Connexe: Exploring Post-Communist Spaces
Connexe. Exploring Post-communist Spaces addresses multidisciplinary issues related to countries that shared the experience of communism (the successor states of the Soviet Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans), from a perspective that combines the past and the present.
Introducing the historical region of Semirechye
This dossier is devoted to the historical region of Semirechye, which is nowadays divided between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The articles presented here originated in the international conference entitled “Semirechye in an era of global changes (mid-19th – early 20th centuries),” organised in July 2024 in Bishkek by the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IFEAC), the Institute of History and Area Studies of the Balasagyn Kyrgyz National University and the Zhamgerchinov Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic. This conference and dossier were prepared in collaboration with our late colleague Turatbek Syrdybaev, to whom this issue is dedicated. I would also like to thank Nazira Momosheva, Associate Professor in the Department of General History at the Kyrgyz National University, for her invaluable assistance.
Copyright (c) 2025 Xavier Hallez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
La prise des armes à l’épreuve du feu : analyser l’expérience du front des Ukrainiens entre 2014 et 2022
The military engagement and disengagement trajectories of combatants are now the subject of a significant body of literature in political science. However, the amount of work dedicated to the frontline experience remains limited. Based on a qualitative survey with Ukrainian volunteer combatants, this article provides an analysis of the frontline experience that focuses on combatants’ practices. First, this approach allows to move away from an evaluative approach to violence and place individuals’ experiences at the heart of the analysis. Second, it shows how the frontline experience is in continuity with the engagement trajectory and, more broadly, is integrated into individuals’ life trajectories.
Copyright (c) 2025 Coline Maestracci https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Khafiz Sarsekeev, the forgotten co-author of the first Kyrgyz printed book ABC for high-speed learning to read (1911)
This paper presents newly discovered biographical information about the Kazakh educator Khafiz Sarsekeev (1886-1929), the co-author with Eshenaaly Arabaev (1882-1933) of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh children’s abecedary ABC for high-speed learning to read [Алип-бээ жаки төтө окуу]. Published in Ufa by Shark Publishing in 1911, the abecedary was the very first book ever printed in Kyrgyz. As the inaugural publication in a native language, it holds undeniable historical significance. Eshenaaly Arabaev, one of the authors of the aforementioned abecedary, as well as a well-known educator and author of textbooks, head of the Kyrgyz Scientific Commission and political figure in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, is familiar to historians and the general population. However, until recently, practically nothing but his name was known about Khafiz Sarsekeyev (1882/83-1926/27), the co-author of the primer. This paper presents information on his education and teaching activities in Jadid medreses, as well as his social and political activities. This newly discovered information is the result of researching articles written by Sarsekeev and other authors in Kazakh-language newspapers and magazines published between 1913 and 1924. A few previously unpublished documents and photographs from the Sarsekeev family archive supplement the information found in the newspapers. The findings presented in this article provide a portrait of the Jadid educator who became also a public and political figure. We can trace similarities in the fates of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh educators of the early twentieth century.
Copyright (c) 2025 Asel Danyarova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Coats of arms of the Semirechye region’s towns as a historical source
In order to consolidate colonial power at the beginning of the 20th century, the Turkestan Governor-General’s Office undertook the creation of coats of arms for regions and district towns, which was explained by an attempt to identify the region as a state entity of the Russian Empire. At the same time, when creating the coats of arms, attention was focused on the distinctive features of the region, taking into account the traditions and other ethnic characteristics of the local population. A city coat of arms is not just an element of culture, but above all a sign reflecting its legal status. It concentrated legal rights and privileges; secondly, the features of the coats of arms reveal the strategic role of the city within the Russian Empire, as well as its degree of importance in the overall hierarchy of cities. The decision to adopt a similar coat of arms for the Semirechye oblast and the city of Vernyi indicates at the first sight the central position of Vernyi. The six coats of arms analysed show recurring themes, with three representations of the maral deer, four references to beekeeping and two allusions to the subjugation of Muslims. The central theme is that of Russian domination over the region, extolling military conquest, economic development brought about by the Russians and scientific exploration. However, the predominant way of life in the Semirechye oblast was nomadic pastoralism, but no reference is made to this. Conversely, several elements recall agriculture, such as ploughs, wheat and vine leaves. The coats of arms adopted for the cities of the Semirechye oblast express a colonial vision of Turkestan and serve to mark Russian power in the region.
