scholarly journals Post-Soviet Russian Identity Building and Politics of Memory: Scientific and Public Discourse

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (69) ◽  
pp. 407-423
Author(s):  
Svetlana Akhundovna Tatunts ◽  
Anastasia Mikhailovna Ponamareva
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Space ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Russian Identity

The aim of the study was to examine the positions of various social groups, reflecting the controversial and contradictory aspects of the process of identity construction in post-Soviet Russia and the factor of memory politics. The article reveals the characteristics of the post-Soviet identity-building process and the related politics of memory under the century-end systemic transformation that has launched a new existential project in Russia. Collective identity is formed in a new social space: the global dichotomy of globalization and localization. Methodologically, it is a documentary research close to the analysis of discourse. The process of transition from the Soviet Union to post-Soviet space and the construction of the new state on the ruins of the socialist empire will keep the problems of a new identity and the politics of memory relevant soon. It is concluded that thirty years after the liquidation of the socialist project, the crisis of collective identity in Russia and the "battle for history" and a new Russian national unity are not over. However, persistent social atomization and conflict-triggering narratives of various socio-cultural communities and ideological groups persist.

scholarly journals Traumatization of the Past and Martyrological Thinking in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
Daniil Anikin ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Space ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Historical Responsibility ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One

The purpose of the article is to analyze the mechanisms of the transformation of martyrological thinking in the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia. The methodological basis of the study is constituted by the works written by the representatives of functionalism (E. Durkheim, M. Halbwachs, P. Bourdieu, J.C. Alexander), who raise the issue of the important role of religious rituals and forms of thinking in social space. Martyrological thinking creates martyrdom cults, performing an ambivalent function. On the one hand, this thinking is a way to maintain a collective identity, and on the other, a way to damage and destroy it. The author concludes that in Soviet society two main stages that formed martyrdom cults can be distinguished: the periods of the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. In both cases, martyrological thinking was an important factor in the consolidation of the society. In post-Soviet society, martyrological thinking becomes a factor that causes the deconstruction of the symbolic space and a hidden factor in the destabilization of the political organization. The perception of the conservative part of the Russian society is expressed in the formation of the cult of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, which, on the one hand, allows to mitigate the historical responsibility, and on the other becomes a moral justification for criticizing the continuity of modern Russian power in relation to the Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Barbara Christophe
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Second World

Analyzing representations of the Second World War in Russian—and in one case, Lithuanian—educational media, the contributions to this special issue respond to three important anniversaries: the eightieth anniversary of the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 2019, the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Second World War victory in 2020, and the eightieth anniversary of the German invasion of the USSR in 2021. Moreover, they investigate the commemoration of historical events which clearly gained in significance after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was only in the mid-1990s that post-Soviet Russia first introduced annual parades on Victory Day, 9 May, which used to take place only every five years during Soviet times. And it was again the government of Boris Yeltsin that expanded the Russian mnemonic calendar and introduced the Day of Mourning on 22 June, the day Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Finally, the articles in this special issue also intervene in a lively academic debate on the political and cultural significance of the single most important affair in post-Soviet memory cultures—a term used here explicitly in order to avoid invoking the idea of a culturally coherent social space, but rather to denote all the different forms and modes of recalling the past enacted by a broad range of different actors, at times openly competing with each other. In an attempt to carve out the specific shape of these interventions, I will begin with an outline of the main achievements and lines of argument in the impressive number of recent studies that have explored the dynamics of remembering the Second World War, usually referred to as the Great Patriotic War in post-Soviet Russia. I will then present an overview of the contributions to this volume.

Translation and Transformation: English-Language Children's Literature in (Soviet) Russian Guise

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Inggs
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophy Of Action ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Free Translation ◽  
Soviet Russia

This article investigates the perceived image of English-language children's literature in Soviet Russia. Framed by Even-Zohar's polysystem theory and Bourdieu's philosophy of action, the discussion takes into account the ideological constraints of the practice of translation and the manipulation of texts. Several factors involved in creating the perceived character of a body of literature are identified, such as the requirements of socialist realism, publishing practices in the Soviet Union, the tradition of free translation and accessibility in the translation of children's literature. This study explores these factors and, with reference to selected examples, illustrates how the political and sociological climate of translation in the Soviet Union influenced the translation practices and the field of translated children's literature, creating a particular image of English-language children's literature in (Soviet) Russia.

