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Elena Smolarz

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Faculty Member

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften, Abteilung für Islamwissenschaft, Post-Doc

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As a research associate of competence network "Crossroads Asia", I conducted research on coerced mobility and slave trade practices in Central Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries. My main areas of interest include transformation of autochthonous societies in borderland regions under Russian imperial rule, translocal slave trade networks, ransoming processes as well as studies on spatial and social mobility.
Address: Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

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KU Leuven

University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

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University of Pennsylvania

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Deakin University

Alejandra B Osorio

Wellesley College

University of Warwick

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

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Papers by Elena Smolarz

Context Matters – The Importance of the Narrative Situation and Actors who Transmit Information for Representations of Experienced Captivity: The Case of the Enslaved Russian Captive Iakov Zinov’ev (1838)

De Gruyter eBooks, May 6, 2024

Call for Papers "Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past and Present, 06-08 May 2025

Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (amo... more Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (among which, but not limited to slavery, bondage, labor and coercion) has greatly expanded both conceptually and geographically. Asia, however defined, is certainly not the blind spot it once was in labor and slavery studies anymore. Yet, despite the pluralization recently generated by global labor and global slavery studies, Asia still remains marginal in many respects. Slavery in early-modern Asia, to mention only one example, is increasingly studied through the lens of European archives, and through European terms of what this slavery entailed, leaving aside the study of forms of exploitation and forced displacement that took place before, beside and beyond the European presence in Asia. What seems to be particularly missing in current discussions is an emic perspective from Asia; that is to say, a more granular and accurate view of the practices, norms and their evolutions, from existing vernacular sources (written, oral and material) and from the actor’s experiences, categories and worldviews. What also seems to be missing is a genuine accounting of Asian historiographies, as well as a proper assessment of the legacies and memories of these diverse phenomena in the contemporary societies of Asia.

“Between Liberation and Recoercion. Release and Repatriation of Russian Enslaved Subjects in the Eurasian Border Regions in the Early Nineteenth Century.” Journal of global slavery 9.1–2 (2024): 74–103.

Drawing on official imperial discourses in the Russian Empire and archival documents of the Orenb... more Drawing on official imperial discourses in the Russian Empire and archival documents of the Orenburg Border Commission (1799–1856), the Russian imperial administra- tive institution subordinated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this paper analyzes the ransoming, release, and reintegration of freed Russian subjects and shows how these processes and practices were inextricably linked to the Russian imperial concept of political belonging. In such a context, the concepts of freedom and liberation must be questioned; that is, we must determine the extent to which “freedom” can represent a universal value and is legally defined and thus dependent on sociopolitical situations and frameworks. To contribute to a more precise and multifaceted understanding of “freedom” and “dependency” as well as “freeing” and “enslavement,” this article exam- ines the liberation and repatriation of enslaved Russian subjects in the Central Asian khanates of Khiva and Bukhara in the first half of the nineteenth century.

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Doniš, Ahmad: Navodir ul-vaqoje

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Doniš, Ahmad: Risola

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Speaking about Freedom and Dependency

Journal of global slavery, 2017

Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Em... more Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Employing an historical-semantic approach, this article scrutinizes established academic debates as well as nineteenth-century Russian discourses on Central Asian slavery and slave trade, and on enslaved Russian captives in Bukhara and Khiva in particular. In so doing, it uncovers multiple perspectives on freedom, slavery and dependency, and enriches the representational repertoire of official actors with insights into the perspective of the enslaved themselves. Keywords slavery-freedom-captivity-dependency-Central Asia-Russian Empire * The research for this study was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (bmbf) in the context of the competence network "Crossroads Asia: Conflict, Migration, Development," and in the frame of the sub-project "Historical Investigation of Mobility and Translocality in Crossroads Asia in the Example of the Slave Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries" at the Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies,

Slavery and Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire

Springer eBooks, 2023

Slavery and Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire

by Elena Smolarz and Hans-Heinrich Nolte

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History, ed. by Damian Pargas and Juliane Schiel , 2023

