People, Politics, and Prose: Entitled Nationhood and The Specter of Stalin in the Caucasus

About the Event

In her book, Georgian and Soviet, Claire Kaiser highlights the tensions between nationhood and imperial identity in the Soviet Union and their implications for today. The Soviet republic of Georgia, located in the mountainous Caucasus region, received the same nation-building template as other national republics of the USSR. Yet Stalin's Georgian heritage, intimate knowledge of Caucasian affairs, and personal involvement in local matters as he ascended to prominence left his homeland to confront a distinct set of challenges after his death in 1953.

Georgian and Soviet reveals that the entitled, republic-level national hierarchies that the Soviet Union created laid a foundation for the claims of nationalizing states that would emerge from the empire's wake in 1991. Today, Georgia still grapples with the legacies of its Soviet century, and the Stalin factor likewise lingers as new generations of Georgians reevaluate the symbiotic relationship between Soso Jughashvili and his native land.

People, Politics, and Prose with Ron Granieri features in-depth conversations with author Dr. Claire P. Kaiser, Adjunct Professor - Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (CERES). 

Moderated by FPRI’s Ronald J. Granieri, this session will build on the book’s contents to discuss the author’s influences and motivations. 

 

Speakers