Staging the Great Victory

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-123
Author(s):  
Catherine Schuler
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Great Victory

A war of history and memory over the Great Patriotic War (WWII) between the Soviet Union and Germany has been raging in Vladimir Putin’s Russia for almost two decades. Putin’s Kremlin deploys all of the mythmaking machinery at its disposal to correct narratives that demonize the Soviet Union and reflect badly on post-Soviet Russia. Victory Day, celebrated annually on 9 May with parades, concerts, films, theatre, art, and music, plays a crucial role in disseminating the Kremlin’s counter narratives.

Lukewarm Neutrality in a Cold War? The Case of Austria

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin A. Schmidl
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Other Orientation ◽  
Over Time

Geographically, Austria's position during the Cold War differed significantly from that of Switzerland or Sweden, let alone Ireland. Austria, like Finland, was situated along the Iron Curtain. In 1945, Austria was divided between East and West, and the Soviet Union hoped that the Austrian Communists could quickly gain power by largely democratic means. This effort failed, however, when the Communists lost decisively in the November 1945 elections. Over the next decade, Austria remained under Soviet and Western military occupation. The formal adoption of a neutral status for Austria in May 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty was signed, was a compromise needed to ensure the departure of Soviet forces from Austria. Although some other orientation might have been preferred, neutrality over time became firmly engrained in Austria's collective identity.

Nation-Building in Kurdistan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hawraman Karim ◽  
Murad Mzori
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The Government ◽  
Constituent Elements

We define nation-building as a process which leads to the formation of countries in which the citizens feel a sufficient amount of commonality of interests, goals and preferences so that they do not wish to separate from each other. It can also be said that nation-building is a process in which the government, the state or a group of elites act with the aim of creating national unity and reducing divisions in society. In this regard, groups and ethnicities come together to form a national identity. Nation and nation-building are two modern phenomena and the elements of the nation-building process, which are patriotic unity, citizenship, collective identity, equal opportunities for all citizens and a common language, are the foundations of the formation of a modern state. In this research and theoretically, the concept of nation-building and its constituent elements and the importance of this process for the Kurdistan region are discussed. The main question in this research is the question of the national existence of the Kurd. Is there a nation in the Kurdistan region? If so, how? If not, why not? Should nation-building or state-building be a priority for the Kurds in the Kurdistan region?

scholarly journals “Honeymoon” of the Russian Empire and the United States during WWI

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-292
Author(s):  
Victoria I. Zhuravleva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Liberal Internationalism ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article focuses on the debatable issues of Russian-American relations from 1914 until the fall of Tsarism, such as the degree of the two countries’ rapprochement, ethnic questions, the positive dynamics of mutual images and the intensified process of Russians and Americans studying each other. Based on primary and secondary sources, this work intends to emphasize that the conflict element in bilateral relations did not hamper cooperation between the two states. The author’s multipronged and interdisciplinary approach allowed her to conclude that the United Sates was ready to engage in wide-ranging interaction with the Russian Empire regardless of their ideological differences. From the author’s point of view, it was the pragmatic agenda that aided the states’ mutual interest in destroying the stereotypes of their counterpart and stimulated Russian Studies in the US and American Studies in Russia. Therefore, the “honeymoon” between the two states had started long before the 1917 February Revolution. However, Wilson strove to turn Russia not so much into an object of US’ “dollar diplomacy”, but into a destination of its “crusade” for democracy. The collapse of the monarchy provided an additional impetus for liberal internationalism by integrating the Russian “Other” into US foreign policy. Ultimately, an ideological (value-based) approach emerged as a stable trend in structuring America’s attitude toward Russia (be it the Soviet Union or post-Soviet Russia).

scholarly journals The problems of the formation of a democratic regime in post-Soviet Russia

nauka.me ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Ilya Volostnov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia

The discussion about the development of democracy in Russia does not lose relevance 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Constitution proclaims the formation of a democratic regime, but political scientists note the development of autocratic tendencies in post-Soviet Russia. It's necessary to study its origins, consider the process of formation for a deeper analysis of the modern political system. it will be possible to study the factors that hindered the development of democracy in our country. It was at that time that the trends of authoritarian development were laid.

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