The New Age in Russia II

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

In the past decade, as more material from archives and personal recollections has surfaced, the New Age in Russia has become a topic of international and comparative academic research. Even though New Age culture in the late Soviet and post-Soviet countries should be discussed in the context of global trends, it seems important to analyze what exactly determined the genesis and evolution of ideas and practices in Soviet New Age, in order to understand the post-Soviet present. The field includes late and post-Soviet subcultures, such as Neo-Buddhism, esoteric Christianity, Neo-paganism, Hippie Movement, Astrology and Transpersonal Psychology. Practices range from channeling, ecstatic experiments, and visionary experiences to alternative healing practices.
The simultaneous reappearance of Eastern and Western religions and various concepts of esotericism, all of which suppressed under Soviet conditions of atheism, has led to diverse belief systems in contemporary Russia. Belief and consciousness are therefore key elements of all these phenomena, no matter which term or heuristic concept is applied to describe them.
The panels consist of both young and more experienced scholars of a German-Russian research project, and will address questions like: How did specific configurations in the late Soviet Union affect the formation of identities? How was that New Age culture connected to dissident movements and underground religious groups? How did both influence each other? What was the role of natural scientific knowledge? To what extent Russian New Age was defined by contacts with Western countries and the states of the Eastern bloc?

Sub Unit

• Religion/Philosophy

Chair

• Marina Alexandrova, U of Texas at Austin

Papers

• Invisible Partners: Channeling in Soviet and Post-Soviet New Age - Alexander Panchenko, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) RAS (Russia)

• Ritual Feat and Transpersonal Experience: Ossetian Religion Traditionalists in Search of Legitimization of Their Revivalist Projects - Sergei Shtyrkov, European U at St. Petersburg (Russia)

• Channeling in New Age Pilgrimage: Narratives, Materiality and Social Control - Andrei Tiukhtiaev, European U at St. Petersburg (Russia)

• 'VseyaSvetnayaGramota': Post-Soviet Exercise in Russian Kabbalah - Svetlana Tambovtseva, European U at St. Petersburg (Russia)

Discussant

• Marina Alexandrova, U of Texas at Austin