The Eastern International

In The Eastern International Masha Kirasirova tells a fascinating history of individuals, states, and empires. This important and well-argued book will inspire new debates in Middle Eastern Studies, Central Asian Studies, Soviet Studies, and Jewish History. Through its careful reconstruction of Soviet-Middle Eastern relations, it convincingly argues that we should not treat each of these scholarly subfields as separate. Rather, by combining archives, networks, and the movements of ideas, peoples, and policies across Soviet Russia, the Middle East, and Central Asia, The Eastern International considers these fields as a whole. It suggests new imaginings of the concept of the East in ways that move beyond the Eurocentric significations of the term, and it offers exciting intellectual imaginings in their stead. * Orit Bashkin, University of Chicago *
Kirasirova's long-awaited book fills in a critical blank spot in Western coverage of relations between metropolitan Soviet Russia, Central Asia, and the Global South (especially the Arab world). She has tapped a trove of archival material largely untouched by scholars to date and applied her impressive analytical skills in processing it. The result is a highly original study that challenges many of the current clichés about metropolitan-colonial interrelations in the Afro-Asian and Soviet worlds. * Katerina Clark, author of Eurasia Without Borders: Leftists Dream of a Literary Commons, 1919-1943 *
This is a fascinating study of the relationship between the domestic and foreign 'Easts' across the Soviet period. It exposes new ways to understand the USSR as a state set on global influence and also replete with contradictions in the way it treated non-European peoples. Masha Kirasirova shows how authors, filmmakers, and party members could use the ambivalences of Soviet rule to their advantage but also that there were always limits on their ability to act. The focus on Jewish-Arab tensions and on cultural diplomacy and the central role of Central Asia in Soviet Cold War transnational relationships are unique contributions. * Jeff Sahadeo, author of Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent, 1865-1923 *
With The Eastern International, Masha Kirasirova has authored an important contribution to a growing historiography of books that connect Soviet history and Central Asian history with the study of the Middle East. * Timothy Nunan, The Russian Review *