Russian Masculinities II: Othering Late Imperial and Soviet Masculinities

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

In this panel we consider late imperial and Soviet masculinities and how otherness in the form of ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sexual presentation become a form of resistance against traditional Russian and Soviet masculinities. We consider how indigenous identities are reflected through the Russian gaze in late nineteenth century anthropological writings become a form of defying traditional imperial masculinity. Turning to the Soviet period we address queer masculinity in Platonov's Chevengur as a form of resistance against Soviet homophobia at the start of the NEP. We then turn to Aksynov and how he resists traditional Soviet masculinity in Ostrov Krym by embodying an alternative to the exaggerated Soviet hygienic athletic model of masculinity.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Ani Kokobobo, U of Louisiana at Lafayette

Papers

• Male Illnesses in Bogoraz's Works - Nadja Berkovich, U of Arkansas

• Queer Masculinity in Platonov’s 'Chevengur' - Devin Culley McFadden, U of Vermont

• Seditious Experiments and Traditional Desires: V. P. Aksenov's 'Ostrov Krym' - Kathryn Anne Duda, Mercyhurst U