Susan Smith-Peter
Biographic Data
| ID | 683681 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susan Smith-Peter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susan |
| FAMILY NAME | Smith-Peter |
| SIGNATURE | SMITH-PETER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | City University of New York |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5785-8495 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Mapping Russia, but Finding Some Blind Spots
The subject of space has long been a focal point of Russian culture.In the nineteenth century, some historians saw the unbounded space of Muscovy and Russia as a reason for the development of autocracy, while federalist historians argued that it meant that regions should have more of a say in the government. 1 In the twentieth century, a flurry of attempts to politically reimagine Russia during the civil war (1918-22) were defeated politically an…
Spatial Scenarios in the History of the Romanov Empire
The wide-ranging spaces of Russia in its various guises have not always been reflected in historical narratives, which for many years focused on Moscow and St. Petersburg. This viewpoint piece focuses on how the entangled histories approach could be applied to tell the empire's story without telling an imperial story. It ends with asking which vertical threads from the center are necessary to weave together a coherent narrative
Periodization as Decolonization
This piece argues that a greater understanding of the role of regions in Russian history could lead to different ways of writing Russian history that need not center the state. By including a wider range of intellectual and political actors from the regions, as well as tracing the long connections between them and Ukrainian thinkers, such a history would make regions subjects rather than simply objects. The original post and the significant numbe…
How the Field was Colonized
This discussion seeks to trace the origins of a particularly sympathetic approach to the Russian state and its needs with the field of Russian history in the United States. The response notes some of the major scholars who have greatly influenced the study of Russian history. These include Michael Karpovich, Richard Pipes, and Edward Keenan among others. The discussion grapples with the question of how Russian history in the US has or has not inc…
Pozharskii's Grave and the Search for the Russian Nation in the Nineteenth Century
Prince D.M. Pozharskii, who together with Kuz ́ma Minin helped to end the Time of Troubles in 1612-13, has been the focus of commemoration for centuries and has come to symbolize the defense of the Russian nation. This article focuses on three moments of his commemoration in the nineteenth century: the classical Pozharskii, as seen in the monument on Red Square, the nationalist Pozharskii, which reimagined him almost as a saint of the nation, and…
Architecture at the End of the Earth
Reviewed by: Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North by William Craft Brumfield Susan Smith-Peter (bio) William Craft Brumfield. Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North. x + 245 pp. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. ISBN 9780822359067. The rich yet imperiled architectural heritage of the Russian North is beautifully presented in this large-format book by the leading English-langua…
Russian Society at a Provincial Scale
Over the course of the nineteenth century, Russian ideas of society ( obshchestvo ) shifted from being limited to the noble estate to referring to educated people more broadly. This article is the first to explore how this shift played out on the pages of provincial newspapers ( gubernskie vedomosti ) in European Russia and Siberia, which were government-run periodicals that included an unofficial section in which local intellectuals could and di…
The Siberian letters of George Kennan the Elder, 1866-1867
Before Race
Sweet Development
This article explores how agricultural societies, which were voluntary associations dedicated to improving agriculture, worked with the state and agriculturalists to foster the growth of a new sugar beet industry during the nineteenth century. Using the Moscow Agricultural Society (est. 1818) as the focal point, it argues that although the Society was successful in changing agricultural practices and spreading the cultivation of sugar beets even …
Making Empty Provinces
This article examines how the idea of Enlightenment regionalism arose and was received in the provinces. Enlightenment regionalism denied the specificity or authenticity of space outside the capitals. Circles around provincial governors and new educational institutions adapted these ideas in four eighteenth-century journals printed in the provinces. Influenced by the genre of topographical descriptions and by the provincial reforms of 1775, these…
A Class of People Admitted to the Better Ranks
This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America was motivated by cultural rather than racial concerns. Creoles were the offspring of Russian or indigenous men and native women. An analysis of the earliest known list of creoles allows the author to examine the social structure of the new creole class and to note that there was a high degree of social stratification within the estate
Creating a Creole Estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America
In Russian America, creoles were the offspring of Russian men and Native women. This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in the early nineteenth century by the Russian-American Company (RAC) and the Russian government had two main goals: to create a non-taxable estate that would serve the RAC rather than the state and to spread the Russian way of life. Rather than envisioning Russian workers for the RAC as culture bearers, the RAC…
Educating Peasant Girls for Motherhood
Defining the Russian People
Books Behind the Altar
Defining the Russian People
Making Empty Provinces
This article examines how the idea of Enlightenment regionalism arose and was received in the provinces. Enlightenment regionalism denied the specificity or authenticity of space outside the capitals. Circles around provincial governors and new educational institutions adapted these ideas in four eighteenth-century journals printed in the provinces. Influenced by the genre of topographical descriptions and by the provincial reforms of 1775, these…
A Class of People Admitted to the Better Ranks
