Veranstaltungen

Russian imperial and Soviet language policies shaped the linguistic landscape of the Caucasus in profound ways. Focusing on Armenia and Dagestan and bridging the imperial and Soviet periods (1890s-1930s), this presentation explores the implementation, impact, and grassroots responses to state language policies, offering a fresh perspective on continuity and change across shifting political regimes and ideological agendas. The contrast between Armenia’s largely monolingual landscape and Dagestan’s mosaic of languages, along with the differing roles of religious, ethnic, and national identities in each region and the varying attitudes of central authorities toward Armenians and Dagestanis, allows for a comparative regional analysis that captures the diverse experiences of language policies in the Caucasus. Adopting a bottom-up approach, the study brings vernacular voices to the forefront and examines how local actors – particularly the local intelligentsia and religious leaders – responded to, adapted, or negotiated state initiatives. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources in Armenian, Arabic, and Russian, it shows how unique cultural and linguistic dynamics influenced their enactment beyond top-down directives, revealing the complex interplay between state power, local initiative, and cultural resilience in the Caucasus.

Heghine Barseghyan is a PhD student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She holds BA and MA degrees in Arabic Studies from Yerevan State University. Her research interests center around language policy, identity, and cultural transformations in the Caucasus. Her PhD research focuses on imperial and Soviet language policies in Armenia and Dagestan from the 1900s to the 1930s, exploring their implementation and sociocultural impacts.