Captifs et nomades de la steppe. Asie centrale, XVIIIe-XIXe siècles

International audienc

Unterwegs wider Willen. Mobilität in den Schilderungen russischer Sklaven im Buchara des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts

The slave trade in Central Asia was a crucial factor in the European power discourse in the eight... more The slave trade in Central Asia was a crucial factor in the European power discourse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The debates regarding the enslavement of Russians and the slave trade in Bukhara and Khiva were instrumentalized to establish "the secure border" and to legitimize Russian expansion in Central Asia in the nineteenth century. This paper is a contribution to the research on slavery in Bukhara. The State Archive in Orenburg contains memoirs and reports of ransomed Russian slaves, some published in the Russian press in the nineteenth century and others unpublished, which allow analysis of slavery at the micro level for the first time. The spatial and social mobility of slaves is analysed using social-scientific concepts of mobility. By examining the mobility of slaves and, at a meta-level, the concurrent mobility, i.e. transfer, of knowledge, the paper provides not only a deeper understanding of the civil status of slaves in eighteenth and nineteenth...

"Unglückselige russische Sklaven"? Opfernarrative im Kontext der Versklavung russischer Untertanen in Buchara und Chiwa in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts", in: Opfer. Dynamiken der Viktimisierung vom 17. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert, ed. by Harriet Rudolph and Isabella von Treskow, Heidelberg

Dieser Beitrag analysiert die in Quellen russischer Provenienz nachweisbaren Opfervorstellungen, ... more Dieser Beitrag analysiert die in Quellen russischer Provenienz nachweisbaren Opfervorstellungen, die gleichwohl unterschiedliche Bedeutungsdimensionen annehmen konnten. Im Fokus der Analyse stehen „Opfernarrative“ in publizistischen Texten russischer Diplomaten, in Verwaltungsdokumenten russischer Grenzbeamter und schließlich solche, die in Erinnerungen von ehemaligen Sklaven selbst greifbar sind. Der Beitrag fragt danach, welche Interpretationen von Opferschaft bzw. der Leiderfahrungen in den jeweiligen Textgattungen thematisiert werden. Handelt es sich dabei um aktives Opfern im Sinne von sacrificium oder um passiv erlittene Entbehrungen im Sinne von victima? Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dabei thematischen Unterschieden in gattungsmäßig divergierenden Schilderungen sowie den darin greifbaren Interpretationen von Opferschaft, die auf spezifische Vorstellungen von Gerechtigkeit und Identität sowie Erfahrungen von Unrecht und Leid verweisen. Durch diese Analysen soll die Multiperspektivität einiger russischer Quellen vorgestellt werden, die sich in einer Vielfalt von Darstellungen des Sklavendaseins und damit verbundener Leiderfahrungen zeigt.

SMOLARZ Zwischen Integration und Segregation. Die Anwendung der imperialen Kategorie der Fremdstämmigen (inorodcy) auf die Steppennomaden im Russischen Reich im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert

Dhau. Jahrbuch für außereuropäische Geschichte, 2020

By examinig imperial taxsation of the nomadic population in the Tsardom of Moscow and in the Russ... more By examinig imperial taxsation of the nomadic population in the Tsardom of Moscow and in the Russian Empire, this paper generates insights about the interdependencies of taxation and imperial categoriazation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Which strategy did the Moscovy rulers apply to govern nomads of the former Golden Horde? What impact had the incoproration of nomads on their social order, taxation and lifeworld? Special attention is given to the legal category of 'aliens' (inorodtsy), its origins and its evolution in the 19th century. Analyzing the gradual acculturation of the nomads in the Middle Horde, the paper makes out crusial aspects for the development of imperial integration policy, their aims, and limits as well as for the understanding of political loyalty.

