Course title

Introduction to Mountain Cultures of the Caucasus

Course Duration

One semester.

Number of credits & work load

6 ECTS (30 contact hours with students throughout semester (15 sessions/120 minutes & 120 hours for students’ independent work throughout semester incl. book review, research paper)

Contact hours

30 contact hours (15 sessions a 120 minutes)

Lecturer

Dr. Oliver Reisner, oliver.reisner@iliauni.edu.ge ; Teaching Assistant: None

Requirements for participation

BA degree, Introduction into research methodology, Basics of social, historical or political sciences or comparable; statistics an advantage. English language on working level (B2) is obligatory; Interest in the topic, political & social concepts, comparative politics, if possible some introduction to the EU/European Studies.

Teaching & Learning Methods

15 combined lecture/seminar sessions with practical work, debates, short inputs (5-10 min.), one elaborated presentation (15-20 min.), one book review, one course work (case study of up to 3.000 words).

Objectives of the course

Objectives of the course: The study of the mountain cultures of the Caucasus has been one major field of inquiry in Caucasus studies. In this seminar, we will explore & discuss major studies, theoretical & conceptual approaches of research applied. Afterwards we will apply them in case studies to developments of the Caucasus. The thematic focus of the seminar is on commonalities and specifics of societal, political and intellectual development in different parts of the Caucasus (mainly Svaneti, Khevsureti, Tusheti, Daghestan, Chechnia, Circassia). MA students who take this course are encouraged to examine themes of their own choice of one specific topic related to their history, everyday life and traditions, political and social structures as well as the history of their research.

Key questions: What are the specifics of mountainous cultures in the Caucasus? How did they develop under different influences of the lowlands, neighbouring regions & cultures? When do they meet rejection & resistance, especially considering the possible rivalry of different scripts?

Major focus for MA students:

1. Criteria for the assessment of Caucasian mountain cultures by discussing a concrete case or practical application;
2. Knowledge of the main trends of the concept and approaches on Caucasus Studies applied to mountain cultures (exemplified in a book review);
3. Formulation and implementation of a small case study (including outline and bibliography for the selected research topic).

Major topics

1. Introduction & discussion of the concepts of mountain cultures for the Caucasus;

2. Checking different approaches & operationalization of interdisciplinary research applied to the Caucasus, esp. in comparative analysis;

3. Reflective understanding of the condition and research of Caucasian mountain cultures;

4. Writing of small case study on a self-chosen topic (essay, 3.000 words).

Learning outcomes & Competences (subject specific & general) - Level of skills & values acquired after finishing the course

• Knowledge & Awareness: theories & concepts of research on mountain cultures in social practices, politics intellectual history;
• Application of Knowledge/Practical Skills: small case study on selected topic from the Caucasus or for comparative reasons from other countries as well;
• General/Transferable Skills: critical reading, interpretation of present developments and/or events in a historical dimension, short book review, presentation;
• Learning Skills: Applying theoretical and conceptual knowledge in the formulation of a research hypothesis and its application in practice;
• Reasoning: Reflection on the interrelationship between past & present;
• Values: diversity, multiperspectivity, hybridity and empathy.

Assessment Criteria

Participation (20%): Preparedness (5%), active contribution to discussion (10%), timely delivery of assignments (5%);

Presentation(s) (20%): Structure & media (5%), adequate academic terminology (5%), intelligibility & relevance of argument (10%);

Book review (20%): Content (10%), academic context (5%), personal assessment (5%);

Research outline (10%): Idea (5%), Methodology (5%);

Research paper (max. 3,000 words) on developing a data base project (30%): Theory & Concept (5%), evidence (5%), structure (5%), form & style (5%), relevance (5%).

Administrative support

Zviad Darchiashvili, Ilia State University, Science and Arts Faculty 3/5, Choloqashvili Ave., Room # E 241, Tel.: (+995 32) 223 10 18. Email: zviad.darchiashvili@iliauni.edu.ge

Core Literature

BADDELEY, John F.: The Russian conquest of the Caucasus. With a new foreword by Moshe Gammer. [Reprint der Ausg. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1908]. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999 (Georgian translation available).

BAMMATE, Haidar: Le Caucase et la révolution russe. Paris 1929.

BARDAVELIDZE, Vera: The Institution of 'modzmeoba' (adoptive brotherhood): an Aspect of the History of the Relations between Mountain and Valley Populations in Georgia, in: Tamara Dragadze (ed.), Kinship and Marriage in the Soviet Union. Field Studies. London 1984, pp. 173-188.

