Configuring center-periphery relations: relational legacy in the over-centralized state

This essay explores the idea of relational legacy in connection to the interconnected group of central and provincial cities. The concept is applied to concrete explorations of the relationship between the cities. We explore the idea through the emergence of discourses on nation, interurban differences and various conceptions of belonging. We find that the relational dynamics of urban space has been actively constructed by the media. It is concluded that existing conceptions of interurban relations need to take account of the contradictory dynamics behind the urbanites’ perception of cities. We also need to contend with manifestations of “state racism” which appear to achieve a greater prominence

”Pohjoisen teksti” – kirjallisuudentutkimus kansallisen eetoksen rakentajana?

Artikkeli käsittelee venäläisten kirjallisuuden- ja kulttuurintutkijoiden 2000-luvulla kehittämää ”pohjoisen tekstin” (Severnyj tekst) kulttuurista konseptia. Aineistona ovat artikkelikokoelmat (2014–2017), joissa erityisesti Arkangelin Pohjoisen (arktisen) federaatioyliopiston tutkijat esittelevät pohjoisen tekstin konseptia ja sen soveltamista kaunokirjallisuuteen. Artikkeli tarkastelee konseptia geopoetiikan ja geokulttuurin näkökulmista ja kysyy, mikä on kirjallisuudentutkimuksen rooli alueellisen identiteetin luomisessa ja kansakuntaa rakentavien ideologisten merkitysten synnyttämisessä. Kulttuurisemioottinen konsepti yhdistää kielen, kirjallisuuden, filosofian ja tilan tutkimuksen. Kyse on pohjoista kartoittavasta metatekstistä (sverhtekst), joka esittää pohjoisen alueen ”sakraalin maantieteen” mytopoeettisena tilana ja jonka retoriikka luodessaan kansallista ja etnistä yhtenäisyyttä sulauttaa toisiinsa alueellisia ja valtion rajoja. The “Northern Text” – literary studies creating a national ethos? Regional narratives are actively examined in area studies and Slavic studies, but it is less-known how artistic renderings of spatial belonging and regional identity become included in current state ideologies. Drawing on cultural semiotics, geopoetics and geoculture, we highlight how the concept of the Northern text is applied to the text corpus of Russian literature on the North. Having examined the collections of articles published by Russian scholars based in Arkhangelsk in Northwest Russia in 2014–2017, we show, first, that the concept of the Northern Text combines language, literature, philosophy and space-oriented research in cultural semiotics; second, that the image of the northern region has been read through “sacred geography”; and third, that the rhetoric of the concept creates national and ethnic unity in the nation by merging the borders of the region and the state

At the intersection of globalization and "civilizational originality' : cultural production in Putin's Russia

This special issue originates from a transnational collaboration of scholars in philology, comparative literature, social theory, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and media studies. The collection strives to advance a research agenda built on the nexus of three intellectual and academic domains: post-Soviet Russian cultural studies', the research paradigm put forward by Cultural Studies, as well as empirical methods developed in sociology. The collection illustrates the importance of expanding the experience of Cultural Studies beyond its established spheres of national investigation, while it also speaks to the necessity to re-evaluate the hegemony of the English-language academic and cultural production on the global scale. The collection offers insights into the gamut of cultural practices and institutional environments in which Russian cultural production happens today. It shows how cultural industries and institutions in Russia are integrated into the global marketplace and transnational communities, while they also draw on and contribute to local lives and experiences by trying to create an autonomous space for symbolic production at personal and collective levels. Through diverse topics, the issue sheds light on the agency, i.e. practitioners and participants, creators and consumers, of Russian cultural production and the neoliberal practices implemented on creative work and cultural administration in Russia today. The Introduction outlines the development of academic studies on Russian cultural practices since 1991; describes main political developments shaping the cultural field in Putin's Russia; and, finally, identifies the Cultural Studies debates the editors of the collection find most productive for investigations of Russia, i.e. the instrumentalization of culture and culture as resource. Relocated in an analysis of a post-socialist society, these conceptualisations seem increasingly problematic in a situation where local and federal policies governing cultural and creative work focus simultaneously on marketization and on nationalism as the main tools of legitimizing the federal government.Peer reviewe

After Sochi 2014:costs and impacts of Russia’s Olympic Games

This paper assesses the outcomes of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, examining the costs and economic impacts of the event, the prospects for the long-term use of venues and infrastructure, and the attitudes of the global and the Russian population. Total costs were USD 55 billion, having increased 4.5 times from USD 12 billion at the time of the bid. Of this total, about USD 16 billion were sports-related costs. After accounting for inflation, this makes Sochi the second-most expensive Olympics ever in terms of sports-related costs and the most expensive Olympics in terms of cost per event. With a public share of 96.5 percent of funding, the Sochi Games had the highest proportion of public money for any Olympic Games on record. The benefit from this high cost, however, is limited. Extensive construction led to hotel overcapacities, investors defaulted on state-backed loans, and there is no coherent plan for the after use of venues and some of the largest infrastructure projects. As a consequence, the Sochi Olympics will continue to be a burden for the Russian state, with expenses for operation, maintenance, and foregone interest and tax revenue in the order of USD 1.2 billion per year. The event also did not manage to improve the image of Russia in the world. Among the domestic population, support dropped over the seven years of its implementation, most notably among the local population