The Pre-War USSR and the National Question: Adygea in an Essay by the American Journalist J. Kunitz (1931)
https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2023-4-326-338
EDN: LAMWLE
Abstract
This article analyzes an essay by the American writer J. Kunitz, who traveled across the Republic of Adygea in the early 1930s as part of a group of foreign writers to the southern parts of the USSR. The main theme of the essay of the foreign journalist was the consideration of the methods and ways of solving the national question in the Soviet Union using the example of the Adyghe population. At the same time, the essay examines the process of a radical restructuring of the national republic, both in terms of production and economics, and as part of a change in the very social structure of traditional Caucasian society. Kjunitz documents the transformation of fundamental social institutions in Adygea, such as the role of the family and women, religion, and education, in comparison to pre-revolutionary eras. The American author expresses his feelings openly, passionately praising the changes he sees before his eyes as modernization and a true “cultural revolution” in the life of the Adyghe people.
Keywords
Adygea,
USA,
American literature,
Kerashev,
Kunitz,
USSR,
socialism,
collectivization,
modernization.
About the Author
Dmitry Nikolaevich Khristenko
Russian State Agrarian University – K.A. Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
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Review
For citations:
Khristenko D.N. The Pre-War USSR and the National Question: Adygea in an Essay by the American Journalist J. Kunitz (1931). E-Journal “Kavkazologiya”. 2023;(4):326-338. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2023-4-326-338. EDN: LAMWLE
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