Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put Russian colonialism and imperialism back in the spotlight. But Ukraine was not Russia’s only colony, and not all of its colonies achieved independence at the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Numerous articles have appeared predicting or advocating the break up of the Russian Federation and decolonisation, usually along ethnic lines. But as listeners of this podcast will know, the Russian Federation is both diverse and mixed, and if it were to break up, Russians would have to be part of it.
I’m joined in this episode by Russian historian Alexander Etkind, whose 2013 book Internal Colonisation was one of the first to tackle this subject in English to discuss whether the Russian Federation actually could, or, indeed, should break up.
I am sure that any listeners of this podcast would enjoy Alexander’s books, which focus on cultural history and memory. Buying through these links helps to support this podcast.
Listen to Special Episode 4 now on the website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
This episode contains a trailer for Teddy Goes to the USSR, a six episode series from the SRB Podcast - find it on all good podcast platforms.