Copyright (c) 2025 Gulnaz Askarbek, Jeenbek Alymbaev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Transnational politicisation of local elites in Semirechye: The first Muslim congress of the Semirechye region (1906) and the Uzun-Agach congress (1910)
The article reflects on the political activities of the local elites in the Semirechye at the beginning of the 20th century, using two important events as examples: the first Muslim Congress (1906) and the Uzun-Agach Congress (1910). It analyses the role and contribution of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh elites, and the Tatars in the political processes that took place in the region in the early 20th centuries, as well as their influence on the further development of the socio-political life of the population of the Semirechye. The main Kyrgyz and Kazakh actors in this emerging political movement were, on the one hand, the civil servants working for the regional administration, most often as interpreters, and on the other hand, the administrators of the volost, who represented the lineage elites. These two groups held the power within the population. The Tatars saw their direct political role progressively diminish, although they remained a crucial link due to the influence of the Tatar press, their connections with the Muslim in Russia, and their financial support. The development of political and national demands among Central Asians in a colonial context is described through the formation of networks and the organisation of congresses and informal gatherings between 1905 and 1912. The 1905 revolution allowed for the expression of political discourse and paved the way for the brief representation of Semirechye allogenous population in the new State Duma. Muslim reformism, known as Jadidism, played a pivotal role in the politicisation of Semirechye, significantly impacted by the All-Russian Muslim movement. The freedom of religion had many implications. The Kazakh and Kyrgyz elites mobilised alongside Tatars and Uyghurs in a transnational dynamic.
Copyright (c) 2025 edition https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The policy of the Russian Empire toward cross-border migration from Semirechye to China (1900-1910)
The article examines the cross-border migration of Russian subjects from the Semirechye region to China during the 1900s’-1910s’, as well as the administrative measures taken by the Russian Empire to legally exclude these individuals from its subjecthood. These movements were not merely a matter of economic migration or political escape but also represented a form of implicit political response to imperial policies. Faced with the inability to effectively control movement through its fragmented imperial bureaucracy, the Russian authorities attempted to institutionalize the exclusion of migrants through a legal apparatus of denaturalization and land redistribution. The novelty of this study lies in the use of little-studied Russian bureaucratic and official documentation related to the process of loss of subjecthood by migrants from the Semirechye region. The research utilizes materials from meetings of the Committee of Ministers, opinions of the Ministers of Internal Affairs and War, reports of the Turkestan Governor-General, official reports of military governors, and consular dispatches from Xinjiang.
All-Russian and Turkestani Exhibitions as a reflection of the Russian colonisation in Central Asia: The case of Semirechye in the 2nd half of the 19th century
Exhibitions and fairs devoted to industry, agriculture, and the arts were a major phenomenon in European countries in the 19th century, and Russia was no exception. This article demonstrates the considerable human and financial resources that were mobilised to organise exhibitions in Turkestan and Russia from the 1870s onwards. The main motivation was to promote Turkestan’s potential in order to justify the investments necessary for its administration and modernisation. Semirechye was therefore primarily represented by its products, with Russian entrepreneurs always being highlighted. The image of the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz remained associated with the nomadic way of life, focusing on exotic themes such as mobility, horses, yurts, and eagle hunting. As Russian knowledge of Turkestan developed, Centrals Asians gradually became marginalised, and the colonial view of indigenous societies and cultures was reinforced. The authors examine how Central Asians attempted to make their voices heard and promote their interests at these exhibitions, which were also designed to introduce the Russian population to the newly conquered territories thereby strengthening the unity of the Empire. The resulting expansion of knowledge about Central Asia was intended to aid in the exploitation of natural resources and the good governance of populations. The necessary modernization could only imply the disappearance of an indigenous heritage deemed archaic. Scientific societies were keen to preserve this heritage, and most of the ethnographic objects on display were kept in museums.
Copyright (c) 2025 Askarbek Bedelbaev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
On the eve of major administrative reforms in Russian Central Asia: The 1867 Moscow ethnographic exbibition, a reflection of what was at stake for local tsarist colonial administrations and Central Asian elites
This article examines the representation of Central Asia in the first Russian ethnographic exhibition of 1867 and consider the Paris World’s Fair held the same year. It focuses on the pivotal period of 1865-1867, just prior to the creation of the Turkestan General-Governorship, considering the relationship between Central Asian elites and regional tsarist administrations. The construction of a colonial vision of Central Asia was concomitant with the administrative restructuring of the region. The Russian ethnographic exhibition and the Paris World’s Fair conveyed an image of the region through artefacts collected mainly by Central Asian mediators, who were mostly Kazakhs, along with one Uzbeks and a Tatar from Tashkent. The Kazakhs belonged above all to the group of töre, descendants of khan, to whom the Tsarist authorities had granted political primacy until 1867-1868. The Uzbek and Tatar were merchants trading between Russia and Central Asia. The representations of the peoples of the Russian Empire were part of a global enterprise of modernisation based on knowledge, and the article discusses the forms of agency of Central Asians in this process. Although they were involved in preparing the exhibition, their role in selecting the objects and representing the populations was not fully recognised. They were considered merely as informants.
