"Aliens" and "natives": Colonial contrasts in Grigory Potanin's Crimean travelogue

The article examines Grigory Potanin's travelogue Crimean Letters of a Siberian" (1876), based on his trip to Yalta in the summer of 1875, within the context of other travelogues Potanin prepared for publications associated with the ideologists of regionalism. In 1876, Potanin published three texts under different titles that are closely interrelated: "Crimean Letters of a Siberian," "From a Siberian's Notebook" (both in the newspaper Sibir'), and "Travel Notes from Novocherkassk to Kazan" (in the Kazan collection The First Step). The research is based on epistolary, journalistic, and memoir materials, revealing the significance of Potanin's sketches as an example of the hybrid travelogue genre. By actively employing techniques of literary and journalistic writing, Potanin constructs a symbolic space in which Siberia represents a model of a dynamic and promising region, while the Crimea is depicted as a static and culturally degraded periphery. The analysis separately addresses the problems of the unreliable narrator and conscious mystification concerning the structure of the travelogue, as well as the timing and itinerary of the 1875-1876 journey to the Crimea and China (via Siberia). The author emphasizes the fact that "Crimean Letters of a Siberian" and "Travel Notes from Novocherkassk to Kazan," published in different venues, actually reflect the same journey undertaken by Potanin in the summer of 1875 along the route St. Petersburg - Crimea - St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, the text "From a Siberian's Notebook" describes the route taken a year later on the way to a scientific expedition. The travelogue text is analyzed through the prism of regionalist ideology, orientalism, and the key cultural and social challenges of the 1870s. Central focus is placed on the problems of representing the imperial peripheries-the Crimea and Siberia-and their juxtaposition as "alien" and "native" spaces. The article demonstrates that Potanin uses the Crimean travelogue as a means to critique imperial policy and shape a regional identity (for instance, through the metaphorical representation of Siberia as a woman, including material from the Barabinsk Tatars' folklore plot about Tsontai Mergen and Pi-Kyz). The author discusses comparative aspects of local patriotism using the examples of P.P. Yershov and T.G. Shevchenko, illustrating them through a comparison of Ukrainian and Siberian regionalism, as well as through the interplay of motifs of Eastern and Western identity. The work emphasizes Potanin's unique role as an ideologist, scholar, and publicist who synthesizes scientific, literary, and journalistic styles of writing. The key conclusions of the article pertain to the analysis of the genre specificity of Potanin's Crimean travelogue, his contribution to the formation of Siberian imagology, and his role in the development of regionalist ideas in the 19th century. The presented text is viewed as part of a broader discourse of microhistory, contributing to a deeper understanding of the social and cultural dynamics of the Russian Empire. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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