Against the backdrop of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the renewed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, anxiety about Georgia’s fate and its place in the region has taken over the quotidian life of ordinary people. Veiled as peace-preservation efforts, Georgia’s ruling party has made a sweeping turn away from the country’s European course towards a Russian-style authoritarian rule. The waves of mass protests that surged in response to the government’s actions are part of the broader charged atmosphere in which national anxiety from being a small country shapes not only political rhetoric, but the sense of ordinary life in Georgia. In this lecture, Batiashvili explores the historical and cultural antecedents of the anxiety rooted in what Timothy Snyder calls the “deep narratives” of the region. Based on the ethnographic studies among politically active youth, ethnic Armenians in Tbilisi, and the community of Caucasian highlanders, Batiashvili examines different facets of political and cultural anxiety that have prevailed in the Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
