Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Book on Folklore of Circassian Diaspora Published in Turkey Goes On Sale in North Caucasus

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 5 – In yet another sign of the consolidation of Circassians in the North Caucasus homeland and their co-ethnics in the diaspora, a new book by a Circassian scholar in Turkey on the folklore of the Circassian diaspora in Turkey that was recently published in Turkey has gone on sale in Kabardino-Balkaria.

            The book, The Folklore of the Circassian Diaspora, is by Madina M. Pashtova, a senior scholar at the Adygey Republic Institute for Research on the Humanities and a lecturer at the Erciyes University in Turkey (natpressru.info/index.php?newsid=12761 and dslib.net/folklor/folklor-cherkesskoj-diaspory-lokalizacija-tradicii-funkcionalnost-tekstov.html).

            Three things make the publication and distribution of this scholarly book significant. First, it represents an important contribution to studies of how people in diasporas evolve. Second, it helps to explain both the similarities and differences between Circassians who have remained in the homeland and the far larger number who have lived in emigration.

            And third, and by far the most important, it is an example of the way Circassians are bridging the gap between the two, something Russian scholars have acknowledged (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/01/moscow-scholars-see-circassian-movement.html) but that the Russian government is alarmed by.

            Importing books published in Turkey that likely could not have seen the light of day inside the Russian Federation and then dispatching them for sale to Circassians in the North Caucasus is a classic example of the ways in which a punished people can end run Russian restrictions and build a more powerful unity. 

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