Where have all the natsmen gone? Ethnic Minorities in the Post-Soviet Area

The proposed project investigates ethnic minorities in the Post-Soviet area. Its main concept is ethnicity, which is understood as a discursive formation; therefore, the main objetcs of interest are self-perceptions of minorities and their relations with ethnic majorities or states as such. The aim of the project is to explore how the situation of ethnic minorities has transformed since the breakup of the USSR, specifically, how their identities and current minority-majority relations have been affected by the legacy of the Soviet ethnic policy, by the influence of nationalizing policies of individual Post-Soviet states, and by the influence of external actors. The project aims to fill two research gaps First, the proposed project intends to avoid the stereotype of the prevailing discourse on ethnic minorities in the Post-Soviet area, which typically emphasizes their conflict potential. Second, while research on minorities in the Post-Soviet area is typically realized by means of case studies, the proposed project has a character of systematic cross-regional comparison.

Project team of FSV UK (1)

doc. PhDr. Slavomír Horák, Ph.D.

Co-investigator at FSV