Cultural policy in Ust-Tsilma (Russia) between neoliberalism and sustainability

The article analyses the cultural policies and practices in the municipal district of Ust-Tsilma (Komi Republic, Russia) from neoliberalism and sustainability perspectives. Ust-Tsilma was chosen as a case study for the broader NEO-BEAR research project1, which has aimed to establish how neoliberal and sustainability discourses change life in small municipalities in the Barents region. This study shows that the cultural sphere in the municipality of Ust-Tsilma is rapidly moving towards the neoliberal principles of organization of life, marked by economic and managerial efficiency, cultural consumerism, state–private financial partnership, competitive distribution of finances, and contract-based relations. Furthermore, the study shows that, in the context of declining population due to globalization and urbanization, a sustainability approach to culture (giving high priority to socialcultural capital, cultural heritage, and cultural landscape as well as to cultural access and participation) is extremely relevant for the future existence of the Ust-Tsilma municipality (and for the rural areas in general), because it brings a necessary adaptive potential for the survival of rural settlements and for the development of their communities

Neoliberal governance, sustainable development and local communities in the Barents Region

There are currently high hopes in the Barents Region for economic growth, higher employment and improved well-being, encouraged by developments in the energy industry, tourism and mining. The article discusses these prospects from the perspective of local communities in five locations in the region, which spans the northernmost counties of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Northwest Russia. The communities studied are remote, relatively small, multicultural, and dependent on natural resources. The salient dynamic illuminated in the research is how ideas of sustainability and neoliberal governance meet in community development. While the two governmentalities often conflict, they sometimes also complement one another, posing a paradox that raises concerns over the social aspect of sustainable development in particular. The article is based on international, multidisciplinary research drawing on interviews as well as statistical and documentary analysis

The regional component of the jargon of street groups of the 1980s and 1990s (based on the speech material of Yoshkar-Ola)

The work is devoted to the study of the vocabulary of youth groups in Yoshkar-Ola in 1980–1990. The purpose of this article is to characterize the local features of the language of Yoshkar-Ola youth unofficial groups. The research material was the jargon of participants in street gangs in the capital of the Republic of Mari El at the end of the twentieth century. The sources of language material were documentary literature, journalistic articles, dictionaries of substandard vocabulary and recordings of live speech of former group members. During the research, methods of linguistic observation and description, dictionary interpretation, and contextual analysis of lexical units were used. As a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that a number of jargons discussed in the article have become part of the unofficial microtoponymy of the city of Yoshkar-Ola. The likelihood of such lexical units appearing in dictionaries of non-literary vocabulary published by leading publishers is extremely low. The collected material contains information about the etymology of the unofficial toponymy of the city of Yoshkar-Ola, the communicative preferences of local youth and the linguistic realities of 1980–1990. The sublanguage of hooligan youth is very close in nature to Russian argot. A more detailed study of the jargon of street gang members may help change the uncritical attitude of Russian speakers towards the language of the criminal world