• DOI:10.2298/FID1502458S
• Corpus ID: 147908369

Postcolonial studies and post-Soviet societies: The possibilities and the limitations of their intersection

@article{Suboti2015PostcolonialSA,
  title={Postcolonial studies and post-Soviet societies: The possibilities and the limitations of their intersection},
  author={Milan Suboti{\'c}},
  journal={Filozofija I Drustvo},
  year={2015},
  volume={26},
  pages={458-480}
}

• Milan Subotić
• Published 2015
• Art
• Filozofija I Drustvo

Starting with a short review of the postcolonial studies’ origins, this paper
considers the question of their application in the study of history and
contemporary state of the post-Soviet societies. Aspirations of the leading
theorists of postcolonial studies not to restrict their field of research on
the relation of imperial metropoles (First World) and its (post)colonial
periphery (Third World) have not met with the acceptance in post-Soviet
societies’ academia. With the exception of the famous debates on „the
Balkans“ that are not the subject of this paper, the paradigm of
post-colonialism is rarely used in the interpretation of past and present of
the former socialist states (Second World). Rejecting the thesis of their own
(post)colonial status in most of Eastern European countries is usually based
on a rejection of the assumption of the Soviet-style communism’s „civilizing
mission“. From the same perspective, the Soviet Union is not considered a
colonial metropole, but an occupying force, and the epoch of socialism is
interpreted as externally imposed breach of the historical developments based
on the European model. On the other hand, the concept of these countries’
transition opens up the issue of their (post)colonial status in relation to
„Europe“ as the center of economic, political and cultural power. Therefore,
the postcolonial critique of post-Soviet societies is more often focused on
the thematisation of neo-imperial domination and neo-colonial dependency
phenomena, than on the explanation of their socialist past. The author’s
opinion is that it doesn’t mean that a number of concepts of postcolonial
theory - such as „internal colonialism“ - cannot be productively used to a
fuller understanding of the Soviet past, nor that in the interpretation of
post-Soviet realities’ „hybrid forms“ the postcolonial studies cannot be of
use. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 149026]