In Search of the Prestige Ancestors : Ethno-Nationalism and School Textbooks

A view of the past is an important element of ethnic identity in the contemporary world. Nowadays, it plays also a crucial instrumental role in a struggle for political, financial, territorial and cultural resources and benefits. This struggle is especially intensive under unstable political environment which is used by various ethnic elites in order to upgrade their status and to get an access to some privileges. The myths of the past are often forged and disseminated as an important part of the ethno-national ideologies which are aimed at ethnic solidarity. An image of the enemy is an integral element of the ideologies in question which have xenophobic connotations as a result. A place of these sort of myths and ideologies in the contemporary Russian education system is analysed. It is demonstrated how they manifest ethnic strifes and conflicts in various regions of the Russian Federation, and how they infuse students with intolerance, chauvinism and racial moods which seems alarming