Conducting qualitative data collection in Abkhazia, Transnistria, and the Samegrelo region of Georgia: Methodological reflections
Copyright (c) 2025 Gaëlle Le Pavic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Georges Nivat https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Metin SÖNMEZ, George HEWITT (eds.), 2022. Abkhazia 1992-2022: Reflections on Abkhazia, Ankara: Koyusiyah Publishing, 465 p.
Françoise DAUCÉ, Benjamin LOVELUCK, Francesca MUSIANI (éds), Genèse d’un autoritarisme numérique. Répression et résistance sur Internet en Russie, 2012-2022. Paris : Presses des Mines, 2023, 224 p.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kevin Limonier https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Juliette CADIOT, 2021. La société des voleurs : propriété et socialisme sous Staline. Paris : Éditions de l’EHESS, 320 p.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sylvain Dufraisse https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Victoire FEUILLEBOIS, 2025. Faut-il brûler Pouchkine ? Paris : Éditions CNRS, 179 p.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ekaterina Gloriozova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Quand Mère Teresa et la Vierge Marie chantent pour l’Ukraine. La participation d’alyona alyona et Jerry Heil à l’Eurovision 2024 : un instrument de diplomatie culturelle ordinaire
This article examines Ukraine’s participation in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest as an instrument of ordinary cultural diplomacy, in a context of protracted war with Russia, and declining media visibility, further exacerbated by other conflicts, particularly Israel’s war with Hamas. The study focuses on the performance by alyona alyona and Jerry Heil, selected to represent Ukraine with their song Teresa & Maria. Through an analysis of the Vidbir (national selection), the interplay between aesthetic and political registers in the lyrics and staging, and the communication strategies employed by Ukrainian institutions around the contest –in close coordination with the artists– the article demonstrates how Eurovision, despite its officially apolitical stance, is mobilised by the Ukrainian state to serve its foreign policy objectives by addressing not decision-makers, but audiences distant from traditional diplomatic channels. This study aims to shed light on a contest often dismissed as mere entertainment, and to contribute to research on the contemporary uses of cultural diplomacy by introducing the concept of “ordinary diplomacy” as a framework for better understanding these dynamics.
Copyright (c) 2025 Pierre Despas https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
(In)secure Russianness: Identity narratives of Russian ethnonationalist intellectuals prior to and during the war in Ukraine (2010-2024)
This article explores the identity narratives developed by Russian ethnonationalist intellectuals on the eve of and during the war in Ukraine, which effectively began in 2014 and was resumed by the Kremlin in 2022. Drawing on literatures in nationalism studies and critical security studies, the article shifts the focus from state-centric approaches to the examination of a marginalised group of non-state actors pursuing the goal of a “Russia for ethnic Russians” [Россия для русских]. These actors are considered ideological entrepreneurs, whose writings have contributed to transforming “Russianness” [русскость], including its meaning and boundaries, into a field of symbolic struggle. Ethnonationalists’ identity narratives, marked by a pronounced sense of victimhood, did not allow for the establishment of a stable national self-identity prior to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The war has deeply affected these narratives, but its effects have proved to be quite different. Unlike the 2014 Ukraine crisis and the Donbas war, which reinforced feelings of identity uncertainty, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has become a source of ontological security in the ethnonationalist imaginary. Since 2022, the ethnonationalism that seeks to build a homogeneous nation has largely merged with Putinism. However, doubts over the outcome of the war in Ukraine and persistent ethnic tensions within Russian society could trigger renewed identity insecurity among Russian ethnonationalists and cause them to break with the Kremlin’s line once again.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jules Sergei Fediunin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2024 Anne Madelain, Bella Delacroix Ostromooukhova, Daria Petushkova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
De « national-hipsters » aux supporters de l’État en guerre : la maison d’édition ‘Centurie Noire’ et la librairie Feuillage face à l’invasion à grande échelle de l’Ukraine par la Russie en 2022
This article examines the transformation of the activity and the ideological agenda of the right-wing Russian publishing house ‘Black Centurion’ [Черная Сотня] and its associated bookshops, Foliage [Листва], in Moscow and St Petersburg, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was created in the 2010s as a student project sought as reviving the image of nationalism by making it attractive to young people. Its editorial line aimed to glorify pre-revolutionary Russia and white Russian emigration, while being very critical about the USSR and adopting a skeptical stance towards today’s Russia. A second editorial line, which was more discreet at the time, consisted in hagiographies of the “independence fighters” of Donetsk and Luhansk. The associated bookshops, with their wider and more eclectic range, were places for socializing and debate that broadened the community, sometimes opening up a dialogue with left-wing thinkers. The war in Ukraine has upset the established balance: the hagiographic component has become the publishing house’s sole editorial line, while the bookshops, which have become less accessible to the public, now bring together a more radicalized community that supports the war in Ukraine, resulting in a recomposition of collaborations and networks.
