NZ: Debates on Politics and Culture

The 80th issue of NZ continues the main theme of the 78th volume of the magazine. But if that issue dealt with a parity of “socialist” and “national” in the USSR, this one is about the “Soviet” heritage, in particular its parity with “national”.

The first section, “Instead of Memory: Soviet Today”, begins with the introduction of the known anthropologist and historian of culture Sergey Ushakin, thereafter there are descriptions of particular cases of a parity of “historical memory” and presence of “Soviet” on examples of the former USSR’s republics. Andrey Kazakevich writes about “appropriation” and “forgetting” of the "Soviet" in Minsk city landscape, Yulia Skubitskaya considers the similar questions on an example of the last twenty years of history of Kharkov. The architecture, city sculpture, modern art of other post-Soviet republics and cities are interpreted in the same way by other authors (Lyubov Chetyrova writes about Kalmykia, Madlen Pilz – about Georgia, Nina Bagdasarova and Marina Glushkova – about Kirghizia). Other texts in this section have, more likely, not retrospective, but perspective optics. Experience of Astana as a “new” capital is considered by Nelli Bekus and Kulshat Medeuova, newly found postcolonial context of the Baku promenade is studied by Tsypylma Darieva, at last, Riga, the only “EU” city in our portfolio is presented in the article by Guntis Solks, Gita Deyus and Elena Chistyaka.

The first thematic section is adjoined by the essay by Gediminis Lankauskas about the curious socio-cultural “experiment” in present Lithuania (“To Survive in Bunker: Non-Nostalgic Memory of Socialism in Lithuania”). The “memory” theme – only in addition to the “pre-Soviet” past – ends by Andrey Ranchin (Moral and Mores) who analyzes the political reasons for fairly cool attitude of the present Russian state and political elite to the figure of Leo Tolstoy – on an example of a centenary of death of the writer.

The second thematic block is in all senses continuation of the discussion in the previous – 78th – NZ thematic issue: “The USSR: Socialist in Form – National in Content”. The block’s topic formulated as: “Identity Languages: National in Form – Post-Soviet in Content”. Analytical focus is induced on various implications of language and cultural-language phenomena, characteristic for the post-Soviet states. Minsk philologist Nina Mechkovskaya gives a brief overview of history of the Belarus language, suggesting the thesis on why independent Belarus speaks in native language less than before. Connection of Russian language with the “Soviet identity” in modern Kirghizia is the theme of the article by German historian of cultures, Moritz Florin. The same theme, but applicable to Kazakhstan (and concentrating on interethnic marriages) is covered in the small research by Saula Ualieva and Adrien Edgar. At last, Ekaterina Hodzhaeva highlights acute political fights round the status of the Tatar language in Tatarstan.

An important addition to the second thematic block is Comparative Studies section where one can find the article by Alexander Bobrakov-Timoshkin. Its plot is about the role of the Communist party in the post-Soviet Czech Republic as carrier of nationalist discourse. In Culture of Politics section there is an attempt of generalization of political and institutional histories of the states of the former Soviet space, undertaken by Alexey Makarkin. In another traditional heading – Politics of Culture – one can read the original analysis of activity of the art group “The War” (“From Oprichnina – to Palace Revolution: National and Anti-Soviet Motives in Art Group «The War» actions” by Alek D. Epstein).

As usually, in this NZ issue there are Alexey Levinson’s and Alexander Kustarev’s columns, the Russian Intellectual Journals’ Review (by Petr Rezvykh) and the New Books section.