Peripheral Histories?

Bound by Exclusion and Violence: A History of Belarusian Armed Struggle in the Twentieth Century In Bound by Exclusion and Violence: A History of Belarusian Armed Struggle in the Twentieth Century (published by University of Toronto Press, 2025) Aleksandra Pomiecko follows a group of Belarusian n...

We have a new author interview up on Peripheral Histories? This time, we spoke with Aleksandra Pomiecko about her fascinating new book 'Bound By Exclusion and Violence: A History of Belarusian Armed Struggle in the Twentieth Century' www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/bound-b...

A Laboratory of Economic Reform: Estonian Experiments with Agro-Industrial Associations in the Era of Late Socialism Donald MorardIn 1965, the French Communist journal Démocratie Nouvelle, in its special issue on the “young, advanced republic” of Estonia, described the occupied Baltic country as a “laboratory” for t...

We have a new, excellent post up by @donnie-m.bsky.social on Estonia as a space of economic experimentation in the late Soviet period www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/a-labor...

A Laboratory of Economic Reform: Estonian Experiments with Agro-Industrial Associations in the Era of Late Socialism Donald MorardIn 1965, the French Communist journal Démocratie Nouvelle, in its special issue on the “young, advanced republic” of Estonia, described the occupied Baltic country as a “laboratory” for t...

A little something I wrote on the role of Estonia as a "laboratory" space for experimenting with new forms of economic management in the Soviet Union, particularly in regards to the food system. Thank you @peripheralhist.bsky.social!

www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/a-labor...

We have a new author interview on this website! Our editor Hanna Matt spoke with Isaac McKean Scarborough about his important book 'Moscow's Heavy Shadow: the Violent Collapse of the USSR' www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/moscow-...

We have a new author interview up on @peripheralhist.bsky.social We were lucky enough to speak to Isaac McKean Scarborough about his excellent book 'Moscow's Heavy Shadow: the Violent Collapse of the USSR' www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/moscow-...

Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan Beatrice Penati’s new book Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan (published with Brill, 2025) provides a comprehensive account of early S...

We have a great new author interview on the website. Beatrice Penati spoke with our editor Hanna Matt about her new book 'Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan' www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/rural-h...

Excited to share my short piece on Soviet Lithuanian priests studying at the Vatican and their role in religious and diplomatic policy of the early 1960s! Thank you to @peripheralhist.bsky.social as well for the platform to do so. t.co/OOUz7xtn6U

Red Priests in the Holy City: Vatican Ostpolitik, Informants, and Soviet Lithuanian Priests in the College of Saint Casimir, 1959–1965 Nicole HarryIn 1959, the Holy See of the Catholic Church and the Soviet government agreed to send two Lithuanian priests to study at the Vatican College of Saint Casimir, which was run by Lithuanian é...

We are back for the academic year with a great new post from Nicole Harry on Soviet Lithuanian priests and Vatican Ostpolitik in the Cold War www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/red-pri...

Call for papers: BASEES 2026 Conference Colloquium - 'The Long Eastern Crisis: Habsburg, Ottoman and Romanov Europe in the Struggle for Imperial Definition, 1860–1916
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

The BASEES Eurasian Regions Study Group have put together a roundtable at #ICCEES on publishing in academic journals for postgraduates and early career researchers. Come along to meet friendly editors and ask questions! You can submit questions anonymously here too: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The Disappearance of Sigma’s Forgotten Sprinklers and Sprayers Kateřina ZächThe Soviet government attempted to demonstrate its resolute power by shaping the perceptions of the population in ways that evinced a feeling of hope. The resource security of the governm...

We have a new post up from Kateřina Zäch on Soviet environmental engineering and irrigation systems www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/the-dis...

ICCEES XI World Congress 2025 The ICCEES XI World Congress is being hosted by UCL in London in 2025, and will run from Monday 21st July to Friday 25th July. There is a large and diverse range of panels and roundtables to view, ei...

Heading to #ICCEES2025 next week? We have put together a list of sessions that may be of interest to Peripheral Histories? readers here: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/iccees-...

If you'd like to learn more about the Belarusian intelligentsia in the interwar period, you can also check out Stanisław's excellent article that was recently published in @conteurohistory.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Father Lew Goroszko and the Vanished Intelligentsia: Memory, Identity, and Conflict in Western Belarus Stanisław BoridczenkoAmong the private papers of Fr Lew Goroszko — now archived in the Francis Skoryna Belarusian Library and Museum situated in northern London — there lies a chilling, handwritten no...

We are back with a new great post from Stanisław Boridczenko on memory, identity, and conflict in Western Belarus www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/father-...

Fascinating. And heart breaking the state budget crisis has forced the district to close the Nikolaevsk School, part of the Russian Old Believer community and history

Migration as Protest and Nostalgia: The Doukhobors’ Attempted Return to Soviet ​Union in the 1920s Victoria Peretitskaya As religious dissenters, the Doukhobors, a pacifist Christian sect dating back to the eighteenth century, endured multiple resettlements within the borders of the Russian Empire....

