Minorities in the Post-Soviet Space Thirty Years After the Dissolution of the USSR

Paola Bocale, Daniele Brigadoi Cologna, Lino Panzeri

• Publisher: Ledizioni
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9788855268530
• eBook ISBN: 9788855268547
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Minority Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the Russian Federation and the newly independent republics of the Baltics, the Caucasus and Central Asia engaged in redefining their national identity in a challenging regional and global context. The stances and policies towards the minorities living in these countries became part of the striving towards national independence and identity formation. Despite vastly different post-Soviet nation-building trajectories, the development and implementation of state policies towards minorities had similar relevance and importance across the region. Thirty years after the end of the USSR what is the situation of minorities and minority issues in the countries that emerged from that multi-ethnic state?How have the former republics – including Russia dealt with their minorities and minority affairs? To what protection and rights are minority communities entitled to? Studies of the dissolution of the USSR and of nation-building in the independent post-Soviet states have flourished over the past decades. However, despite the relevance of the theme, there is a dearth of specialist publications which address the many issues related to minority communities in the post-Soviet space. This volume attempts to fill this gap by providing a collection of essays covering some of the most relevant aspects of the contemporary status and situation of minorities in the area.

Table of contents

• Minorities in the Post-Soviet Space
• Colophon
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Minority Finno-Ugric Languages in the Post-Soviet Space: Thirty Years On
• The Historical Development of Buryat Pan-Mongolism
• The Sakha Language in the School System
• Competing Language Ideologies and Language Policies in Ukraine
• The Chinese Diaspora in the Post-Soviet Space
• Jewish and Polish Heritage in Western Ukraine
• On Iranian-Speaking Minorities in the Post-Soviet Space
• The Legal Protection of National Minorities in Ukraine
• The End of the USSR and the Role of the “Nations”
• The Languages of Ethnic Minorities in post-Soviet Georgia
• Soviet Legacies in Minority Protection
• The “Constitutional War” with the USSR
• The Linguistic Landascape of the Post-Soviet Republic of Moldova:
• Sayan Turkic Minorities
• Aspects of the Development of Yiddish
• Minorities in an Independent Ukraine
• Kazakhstan’s Unintended Minority
• Cultural Hybridization and Postcolonial Identity
• The Linguistic Landscape of Grodno
• The Reasons for Ukraine’s Independence
• The Orthodox Church in Bessarabia