Saving Lost Souls or Doing Good Business? Interactions at the Russian-Kazakh Frontier and Strategies for Freeing Russian Slaves in Central Asia in the Early 19 th Century 1

Diyar, 2020

By examining patterns of ransoming strategies, this paper generates insights about the interactio... more By examining patterns of ransoming strategies, this paper generates insights about the interactions between state, economic and social actors across the Russian-Kazakh frontier in the early 19th century. Generally, first encounters across borders and boundaries include violence and invasion. Accordingly, the enslavement and subsequent ransoming of captured people represent common practices in frontier regions. Analyses of these processes illuminate the nature of interactions between different actors along the border. Securing release of slaves through ransom was a regular component of Russian foreign policy from the 16th century onwards. Imperial institutions were established for ransoming Russian Christian brothers-in-the-faith and, later, for other subjects of the Russian Empire who had been enslaved by the Ottoman Empire and Central Asian Khanates. With imperial financing, the Orenburg Border Commission (1799-1859) co-ordinated the ransoming process and developed networks for achieving the release of Russian subjects held in the Kazakh Steppe, in Khiva and Bukhara. Actors involved in these networks were of heterogeneous descent, including Russian imperial officials, Bukharian and Khivan merchants, Kazakh officials, as well as Russian agents. Drawing on archival research, this article explores ransoming networks and strategies along the Russian-Kazakh frontier and probes the motives of the actors involved.

Speaking about Freedom and Dependency: Representations and Experiences of Russian Enslaved Captives in Central Asia in the First Half of the 19th Century, in: Journal of Global Slavery 2(2017): 44-71

Journal of Global Slavery, 2017

Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Em... more Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Employing an historical-semantic approach, this article scrutinizes established academic debates as well as nineteenth-century Russian discourses on Central Asian slavery and slave trade, and on enslaved Russian captives in Bukhara and Khiva in particular. In so doing, it uncovers multiple perspectives on freedom, slavery and dependency, and enriches the representational repertoire of official actors with insights into the perspective of the enslaved themselves. Keywords slavery – freedom – captivity – dependency – Central Asia – Russian Empire

Имперский взгляд на мобильность и формы социального взаимодействия в пограничном регионе Оренбуржья в начале XIX века // Восьмые Большаковские чтения. Оренбургский край как историко-культурный феномен. Cб. статей. - Оренбург, 2016. - С. 94-97

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИЙ... more МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ФИЛИАЛ РАНХИГС ПРИ ПРЕЗИДЕНТЕ РФ АДМИНИСТРАЦИЯ ГОРОДА ОРЕНБУРГА ОРЕНБУРГСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ ОТДЕЛЕНИЕ РОССИЙСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА ИСТОРИКОВ-АРХИВИСТОВ ПОВОЛЖСКИЙ ФИЛИАЛ ИРИ РАН МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РЕСПУБЛИКИ КАЗАХСТАН АКТЮБИНСКИЙ РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ИМЕНИ К. ЖУБАНОВА Любить -это знать, знать -это чтить, изучать, постигать… ВОСЬМЫЕ БОЛЬШАКОВСКИЕ ЧТЕНИЯ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ КРАЙ КАК ИСТОРИКО-КУЛЬТУРНЫЙ ФЕНОМЕН Сборник статей международной научно-практической конференции К 330-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ РОЖДЕНИЯ В. Н. ТАТИЩЕВА К 80-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ ОСНОВАНИЯ ОРЕНБУРГСКОГО КНИЖНОГО ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВА К 40-ЛЕТИЮ ПРАЗДНИКА «ШЕВЧЕНКОВСКИЙ МАРТ» Оренбург Издательство ОГПУ 2016 УДК 8Р2 (063) ББК 83.3 (2 Рос = Рус) 6-8 В78 Редакционная коллегия Большакова Татьяна Леонидовна, член Союза журналистов России Годовова Елена Викторовна, кандидат исторических наук, доцент, зам. директора по научной работе Оренбургского филиала РАНХиГС Каган Илья Иосифович, доктор медицинских наук, профессор, заслуженный деятель науки России Камскова Татьяна Александровна, кандидат педагогических наук, профессор Любичанковский Сергей Валентинович, доктор исторических наук, профессор Научный редактор Любичанковский Сергей Валентинович, доктор исторических наук, профессор Дизайн обложки Абленин Федор Михайлович В78 Восьмые Большаковские чтения. Оренбургский край как историко-культурный феномен : сборник статей международной научно-практической конференции / Мин-во образования и науки Рос. Федерации, ФГБОУ ВПО «Оренб. гос. пед. ун-т», Оренбургский филиал РАНХиГС при Президенте РФ; Мин-во образования и науки Республики Казахстан, Актюбинский региональный государственный университет им. К. Жубанова; Администрация г. Оренбурга, Оренбургское региональное отделение российского общества историков-архивистов; Поволжский филиал ИРИ РАН; науч. ред. С. В. Любичанковский. -Оренбург : Изд-во ОГПУ, 2016. -376 с. : ил. ISBN 978-5-85859-627-1

