2023/09/10 by Vera Smirnova · 1 voice
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Arctic and Russian Policy Studies #Indigenous Studies and Ecology #Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/tran.12638
openalex publication_date 2023/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23
Abstract This commentary addresses the dimensions of Russia's ‘spatial anxiety’—its inability to come to terms with the territorial delimitations of neighbouring states and, consequently, the preoccupation of mainstream political geography with the study of Russia‐centric territorial representations. Although geographical inquiry contributed substantially to understanding Russian territorial politics, most studies are often reduced to an analysis of the official Russian geographical canon. The purpose of this commentary is to unpack these disciplinary approaches by drawing attention to the local, indigenous and peasant geographies that the statist perspectives have unearthed and utilised, while at the same time accentuating the two assumptions that this project might imply—on the re‐territorialisation of the federation and the decolonisation of Russian area studies.