Continuing with the theme of religion, we have another excellent new post up on the website. Victoria Peretitskaya shares her research on the Doukhobors' attempts to return to the Soviet Union from Canada in the 1920s www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/migrati...

In Pursuit of Home: The History of Old Believers’ Resettlement in Alaska Aglaia GulakovaThese remaining Old Believers must be seen – their strength, their conviction, their selfless nightly prayers (no longer feasible for us), their vital courage and determination – in tho...

We are heading to Alaska with our latest post. Many thanks to Aglaia Gulakova for sharing her fascinating research on the history of Old Believers’ migration and resettlement www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/in-purs...

Singing Central Asia: Uncovering Kazakh and Uzbek Estrada Leora EisenbergIt would have been absurd if it wasn’t quite so sincere: at least seven Kazakhstani composers sitting in a conference room, drawing up lists of people I needed to interview for my disse...

We have a brilliant new post up on the website by Leora Eisenberg on Uzbek and Kazakh pop music in the Soviet period www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/singing...

“Our Real Chances of Survival”: Estonian Democrats between the Nazis and the Allies Kristo Nurmis“Ready to Die for Liberty: Tiny Estonia to Declare War on USSR as well as on Reich.” So proclaimed The Boston Globe in July 1944, relaying dramatic claims from Estonian diplomats in neutr...

We have a new post up on the website from Kristo Nurmis exploring the wartime activities of Estonian Democrats between the Nazis and the Allies www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/our-rea...

Overlooked Topics and Seeking Recognition: The Changing Representations of Soviet Deportations in Estonian Cinema Hanna Maria Aunin In January 1988, the editorial board of the Tallinnfilm studio signed a contract with Rein Saluri for a feature film script about mass deportations. According to the studio, the topi...

We have more Baltic-focused posts for you courtesy of the @balticbasees.bsky.social. Check out Hanna Maria Aunin's exploration of changing representations of Soviet Deportations in Estonian cinema www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/overloo...

Our series in @peripheralhist.bsky.social continues with Rasa Kamarauskaitė's fascinating interview with Rebeka Põldsam (@rebeltulivits.bsky.social) on LGBT studies in Estonia and the normalisation of queerness in the country.

Peripheral Sexualities? LGBT (Studies) in Estonia – a conversation with Rebeka Põldsam As part of the series that discusses ‘peripheries’ in the Baltic states, Rasa Kamarauskaitė (RK) of the BASEES Study Group on the Baltic States interviewed Estonian sexuality scholar Rebeka Põldsam (R...

In our latest post, you can learn more about the development of LGBT studies and the normalisation of queerness in Estonia. Check out Rasa Kamarauskaitė's (@balticbasees.bsky.social) interview with Estonian sexualities scholar Rebeka Põldsam www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/periphe...

There's still two days left to submit your abstracts for the 'Migration, Mobilities and Borders in Eurasia' workshop at the University of Manchester on 5th March. Feel free to DM with any questions!

A Banned Christmas?: Keeping Tradition in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Underground Kateryna BudzOne of the most popular Ukrainian carols is ‘Nova Radist’ Stala’ (‘A New Joy has Come’), which tells the story of the birth of Christ.[1] After the Soviets occupied the Western Ukrainian ...

We have a new post up from Kateryna Budz on the Christmas celebrations of the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church throughout the Soviet period www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/a-banne...

On 5 March, we will host an interdisciplinary workshop 'Migration, Mobilities, and Borders in Eurasia' at Manchester. We invite paper proposals on any aspect of migration & borders in Eurasia in historical or contemporary perspective. Deadline 31 January & CfP here: drive.google.com/file/d/1ETY6...

Foreign Aid and State Building in Interwar Romania: In Quest of an Ideal It is no secret that the Peripheral Histories? editorial team is comprised of a few historians of humanitarianism who are rather enthusiastic about drawing upon the archives of international organisations to write new histories of Eastern Europe, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Some of our readers may remember that we included the collections of the ICRC archives and library back in our archives-focused series in summer 2023. Therefore, we were very excited to see the publication of a

Happy New Year! Our first post for 2025 is an author interview with @dacretu.bsky.social, whose wonderful book 'Foreign Aid and State Building in Interwar Romania: In Quest of an Ideal' was published last month. www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/foreign...

Check out Mann Loper's post on national education in interwar Estonia, focusing on the history school curriculum, now up at Peripheral Histories. Here you will also find the rest of our Baltic States series. Thanks to @peripheralhist.bsky.social. Stay tuned for more in the near future.

National education and teaching history in interwar Estonian schools Mann LoperThe establishment of Estonia’s independent statehood in 1918 took the political and cultural freedom of Estonians to an entirely new level. Under the Russian Empire, imperial policies and th...

Our guest-edited Baltic series draws to a close with Mann Loper's fascinating post on the establishment of national education and the development of the history school curriculum in interwar Estonia: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/nationa...

“Stories about non-normative sexualities in Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary are more represented in English-speaking academia, while the situation in the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine is lesser known. I think these countries are often perceived as versions of Russian history.”

Our Baltic series continues with a fascinating new post by Rosario Napolitano on the development of the field of Baltic Studies in interwar Italy: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/giacomo...