Reading:
Ethnic Minorities, Anthropology, and Russian National Identity on Trial: The Multan Case, 1892-96 Author(s): Robert Geraci Source: Russian Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 530-554 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2679277 .
1.) An in depth review of the Multan case, what was it about? Really show you understand the story, from the first trial to the last one, and then to the last appeal and the final acquittal of the Votiaks.
2.) Focus on the Reformed Courts and how the very introduction of the court of jury made the Multan case possible.
(The juries in the Multan case were not some abstract “Russians” or the abstract “Russian empire.” These were Russian – peasant neighbors of the accused Votiaks. They belonged to the same social class as the accused. Moreover, the reformed court became the place for public debates with important political implications. In the Multan case, it took three trials, the mobilization of modern science and public opinion, and the appeal to the highest court, the Senate, to deliberate and resolve the issue. Without these new provisions and the modern legal competitive procedure introduced by the reform, the Votiaks would have been accused simply by the decision of the local police.)
3.) Think about the role the modern knowledge played in the courtroom. Analyze the role modern knowledge played in the courtroom, especially the Smirnov’s testimony, but also the intervention of Korolenko and other ethnographic evidences.
Smirnov:
Smirnov’s “logic” and “vigor”: he was an ethnographer, a man who produced modern knowledge, who practiced comparative ethnography. Before the trial he claimed that Votiaks were developing into Russians and were to become a part of the Russian nation. However, during the trial he offered a theory that claimed that because one could locate references to human sacrifice in the Votiak folklore, one could assume that they continued this practice into the present. Moreover, due to the absence of viable material evidences, Smirnov’s scholarly speculations served as the main arguments in favor of the accusation.
4.) Conclusion: General assessment of the historical moment in the Russian empire when different concepts of Russianness and non-Russianness coexisted and collided in the courtroom.
Some questions to think about while writing:
How was Russianess and non-Russianess defined in the courtroom by the defenders of the Votiaks (Korolenko and others) – on the one hand, and by Smirnov – on the other? How Smirnov explained the possibility of Votiaks’ (a non-Russian, non-Christian group) integration in the Russian nation before the trial? What was the role of modern knowledge in the case?
-Really understand the Multan case and the readings entirety.
-Everything should be taken from the reading, attached is a ppt briefly describing the Great Reform.
-Cite in paper correctly, use page numbers of the exact Geraci page, use footnotes if necessary.