Notes towards 'Precarious' Terminology: What Do We Talk about When We Talk about the Post-Soviet?

• In Event: Precarious Forms, Forms of Precarity

Abstract

According to the dictionary definition, the term precarity designates “the state or condition of being precarious,” i.e. not safe, strong, or steady; the state or condition which is “dependent on chance circumstances, unknown conditions, or uncertain developments“; or “dependent on uncertain premises“ (“Precarious”, Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In this paper, I offer a more detailed overview of current uses of the term post-Soviet, which is utilized as a traveling concept (between disciplines and geographically dispersed academic communities) and umbrella term, designating a wide variety of meanings which, in addition to referring to a troubling relationship between contemporary Russian society and its Soviet legacy, serves as a commentary on contemporary trends in Russian politics and media culture, and signifies uncertainty of society's future development. The main questions which guide this research are: What do we talk about when we talk about the post-Soviet? What are the premises of contemporary academic uses of the post-Soviet? Is it justified to view this term as a manifestation of an epistemological fracture imprinted in the fabric of modern Russia, which originates from last century's “traumatogenic changes” (Sztompka)? Can this type of terminology, obviously proliferating itself in relation to a troubled past, initiate new paradigms in thinking about Russia's “contemporary condition”?

Author

• Danijela Lugaric, U of Zagreb (Croatia)