BARRETT, Thomas M., At the Edge of Empire. The Terek Cossacks and the North Caucasus Frontier, 1700-1860. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1999.

BARTH, Frederik (ed.): Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: the Social Organization of Culture Difference. Bergen/Oslo 1969.

BROWER, Daniel, LAZZERINI, Edward (ed.): Russia's Orient. Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700-1917. Bloomington 1997.

BROXUP, Marie Bennigsen (ed.): The North Caucasus Barrier. The Russian Advance Towards the Muslim World. N.Y. 1992.

CHENCINER, Robert: Daghestan: tradition & survival. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1997.

GOULD, Rebecca: Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek in Chechen Culture, in: Kritika: Explorations in Russian & Eurasian History 8:2 (2007), pp. 271-306.

GRIGOLIA, Alexander: Custom and justice in Caucasia: the Georgian highlanders. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1939 (Reprint: New York: AMS Press, [1980]).

HENZE, Paul: Fire and Sword in the Caucasus: The 19^th-Century Resistance of the North Caucasian Mountaineers, in: Central Asian Survey 2 (1983) H.1, S. 5-44.

HEWITT, George (ed.): The Abkhazians: a handbook. A’psuaa. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999 (Peoples of the Caucasus; 5).

JERSILD, Austin: Orientalism and Empire: North Caucasus mountain peoples a. the Georgian frontier, 1845-1917. London; Ithaca: McGill-Queen's Univ. press, Montreal & Kingston, 2002. NPLG: E 86.134/3, E 84.215/3 0

-        Imperial Russification: Dagestani mountaineers in Russian exile, 1877-1883, in: Central Asian Survey 19 (2000) H.1, pp. 5-16.

MELIKIŠVILI, G. A.: An Attempt to Characterize the Socio-Economic Structure of Early Class Society Among the Georgian Mountaineers, in: Vestnik drevnej istorii 1984 no.1, pp. 27-50.

NASMYTH, Peter: Georgia. In the mountains of poetry. Richmond: Curzon Press, 3^rd rev. ed. 2006. NPLG: E 86.261/3, E 84.331/3 0

PEROVIC, Jeronim: From Conquest to Deportation: The North Caucasus under Russian Rule. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2018.

ROBAKIDZE, A. I.: Habitation et villages des Montagnards de la Géorgie dans le passe et de nos jours. Moscou 1960.

SMITH, Sebastian: Allah's mountains: politics and war in the Russian Caucasus. London: Tauris, 1998.

THEISEN, Søren: Mountaineers, Racketeers and the Ideals of Modernity – State building and Elite-Competition in Caucasia, in: Ole Hoiris, Sefa Martin Yürükel (eds.), Contrasts and Solutions in the Caucasus. Aarhus 1998, pp. 140-158.

WARE, Robert B., KISRIEV, Enver: Dagestan: Russian hegemony and Islamic resistance in the North Caucasus. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. ISU Call number: 947.52 W 26.

Texts in Russian

ANCHABADZE, Ju., VOLKOVA, N.G.: Etnicheskaya istoriya Severnogo Kavkaza XVI-XIX veka. Moskva: Nauka, 1993

BAEV, Gappo: Naučnoe izučenie gorskich narodov Kavkaza. Tiflis: Tip. Gruzinsk. Pravit, 1921 (13 pp.).

BERZHE, A. P. (ed.): Akty, sobrannye i izdannye Kavkazskoju archeografičeskoju komissieju. Vol. 1-12 Tiflis 1866-1904.

BLIEV, Mark Maksimovič: K probleme obščestvennogo stroja gorskich (>vol'nych<) obščestv severo-vostočnogo i severo-zapadnogo Kavkaza XVIII - pervoj poloviny XIX veka, in: Istorija SSSR 1989 no.4, pp. 151-168.

CHARTOLANI, Shota: K istorii nagor'ja zapadnoj Gruzii doklassovoj ėpochi. Tb. 1989

GASVIANI, Gerontij A.: Social'no-ėkonomičeskaja stuktura Svaneti v XI-XVIII vv. Tb. 1980.

KALOEV, Boris Al.: M. M. Kovalevskij i ego issledovanija gorskich narodov Kavkaza. Moskva: Nauka, 1979.

KHADZHIEV, A., Nik. Feof. Jakovlev, M. V. Beljaev: Kul'tura i pi´smennost' gorskich narodov Severnogo Kavkaza; <Sbornik statej>. Vladikavkaz: (Krajkom NA i Krajnacizdat), 1930 (171 S. 4").

