Stefan Applis Tusheti is a historic region in the Caucasus. To the north,t is separated from the Republic of Chechnya within the Russian Federation by a mighty mountain range. To the west, another mountain range separates it from the neighbouring Georgian regions Pshavi and Khevsureti. Since the Tusheti region became a UNESCO biosphere reserve, tourism has been steadily increasing. Due to its remote location, traditional architecture has been preserved there largely unchanged

In Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service (Oxford University Press, 2026), Harry C. Merritt explores the wartime experiences and postwar legacies of the almost 200,000 Latvian residents who fought on either side of the ideological divide. To mark its recent publication, Peripheral Histories? editor Siobhán Hearne spoke with Harry about researching and writing Latvian wartime history. PH: What motivated you to write this book?

Stanisław Edward Boridczenko Writing from the Margins In much of Eastern Europe, as elsewhere, contemporary national histories have traditionally been written from the perspective of elites, with a few notable exceptions. Political leaders, generals, and intellectuals dominate most national narratives, while the lives of ordinary people often appear only in passing. Within such an approach, the countless smaller stories of those outside the ruling classes are usually trea

Giorgi Meladze More than three decades after independence, Georgia continues to confront a persistent paradox of rule of law reform. In recent years, as concerns about democratic decline and institutional backsliding have intensified, this paradox has acquired renewed significance. Despite repeated constitutional amendments, extensive judicial restructuring, and sustained alignment with European legal standards, courts have struggled to function as independent institutions. E

Adelina Stefan talks to Peripheral Histories about researching and writing a transnational history of tourism in two peripheral postwar European dictatorships (Romania and Spain).

Isabelle DeSisto Valentina [1] was born in exile in Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia, to an ethnic German father and a Moldovan mother, both of whom had been deported from their homes under the orders of Josef Stalin. Valentina returned to Moldova – then the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) – in the 1960s. Because of her background, she was not allowed to study law at university. Nevertheless, she told me in our interview, “I received a good education

In Bound by Exclusion and Violence: A History of Belarusian Armed Struggle in the Twentieth Century (published by University of Toronto Press, 2025) Aleksandra Pomiecko follows a group of Belarusian nationalists from the First World War through to the Cold War era to show how Belarus was a key hub of ideological and political conflict throughout the twentieth century. To mark its recent publication, Peripheral Histories? editor Siobhán Hearne spoke with Aleksandra about twen

Donald Morard In 1965, the French Communist journal Démocratie Nouvelle, in its special issue on the “young, advanced republic” of Estonia, described the occupied Baltic country as a “laboratory” for the future of the Soviet economy. In an article titled “Un Domaine d’experimentation Economique” (“A space for economic experimentation”), Estonia was presented as an ideal space for the Soviet government to test new forms and methods of economic management to later be scaled up

In Moscow’s Heavy Shadow: the Violent Collapse of the USSR (published with Cornell University Press, 2023) Isaac McKean Scarborough weaves together archival documents from Dushanbe and Moscow to tell the story of how reforms introduced by the central government manifested in Tajikistan. Peripheral Histories? Editor Hanna Matt spoke to Isaac about how the population in Tajikistan experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the process of researching the book. You

Beatrice Penati’s new book Rural History of Soviet Central Asia: Land Reform and Agricultural Change in Early Soviet Uzbekistan ...

Nicole Harry In 1959, the Holy See of the Catholic Church and the Soviet government agreed to send two Lithuanian priests to study at the...

Kate ř ina Zäch The Soviet government attempted to demonstrate its resolute power by shaping the perceptions of the population in ways...

The ICCEES XI World Congress is being hosted by UCL in London in 2025, and will run from Monday 21st July to Friday 25th July....

Stanisław Boridczenko Among the private papers of Fr Lew Goroszko — now archived in the Francis Skoryna Belarusian Library and Museum...

Victoria Peretitskaya As religious dissenters, the Doukhobors, a pacifist Christian sect dating back to the eighteenth century, endured...

Aglaia Gulakova These remaining Old Believers must be seen – their strength, their conviction, their selfless nightly prayers (no longer...

Leora Eisenberg It would have been absurd if it wasn’t quite so sincere: at least seven Kazakhstani composers sitting in a conference...

Kristo Nurmis “Ready to Die for Liberty: Tiny Estonia to Declare War on USSR as well as on Reich.” So proclaimed The Boston Globe in July...

Hanna Maria Aunin In January 1988, the editorial board of the Tallinnfilm studio signed a contract with Rein Saluri for a feature film...

As part of the series that discusses ‘peripheries’ in the Baltic states, Rasa Kamarauskaitė (RK) of the BASEES Study Group on the Baltic...