This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America was motivated by cultural rather than racial concerns. Creoles were the offspring of Russian or indigenous men and native women. An analysis of the earliest known list of creoles allows the author to examine the social structure of the new creole class and to note that there was a high degree of social stratification within the estate
Creating a Creole Estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America
In Russian America, creoles were the offspring of Russian men and Native women. This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in the early nineteenth century by the Russian-American Company (RAC) and the Russian government had two main goals: to create a non-taxable estate that would serve the RAC rather than the state and to spread the Russian way of life. Rather than envisioning Russian workers for the RAC as culture bearers, the RAC…
Books Behind the Altar
Educating Peasant Girls for Motherhood
Defining the Russian People
Creating a Creole Estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America
In Russian America, creoles were the offspring of Russian men and Native women. This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in the early nineteenth century by the Russian-American Company (RAC) and the Russian government had two main goals: to create a non-taxable estate that would serve the RAC rather than the state and to spread the Russian way of life. Rather than envisioning Russian workers for the RAC as culture bearers, the RAC…
A Class of People Admitted to the Better Ranks
This article argues that the creation of a creole estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America was motivated by cultural rather than racial concerns. Creoles were the offspring of Russian or indigenous men and native women. An analysis of the earliest known list of creoles allows the author to examine the social structure of the new creole class and to note that there was a high degree of social stratification within the estate
Making Empty Provinces
This article examines how the idea of Enlightenment regionalism arose and was received in the provinces. Enlightenment regionalism denied the specificity or authenticity of space outside the capitals. Circles around provincial governors and new educational institutions adapted these ideas in four eighteenth-century journals printed in the provinces. Influenced by the genre of topographical descriptions and by the provincial reforms of 1775, these…
Russian Society at a Provincial Scale
Over the course of the nineteenth century, Russian ideas of society ( obshchestvo ) shifted from being limited to the noble estate to referring to educated people more broadly. This article is the first to explore how this shift played out on the pages of provincial newspapers ( gubernskie vedomosti ) in European Russia and Siberia, which were government-run periodicals that included an unofficial section in which local intellectuals could and di…
The Siberian letters of George Kennan the Elder, 1866-1867
Before Race
Sweet Development
This article explores how agricultural societies, which were voluntary associations dedicated to improving agriculture, worked with the state and agriculturalists to foster the growth of a new sugar beet industry during the nineteenth century. Using the Moscow Agricultural Society (est. 1818) as the focal point, it argues that although the Society was successful in changing agricultural practices and spreading the cultivation of sugar beets even …
Architecture at the End of the Earth
Reviewed by: Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North by William Craft Brumfield Susan Smith-Peter (bio) William Craft Brumfield. Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North. x + 245 pp. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. ISBN 9780822359067. The rich yet imperiled architectural heritage of the Russian North is beautifully presented in this large-format book by the leading English-langua…
Pozharskii's Grave and the Search for the Russian Nation in the Nineteenth Century
Prince D.M. Pozharskii, who together with Kuz ́ma Minin helped to end the Time of Troubles in 1612-13, has been the focus of commemoration for centuries and has come to symbolize the defense of the Russian nation. This article focuses on three moments of his commemoration in the nineteenth century: the classical Pozharskii, as seen in the monument on Red Square, the nationalist Pozharskii, which reimagined him almost as a saint of the nation, and…
Periodization as Decolonization
This piece argues that a greater understanding of the role of regions in Russian history could lead to different ways of writing Russian history that need not center the state. By including a wider range of intellectual and political actors from the regions, as well as tracing the long connections between them and Ukrainian thinkers, such a history would make regions subjects rather than simply objects. The original post and the significant numbe…
How the Field was Colonized
This discussion seeks to trace the origins of a particularly sympathetic approach to the Russian state and its needs with the field of Russian history in the United States. The response notes some of the major scholars who have greatly influenced the study of Russian history. These include Michael Karpovich, Richard Pipes, and Edward Keenan among others. The discussion grapples with the question of how Russian history in the US has or has not inc…
Mapping Russia, but Finding Some Blind Spots
The subject of space has long been a focal point of Russian culture.In the nineteenth century, some historians saw the unbounded space of Muscovy and Russia as a reason for the development of autocracy, while federalist historians argued that it meant that regions should have more of a say in the government. 1 In the twentieth century, a flurry of attempts to politically reimagine Russia during the civil war (1918-22) were defeated politically an…
Spatial Scenarios in the History of the Romanov Empire
The wide-ranging spaces of Russia in its various guises have not always been reflected in historical narratives, which for many years focused on Moscow and St. Petersburg. This viewpoint piece focuses on how the entangled histories approach could be applied to tell the empire's story without telling an imperial story. It ends with asking which vertical threads from the center are necessary to weave together a coherent narrative
History (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · History (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Soviet and Russian History (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Archaeology (4 works)