Talk on The Caucasus in 1917-1921: Does a Regional Perspective Really Work?

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk

 on

The Caucasus in 1917-1921: Does a Regional Perspective Really Work?

by

Sarah Slye, University of Cambridge

Date: 6 June

Time: 11am-1pm

In Person Venue: Room S2, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge

Online Zoom registration link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/CKbftfEzQDa9PMk6OGRBIQ#/regis...

Everyone is welcome.

Abstract: Considering the complex demographic makeup of the Caucasus region, historians have often tended to focus on the distinct experiences of its nations and peoples while questioning the applicability of a regional framework. However, a regional perspective can be useful for exploring the degree to which these experiences were shared or diverged. In this presentation, I demonstrate through chronological review that writing the history of the Caucasus during the Russian Revolution and Civil War from a regional perspective is useful for showing how the events and actors of the period were interlinked across the isthmus. I also argue that this synthesis is fitting because the leaders of the period also thought and operated in regional terms. 

Biography: Sarah Slye has a BA in Russian Studies (University of Alaska Fairbanks), MA in Russian and East European Studies (UNC Chapel Hill), MA in Near Eastern Studies (University of Arizona) and a PhD in History (University of Cambridge). Her research interests include Russia's war against Chechnya; authoritarianism in Georgia; the transnational revolutionary movement, anarchism and nationalism in the Caucasus; Caucasian regionalism as an ideology; the Caucasian emigres in the Interwar period; the Russian Revolution and Civil War.