Copyright (c) 2024 Bella Ostromooukhova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Ciryl Prost interviews the historian Adjarbek Kočkunov, a citizen of the Soviet Union and then of the Kyrgyz Republic, who recounts the post-Soviet transformations of his country through his life.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ciryl Prost https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Le « nouveau tamizdat » contre la censure et la guerre : l’effervescence de l’édition russophone hors frontières depuis le 24 février 2022
The Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 re-established censorship within Russia itself, while also causing a restructuring of the publishing industry. In record time, outside of Russia, a censorship-free book chain was organized, comparable to the tamizdat of the Soviet era, and including publishers, booksellers, literary prizes, distributors, fairs, and critical media. The article examines this very recent phenomenon, based on the analysis of publications and interviews with the actors of this new book industry. It analyzes the symbolic and commercial stakes, editorial strategies and distribution of the new tamizdat.
Copyright (c) 2024 Aglaé Achechova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Le coût de l’autonomie : la trajectoire des 'Éditions du Progrès' à l’épreuve de la perestroika et la transition post-socialiste, 1986-1996
This paper examines the transition of the Soviet publishing system from a highly centralized and controlled socialist to a market-based model between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. The study focuses on the case of ‘Progress Publishers’ [Издательство Прогресс] (1963-1996), the only publishing house specialized in translating Soviet literature into foreign languages for export, which had successfully reinvented itself as the main promoter of the glasnost movement within the publishing field in the USSR during the perestroika years. Through its political engagement in support of the reforms and its quest for professional autonomy, this publisher contributed to the democratization of the public sphere and the destatization of the publishing sector in the country. The article thus examines the social and political conditions as well as the actors’ strategies that made this conversion possible, drawing on archival sources, specialized press, memoirs by former managers of the publishing house and semi-structured interviews. The aim of this study is to contribute to recent research into the historical sociology and intellectual history of publishing in Russia, and to shed light on the crucial period of transition from a Soviet to a post-Soviet context.
Copyright (c) 2024 Daria Petushkova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Circulation of the French language literature and the Croatian publishers in transition and post-transition periods
This article is based on a research which aim is to determine the circulation modalities of the French language literature translated into Croatian since 1991. We mainly focus on the position of the French language literature in the Croatian publishing houses’ catalogs, criteria for selecting titles for translation, available subventions, cooperation with different actors in the literary field, and marketing strategies used to promote translated books. After a presentation of the Croatian publishing industry and literary translations from French between 1991 and 2020, we process and analyse data collected through a survey sent to the Croatian publishers via the online platform LimeSurvey. Then we present our conclusions regarding the circulation of the French literary texts in the Croatian culture from 1991 onwards, the position of translated literature in Croatian culture and society, the social conditions of literary production, the logic of the market, the structure of the literary field and the transnational circulation of literary texts.
Copyright (c) 2024 Vanda Mikšić , Mirna Sindičić-Sabljo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
« Élever des citoyens d’un monde sans frontières ». L’évolution de l’édition jeunesse indépendante russe, 2003-2024
This article focuses on a small group of Russian children’s publishing houses that emerged between 2003 and 2013, claiming a critical stance towards the commercial “mass production” of national majors. Their editorial portfolio, anchored in the global children’s literature market, aims to foster literature that conveys “humanist values” in order to popularise the idea of “citizen of a world without borders”. The article analyses the legitimising strategies used by the founders and foundresses of these publishing houses to assert their autonomy in relation to the big corporations and the state; the oscillations of this group between the pole of restricted publishing and that of commercial production; and the way in which they build and negotiate their presence both on the national territory and on the global market. Weakened and threatened with repression by the authoritarian hardening of the Russian political regime, the publishing houses in this study play on the subtle balance between confidentiality and notoriety, constantly creating and expanding communities of thought that include book professionals and readers.
