Empire De/Centered

'This is a useful collection of informative and insightful essays that adds to a growing literature on questions of space and empire. The topic is well conceived, and the editors effectively convey its significance in a clear and often provocative manner in their introduction. Specialists will find much of value here, though, given the specificity of the essays, scholars outside Russian and Soviet studies will be rather less likely to explore its contents.' Europe-Asia Studies '... Empire De/Centered is a highly informative volume, which makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of how the Russian and Soviet self has been discursively constructed, challenging a common misperception that in the Moscow-dominated political space, imagined communities could only be defined as either an empire or a nation.' Slavic Review ’A highly engaging collection, Empire De/Centered covers a wide variety of subjects in disciplines ranging from political economy to visual arts. The themes of geographical space, imperial narrative, and national identity hold these diverse essays firmly together. ... this volume will be a valuable and enjoyable read for Slavists as well as for scholars of empire in general.’ Journal of Historical Geography ’The editors of and contributors to this volume are to be congratulated on producing an excellent book...the contributors provide many insights into Russian history and successfully demonstrate how, with its particular spatial configuration, the Russian imperial experience challenges received wisdom concerning modern empires with their metropolises (the ’mother country’) and overseas colonies, and also concerning the concepts of ’nation’ and ’empire’ themselves.’ SEER