The rise of Karaim cultural nationalism as part of the European movement

• Authors: Tapani Harviainen
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In the nationalistic-revivalist atmosphere which prevailed in Eastern Europe in the second half of the 19th century and the first four decades of the 20th century, it would indeed be a real miracle if the Karaims, with all their ethnic characteristics, had remained untouched by nationalist movements. In the framework of the essential definitions of nation, nationalism and ethnicity, their religion, languages, calendar, endogamic family ties, social organization, leadership and etiological myths represent the most characteristic markers of an ethnic group or ethnic minority. This conclusion is supported by a great number of ethnic symbols which distinguish the Karaims from Jews and other neighbouring peoples. For their part, the decisions of the Austrian and Russian authorities in favour of the Karaims after 1774 constituted the basis for their status as a juridically independent ingroup. The recurrent negative definitions of the Karaims as a Jewish sect etc. can be considered neither appropriate nor up-to-date.

Keywords

EN

nationalism; ethnicity; nationalistic-revivalist atmosphere; national revival of Karaims

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Karaite Archives
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2013-12-31

Contributors

author

Tapani Harviainen

References

• Abkowicz, Mariola & Anna Sulimowicz. 2010. Karaj jołłary – karaimskie drogi. Karaimi w dawnej fotografii. S.l.: Bitik.
• Allardt, Erik & Christian Starck. 1981. Språkgränser och samhällsstruktur: finlandssvenskarna i ett jämförande perspektiv. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell Förlag AB.
• Anderson, Benedict. 1983/2006. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso.
• Bairašauskaitė, Tamara, Halina Kobeckaitė & Galina Mičkinienė (eds.). 2008. Orientas Lietuvos Didžiosios Kuningaikštijos visuomenės tradicijoje: totoriai ir karaimai – Orient in the Social Tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Tatars and Karaims – Orient w tradycji społeczeństwa Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego: Tatarzy i Karaimi – Orient v obščestvennoj tradicii Velikogo Knjažestva Litovskogo: tatary i karaimy. (Specialusis “Lietuvos istorijos studijų” leidinys, t. 6). Vilnius, Kaunas: Vilniaus universitetas.
• Barth, Fredrik. 1969/1982. Introduction. In: Barth, Fredrik (ed.). 1969/1982. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: the Social Organization of Culture Difference. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget. Day, Graham & Andrew Thompson. 2004. Theorizing Nationalism. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 9-38.
• Firkavičiūtė, Karina. 2012. Muzyka w kulturze karaimskiej. In: Beata Machul-Telus (ed.). 2012, Karaimi. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe. 73-91.
• Firkovičius, Mykolas, Karina Firkavičiūtė & Vladimiras Maškevič (eds.). 2001. Karaj kalendary – Karaimų kalendorius 2001-2051. S.l.: “Topforma”.
• Gini, Corrado. 1936. I Caraimi di Polonia e Lituania, Genus 2 1-2, 1-56.
• Harviainen, Tapani. 1997. Three Hebrew Primers, the Pronunciation of Hebrew among the Karaims in the Crimea, and Shewa. In: Wardini, Elie (ed.). 1997. Built on Solid Rock. Studies in Honour of Professor Ebbe Egede Knudsen on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, April 11th 1997. Oslo: The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo, Serie B. Skrifter XCVIII, 102-114.
• Harviainen, Tapani. 2003. The Karaites in Eastern Europe and the Crimea: an Overview. In: Polliack, Meira (ed.). 2003. Karaite Judaism. A Guide to its History and Literary Sources. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 633-655.
• Harviainen, Tapani. In press. Karaite reading traditions of Hebrew (modern). In: Khan, Geoffrey et al. (eds.). In press. Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (EHLL). Leiden: Brill.
• Hobsbawm, Eric John. 1990. Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
• Hroch, Miroslav. 1985. Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of the Social Composition of Patriotic Groups among the Smaller European Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hutchinson, John & Anthony D. Smith. 1996. Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Jankowski, Henryk. 2003. On the Language Varieties of Karaims in the Crimea. Studia Orientalia 95, 109-130.
• Jankowski, Henryk. 2008. The Question of the Existence of the Crimean Karaim and its Relation to Western Karaim. In: Bairašauskaitė, Tamara, Halina Kobeckaitė & Galina Mičkinienė (eds.). 2008. Orientas Lietuvos Didžiosios Kuningaikštijos visuomenės tradicijoje: totoriai ir karaimai – Orient in the Social Tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Tatars and Karaims – Orient w tradycji społeczeństwa Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego: Tatarzy i Karaimi – Orient v obščestvennoj tradicii Velikogo Knjažestva Litovskogo: tatary i karaimy. (Specialusis “Lietuvos istorijos studijų” leidinys, t. 6). Vilnius, Kaunas: Vilniaus universitetas, 161-168.
• Kizilov, Mikhail. 2009. The Karaites of Galicia. An Ethnoreligious Minority among the Ashkenazim, the Turks, and the Slavs 1772-1945. (Studia Judaeoslavica. Edited by Alexander Kulik. Volume 1.) Leiden, Boston: Brill.
• Kohn, Hans. 1994. Western and Eastern Nationalism. In: Hutchinson, John & Anthony D. Smith (eds.). 1994. Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 162-165.
• Miller, Philip E. 1993. Karaite Separatism in Nineteenth-Century Russia. Joseph Solomon Lutski’s Epistle of Israel’s Deliverance. (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College; no. 16.) Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press.
• Németh, Michał. 2012. Przeszłość, teraźniejszość i przyszłość karaimskiej działalności kulturalnojęzykowej. In: Beata Machul-Telus (ed.). 2012, Karaimi. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe. 53-72.
• Shamuel, Magdi. 2003. The Karaite Calendar: Sanctification of the New Moon by Sighting. In: Polliack, Meira (ed.). 2003. Karaite Judaism. A Guide to its History and Literary Sources. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 591-629.
• Smith, Anthony David. 1986. The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Oxford: Blackwell. Smith, Anthony D. 1991. National Identity. London: Penguin Books.
• Smith, Anthony D. 1999. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Smith, Anthony D. 2003. Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Valtonen, Pekka. 2004. Etnisyys ja kansakunta. In: Pakkasvirta, Jussi & Pasi Saukkonen (eds.). 2004. Nationalismit. Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 106-123.
• Zajączkowski, Ananiasz. 1961. Karaims in Poland. History, Language, Folklore, Science. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
• Zajončkovskis, Michailas. 2000. Karaimai kariuomenėje. Vilnius: Lietuvos Nacionalinis Muziejus.
• Zajončkovskis, Michailas. 2005. Karaimai kariai. Vilnius: Spausdino UAB „Pozicija”.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ka.2013.1.04