Imperial Complicity: Finns and Tatars in the Political Hierarchy of Races

Abstract

Finnish and Tatar intellectuals shared a position of subordination and relative privilege in the Russian Empire from the early 19th century onward. They did not simply accept or reject Western racial knowledge production, which was increasingly used to justify colonialism and imperialism toward the end of the 19th century; they appropriated it and created a localized version of racial hierarchy, subverting derogatory racial stereotypes to sources of vitality. Within that framework, the heritage of another empire that had managed to menace the white West, the Mongol Empire, had an undeniable attraction to Finns and Tatars, who shared the experience of middle-men minorities providing experts and services to a multi-national empire, while aspiring for empires and colonies of their own.

Core Citizens, Imagined Nation: Historical Security Practices of the Majority and Strategies of the Minorities in Finland; An Introduction to the Issue

“…Their wares were suspected to spread contagion, such as cholera (Wassholm 2020, 19-20). 3 Often Tatars were depicted along with other despised groups in cartoons (Elmgren 2020). If Russian nationalists complained about Finnish obstruction or separatism, Finnish newspapers could reply that only misbehaving Russian peddlers and Tatars were treated badly in Finland-and did not Russians themselves have a proverb, "an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar" (Länsi-Suomi, April 16, 1910)?…”

“…The quip shows how Finnish Tatars, as not-quite insiders, and not-quite outsiders, could be an asset to the majority's needs, but their existence could also be conveniently forgotten-to be re-discovered when needed again. At the same time, the fluidity of their identity (as Muslims, Volga Turks, Finnish Tatars) and their indefinable appearance (some Finns depicted them as Asian in cartoons and stage costumes [Elmgren 2020]; others saw them as "Southerners," and still others marveled at how "normal" they were) meant that individual Tatars could hide, if necessary, or instrumentalize their public identities to appeal to the majority, or recreate themselves to empower their own community.…”

Between Religious Identity and National Identity? Pentecostal Finnish Roma in Lutheran Finland

“…Their wares were suspected to spread contagion, such as cholera (Wassholm 2020, 19-20). 3 Often Tatars were depicted along with other despised groups in cartoons (Elmgren 2020). If Russian nationalists complained about Finnish obstruction or separatism, Finnish newspapers could reply that only misbehaving Russian peddlers and Tatars were treated badly in Finland-and did not Russians themselves have a proverb, "an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar" (Länsi-Suomi, April 16, 1910)?…”

“…The quip shows how Finnish Tatars, as not-quite insiders, and not-quite outsiders, could be an asset to the majority's needs, but their existence could also be conveniently forgotten-to be re-discovered when needed again. At the same time, the fluidity of their identity (as Muslims, Volga Turks, Finnish Tatars) and their indefinable appearance (some Finns depicted them as Asian in cartoons and stage costumes [Elmgren 2020]; others saw them as "Southerners," and still others marveled at how "normal" they were) meant that individual Tatars could hide, if necessary, or instrumentalize their public identities to appeal to the majority, or recreate themselves to empower their own community.…”