Post-Soviet Racisms

This book is novel not only in its theoretical framework, which places racialisation in post-communist societies and their modernist political projects at the centre of processes of global racism, but also in being the first account to examine both these new national contexts and the interconnections between racisms in these four regions of the Baltic states, the Southern Caucasus, Central Asia and Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, and elsewhere. Assessments of the significance of the contemporary geopolitical contexts of armed conflict, economic transformation and political transition for racial discourse are central themes, and the book highlights the creative, innovative and persistent power of contemporary forms of racial governance which has central significance for understanding contemporary societies.

The book will be of interest to scholars and students in the areas of racism and ethnicity studies.

'Post-Soviet Racisms is the first comprehensive comparative study of the politics of race in post-Soviet states. Why do racialising or overtly racist theories at times become central to the construction of post-Soviet identities? How do racisms of the dominant national groups and minorities compare? How does the process of the transnational circulation of racist and racialising discourses work? These are some of the important questions which are addressed in this ground-breaking book that enriches our understanding of the complexity of the current developments in the region.'

-Vera Tolz, University of Manchester, UK

Nikolay Zakharov is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden.

Ian Law is Professor of Racism and Ethnicity Studies in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, UK.