Церковь для мусульман? Оренбургское магометанское духовное собрание в качестве зоны социального взаимодействия имперских и мусульманских акторов в первой половине 19 века // Исторические судьбы народов Поволжья и Приуралья. Сб. статей. Вып. 5. - Казань, 2015. - С. 413-425.

Introduction, in: Mobilizing Religion: Networks and Mobility, ed. by Conermann, Stephan and Elena Smolarz, Berlin 2015, p. 7-19.

„Ahmad Donis. Navodir ul-vaqoje“, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 3., vollständig neu bearbeitete Aufl., München 2009.

„Ahmad Donis. Risola“, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 3., vollständig neu bearbeitete Aufl., München 2009

Context Matters – The Importance of the Narrative Situation and Actors who Transmit Information for Representations of Experienced Captivity: The Case of the Enslaved Russian Captive Iakov Zinov’ev (1838)

De Gruyter eBooks, May 6, 2024

Call for Papers "Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past and Present, 06-08 May 2025

Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (amo... more Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (among which, but not limited to slavery, bondage, labor and coercion) has greatly expanded both conceptually and geographically. Asia, however defined, is certainly not the blind spot it once was in labor and slavery studies anymore. Yet, despite the pluralization recently generated by global labor and global slavery studies, Asia still remains marginal in many respects. Slavery in early-modern Asia, to mention only one example, is increasingly studied through the lens of European archives, and through European terms of what this slavery entailed, leaving aside the study of forms of exploitation and forced displacement that took place before, beside and beyond the European presence in Asia. What seems to be particularly missing in current discussions is an emic perspective from Asia; that is to say, a more granular and accurate view of the practices, norms and their evolutions, from existing vernacular sources (written, oral and material) and from the actor’s experiences, categories and worldviews. What also seems to be missing is a genuine accounting of Asian historiographies, as well as a proper assessment of the legacies and memories of these diverse phenomena in the contemporary societies of Asia.

“Between Liberation and Recoercion. Release and Repatriation of Russian Enslaved Subjects in the Eurasian Border Regions in the Early Nineteenth Century.” Journal of global slavery 9.1–2 (2024): 74–103.

Drawing on official imperial discourses in the Russian Empire and archival documents of the Orenb... more Drawing on official imperial discourses in the Russian Empire and archival documents of the Orenburg Border Commission (1799–1856), the Russian imperial administra- tive institution subordinated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this paper analyzes the ransoming, release, and reintegration of freed Russian subjects and shows how these processes and practices were inextricably linked to the Russian imperial concept of political belonging. In such a context, the concepts of freedom and liberation must be questioned; that is, we must determine the extent to which “freedom” can represent a universal value and is legally defined and thus dependent on sociopolitical situations and frameworks. To contribute to a more precise and multifaceted understanding of “freedom” and “dependency” as well as “freeing” and “enslavement,” this article exam- ines the liberation and repatriation of enslaved Russian subjects in the Central Asian khanates of Khiva and Bukhara in the first half of the nineteenth century.

