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The image of Genghis Khan and ethnic identities in Post-Soviet Russia

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Abstract

The recent rise of Asia as a global geopolitical center has led to renewed interest in Asian history, not just by Asians but by Europeans as well. Genghis Khan is one of those figures who attracts attention, and several movies on him have recently been created. One of them was made in Russia and has led to broad public response. These responses have made it possible to gauge the views of the Russian public on the role of Russia in the global community and the relationship between Russians and ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation.

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Notes

  1. The movie is quite an event in Russian cultural life, and its artistic quality was acknowledged in the West, where it received the Nika Award. See O’Neil (2008); “Pravitel’stvo Mongolii vydelelo 480 mln.tugrikov na fil’m o Chingis Khane,” Izvestia, October 23, 2006.

  2. “Bodrov-starshii snimaet v Mongolii kartinu o iunom Chingiskhane,” Izvestia, December 30, 2007.

  3. “J8kb7” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=330.

  4. “J8kb7” comments, http://inosmi.ru.forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=20.

  5. “Ufa”comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/view thread?thread 24748%offset=130.

  6. “Interesno” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?threat=24748% offset=60.

  7. “Kartmann” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748%offset=200.

  8. “Nicholay” comments, http://unsorted.ru/topic47748.html.

  9. “Ni-kola-US” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=50.

  10. “Ufa” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=200.

  11. “Molecula” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/view thread?thread=24748%offset=350; “Serg-186i” comments, http://medrazona.ru/forum/index.php3?=854203a6d7a4d69fd2f90f5e00599e ba%antomod.

  12. “Lacota” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748%offset=160.

  13. “Kasparov” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=340.

  14. “J8kb7” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=101.

  15. Fomenko is extremely popular with present-day Russian historians, who usually ignore conventional chronology. Khara-Davan, a participant in the Eurasian movement in the 1920s–1930s, was the author of a book on Genghis Khan, whom he praised as a military/political genius, Chingis-Khan kak polkovodets i ego nasledie (Belgrad: Izd.Avtora, 1929); “Asura” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=80.

  16. “Obratov” comments http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=130.

  17. “Obratov” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=110.

  18. “J8kb7” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=170.

  19. “Vektiniov” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=60.

  20. “Railway” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=160.

  21. “Lacota” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=250.

  22. “Oberov” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=80.

  23. “Ky3bku//llalla,”{fix characters}http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748%offset=60.

  24. “NVA” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/ viewthread?thread=24748% offset=20.

  25. See Rothacher (2008)

  26. “VTS” comments http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748%offset =140.

  27. “Bolenic” comments, http:/forum.tatar.info/index.php?showtopic=420%mode=threaded%pid =48203.

  28. “Reaktsiia mongolov na ‘Mongola,’ Film on Mongols Dismays Nation,” Live Journal, http://lcommunity.livejournal.com.ru_mongol.26645.html, December, 2007.

  29. For a recent scholarly view of Russia as an Asiatic country, see Knoblock (2008).

  30. “Litwa” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748% offset=0.

  31. “J8kb7” comments, http://inosmi.ru/forum/themes/viewthread?thread=24748%offset=180.

  32. Comparing Stalin and Genghis Khan was popular among Europeans. It was not accidental that, on Stalin’s death, Winston Churchill mentioned the death of the Great Khan in the twelfth-century Batu invasion of Europe. Batu, grandson of Genghis Khan, held his advance and moved back to Mongolia to participate in the election of the new Great Khan. In the same way, in Churchill’s view, Stalin’s death spared Europeans from the advance of the Red Army, implicitly compared with the Mongol hordes.

  33. There is evidence that Hitler read The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy by Michael Prawdin, émigré historian of the Mongol conquest. The work was quite popular and had several editions.

References

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  • Ganiiants M (2007) Sergei Bodrov-starshii snial fil’m o Chingiskhane. Izvestia, August 23, 2007

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Indiana University, P.O. Box 7111, South Bend, Indiana, 46634-7111, USA

    Dmitry Shlapentokh

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  1. Dmitry Shlapentokh
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Correspondence to Dmitry Shlapentokh.

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Shlapentokh, D. The image of Genghis Khan and ethnic identities in Post-Soviet Russia. Asia Eur J 7, 491–504 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-009-0236-0

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