The Origins of Russian Colonialism: From Pushkin to Putin by Prof. Dr. Ewa Thompson

Explore how the grandiose narratives of beloved and famous Russian authors glorified the Russian empire and suppression of colonized nations, shaped nationalist ideologies and justified racism. Uncover the ways of how these texts contributed to cultural imperialism and the erasure of local identities.

Sergej Sumlenny, the​⁠​⁠ @EuroResilience podcast host, interviewed Dr. Ewa Thompson, a professor of Slavistic at Rice University and the author of the book ‘Imperial knowledge: Russian literature and colonialism. Watch this interview to learn:

📖 Why Russian literature justifies expansion
💂🏽 Colonial expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus
🪆Why is Russian culture so destructive?
🐎 The impact of the Mongols on Russia

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Thumbnail background picture attribution: "Circassian refugees" drawing by artist Aureliya

0:00 Colonial features of Russian literature
3:57 Differences between British & Russian literature
6:49 How Russian authors fool their audience
11:31 The consequence of Moscovy's occupation by the Golden Horde
21:41 The historical relationship between Germany and Russia
31:07 How to recognize Ukrainian voices

[clear-vision]

What an excellent interview, Prof Thompson's analysis of central european history is most impressive.

[LA-phnc]

Fantastic guest, thank you for this program! 👏👏👏

[Dr.Dawson]

Great chat Sergej. That was a really good one.

[ImperatorSomnium]

Now this is a topic, that I'm really interested in, really good 👍

[ty]

Deeply knowledgeable and eloquent guest. Sophisticated questions and clear pace … wot not to like…? Excellent… ask this professor back!

[Miroslaw-rsip]

Dr. Ewa really knows her history here, I’m amazed 👍. I will definitely be buying her book!

[marinakralik]

Excellent.. excellent topic!! please move forward in this direction!

[stanislavstashchuk]

Absolutely great conversation! Thank you very much for your job!

[hybridarmyoffreeworld]

«…Браты мае, мужыкі родныя. З-пад шыбеніцы маскоўскай прыходзіць мне да вас пісаці, і, можа, раз астатні. Горка пакінуць зямельку родную і цябе, дарагі мой народзе. Грудзі застогнуць, забаліць сэрца, — но не жаль згінуць за тваю праўду… Няма ш, браткі, большага шчасця на гэтым свеце, як калі чалавек у галаве мае розум і науку… Но як дзень з ноччу не ходзіць разам, так не ідзе разам наука праўдзіва з няволяй маскоўскай. Дапокуль яна ў нас будзе, у нас нічога не будзе, не будзе праўды, багацтва і ніякай наукі, — адно намі, як скацінай, варочаць будуць не для дабра, но на пагібель нашу… Бо я табе з-пад шыбеніцы кажу, Народзе, што тагды толькі зажывеш шчасліва, калі над табою Маскаля ўжэ не будзе.

Твой слуга
Яська-гаспадар з-пад Вільні»

[anneli]

Thanks for this interesting interview! Best wishes from Norway 🇧🇻🇺🇦

[philippreich]

Great interview, very important topic! Many thanks!

[Namuchat]

I totally agree that, if you want to decolonize, you should not end with the colonisers, but you also have to go after the ideology! That means that one has to look deeply into philosophy, literature, arts, religion and even into applied sciences.

[hybridarmyoffreeworld]

13:50 She is 100% CORRECT, Muscovites are the Mongols ! "Let us begin with this evident fact: Muscovy does not belong at all to Europe, but to Asia. It follows that judging Muscovy and the Muscovites by our European standards is a mistake to be avoided."—gonzague de reynold, 19501 In methodological terms, one should de-Europeanise any analysis of Muscovy policy.— thomas gomart, 20062 "

[msmaryna]

Refreshing intelligence and insights. Thank you.

[Mariupol_is_Ukraine]

Thank you for that interview. I learned a lot again. And of course I again think, while listening to the history of russian world, how many people will the western leaders throw into this creatures mouth, before it starts to act for its citizens, and for the citizens of the world, and decolonizes and demilitarizes russia completely. Besides your guests, you are always a source of great input for me too, Sergej. I will look at this painters work. Imagine that russians themselves, exhibit those paintings. Wow. Your question at 22:00 is absolutely on point, and it is something, that personally interests me. And about Poland: Polands problem is raging chauvinism. And that will be a continued problem for all of us. What you said at 34:00 is a so important question, that I think it should be highlighted somehow. The reaction of the western allies to the holocaust and the similarities to the situation of the Ukrainians now, is a sad and somehow psychological issue. How come that humanity is sick enough to basically ignore the visible ongoing attempt of destruction of a nation by a certain group of people? It makes me feel very uneasy to see it happening. To see it happening again and again.

[cmbergersct]

When you read Marco Polo's autobiography he talks about the techniques of the soldiers of the Mongol Khan and they are exactly what Russians do now. Now I don't know what other marauding groups such as Vikings did, I don't know if that is comparatively awful but yeah every time I read about the desecration of Ukraine nowadays I remember Marco Polo's description

[terjeoseberg]

Your description of the genocide of the Circassians is very similar to the US description of the genocide of the Native Americans. It was a “hunting trip”.

[МихаилКарпов-чж]

Gogol is not even mentioned but he invented in fact "little man" in his prose, the lowest class human being. Ukrainian born Russian speaking Gogol set the trend for many Narodnik literature, and later for Leskov and Checkov.

[EPWillard]

the first three chapters are fairly interesting but i find the section talking about the mongol origins and greek origins to be reductive because there was a very long time in western europe where democracy was effectively dead for centuries on centuries under the medieval and ancien regimes until the last couple hundred years. i also feel it doesn't really address the interconnection of russia and western europe.
maybe she would have something to say on that but i find that the given explanation lacks nuance as presented and i would need an expanded explanation. the short version of the given explanation strikes me as oversimplification verging on race-science.
perhaps that is a weakness of the video format but the general lack of citation outside of the literature section has me wary.

[hybridarmyoffreeworld]

Багдан Хмяльніцкі, тыпу таго, падпісаў некалі "глыбокую" інтэграцыю з
ардой ... Украінскія гісторыкі кажуць, што Хмяльніцкі нічога не
падпісваў, і ўсё гэта хлусня! І папер ніякіх не было і няма! А маскоўцы
кажуцуь, што Хмяльніцкі -- падпісваў, але паперы не захаваліся бо моль
іх паела. А ў выніку што? Украіна-Русь на доўгія стагоддзі патрапіла пад
маскоўскі бот. Маскоўская арда скрала назву Украіны -- Русь, усю яе
гісторыю, міталёгію, культуру і выдае яе за сваю. Узяць бы таго князя
Уладзіміра, які, нібыта, хрысціў маскавітаў, яшчэ і помнікі яму нахабна
ставяць. А далей і згадваць не хочацца.... Бальшіцкі джыхад, акупацыя БНР
, вайна з Польшай, Эстоніей, Фінляндыей, Галадамор, рэпрэсіі, Курапаты, генацыд,
Новая эмпэрыя, алеграхі, карупцыя , эмперыялізм ...