Anan’ev Denis A.,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Women in Exile and Katorga in Siberia and the Russian Far East (2nd Half of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries): Anglo-American Researchers’ Perspective
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-3-21
The article gives an overview of the works of Anglo-American specialists who wrote about difficulties of women’s survival in Siberian exile and katorga in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries; evaluates their contribution to the study of this topic; determines to what extent their theoretical and methodological approaches can be used by Russian researchers. It is established that in their studies on the history of Siberian exile and penal labour during the pre-revolutionary period the British and American historians place greater focus on gender issues. Based on a wide range of historical sources (first of all, ego-documents) and using the theoretical and methodological tools of such interdisciplinary research areas as “history of women”, “history of family”, “gender studies”, “historical penology” Anglo-American researchers presented changes in penitentiary system of Siberia and associated power relations through the everyday life of female exiles and their family members (“history from below”) (S. Badcock, D. Beer). Researchers compared the legal and actual status of women sent to Siberia either by court decisions or extrajudicially; studied biographies of famous participants of revolutionary movement and at the same time called to “hear the voices” of the majority of “ordinary” exiles, both criminals and those who were exiled to Siberia by administrative process (Ph. Desind, K. Turton, A. Gentes); analyzed measures of imperial and local authorities aimed at strengthening the institution of family and gender hierarchy as pillars of patriarchal state; traced changes in gender norms and relations under conditions of Siberian exile (A. Schraeder). It appears that theoretical and methodological approaches proposed by Western researchers can be applied by Russian specialists who study various problems of history of Siberian exile and penal labour.
Publishing: 30/06/2019
How to cite: Anan’ev D.A. Women in Exile and Katorga in Siberia and the Russian Far East (2nd Half of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries): Anglo-American Researchers’ Perspective // Historical Courier, 2019, # 3 (5). Article 21. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-3-21.pdf
Links: Issue 3 2019
Keywords: Western historiography; history of Siberia; exile to Siberia; penal labour; political exiles