SUMMARY:

The article is an abridged version of the first chapter in the edited volume A Theory for Empire Written on Its Margins. It presents an account of more than 150 years of what the authors identify as “etnos-thinking” – the attempt to use positivistic and rational scientific methodologies to describe, encapsulate, evaluate, and rank “etnoses” across Eurasia. Its central argument is that the work of professional ethnographers created a powerful language parallel to the political vocabulary of “tribes,” “nationalities,” and “nations.” The essay surveys the definitions of etnos offered by scholars during the twentieth century, and argues that historically etnos-thinking emerged and developed in the multidisciplinary scientific environment of “biosocial” science – an approach to identity heavily influenced by physical anthropology and natural sciences. The biosocial synthesis – and etnos-thinking – was incompatible with Soviet Marxism of the 1930s, but had a piecemeal revival in the 1960s. The article claims that etnos-thinking acquired new dynamism in post-Soviet Russia. Although leading academic anthropologists criticize the concept, it remains high on the agenda for many intellectuals and ethnic activists in the twenty-first century.