Ian T. Lanzillotti

Bio: Ian T. Lanzillotti is an academic researcher from Tennessee Wesleyan College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Land reform & Identity politics. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 5 citations.

Historiography and the politics of land, identity, and belonging in the twentieth-century North Caucasus

Abstract: Intercommunal, socio-economic, and political relations in the North Caucasus have historically revolved around access to this mountain region’s prized pasturage and scarce farmland. Given the centrality of the land question in the North Caucasus, it is unsurprising that historiography on land relations in the region has been highly politicized. This article examines how indigenous writing on the history of land relations in the central Caucasus – a region inhabited by today’s Kabardians, Balkars, Ossetians, Ingushes, and Karachais, and dominated by the princely confederation of Kabarda before the tsarist conquest – has been subject to wide revision in response to changes in local and national political dynamics and the emergence of ethnicized identity politics. In the late-imperial and early Soviet periods, Karachai, Balkar, and Ossetian elites-cum-historians, writing for an audience of imperial policy-makers, crafted histories to influence state policies toward land reform. By the 1930s, historians from ...

“The Sleeping Beauty of the Caucasus”: Kavkazskii Uzel and Contemporary Views on Politics and Security in Kabardino-Balkaria

Abstract: Sovyet sonrasi donemde Kuzey Kafkasya’da, ulkeyi adini veren halklar arasindaki gerilimin hep gundemde oldugu Kabardey-Balkar Cumhuriyeti, bolgenin sakin kuzeybatisiyla kaynayan kuzeydogusu arasinda hep diken ustunde oldu. Siyasi durum ve guvenlik acisindan Kuzey Kafkasya’yi izleyen gozlemciler, cok uluslu Kabardey-Balkar Cumhuriyeti’ni bolgenin tamaminin kaderi acisindan her zaman belirleyici olarak gorduler. Sovyet sonrasi donemin ilk on bes yilinda Kabardey-Balkar, siddetli catismalarin olmamasiyla ve toplumlar arasi iliskilerde yasanan goreceli huzur ortamiyla dikkatleri cekiyordu. Ancak Islamcilar tarafindan birkaci 2004’te, en siddetlisi ise 2005’te gerceklestirilen silahli saldirilar, Kabardey-Balkar’in son yillarda tum bolgeyi etkisi altina alan siddet sarmalindan muaf olduguna dair illuzyonu sona erdirdi. 2010 ve 2011 yillarina gelindiginde, ust duzey burokratlara ve kamuoyunun yakindan tanidigi kisilere duzenlenen suikastler, polis devriyelerine yapilan silahli saldirilar oyle noktaya geldi ki, Ingusetya ve Dagistan’la birlikte Kabardey-Balkar Rusya’da siddetin en yogun yasandigi bolgelerden biri sayilir oldu. Bununla birlikte 2012’den itibaren silahli saldirilarin capi ve sikligi giderek azaldi.Bu makalede sosyal medya uzerinden Kabardey-Balkar’da yasayanlarin bolgedeki siyasi ve guvenlik kaynakli sorunlara bakisini analiz etmeye calisacagiz. Bu anlamda sosyal medyada yorumcularin silahli Islamci hareket ve onun ideolojik rakipleri olan Cerkes / Kabardey milliyetciligi, Balkar milliyetciligi ve iktidardaki yerel elitler hakkindaki yorumlari irdelenecek. Ozellikle Kafkasya’da populer bir haber ve yorum sitesi olan Kavkazskii Uzel’de yer alan Kabardey-Balkar cumhuriyeti odakli tartisma forumlarinin icerigi analiz edilecek. Bu analiz Kabardey-Balkar’da toplumlar arasi iliskiler, Islam ve siyaset konularini etnografik ve tarihsel bir cerceve icerisine oturtarak yapilacak.

Religion, Conflict, and Stability in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract: Despite the growing importance of religion in countries in the former Soviet Union (FSU), the role of religion in conflicts in the region is not well understood. This volume of essays by international scholars and policy experts finds that while religion has not been the source of conflict in the FSU, it has sometimes sustained or intensified it as states and nonstate groups increasingly rely on religion to mobilize their supporters.

Ethnicity or Religion? A Theory of Identity Choice with Evidence from the Russian North Caucasus

Abstract: Previous research has either equated religion- and language-based group identities or asserted that their social effects are the same. This article proposes a novel differentiation between religious and ethnic self-identification that accounts for in-group income inequality and the social role of the group. The study argues that ethnicity-based identities tend to be associated with economic activities, thereby increasing the demand for income equality within such groups. Religious identities, on the contrary, are centered around noneconomic activities and have the ideological framework for reconciling material inequalities. The observable implication of this distinction is that the high-, low-, and middle-income categories of the multicultural society will display differential association with ethnic and religious identities. Ethnic groups will have lower in-group income inequality as a result of the exclusion of the poor and the departure of the rich. Religious groups, on the contrary, will have higher in-group income inequality due to the capacity of religion to accommodate both poor and rich. Relevant empirical tests from the ethnically and religiously diverse Russian North Caucasus region indicate support for the proposed theory.

Особенности вербализации депортации 1943 - 1957 гг. в карачаево-балкарской народной лирике

Abstract: В отечественной гуманитарной науке в последние десятилетия особое внимание уделяется изучению проблем, связанных с таким феноменом, как депортация народов Северного Кавказа, в том числе карачаевцев и балкарцев, в Среднюю Азию и Казахстан. Насильственное переселение этноса находит отражение в первую очередь в его устном народном творчестве, изучение которого дает возможность выявить и описать специфику мировосприятия социума на переломных этапах жизнедеятельности. Изучение отмеченного достаточно релевантно для современной парадигмы лингвистики, которая характеризуется своей погруженностью в жизнь социума. При этом актуализируются вопросы, сопряженные с трансформацией мироощущения этнического языкового сознания в новых условиях бытия. Статья посвящена изучению имеющих этноспецифическую значимость средств языка, репрезентирующих депортацию карачаевцев и балкарцев. Анализ имеющегося фактологического материала позволил выделить целый пласт языковых единиц, отражающих различные характеристики так называемого выселенческого фольклора. Материалом для исследования послужили данные, полученные в ходе интервьюирования лиц, подвергшихся насильственному выселению, а также лексико-фразеологические и другие языковые средства, извлеченные методом сплошной выборки из карачаево-балкарских народно-поэтических произведений периода депортации, представленных в открытой печати.