The Post-Soviet Public Sphere: Assembling a Digital Multimedia Sourcebook of the Russian 1990s

Session Submission Type: Lightning Round

Brief Description

Many features of the present geopolitical moment– from election hacking to “alternative facts” – trace their roots to the media landscape of the post-Soviet ‘long’ 1990s. From the late years of perestroika to the first year of Putin’s presidency, Russia’s public sphere was deeply contradictory. Some of the most well-respected media outlets exhibited both creative independence and rank commercialism; in-depth reporting, as well as stunning violations of journalistic integrity. By the early 2000s, most post-Soviet media had succumbed to economic and political exploitation. Our project, supported by a Collaborative Research Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, aims to curate a digital sourcebook of print, television, Web and radio artifacts, uniting them with seven scholarly essays by the project’s core research team. Together, these resources will tell the story of how Russia’s post-Soviet media experiment unfolded from the early days of glasnost to the final days of NTV. This lightning round will present our work in progress to the larger ASEEES community during a formative phase of our project, as we curate the most consequential media moments of the first post-Soviet decade.

Sub Unit

• Anthropology/Cultural Studies

Chair

• Pavel Khazanov, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey

Papers

• Mr. Editor: The Soviet Origins of Post-Soviet Communications with the Press - Courtney Doucette, SUNY Oswego

• Counterculture, Political Technology, and the Emergence of the Russian Alt-Right Media - Fabrizio Fenghi, Brown U

• Free Style: How did the Aesthetics of Perestroika TV Fuel the Rise of Yeltsin's Russia? - Pavel Khazanov, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey

• Old Man B.U.Kashkin and Other ‘Clowns’: Trash Art and Street Performance in the Post-Soviet Era - Daniil Leiderman, Texas A&M U

• The Rock-and-Roll State: Popular Music, Mass Media, and the Collapse of the USSR - Rita Safariants, U of Rochester

• Meme Magic: Advertising, Politics, and Early Runet Culture - Maya Vinokour, New York U

Session Manager

• Laura Short, ASEEES