La circulation des livres dans l’espace post-yougoslave : territoires, politiques du livre et stratégies éditoriales
After the violent break-up of the Yugoslav Federation in 1991 and the end of the socialist regime, the professional book industry was reorganised within the new state and national borders, both in the former Serbo-Croatian language zone and in the Slovenian, Macedonian and Albanian-speaking territories. The large public companies combining publishing, printing and distribution activities have given way to a multitude of more or less permanent private players. Yugoslavia’s successor states have attempted to redefine book distribution channels and forms of legitimacy within the new borders. However, from the early 2000s onwards, the narrowness of markets, linguistic and cultural proximity and new post-Yugoslav cooperation encouraged publishers, authors, and distributors to expand their distribution territories, despite material and political difficulties. Furthermore, bibliographic information is an area where cooperation has proved necessary, both to manage heritage collections and to document recent releases. This article looks at several examples of the tensions between the assertion of a national –and often linguistic– territory of book production/distribution and phenomena that escape or contradict it.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anne Madelain https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Elizaveta GAUFMAN, 2023. Everyday foreign policy. Performing and consuming the Russian Nation after Crimea, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 200 p.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ekaterina Pierson-Lyzhina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Iwona KALISZEWSKA, 2023. For Putin and for Sharia. Dagestani Muslims and the Islamic State, DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 168 p.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anna Glyants https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Kateryna MALAIA, 2023. Taking the Soviet Union apart room by room. Domestic architecture before and after 1991, DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 204 p.
Copyright (c) 2024 Marina Fedorovsky https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Gilles FAVAREL-GARRIGUES, 2023. La verticale de la peur. Ordre et allégeance en Russie poutinienne, Paris : La Découverte, 304 p.
Copyright (c) 2024 Victor Violier https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cartography of Resistance: Zagreb 1941-1945: An interview
On the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of Zagreb, a few interested researchers and activists, supported by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe (RLS SEE) in partnership with Zagreb-based curatorial collective [BLOK], started to work on a project entitled Cartography of Resistance [Kartografija otpora]. The starting point is the underground networks established for the purpose of resistance to the fascist Ustasha [Ustaša] authorities during the Second World War on the territory of the Yugoslav countries (1941-1945), which were rooted in the interwar left-oriented labor movement and activism of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia [Komunistička partija Jugoslavije, KPJ]. The research has been carried out in two phases; during 2015 and 2016, and from 2020 until 2022. Both focused on spatial, organizational, political, gender and social aspects of the resistance movement. During the first phase emerged the website “kartografija-otpora.org” that mapped the resistance on the territory of the city of Zagreb. On the basis of research carried out in the second phase, the book entitled Kartografija otpora: Zagreb 1941.-1945. (ed. Josip Jagić, Marko Kostanić) was written and published. The book consists of nine chapters total, where the first three, written by Karlo Držaić, Saša Vejzagić and Josip Jagić, deal with the general institutional and social history of the resistance movement. Krešimir Zovak in his contribution tackles the Peoples’ Justice [Narodna Pravda], exploring controversial topic of Partisan courts. Barbara Blasin wrote about Antifascist Women’s Front in Zagreb, while Ana Lovreković dealt with women working for the Party’s Local Committee. Petra Šarin wrote about Agitprop and the underground printing services. Stefan Treskanica and Goran Korov, members of the team from 2015, investigated the phenomenon of Peoples’ Aid [Narodna pomoć] and explored the activities of the KPJ in the prewar period, between 1931 and 1941. The website was also updated on the basis of these findings with more than 200 locations of terror and resistance. We asked the contributors about the content and specific importance of this book.
Copyright (c) 2023 Iva Jelusic, Anna Sidorevich, Justina Smalkyte https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
In this “Stop on Archives”, the author writes about songbooks that were published during World War II on the territory of Yugoslavia. These publications are discussed as an entry point into everyday experience of the communist-led antifascist resistance. Namely, in spite of the raging war and shortages of everything from food and clothes to arms and ammunition, materials that would facilitate leisure-related activities were in high demand. The songbooks, therefore, shed light on the existence of widespread enthusiasm for cultural activities during the war. They provided the opportunity for replacing fear and pain at least temporarily with shared enjoyment and fun. But also, because the content of the songs was adapted to the wartime circumstances and guided by the demands of politics and ideology, shared fun could include the sensation of hope in the better future as well.
Copyright (c) 2023 Iva Jelusic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0