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Doniš, Ahmad: Navodir ul-vaqoje

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Doniš, Ahmad: Risola

J.B. Metzler eBooks, 2020

Speaking about Freedom and Dependency

Journal of global slavery, 2017

Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Em... more Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Employing an historical-semantic approach, this article scrutinizes established academic debates as well as nineteenth-century Russian discourses on Central Asian slavery and slave trade, and on enslaved Russian captives in Bukhara and Khiva in particular. In so doing, it uncovers multiple perspectives on freedom, slavery and dependency, and enriches the representational repertoire of official actors with insights into the perspective of the enslaved themselves. Keywords slavery-freedom-captivity-dependency-Central Asia-Russian Empire * The research for this study was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (bmbf) in the context of the competence network "Crossroads Asia: Conflict, Migration, Development," and in the frame of the sub-project "Historical Investigation of Mobility and Translocality in Crossroads Asia in the Example of the Slave Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries" at the Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies,

Slavery and Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire

Springer eBooks, 2023

Slavery and Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire

by Elena Smolarz and Hans-Heinrich Nolte

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History, ed. by Damian Pargas and Juliane Schiel , 2023

Captifs et nomades de la steppe. Asie centrale, XVIIIe-XIXe siècles

International audienc

Unterwegs wider Willen. Mobilität in den Schilderungen russischer Sklaven im Buchara des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts

The slave trade in Central Asia was a crucial factor in the European power discourse in the eight... more The slave trade in Central Asia was a crucial factor in the European power discourse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The debates regarding the enslavement of Russians and the slave trade in Bukhara and Khiva were instrumentalized to establish "the secure border" and to legitimize Russian expansion in Central Asia in the nineteenth century. This paper is a contribution to the research on slavery in Bukhara. The State Archive in Orenburg contains memoirs and reports of ransomed Russian slaves, some published in the Russian press in the nineteenth century and others unpublished, which allow analysis of slavery at the micro level for the first time. The spatial and social mobility of slaves is analysed using social-scientific concepts of mobility. By examining the mobility of slaves and, at a meta-level, the concurrent mobility, i.e. transfer, of knowledge, the paper provides not only a deeper understanding of the civil status of slaves in eighteenth and nineteenth...

"Unglückselige russische Sklaven"? Opfernarrative im Kontext der Versklavung russischer Untertanen in Buchara und Chiwa in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts", in: Opfer. Dynamiken der Viktimisierung vom 17. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert, ed. by Harriet Rudolph and Isabella von Treskow, Heidelberg

Dieser Beitrag analysiert die in Quellen russischer Provenienz nachweisbaren Opfervorstellungen, ... more Dieser Beitrag analysiert die in Quellen russischer Provenienz nachweisbaren Opfervorstellungen, die gleichwohl unterschiedliche Bedeutungsdimensionen annehmen konnten. Im Fokus der Analyse stehen „Opfernarrative“ in publizistischen Texten russischer Diplomaten, in Verwaltungsdokumenten russischer Grenzbeamter und schließlich solche, die in Erinnerungen von ehemaligen Sklaven selbst greifbar sind. Der Beitrag fragt danach, welche Interpretationen von Opferschaft bzw. der Leiderfahrungen in den jeweiligen Textgattungen thematisiert werden. Handelt es sich dabei um aktives Opfern im Sinne von sacrificium oder um passiv erlittene Entbehrungen im Sinne von victima? Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dabei thematischen Unterschieden in gattungsmäßig divergierenden Schilderungen sowie den darin greifbaren Interpretationen von Opferschaft, die auf spezifische Vorstellungen von Gerechtigkeit und Identität sowie Erfahrungen von Unrecht und Leid verweisen. Durch diese Analysen soll die Multiperspektivität einiger russischer Quellen vorgestellt werden, die sich in einer Vielfalt von Darstellungen des Sklavendaseins und damit verbundener Leiderfahrungen zeigt.

