Sovereignty in Russia and the Caucasus. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009.

 

Week 6   Post-Soviet politics and society: the North

 

  1. Derluguian, continue reading
  2. Kramer, Mark. “Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Terrorism in the North Caucasus: The Military Dimension of the Russian-Chechen Conflict.” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 57, No. 2 (2005): 209-290.
  3. Selections from Shnirelman, Victor A. Byt’ Alanami: Intellektualy i politika na Severnom Kavkaze v 20 veke. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2006.
  4. Selections from Vitalii Belozerov, Etnicheskaia karta Severnogo Kavkaza. Moscow: OGI, 2005.
  5. Paxson, Margaret. “They Call It Home.” Wilson Quarterly (Spring 2009).

 

Recommended:

 

  1. Cornell, Svante E. Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus. Richmond: Curzon, 2001.
  2. Degoev, Vladimir. Bol’shaia igra na Kavkaze: Istoriia i sovremennost’. Moscow: Russkaia panorama, 2001.
  3. Gall, Carlotta, and Thomas de Waal. Chechnya: A Small Victorious War. London: Pan, 1997.
  4. Karny, Yo’av. Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory. FSG, 2000.
  5. Knysh, Alexander. “A Clear and Present Danger: Wahhābism as a Rhetorical Foil.” Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2004): 3-26.
  6. Lieven, Anatol. Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power. New Haven: Yale, 1998.
  7. Politkovskaya, Anna. A Dirty War. London: Harvill, 2001.
  8. Smith, Sebastian. Allah’s Mountains. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998.
  9. Tishkov, Valerii. Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

 

Week 7   Post-Soviet politics and society: the South

 

  1. De Waal
  2. Derluguian, continue reading
  3. King, “The Five-Day War,” Foreign Affairs, Fall 2008.
  4. Grant, Bruce. “An Average Azeri Village (1930): Remembering Rebellion in the Caucasus Mountains.” Slavic Review, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Winter 2004): 705-731.
  5. Selections from Shnirelman, Victor. Voiny pamiati: Mify, identichnost’ i politika v Zakavkaz’e. Moscow: Akademkniga, 2003.

 

Recommended:

 

  1. Ascherson, Neal. “After the Revolution.” London Review of Books. March 4, 2004, pp. 3, 5-6, 8-9.
  2. Gerber, Jürgen. Georgien: Nationale Opposition und kommunistische Herrschaft seit 1956. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1997.
  3. Kaufman, Stuart J. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  4. Pelkmans, Mathijs. Defending the Border: Identity, Religion, and Modernity in the Republic of Georgia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
  5. Shaffer, Brenda. Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.
  6. Zurcher, Christoph. The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus (New York: NYU Press, 2007).

 

Weeks 8-15   Student presentations

© Copyright 2009, Charles King

 

 

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