"the Touch Of Civilization": Comparing American And Russian Internal Colonization
by Steven Sabol /
2017 / English / PDF
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The Touch of Civilization
The Touch of Civilization is a comparative history of the
United States and Russia during their efforts to
colonize and assimilate two indigenous groups of
people within their national borders: the Sioux of the Great
Plains and the Kazakhs of the Eurasian Steppe. In the revealing
juxtaposition of these two cases author Steven Sabol
elucidates previously unexplored connections between the
state building and colonizing projects these powers pursued
in the nineteenth century.
is a comparative history of the
United States and Russia during their efforts to
colonize and assimilate two indigenous groups of
people within their national borders: the Sioux of the Great
Plains and the Kazakhs of the Eurasian Steppe. In the revealing
juxtaposition of these two cases author Steven Sabol
elucidates previously unexplored connections between the
state building and colonizing projects these powers pursued
in the nineteenth century.
This critical examination of internal colonization—a form of
contiguous continental expansion, imperialism, and colonialism
that incorporated indigenous lands and peoples—draws a corollary
between the westward-moving American pioneer and the
eastward-moving Russian peasant. Sabol examines how and why
perceptions of the Sioux and Kazakhs as ostensibly uncivilized
peoples and the Northern Plains and the Kazakh Steppe as
“uninhabited” regions that ought to be settled reinforced
American and Russian government sedentarization policies and land
allotment programs. In addition, he illustrates how both
countries encountered problems and conflicts with local
populations while pursuing their national missions of
colonization, comparing the various forms of Sioux and Kazakh
martial, political, social, and cultural resistance evident
throughout the nineteenth century.
This critical examination of internal colonization—a form of
contiguous continental expansion, imperialism, and colonialism
that incorporated indigenous lands and peoples—draws a corollary
between the westward-moving American pioneer and the
eastward-moving Russian peasant. Sabol examines how and why
perceptions of the Sioux and Kazakhs as ostensibly uncivilized
peoples and the Northern Plains and the Kazakh Steppe as
“uninhabited” regions that ought to be settled reinforced
American and Russian government sedentarization policies and land
allotment programs. In addition, he illustrates how both
countries encountered problems and conflicts with local
populations while pursuing their national missions of
colonization, comparing the various forms of Sioux and Kazakh
martial, political, social, and cultural resistance evident
throughout the nineteenth century.
Presenting a nuanced, in-depth history and contextualizing US and
Russian colonialism in a global framework,
Presenting a nuanced, in-depth history and contextualizing US and
Russian colonialism in a global framework,The Touch of
Civilization
The Touch of
Civilization will be of significant value to students and
scholars of Russian history, American and Native American
history, and the history of colonization.
will be of significant value to students and
scholars of Russian history, American and Native American
history, and the history of colonization.