SMOLARZ Zwischen Integration und Segregation. Die Anwendung der imperialen Kategorie der Fremdstämmigen (inorodcy) auf die Steppennomaden im Russischen Reich im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert

Dhau. Jahrbuch für außereuropäische Geschichte, 2020

By examinig imperial taxsation of the nomadic population in the Tsardom of Moscow and in the Russ... more By examinig imperial taxsation of the nomadic population in the Tsardom of Moscow and in the Russian Empire, this paper generates insights about the interdependencies of taxation and imperial categoriazation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Which strategy did the Moscovy rulers apply to govern nomads of the former Golden Horde? What impact had the incoproration of nomads on their social order, taxation and lifeworld? Special attention is given to the legal category of 'aliens' (inorodtsy), its origins and its evolution in the 19th century. Analyzing the gradual acculturation of the nomads in the Middle Horde, the paper makes out crusial aspects for the development of imperial integration policy, their aims, and limits as well as for the understanding of political loyalty.

Saving Lost Souls or Doing Good Business? Interactions at the Russian-Kazakh Frontier and Strategies for Freeing Russian Slaves in Central Asia in the Early 19 th Century 1

Diyar, 2020

By examining patterns of ransoming strategies, this paper generates insights about the interactio... more By examining patterns of ransoming strategies, this paper generates insights about the interactions between state, economic and social actors across the Russian-Kazakh frontier in the early 19th century. Generally, first encounters across borders and boundaries include violence and invasion. Accordingly, the enslavement and subsequent ransoming of captured people represent common practices in frontier regions. Analyses of these processes illuminate the nature of interactions between different actors along the border. Securing release of slaves through ransom was a regular component of Russian foreign policy from the 16th century onwards. Imperial institutions were established for ransoming Russian Christian brothers-in-the-faith and, later, for other subjects of the Russian Empire who had been enslaved by the Ottoman Empire and Central Asian Khanates. With imperial financing, the Orenburg Border Commission (1799-1859) co-ordinated the ransoming process and developed networks for achieving the release of Russian subjects held in the Kazakh Steppe, in Khiva and Bukhara. Actors involved in these networks were of heterogeneous descent, including Russian imperial officials, Bukharian and Khivan merchants, Kazakh officials, as well as Russian agents. Drawing on archival research, this article explores ransoming networks and strategies along the Russian-Kazakh frontier and probes the motives of the actors involved.

Speaking about Freedom and Dependency: Representations and Experiences of Russian Enslaved Captives in Central Asia in the First Half of the 19th Century, in: Journal of Global Slavery 2(2017): 44-71

Journal of Global Slavery, 2017

Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Em... more Slavery and freedom as political subjects shaped the public debates of the nineteenth century. Employing an historical-semantic approach, this article scrutinizes established academic debates as well as nineteenth-century Russian discourses on Central Asian slavery and slave trade, and on enslaved Russian captives in Bukhara and Khiva in particular. In so doing, it uncovers multiple perspectives on freedom, slavery and dependency, and enriches the representational repertoire of official actors with insights into the perspective of the enslaved themselves. Keywords slavery – freedom – captivity – dependency – Central Asia – Russian Empire

Имперский взгляд на мобильность и формы социального взаимодействия в пограничном регионе Оренбуржья в начале XIX века // Восьмые Большаковские чтения. Оренбургский край как историко-культурный феномен. Cб. статей. - Оренбург, 2016. - С. 94-97

