The Construction Process of Studies on Nationalism of the Russian Émigré Educationist Nicholas Hans: An Interpretation from the Archives on “Russia’s Western Frontier”

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the construction process of the historical studies on nationalism of Nicholas Hans, Russian émigré educationist. In general, the scholar’s comparative theory is known in the field of education; however, this article concentrates on Hans’ keen interest in various aspects of ethnic questions, which widely vary between the humanitarian questions of the Enlightenment and the post-colonial problems after the Second World War. It is almost impossible to survey these numerous issues entirely at a time. However, a theoretical outline of Hans will be investigated using archival materials on him. Thus, the analysis will be made in the following order.

First, the article interprets the basic term “nationalism” and its academic contexts where it is specially used by Hans. In the draft “Ethnic Questions in Ukraine,” no clear definition of the term is yet adopted. Though Hans obviously questioned the definition mainly after the Second World War, the evolution of the construction process of studies on nationalism should be investigated along with his historical interest in ethnic questions in Russia’s western frontier, where Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, Poles, Ruthenians, and other minorities live altogether. Thus, the nationalism in the draft “Russia’s Western Frontier” and in other articles written at the beginning of the Cold War should be interpreted as a creation process of ethnic consciousness on the one hand; a negative usage also exists, which is equivalent to xenophobic movements, on the other. The former definition evaluates the ethnic movements to attain cultural independence and political transition, but the latter chiefly aims criticism at the utterly ignorant attitudes of the imperial bureaucracies towards non-Russian inhabitants.

Second, the untapped notes “Ethnic Questions in Ukraine,” which are witness to Hans’ political practice in Odessa and the regional disorders after the October Revolution, are taken into consideration. An on-the-spot inquiry, which Hans personally attempted in Odessa, shows that neither the newly founded ethnic schools nor the Bolshevik ones satisfied regional educational demands. The author focuses on the historical coincidence of Hans’ inquiry with the educational circumstances in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which shows the fact that the exclusiveness of nationalism is rather fictional, and that the genuine nationalist movement, as Hans puts it, is often confused with the former.

Finally, the last part contains an analysis of the unpublished draft “Russia’s Western Frontier.” After the failure of its publication, Hans obviously changed his research direction. Whilst the purpose of the work was first defined as a single mission by a Russian émigré scholar to speak of the historical details of ethnic varieties in his motherland, unknown to a European readership, the purpose was corrected after the Second World War to a more universal framework. So-called teamwork in comparative study, an ultimate end of Hans’ theory, enables a wider scope to analyze ethnic questions interculturally.