KORZUN, Viktor B.: Fol'klor gorskich narodov Severnogo Kavkaza; Min. prosveščenija RSFSR. Rost.-na-Donu gos. pedag. Inst.; <Dooktjab’rskij period>. Groznyj: Čečeno-inguš. kn. Izd., 1966.

KOTOVICH, Valentina Mich.: Drevnejšie pisanicy gornogo Dagestana. Moskva: Nauka, 1976 (98 S.).

KROJAKOV, N.: Šamil': Očerk iz istorii borby narodov Kavkaza za nezavisimost'. Moskva: Gos. Voenn. Izd. Narkomata oborony SSSR, 1940 (92 pp.).

Nart: Zizn‘ Mansura, velikago borca za nezavisimost' kavkazskich gorcev. (Konstantinopol'), 1924 (32 pp.).

Sbornik Naučnogo Obščestva Ėtnografii, Jazyka i Literatury pri Gorskom Pedagogičeskom Institute [= Abhandl. der Wiss. Ges. d. Ethnographie, Sprach- und Lit.-wissenschaft am Päd. Inst. für Bergvölker des Nord-Kaukasus]. Vladikavkaz: Inst., 1929-1929.

Vol'nye gorcy; Organ Narodnoj partii vol'nych gorcev Kavkaza. Neperiodičeskij zurnal. Otv. red.: Jaromír Jiránek. Prag: (Koundouh), 1928, No 6.

Texts in Georgian / ქართულ ენაზე:

KHOSHT'ARIA-BROSE, E.: svanetis adgili kartuli peodalur socialur-p'olit'ik'ur sist'emaši mtisa da baris urtiertobis p'roblemis šukze [Svaneti’s place in the Georgian feudal social-political system in the light of the problem of the relationship of mountainous regions and plains], in: ibid. (ed.), peodaluri xanis sakartvelos mtisa da baris urtiertobis sak'itxebi (ist'oriograpiuli da c'arotmcodneobiti dziebani) [Questions of the Relationship between Mountain Regions and Plains in Georgia of the Feudal Era: Historiographic and Source Studies]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1984, pp. 51-68.

MARGIANI, Gr. [მარგიანი, გრ.]: სამთამადნო მრეწველობა და სამრეწველო პროლეტარიატი რევოლუციამდელ საქართველოში. მარგანეცის მრეწველობა [Mining companies and industrial proletariat in revolutionary Georgia. The manganese ore promotion]. Tb. 1968 (481 pp.)

საქართველოს მთიანეთის სოციალურ-ეკონომიკური განვითარების თავისებურებები ფეოდალიზმის ხანაში [Peculiarities of the socio-economic development of the mountainous regions of Georgia in the period of feudalism]. Tb. 1983.

Texts in German:

DIRR, A.: Aus dem Gewohnheitsrecht der kaukasischen Bergvölker, in: Zsf. f. vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft 41 (1925), pp. 1-128.

ERCKERT, Roderich von: Der Kaukasus und seine Völker. Nach eigener Anschauung von R. v. E. Leipzig 1887.

ESSAD BEY (= LEO NOUSSIMBAUM): Der Kaukasus, seine Berge, Völker und Geschichte. Mit 33 Abb. auf Kunstdruckpapier und Karton. Berlin 1931 (Dt. Buchgemeinschaft, 339 pp.).

HALBACH, Uwe: Die Bergvölker (gorcy) als Gegner und Opfer: Der Kaukasus in der Wahrnehmung Rußlands (Ende des 18. Jh. bis 1864), in: M. Alexander et al. (ed.), Kleine Völker in der Geschichte Osteuropas. Stuttgart 1991, pp. 52-65.

KOHLMEYER, Kay; SAHERWALA, Geraldine (Hg.): Frühe Bergvölker in Armenien und im Kaukasus: Berliner Forschungen d. 19. Jh.; Ausstellung d. Museums f. Vor- u. Frühgeschichte Berlin, Staatl. Museen Preuß. Kulturbesitz u. d. Berliner Ges. für Anthropologie, Ethnologie u. Urgeschichte. Berlin [West], 1983.

LADYŽENSKIJ, A. M.: Entstehung und Entwicklung des Staates bei den kaukasischen Bergvölkern, in: Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Soziologie (Leipzig) vol. 6 & 7 (1930-1931), pp. 428-445 & pp. 33-51.

