Disability in late imperial Russia : pathological metaphors and medical orientalism

Abstract

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 siècle 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.