Overview

Debates over the remote and beguiling Southern Kuril Islands have revealed a kaleidoscope of divergent and contradictory ideas, convictions, and beliefs on what constitutes the “national” identity of post-Soviet Russia. Forming part of an archipelago stretching from Kamchatka to Hokkaido, administered by Russia but claimed by Japan, these disputed islands offer new perspectives on the ways in which territorial visions of the nation are refracted, inverted, and remade in a myriad of different ways. At the Edge of the Nation provides a unique account of how the Southern Kurils have shaped the parameters of the Russian state and framed debates on the politics of identity in the post-Soviet era. By shifting the debate beyond a proliferation of Eurocentric and Moscow-focused writings, Paul B. Richardson reveals broad alternatives and possibilities for Russian identity in Asia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Russia was suffering the fragmentation of empire and a sudden decline in its international standing, these disputed islands became symbolic of a much larger debate on self image, nationalism, national space, and Russia’s place in world politics. When viewed through the prism of the Southern Kurils, ideas associated with the “border,” “state,” and “nation” become destabilized, uncovering new insights into state-society relations in modern Russia. At the Edge of the Nation explores how disparate groups of political elites have attempted to use these islands to negotiate enduring tensions within Russia’s identity, and traces how the destiny of these isolated yet evocative islands became irrecoverably bound to the destiny of Russia itself.

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Reviews

Paul B. Richardson casts a critical eye over the highly disputed Kuril Islands (Chishima in Japanese) in the North Pacific Ocean. Claimed and coveted by Japan, administered and occupied by Russia. While Europeans focus on the near abroad closest to their borderlands, this book reminds us that territorial visions are being made and remade in the Russian Far East. The dots on the map are integral to making sense of the how, what, and where of Russia. At the Edge of the Nation is an indispensable guide.--Klaus Dodds, Royal Holloway University of London Paul Richardson's At the Edge of the Nation is both a sophisticated study of the Kuril Islands--a strategic pivot in Russo-Japanese relations--and a thoughtful reflection on wider issues of nationalism and territorial sovereignty in the context of Russia. It will be invaluable reading for specialists of the region, as well as for scholars of ethnicity and nationalism generally.--Franck Bill , University of California, Berkeley Paul Richardson has written a must-read for anyone interested in identity politics in post-Soviet Russia. By shifting our focus from well-known sites of Russian nationhood to a seemingly insignificant space at the edge of the former empire, and from Russia's obsession with the West to Russian identity in Asia, this book forces the reader to rethink dominant assumptions about how Russia's national space has been imagined since 1991 and to reconsider what the political consequences of this reimagining might be.--Vera Tolz, University of Manchester

Paul B. Richardson casts a critical eye over the highly disputed Kuril Islands (Chishima in Japanese) in the North Pacific Ocean. Claimed and coveted by Japan, administered and occupied by Russia. While Europeans focus on the near abroad closest to their borderlands, this book reminds us that territorial visions are being made and remade in the Russian Far East. The dots on the map are integral to making sense of the how, what, and where of Russia. At the Edge of the Nation is an indispensable guide.--Klaus Dodds, Royal Holloway University of London Paul Richardson's At the Edge of the Nation is both a sophisticated study of the Kuril Islands--a strategic pivot in Russo-Japanese relations--and a thoughtful reflection on wider issues of nationalism and territorial sovereignty in the context of Russia. It will be invaluable reading for specialists of the region, as well as for scholars of ethnicity and nationalism generally.--Franck Bill�, University of California, Berkeley

Author Information

Paul B. Richardson is a teaching fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

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