ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the question of “center” and “periphery” becomes complicated by considering various geographical and historical contexts. As a case study, we examine the poet Alexander Pushkin, who was famously descended on his mother's side from an African former captive who became a military general in eighteenth-century Russia. In the United States, Pushkin was used by abolitionists and anti-racists to rebuke those who considered “African blood” a mark of inferiority. In nineteenth-century Russia, on the other hand, Pushkin's Black ancestry was closely associated with his preeminent stature, which, paradoxically, was not incompatible with his Orientalist and colonialist writings. In the present day, post-Soviet nations typically regard Pushkin as a symbol of Russianness, leading activists in countries like Ukraine to remove monuments to him. Tracing Pushkin's legacy on both sides of the Atlantic underscores the value of marking how this poet's multiracial lineage has shifted from the center to the periphery in contemporary discussions of his reputation. It concludes with a call to examine the multiracial nature of both the “centers” and the “peripheries” of Europe.