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИЙ... more МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ ФИЛИАЛ РАНХИГС ПРИ ПРЕЗИДЕНТЕ РФ АДМИНИСТРАЦИЯ ГОРОДА ОРЕНБУРГА ОРЕНБУРГСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ ОТДЕЛЕНИЕ РОССИЙСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА ИСТОРИКОВ-АРХИВИСТОВ ПОВОЛЖСКИЙ ФИЛИАЛ ИРИ РАН МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РЕСПУБЛИКИ КАЗАХСТАН АКТЮБИНСКИЙ РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ИМЕНИ К. ЖУБАНОВА Любить -это знать, знать -это чтить, изучать, постигать… ВОСЬМЫЕ БОЛЬШАКОВСКИЕ ЧТЕНИЯ ОРЕНБУРГСКИЙ КРАЙ КАК ИСТОРИКО-КУЛЬТУРНЫЙ ФЕНОМЕН Сборник статей международной научно-практической конференции К 330-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ РОЖДЕНИЯ В. Н. ТАТИЩЕВА К 80-ЛЕТИЮ СО ДНЯ ОСНОВАНИЯ ОРЕНБУРГСКОГО КНИЖНОГО ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВА К 40-ЛЕТИЮ ПРАЗДНИКА «ШЕВЧЕНКОВСКИЙ МАРТ» Оренбург Издательство ОГПУ 2016 УДК 8Р2 (063) ББК 83.3 (2 Рос = Рус) 6-8 В78 Редакционная коллегия Большакова Татьяна Леонидовна, член Союза журналистов России Годовова Елена Викторовна, кандидат исторических наук, доцент, зам. директора по научной работе Оренбургского филиала РАНХиГС Каган Илья Иосифович, доктор медицинских наук, профессор, заслуженный деятель науки России Камскова Татьяна Александровна, кандидат педагогических наук, профессор Любичанковский Сергей Валентинович, доктор исторических наук, профессор Научный редактор Любичанковский Сергей Валентинович, доктор исторических наук, профессор Дизайн обложки Абленин Федор Михайлович В78 Восьмые Большаковские чтения. Оренбургский край как историко-культурный феномен : сборник статей международной научно-практической конференции / Мин-во образования и науки Рос. Федерации, ФГБОУ ВПО «Оренб. гос. пед. ун-т», Оренбургский филиал РАНХиГС при Президенте РФ; Мин-во образования и науки Республики Казахстан, Актюбинский региональный государственный университет им. К. Жубанова; Администрация г. Оренбурга, Оренбургское региональное отделение российского общества историков-архивистов; Поволжский филиал ИРИ РАН; науч. ред. С. В. Любичанковский. -Оренбург : Изд-во ОГПУ, 2016. -376 с. : ил. ISBN 978-5-85859-627-1

Церковь для мусульман? Оренбургское магометанское духовное собрание в качестве зоны социального взаимодействия имперских и мусульманских акторов в первой половине 19 века // Исторические судьбы народов Поволжья и Приуралья. Сб. статей. Вып. 5. - Казань, 2015. - С. 413-425.

Introduction, in: Mobilizing Religion: Networks and Mobility, ed. by Conermann, Stephan and Elena Smolarz, Berlin 2015, p. 7-19.

„Ahmad Donis. Navodir ul-vaqoje“, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 3., vollständig neu bearbeitete Aufl., München 2009.

„Ahmad Donis. Risola“, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 3., vollständig neu bearbeitete Aufl., München 2009

Review on: Aleksandr Vladimirovič Pačkalov: Zolotaja orda po dannym numizmatičeskich istočnikov. [Die Goldene Horde im Spiegel der numismatischen Quellen], Moskva: Knorus 2018, in: sehepunkte 19 (2019), Nr. 9 [15.09.2019]

Review of: Jeff Eden: Slavery and Empire in Central Asia (= Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018, in: Sehepunkte 19(2019), Nr. 1 [20.06.2019]

review of: Géza Dávid / Pál Foder (eds.): Ransom Slavery Along the Ottoman Borders. Early Fifteenth - Early Eighteenth Centuries, Leiden / Boston: Brill 2007, in: sehepunkte 13 (2013), Nr. 11 [15.11.2013]

review of: Il'dus K. Zagidullin: Islamskie instituty v Rossijskoj Imperii. Mečeti v Evropejskoj časti Rossii i Sibiri, Kazan': Tatarskoe knizhnoe izdat. 2007, in: Sehepunkte 11 (2011), Nr. 3 [15.03.2011]

Mobilizing Religion: Networks and Mobility

Religion is known to be an important identity marker for social orders and potential power relati... more Religion is known to be an important identity marker for social orders and potential power relations. The religious factor contributes to the definition of the self and the other. On the one hand, the religious component as legitimising social construct constitutes the establishment of certain social and cultural spheres and their boundaries. On the other hand, it operates as a connecting element across geographical, ethnic, social or political boundaries. Religious concepts offer the basis for legitimation of demands. Religious ties connect individuals to confessional or religious networks and postulate shared identity and belonging. Religious dogmas and norms constitute individual as well as collective orientations, codes of conduct and behavioral practices and interdependences between social and religious processes. This edited volume draws attention to religious aspects in modern, historical, political and social processes: spatial and social mobility, establishment of networked and globalized traditions as well as social development. What religious aspects might influence these processes and how? Scholars of Area Studies (Islamic Studies, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Mongolian Studies, Central Asian Studies) as well as of Development Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Political Studies and Studies of Comparative Religion discuss the role religion plays in these processes.

