CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Sidlova, Vera |
|---|---|
| Title | Viewing the Post-Soviet Space through a Postcolonial Lens: Obscuring Race, Erasing Gender |
| Summary | This thesis seeks to contribute to the debate on whether or not the post-Soviet space ought to be included in postcolonial studies. I critique the idea of reverse cultural colonization that suggests that the centers of civilizational othering and colonial domination need not be the same in the context of post-Soviet postcoloniality: a view that fundamentally limits our understanding of the connections between race and nationalism in the post-Soviet world and beyond. Furthermore, this division is also connected with the neglect of gender dynamics of nationalism and racial politics in the post-Soviet region. Therefore, I argue that the postcolonial lens fundamentally obscures our understanding of race in the region and does not allow a conceptual space for a critique of gender outside the nation-state. Therefore, the postcolonial take on the post-Soviet space can illuminate but not encompass the specificity of the former Second World region. If the epistemological approach used in postcolonial scholarship is revised, the post-Soviet region's characteristics can serve to critique established concepts and connections within postcolonial theory. To do so, we need to depart from, but not discard, postcolonial theory. I propose that transnational feminism constitutes a framework that can advance the debate on the adoption of an appropriate epistemological approach that could remedy the silence of the former Second World within theorizing across the social sciences. |
| Supervisor | Roe, Paul |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/sidlova_vera.pdf |
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