Macroregion, mesoregion or administrative unit? Defining «native land» in Russian regional history textbooks

Based on the analysis of the titles of 340 late-Soviet regional history textbooks, this article explores how the boundaries of the «native land» were articulated by various regions of the RSFSR depending on their self-presentation strategies. The author categorizes the diverse naming approaches into three groups: 1) generic-functional titles, 2) titles referencing specific administrative-territorial units, and 3) titles appealing to historical-geographical categories (macro/mesoregional level). The study concludes that during the Soviet era most regional history textbooks fell into the first two categories, while the post-Soviet period saw a rise in textbooks focusing on meso- and macroregions.