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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Reading Ethiopia through Russian Eyes: Political and Racial Sentiments in the Travel Writings of Alexander Bulatovich, 1896-1898 |
Author: | Mirzeler, Mustafa Kemal |
Year: | 2005 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 32 |
Pages: | 281-294 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Russian Federation |
Subjects: | travel images 1890-1899 History and Exploration |
About person: | Aleksandr Ksaverevich Bulatovich (1870-1919) |
External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/history_in_africa/v032/32.1mirzeler.pdf |
Abstract: | 'Ethiopia through Russian eyes: country in transition, 1896-1898' by Richard Seltzer (2000) consists of the translation of two books written by Alexander Bulatovich and published in 1897 and 1900. The present paper examines Bulatovich's writings on his experiences in late 19th-century Ethiopia. Bulatovich (1870-1919) arrived in Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) in order to aid a Red Cross mission in 1896. In 1897 he returned to Ethiopia as a Russian diplomat. Bulatovich was sympathetic to the ruling Amhara and the Galla/Oromo people of southwestern Ethiopia, but he was prejudiced against the 'negroid' features of the southern Ethiopians. By establishing similarities between southwestern Ethiopians and Europeans, Bulatovich portrayed the southwestern Ethiopian peoples as a potential black colonial power. However, this portrayal was not prompted by Bulatovich's belief in the Abyssinian peoples' intrinsic qualities. Rather it served Russia's nationalistic goals, particularly the Russian intention to use the Ethiopian State to hinder the colonial expansion of the European powers, notably England. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |