Pedagogy, modernity and nationalism in the Caucasus in the age of reaction, 1880–1905

Abstract

The head of the Caucasus Educational District (CED), K.P. Yanovskiy, epitomized the liberal minded reformers in the Russian Empire who saw the reform of pedagogy – introducing modern sciences, languages, critical thinking and emphasis on the individual – as a means to bring modernity and civilization while respecting ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity. The CED became a sort of refuge for liberal reformers among educational administrators, beyond the grasp of conservative elements in St. Petersburg. Yet under their administration, language education policies for local nationalities in the Caucasus shifted from encouraging local languages to demanding instruction in Russian, and Yanovskiy and his colleagues in the CED came to be viewed in the narratives of nationalists as instruments of russification and assimilation. Using archival sources and other contemporary materials, this article examines the intersection of reform and nationalism in the question of language pedagogy in schools in the Caucasus at a time of state-directed centralization in the Russian Empire and seeks to understand the often complex motives behind the changes in policy and their unintended consequences.