Institutionsbildung im Islam unter russisch-imperialem Einfluss am Beispiel der Orenburger Geistlichen Versammlung des Mohammedanischen Gesetzes 1788-1860, Berlin: EB-Verlag 2016 [Bonner Islamstudien, Bd. 34]

Wie kann eine multikulturelle Gesellschaft in Anbetracht steigender Migrationsströme auf die Daue... more Wie kann eine multikulturelle Gesellschaft in Anbetracht steigender Migrationsströme auf die Dauer stabil bleiben? Einen entscheidenden Lösungsweg stellt die Modifizierung der bestehenden institutionellen Konfigurationen dar. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Monographie werden unter sorgfältiger Auswertung mannigfaltiger Archivdokumenten und Handschriften die Entstehungs- und Etablierungsmechanismen einer muslimischen Institution in einem christlich geprägten Staat erörtert. Die Orenburger Geistliche Versammlung des Mohammedanischen Gesetzes wurde 1788 als zentrale Institution für die Angelegenheiten muslimischer Untertanen im Russischen Reich errichtet. Diese Institution agierte nicht nur als eine ordnende und orientierende Struktur, sondern auch als Interaktionsfeld, das eine komplexe Verflechtung von Interessen, Strategien und Handlungen verschiedener Akteure veranschaulichte und als Partizipationsplattform genutzt wurde. Die Berücksichtigung imperialer, innerinstitutioneller und muslimischer Perspektiven trägt zur Überwindung der nationalhistorischen Diskurse bei. Die Analyse der Interaktionen zwischen imperialen/politischen und muslimischen Akteuren im Bereich der Verwaltung, Rechtsprechung und Religionsausübung rekonstruiert historische Kommunikations- und Handlungsfelder und zeigt innovative Wege für die zukünftigen Aushandlungs- und Umgestaltungsprozesse.

Call for Papers "Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies: Perspectives from Asia, Past and Present, 06 -08 May 2025"

Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (amo... more Since the global turn, research about strong asymmetrical dependencies across time and space (among which, but not limited to slavery, bondage, labor and coercion) has greatly expanded both conceptually and geographically. Asia, however defined, is certainly not the blind spot it once was in labor and slavery studies anymore. Yet, despite the pluralization recently generated by global labor and global slavery studies, Asia still remains marginal in many respects. Slavery in early-modern Asia, to mention only one example, is increasingly studied through the lens of European archives, and through European terms of what this slavery entailed, leaving aside the study of forms of exploitation and forced displacement that took place before, beside and beyond the European presence in Asia. What seems to be particularly missing in current discussions is an emic perspective from Asia; that is to say, a more granular and accurate view of the practices, norms and their evolutions, from existing vernacular sources (written, oral and material) and from the actor's experiences, categories and worldviews. What also seems to be missing is a genuine accounting of Asian historiographies, as well as a proper assessment of the legacies and memories of these diverse phenomena in the contemporary societies of Asia.

Workshop "Slavery, Captivity and Further Forms of Asymmetrical Dependencies in Early Modern Russia"

To broaden the academic perspective, this workshop focuses on changing concepts of dependency and... more To broaden the academic perspective, this workshop focuses on changing concepts of dependency and coercion in early modern Russia and adjacent areas. In order to grasp the 'continuum of asymmetric dependency', the workshop will consider textual articulations of dependencies and their historical semantics as well as institutional norms and local practices; it will also focus on representations facilitating bondage, captivity, banishment and imprisonment; on imperial legislation and local practices; the role of asymmetric dependency in cultural transfer and entanglement.