LAPINSKI, Theophil: Die Bergvölker des Kaukasus und ihr Freiheitskampf gegen die Russen; Nach eigener Anschauung geschildert von Theophil Lapinski <Tefik Bey>. Hamburg: Hoffmann u. Campe, 1863 (Bd 1. 2).

PLAETSCHKE, Bruno: Die Tschetschenen: Forschungen zur Völkerkunde des nordöstlichen Kaukasus auf Grund von Reisen in den Jahren 1918-20 und 1927/28. Hamburg 1929.

Additional online resources:

Scientific Network for the Caucasus Mountain Region - http://caucasus-mt.net/

University Bern: Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) http://www.gmba.unibe.ch/

კვირების თემატიკა

For topics per week see Course Schedule next page!

No.

Topic (Lecture/practical work/etc.)

Reading Materials

1

Introduction to Mountain Cultures of the Caucasus: Course topic & outline, schedule, assignments, deadlines

None

2

Defining mountain cultures:

Spatial and ethno-linguistic structure of the Caucasus -

Concepts for assessment: How do we understand mountain cultures?

1) COENE, Frederic: Introduction to the Caucasus. London: Routledge, 2010; 2) DE WAAL, Thomas: Introduction to the Caucasus; 3) Assignment: Short presentations on geography, language, habitat based on introductions.

3

Accesses to the study of the mountain regions of the Caucasus in comparison

1) CHENCINER, Daghestan; 2) GRIGOLIA, Custom and Justice: Highlanders in Georgia;

4

Oath-taking Confederations in Svaneti and Dagestan

1. GADZHIEVA, Dagestanskie azerbajdzhantsy; 2. OKINASHVILI, 3. VOELL (2016); 3. BLIEV 1989

After five weeks - Deadline Book Review (max. 1,000 words)

5

Artificial relationship & symbolic community in mountain communities

1. KANDELAKI; 2. BARDAVELIDZE, Adoptive Brotherhood; 3. GOULD, Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek in Chechen Culture

6

The “Caucasus War” – Russia’s Advance into the Caucasus Mountains

1. PEROVIC, From Conquest to Deportation (1-102); 2. KEMPER, Islamic Educational Elites; 3. HENZE, Fire & Sword in the Caucasus; 4. BADDELEY, The Russian conquest of the Caucasus. Review 1: BROXUP, The North Caucasus Barrier.

7

From Tsarist conquest to Soviet rule in the North Caucasus: co-optation, resistance, deportation

1. PEROVIC, From Conquest to Deportation (103-314).

8

From Tsarist conquest to Soviet rule in the South Caucasus: co-optation, resistance, deportation

GRIGOLIA, Custom and justice in Caucasia: the Georgian highlanders.

After nine weeks - Deadline Research Outline (max. 1,000 words)

9

From Chrushchev to Gorbachev: economic and social developments

1. PEROVIC, From Conquest to Deportation (315-328).

10

The end of the USSR and the consequences in the Caucasus

1. SMITH, Sebastian: Allah's mountains;

2. THEISEN, Mountaineers, Racketeers and the Ideals of Modernity

3. WARE & KISRIEV, Dagestan (Review)

11

Chechen wars in the Russian Federation

1. SMITH, Sebastian: Allah's mountains;

2. HERPEN, Marcel H. van: Putin's wars : the rise of Russia's new imperialism. (Review)

3. HOWARD, Glen E. (ed.), Volatile borderland: Russia and the North Caucasus. Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 2012. (Review)

12

Making Sense of the Past among Caucasian Mountain Peoples: Problems of Historiography

1) DERLUGUIAN, Georgi: Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus. A World-System Biography. Chicago 2005 (Review)

2) GOULD, Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek in Chechen Culture

3) NASMYTH, Peter: Georgia. In the mountains of poetry (Review)

13

State Building and Law Implementation in the Mountains

1) VOELL, Stéphane / Kaliszewska, Iwona (eds.): State and Legal Practice in the Caucasus. Anthropological Perspectives on Law and Politics. 2014;

2) MÜHLFRIED, Florian: Being a State and States of Being in Highland Georgia. New York & Oxford: Berghahn, 2014.

14

Social and economic change among mountain people - Representations: self-assurance and impersonation

SPEHN, Eva M.: Mountain biodiversity and global change. Basel: Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment, 2010. ISU Call number: 333.95 M 90

15

Concluding Discussion: What are the future perspectives for the mountain peoples and cultures of the Caucasus?

To be announced

Deadline for case study February 1, 2019 (up to 3.000 words)

Knowledge and understanding

Applying knowledge

Making judgments

Communications skills

Learning skills

Values

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