ABSTRACT
There is a peculiar but revealing term for the European portion of Russia in the vocabulary of Russian settlers living in Siberia: the materik. Although the Siberian north can be distinguished geographically from other Arctic territories by the fact that it is composed of a vast and continuous continental mass, the term materik redundantly means ‘the mainland’. With this term, in defiance of geography, Russian newcomers recall their cities of origin in a far-away heartland and allegorically place their adopted homes on islands-as if their life histories were those of colonists who had traversed wide and dangerous seas to reach a new land. While the theme of the relationship between the centre and the frontier is a rich one in the history of Russian state building (Bassin 1993), I will focus specifically upon the institutions, social rights and civic practices that the settlers saw themselves bringing to these remote islands and their aboriginal inhabitants. Although civic practices from the mainland are found to have varying degrees of usefulness, the mainland always remains in the minds of the settlers as the measure of civility and good government. This unusual and almost nostalgic view of the central civil institutions of Russian society provides a critical angle for those wishing to understand what foundation (if any) supports a post-socialist civil society in Russia.
