Icons of Eurasian Empire: Early Modern Russian Visions of Encounter, Conquest, and Rule

FAIN: FA-251067-17

Valerie A. Kivelson
Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382)

Preparation of a book employing the study of visual culture to investigate early empire building in Russia during the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the tsardom of Muscovy grew explosively. With state agents following hard on the heels of freelance trappers and profiteers, the empire rapidly extended its reach across the hostile terrain of Siberia, reaching the Pacific by 1637. Along the way, they subjugated indigenous populations, welcomed Bukharan merchants as trading partners and settlers, and attempted to open trade with China. My research examines Muscovy’s version of imperial combat, conquest, and rule, primarily through analysis of visual depictions produced by Russians and their proximate others. On the basis of a wide array of visual sources, I plan to write a scholarly monograph on Russia’s early modern imperial encounters.