Refugees, Immigrants and Émigrés: A Reinterpretation of the Russian "Émigré" Community in Prague, 1919-1939

Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of History
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Haverford users only
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
Throughout the interwar era, every European capital hosted communities of transnationally displaced Russians as a consequence of the October Revolution. Previous scholars of the interwar Russians have paralleled their experience of displacement with the experience of the France émigrés of the late 18th century. Yet these scholars have neglected to deconstruct the classification 'émigré.' This thesis reveals that the term carries particular implications about the experience of displacement and intimations about the character of the displaced that, ultimately, do not reflect the identity of the interwar Russians. This thesis asserts that the term 'refugee', which implies forced dislocation, better portrays the identity of the uprooted Russian community. Why then have historians privileged the term 'émigré' in their analyses? This work argues that a coterie of Russian refugees, consciously modeling themselves on the French émigré archetype, recast the experience of displacement to express an opposition to the Sovietization of Russia. It is this imaginary émigré identity that posterity has mistook for the community's true nature. This thesis focuses on the Russian community in Prague because only there could the construction of an identity flourish to its fullest extent due to the support provided by the Czechoslovak Republic. Conceptually, this thesis stresses the relationship between nomenclature and identity. It recognizes that there are assumptions built into the categorizations used to identify those who experience transnational dislocation. This thesis asserts the importance of classification in our interpretations of the displaced and, by doing so, reaffirms the importance of language's relationship to identity.
Description
Citation
Collections