We witnessed the Soviet break-up: Five Scandinavian researchers on the final years of the USSR,seen from the Caucasus

The authors recount their experiences of conducting fieldwork and traveling as researchers in the Caucasus region in the final years of the Soviet Union. This period, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, is crucial for the understanding of current developments not only in the Caucasus but in all countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. They report on political processes in the Caucasus, including the emergence of new movements for independence, increasing tensions with Moscow, the breakdown of Soviet structures at different levels, and the growing importance of national cultures. They describe how premodern traditions still play a role, despite Soviet modernization, account for specific cultural features and similarities, and witness deepening ethnic antagonism. The authors are political scientist Ib Faurby, cultural geographer Lars Funch Hansen, slavicist Märta-Lisa Magnusson, historian and Iranologist Søren Theisen, and linguist and Caucasologist Karina Vamling.