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HISTORICKÁ SOCIOLOGIE, Vol 18 No 1 (2026), 45–70
ArticlePražský strukturalismus jako základ eurasijství
[Prague Structuralism as the Foundation of Eurasianism]
Liubov Stepanova
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23363525.2026.4
published online: 21. 07. 2026
abstract
The article analyzes the Prague phase of the Eurasian movement (1921–1938) as an epistemological experiment applying structural linguistics to questions of civilizational identity and geopolitics. The premise is that Eurasianism was not merely a political manifesto of Russian émigré intellectuals, but a complex scholarly theory shaped in dialogue with the Prague Linguistic Circle. Through analysis of three key thinkers – Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Petr Savitsky, and Lev Karsavin – the article reconstructs the mechanism of transfer of the structural method from language to civilization (geostructuralism) and identifies its epistemological limits: the conflation of descriptive and normative claims, the reproduction of Orientalist asymmetry despite proclaimed anti-universalism, and the postulation of a civilizational subject without the voices of those it claimed to represent. Braudel’s longue durée and concepts of postcolonial theory (Said, Spivak) serve as comparative frameworks. The article concludes that the lasting contribution of the Eurasian legacy lies not in its political programme, but in its epistemological gesture: conceiving space as an active formative force shaping culture, language, and identity.
keywords: Eurasianism; Prague structuralism; geostructuralism; mestorazvitiye; postcolonial theory
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