The library in the penal colony: Chekhov’s unsung gift to Sakhalin
Chekhov’s contribution to the cultural landscape of the Sakhalin penal colony (1868-1905), the establishment of several school libraries containing more than 2,200 volumes for the island’s children and their convict parents, has received little attention compared with the acclaim accorded his prodigious 1890 demographic census of prisoners. “I visited every settlement and went into every hut,” he wrote.”I don’t […]
First Carceral Archipelago Panel
A few weeks ago, it was wonderful to have our first Carceral Archipelago project panel. The three postgraduates working on the project – Carrie Crockett, Kellie Moss and Katy Roscoe – showcased their progress so far in three twenty minutes papers at the School of History’s postgraduate conference at the University of Leicester. We were […]
Of Ainu Women and Russian Prisoners: Listening for the Voice of the Other
In my research on the penal colony of Sakhalin, I recently stumbled across two photographs I found to be particularly interesting. Both are images of indigenous women who lived in the eastern Russian empire during the late nineteenth century. Although the photographs hint that the women’s lives were vastly dissimilar, both represent an indigenous response […]
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