A Seven-Headed Public: Empire and Satire in Revolutionary Caucasus
Journal: Comparative Studies in Society and History
Year: 2025

Abstract What does empire look like from spaces where multiple imperial projects converge? Through analysis of Molla Nasraddin , a pioneering satirical magazine from the early twentieth-century Caucasus, I reveal local engagements with empire that defy traditional binaries of center versus periphery, indigenous versus foreign, and resistance versus accommodation. While critical scholarship has powerfully demonstrated how imperial power shapes local life—from technologies of rule to cultural cate