Read more
Alongside the Arab Spring, the 'Occupy' anti-capitalist movements in the West, and the events on the Maidan in Kiev, Russia has had its own protest movements, notably the political protests of 2011-12. As elsewhere in the world, these protests had unlikely origins, in Russia's case spearheaded by the 'creative class'. This book examines the protest movements in Russia. It discusses the artistic traditions from which the movements arose; explores the media, including the internet, film, novels, and fashion, through which the protesters have expressed themselves; and considers the outcome of the movements, including the new forms of nationalism, intellectualism, and feminism put forward. Overall, the book shows how the Russian protest movements have suggested new directions for Russian - and global - politics.
List of contents
Introduction: genres and genders of protest in Russia's petrostate
Alexander Etkind
Part I: Origins and traditions of protest
1. Fathers, sons, and grandsons: generational changes and political trajectory of Russia, 1989-2012
Vladimir Gel'man
2. Dissidents reloaded? Anti-Putin activists and the Soviet legacy
Valentina Parisi
3. Why 'two Russias' are less than 'United Russia': cultural distinctions and political similarities: dialectics of defeat
Ilya Kalinin
4. Are copycats subversive? Strategy-31, the Russian Runs, the Immortal Regiment and the transformative potential of non-hierarchical movements
Mischa Gabowitsch
5. Political consumerism in Russia after 2011
Olga Gurova
6. Even the toys are demanding free elections: humour and the politics of creative protest in Russia
Jennifer G. Mathers
Part II: Artistic and performative forms of protest
7. Biopolitics, believers, bodily protests: the case of Pussy Riot
Alexandra Yatsyk
8. Hysteria or enjoyment? Recent Russian actionism
Jonathan Brooks Platt
9. Bleep and ***: speechless protest
Birgit Beumers
10. On the (im)possibility of a third opinion
Kristina Norman
11. Performing poetry and protest in the age of digital reproduction
Marijeta Bozovic
12. When satire does not subvert: Citizen Poet as nostalgia
Sanna Turoma
About the author
Birgit Beumers is Professor of Film Studies at Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK.
Alexander Etkind is Professor of the History of Russia–Europe Relations at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
Olga Gurova is a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Research at the University of Helsinki, Finland.
Sanna Turoma is a Senior Research Fellow at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Summary
This book examines the protest movements in Russia. It discusses the artistic traditions from which the movements arose, explores the media through which the protesters have expressed themselves, and considers the outcome of the movements, including the new forms of nationalism, intellectualism and feminism put forward.
