Nested Nationalism: Making and Unmaking Nations in the Soviet Union

by Krista A. Goff

Nested Nationalism is a study of the politics and practices of managing national minority identifications, rights, and communities in the Soviet Union,

and the personal and political consequences of such efforts. Titular nationalities that had republics named after them in the USSR were comparatively privileged within the boundaries of "their" republics, but they still often chafed both at Moscow's influence over republican affairs and at border Russian hegemony across the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, members of non titular communities frequently complained that nationalist republican leaders sought to build titular nations on the back of minority assimilation and erasure. Drawing on extensive archival and oral history research conducted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Georgia, and Moscow, Krista A. Goff argues that Soviet nationality policies produced recursive, nested relationships between majority and minority nationalisms and national identifications in the USSR.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[loitering outside 711 · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times this book can feel like it’s just listening statistics but ultimately is a fascinating case study that has important implications for those interested in the national question