Informal Nationalism After Communism : The Everyday Construction of Post-Socialist Identities

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, nation building and identity construction in the post-socialist region have been the subject of extensive academic research. The majority of these studies have taken a 'top-down' approach - focusing on the variety of ways in which governments have sought to define the nascent nation states - and in the process have often oversimplified the complex and overlapping processes at play across the region. Drawing on research on the Balkans, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, this book focuses instead on the role of non-traditional, non-politicised and non-elite actors in the construction of identity. Across topics as diverse as school textbooks, turbofolk and home decoration, contributors - each an academic with extensive on-the-ground experience - identify and analyse the ways that individuals living across the post-socialist region redefine identity on a daily basis, often by manipulating and adapting state policy.In the process, Nation Building in the Post-Socialist Region demonstrates the necessity of holistic, trans-national and inter-disciplinary approaches to national identity construction rather than studies limited to a single-state territory. This is important reading for all scholars and policymakers working on the post-socialist region. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction: The Silent Noise of (Everyday) Identities Doggy Bags and Post-Soviet Identities Limp Flags and Noisy Invisible Identities (Post-Socialism and the Everyday) This Book's Approach Structure of the Book and Main Themes 1. `I'm Only Half!' Schooling and Strategies of Belonging Among Adolescents from Minority Ethnic Backgrounds in Russia Introduction Schooling in Post-Soviet Russia as an Arena of Competing Nationhood Claims School Practices of Ethnic Ascription Strategies of Belonging: Portraits of Pupils `I Like to be Taken for a Tatarâ€TM: Passing as a (Christianised) Tatar Conclusion 2. Borders of a Borderland: Experiencing Identity in Moldova Today Introduction State-Building and Nation-Building in Moldova Competing Identity Categories Nationalising Collective Memory in the Public Spaces The Stencils of Identity Transformations of Identity through the Lens of the Everyday Language, Asymmetrical Power Relations and Everyday Practices Conclusion 3. Teaching the National through Geography and Nature: Banal Nationalism in Primary Schools in Serbia and Croatia Introduction Methodology Findings: Textbook Content Analysis Discussion and Conclusion 4. Why Nations Sell: Reproduction of Everyday Nationhood through Advertising in Russia and Belarus Introduction Nation-Building and Economic Transformations in Russia and Belarus: A Historical Background Advertising in Russia: Empire, Nation and In Between Advertising in Belarus: The Struggle for Banality Conclusion 5. Money Can't Buy It? Everyday Geopolitics in Post-Soviet Russia Introduction Why Prosume Foreign Policy? Speaking Geopolitics Framing Geopolitics Symbolising Geopolitics Eating Geopolitics Conclusion 6. Turbofolk as a Means of Identification: Music Practices as Examples of the National in Everyday Life Introduction The Setting for the Birth of Turbofolk Identification with Turbofolk Contradictions in Evaluating Turbofolk Music Impact of Turbofolk Music on its Consumers Autochthonous Turbofolk as an Illustration of Diasporic Identity `Turbofashion', `Turbostyle' Conclusion 7. Something Bulgarian for Dinner: Bulgarian Popular Cuisine as a Selling Point Introduction Why Food as a National Practice? What is Food as a National Consumption Practice? How to Read the Food as Text The Structure of the Menu: The Sign System The Words of the National Culinary Discourse The Twenty-First-Century Image of Bulgarian National Cuisine 8. Making Modern Mongolians: Gender Roles and Everyday Nation-Building in Contemporary Mongolia Building a Nation for Mongolians Nomadism as Practice of Everyday Nation-Building Forging Ties to the Nation via Religious Practices Chenggis Khaan Legacies Contribution of Women to Mongolian Everyday Nation-Building Conclusion Conclusion: When Post-Socialism Meets the Everyday Bibliography Index Introduction -- I. Informal Spaces -- 1. Negotiating Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Classroom: Anthropological Explorations of Everyday School Practices in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia / Dilyara Suleymanova -- 2. The Estonian Way of Home-Making: Everyday Visions and Practices from the 1990s to 2000s / Anu Kannike -- 3. Exploring the Link between National Identity and Perceptions of Citizenship in Georgia / Tinatin Zurabishvili, Tamar Khoshtaria, Natia Mestvirishvili -- II. Consumption and Media Spaces -- 1. Why Nations Sell: Reproduction of Everyday Nationhood through Advertising : in Russia and Belarus / Marharyta Fabrykant -- 2. The Moldovan Media: a Hotbed of Nationalist Fervour / Onoriu Colcel -- 3. Turbofolk as a Means of Identification / Petra Šastnà -- III. Border Spaces 1. Ethnic and National Identity of Russian Estonians / Eva Sepping -- 2. The National and the Religious among Greek Catholic Transcarpathian / Agnieszka Halemba -- 3. Borders of a Borderland. 'Everyday Identities' in the Context of Border Crossings / lgnes Patakfalvi-Czirjk̀ and Csaba Zahorǹ IV. Public spaces -- 1. 'But now everywhere is the West:' Cultural Identity in East Berlin after 1989 / Mary Dellenbaugh -- 2. Staging a Nation: Space and Identities in the Skopje Center / Vessela S. Warner -- 3. Countryside Revisited: Ethno Villages and Nation-Building in Serbia / Irena Šentevska -- Conclusion Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, nation-building and identity construction in the post-socialist region have been the subject of extensive academic research. The majority of these studies have taken a 'top-down' approach - focusing on the variety of ways in which governments have sought to define the nascent nation states - and in the process have often oversimplified the complex and overlapping processes at play across the region. Drawing on research on the Balkans, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, this book focuses instead on the role of non-traditional, non-politicised and non-elite actors in the construction of identity. Across topics as diverse as school textbooks, turbofolk and home decoration, contributors - each an academic with extensive on-the-ground experience - identify and analyse the ways that individuals living across the post-socialist region redefine identity on a daily basis, often by manipulating and adapting state policy. In the process, Informal Nationalism After Communism demonstrates the necessity of holistic, trans-national and interdisciplinary approaches to national identity construction rather than studies limited to a single-state territory. This is important reading for all scholars and policy makers working on the post-socialist region. Book jacket