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Disability in Late Imperial Russia: Pathological Metaphors and Medical Orientalism

Sauer, Nicholas L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1464016404

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, Department of Humanities.
In late imperial Russia (1861-1917), both scientific and creative elites readily used illness and disability as metaphors for the societal and political crisis that befell the Tsarist regime. These mainstream elites—be they medical doctors, anthropologists, writers, or artists—held complex views of the ill and disabled, seeing them simultaneously as symbols of wisdom and purity as well as dysfunction and degeneration. Whether perceived in a positive or negative light by elites, the ill and disabled were subject to inequitable power structures in which they were reduced to objects of loathing, pity, or fascination. This thesis explores elite attitudes to these marginalized populations as revealed through Russian belles-lettres, medical literature, artwork, and Tsarist education policy. The ill and disabled became a convenient segue for imperial elites to debate the important topics of the fin de siecle from public health to national security. This thesis shows that the ill and disabled—while on the margins of society—were at the center of attention when elites like scientists, artists, and bureaucrats argued for social and professional reform or for the preservation of the Tsarist autocracy.
Brian Bonhomme, PhD (Advisor)
Daniel Ayana, PhD (Committee Member)
Helene Sinnreich, PhD (Committee Member)
138 p.
Aesthetics; Ethics; Health Care; Mental Health; Russian History
Russian history; disability; Anton Chekhov; Ilya Repin; mental illness; Disability Studies; history of psychiatry; late imperial Russia

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sauer, N. L. (2016). Disability in Late Imperial Russia: Pathological Metaphors and Medical Orientalism [Master's thesis, Youngstown State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1464016404

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sauer, Nicholas. Disability in Late Imperial Russia: Pathological Metaphors and Medical Orientalism. 2016. Youngstown State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1464016404.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sauer, Nicholas. "Disability in Late Imperial Russia: Pathological Metaphors and Medical Orientalism." Master's thesis, Youngstown State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1464016404

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ysu1464016404
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Youngstown State University and OhioLINK.