Read more
The 2010s saw an introduction of legislative acts about religion, sexuality, and culture in Russia, which caused an uproar of protests. They politicized areas of life commonly perceived as private and expected to be free of the state's control. As a result, political activism and radical grassroots movements engaged many Russians in controversies about religion and culture and polarized popular opinion in the capitals and regions alike. This volume presents seven case studies which probe into the politics of religion and culture in today's Russia. The contributions highlight the diversity of Russia's religious communities and cultural practices by analyzing Hasidic Jewish identities, popular culture sponsored by the Orthodox Church, literary mobilization of the National Bolshevik Party, cinematic narratives of the Chechen wars, militarization of political Orthodoxy, and moral debates caused by opera as well as film productions. The authors draw on a variety of theoretical approaches and methodologies, including opinion surveys, ethnological fieldwork, narrative analysis, Foucault's conceptualization of biopower, catachrestic politics, and sociological theories of desecularization. The volume's contributors are Sanna Turoma, Kaarina Aitamurto, Tomi Huttunen, Susan Ikonen, Boris Knorre, Irina Kotkina, Jussi Lassila, Andrey Makarychev, Elena Ostrovskaya, and Mikhail Suslov.
About the author
Dr. Sanna Turoma studied Comparative Literature, Russian, and English in Helsinki and New York. Since 2013, she is Senior Research Fellow in Russian Studies at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. Turoma is the Chair of the Association of Slavists in Finland. Her books include Brodsky Abroad: Empire, Tourism, Nostalgia (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), and the co-edited volumes Empire De/Centered: New Spatial Histories of Russia and the Soviet Union (Ashgate, 2013) as well as Cultural Forms of Political Protest in Russia (Routledge, 2017). Her papers and co-edited special issues have been published by, among other outlets, Cultural Studies, Eurasian Geography and Economics, and Russian Literature.
Dr. Kaarina Aitamurto read religious studies in Helsinki. Since 2017, she is Senior Research Fellow in Russian Studies at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. She is the author of Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism: Narratives of Russian Rodnoverie (Routledge, 2016) and a co-editor of Modern Pagan and Native Faiths in Central and Eastern Europe (Acumen, 2013) and Migrant Workers in Russia (Routledge, 2016). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, the Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte, Europe-Asia Studies and Journal of Religion in Europe.
Dr. Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover studied Russian, French, and German in Melbourne. Since 2013, she has been an Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. Vladiv-Glover is a member of the Executive of the Australasian Association for Communist and Postcommunist Studies, North American Association for Serbian Studies and International Dostoevsky Society. Her previous books include Dostoevsky and the Realists (Peter Lang, 2019) and Russian Postmodernism (Berghahn, 2016, with M. Epstein and A. Genis). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, Angelaki, Studies in East European Thought, The Soviet & Post-Soviet Review, Southeastern Europe/ L'Europe Sud-Est, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, The European Legacy, and Facta universitatis.
Summary
The 2010s saw an introduction of legislative acts about religion, sexuality, and culture in Russia, which caused an uproar of protests. They politicized areas of life commonly perceived as private and expected to be free of the state's control. As a result, political activism and radical grassroots movements engaged many Russians in controversies about religion and culture and polarized popular opinion in the capitals and regions alike. This volume presents seven case studies which probe into the politics of religion and culture in today's Russia. The contributions highlight the diversity of Russia's religious communities and cultural practices by analyzing Hasidic Jewish identities, popular culture sponsored by the Orthodox Church, literary mobilization of the National Bolshevik Party, cinematic narratives of the Chechen wars, militarization of political Orthodoxy, and moral debates caused by opera as well as film productions. The authors draw on a variety of theoretical approaches and methodologies, including opinion surveys, ethnological fieldwork, narrative analysis, Foucault's conceptualization of biopower, catachrestic politics, and sociological theories of desecularization. The volume’s contributors are Sanna Turoma, Kaarina Aitamurto, Tomi Huttunen, Susan Ikonen, Boris Knorre, Irina Kotkina, Jussi Lassila, Andrey Makarychev, Elena Ostrovskaya, and Mikhail Suslov.
Additional text
"Analyzing war films, mainstream and grassroots religious discourses, and news media, together the chapters make the convincing argument for a new understanding of Russian culture as a “key national asset,” structured through conservative patriotism and centered on Orthodoxy (p. 96). […] the book offers many important research results and is definitely worth reading."—Katharina Wiedlack, The Russian Review, Vol 79/No 4
Report
"Analyzing war films, mainstream and grassroots religious discourses, and news media, together the chapters make the convincing argument for a new understanding of Russian culture as a "key national asset," structured through conservative patriotism and centered on Orthodoxy (p. 96). [...] the book offers many important research results and is definitely worth reading."-Katharina Wiedlack, The Russian Review, Vol 79/No 4
