Unveiling Tradition

Abstract

This chapter unpacks the sociopolitical atmosphere in which the Russian popular view of its own Orient was born. It discusses how Russian images of eastern and southern “others,” crystallized in maligned form in bylinas, historical, and children’s songs, were promoted through the publication of song collections and how these representations generated hostile attitudes toward Russia’s eastern and southern neighbors. During the time of conflicts within Russia and wars in the east, the folk songs describing “evil Chechens,” monstrous Tatars, and aggressive Turks camouflaged Russia’s own internal problems. The chapter notes the changes in collections of Russian folk songs that occurred at the end of the nineteenth century: some of Russia’s ethnic minorities who embraced Orthodox Christianity and adopted a Russian way of life (e.g., Cheremis) were included in collections of “Russian” (russkii) folk songs. Due to the shift in imperial projects, different ethnic minorities, despite their cultural differences, were embraced as members of the multiethnic empire.