Abstract:

Nokhchi people declared the country’s independence in 1991 after the Soviet government’s unsuccessful attempt to appease local nationalists by granting partial sovereignty to the autonomous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia. The newly formed state claimed the name of Nokhchi-Chuo for domestic engagement and Ichkeria for international affairs. It also initiated rapid restoration of the local toponymy, rituals, traditions, and language after surviving-resisting Russian colonial expansion for almost two hundred years.

Collective rehabilitation and self-determination processes were interrupted by the Russian military invasion ‘‘to restore constitutional order” in 1994, which fundamentally meant reoccupation. After its defeat in 1996 and signing the ‘peace treaty’ with Nokhchi president Maskhadov in 1997, Russia made another attempt to reconquer Chechnya in 1999 under the disguise of “the counter-terrorist operation”. Unlike previous interventions such as genocidal deportation of the entire Nokhchi nation in 1944 or two recent above-mentioned Russo-Chechen wars, in 2000 the Russian Federation established a Chechen-led colonial administration to implement Moscow’s agenda. Today, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, forces the Nokhchi people to be a part of the Russian Federation. They celebrate Russian holidays, vocally support Russian President Vladimir Putin, and contribute to protecting Russian political interests and military actions abroad, promoting the imperial frame of collective memory, advanced by Russia.

This paper explores opportunities to situate Nokhchi experiences of the historical oppression, political alertness, cultural sensitivity, and very physical survival-resistance in current studies of subalternity, postcoloniality, and decoloniality. I explore the (re)colonization Nokhchi region through the policies implemented by Kadyrov’s apparatus, willingness of Russian people to resettle in the country, and Russian-centric discourses/imaginary on ‘Chechens’ and their perpetual reproduction in scholarship, literature, and media. I also attempt to argue on the ‘de-imperializing-Russia’ ideas of Nokhchi leadership speeches from the 1990s.