This book examines a number of key questions about social change in contemporary Russia - issues such as how people survive when they are not paid for months on end, 'the New Poor', the falling birth rate, why so many Russian men die in middle age, whether regional identities are becoming stronger, and how people's sense of 'Russianness' has developed since the creation of the Russian Federation in 1992. It examines these issues by looking at actual experiences in three small Russian towns. It includes a great deal of original ethnographic research, and, by looking at real places overall, provides a good sense of how different aspects of social change are interlinked, and how they actually affect real people's lives.
Most recent research seeks to explain contemporary changes in Russia by analysing the decisions of Russian leaders, oligarchs and politicians based in Moscow. This book examines another Russia, one of ordinary people changing their environment and taking opportunities to provoke societal changes in small towns and the countryside. Russia is a resource-rich society and the country’s strategy and institutional structure are built on the most valuable of these resources: oil and gas. Analysing the implications of this situation at the local level, this book offers chapters on resource use, local authorities, enterprises, poverty and types of individual, as well as a final chapter which places local societies within the framework of the Russian politicised economy. Based on extensive empirical data gathered through more than 400 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, teachers, social workers and those working for the local authorities, this book sheds light on the role of local activity in the development of Russian society and is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Russia and its politics.
This book offers a rich ethnographic account of blue-collar workers’ everyday life in a central Russian industrial town coping with simultaneous decline and the arrival of transnational corporations. Everyday Post-Socialism demonstrates how people manage to remain satisfied, despite the crisis and relative poverty they faced after the fall of socialist projects and the social trends associated with neoliberal transformation. Morris shows the ‘other life’ in today’s Russia which is not present in mainstream academic discourse or even in the media in Russia itself. This book offers co-presence and a direct understanding of how the local community lives a life which is not only bearable, but also preferable and attractive when framed in the categories of ‘habitability’, commitment and engagement, and seen in the light of alternative ideas of worth and specific values. Topics covered include working-class identity, informal economy, gender relations and transnational corporations.
This book examines a number of key questions about social change in contemporary Russia - issues such as how people survive when they are not paid for months on end, 'the New Poor', the falling birth rate, why so many Russian men die in middle age, whether regional identities are becoming stronger, and how people's sense of 'Russianness' has developed since the creation of the Russian Federation in 1992. It examines these issues by looking at actual experiences in three small Russian towns. It includes a great deal of original ethnographic research, and, by looking at real places overall, provides a good sense of how different aspects of social change are interlinked, and how they actually affect real people's lives.
The author traces the major developments in the history of women in Russia and their impact on the history of the nation. Sketching lived experiences across the centuries, she demonstrates the key roles that women played in shaping Russia's political, economic, social, and cultural development for over a millennium, starting in 900.
The photojournalist Misha Friedman is renowned for his efforts to capture life in contemporary Russia, documenting subjects as varied as political corruption, the dangers of coal mining, the tuberculosis epidemic, and the Bolshoi Ballet. In publications ranging from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, and the New Yorker, Friedman's grimly evocative black-and-white images—“intimate, behind-the-scenes photos” (Time)—have been credited with capturing moments of intense pathos, bleak existence, and human dignity. He has received multiple international awards for his “unflinching” lens and his intrepid reporting. For his new collection of photographs, Lyudmila and Natasha, Friedman trains his lens on a gay couple living on Saint Petersburg, offering a series of intimate snapshots of their relationship as it unfolds over the course of a year. Faced with a hostile political climate, financial difficulties, and often unstable living arrangements, the subjects of this stunning book reveal the possibilities for love in the most uncertain of times. With the fabled city of Saint Petersburg as its backdrop, Lyudmila and Natasha powerfully evokes both a vital place and the people who call it home. Lyudmila and Natasha was designed by Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios (EWS).
My husband and I lived in a small town in western Russia for fifteen months, in 1992 and 1993, and I have written a book based on our daily living adventures. We returned again in the summer of 1999. Upon our return I wrote an epilogue which forms the last chapter of this book. Living in the Russian hinterlands for a year and a half was a fascinating and discouraging experience for my corporate executive husband and myself. He was there to implement a Joint Venture agreement between a small Russian company in Pavlovo, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and a large company in the United States. The purpose was to try and bring the Russian factory and management up to western standards so they could compete on the world market. I maintained my sanity amidst poor living conditions, scarce food, and the two long winters by keeping a daily journal. Upon our return I wrote this book based on our daily living adventures: the chicken store, the black radish cold remedy, the bread store giving “change” in bread, a personal attack by gypsy children in Moscow... The book is organized into chapters which would generally be considered “aspects of daily living:” my struggle to find food, our poor housing conditions, frightening personal episodes, the half-existent communication system, being entertained in Russian homes, my struggle with boredom and isolation (no foreigners lived in our town of 70,000 people until one Peace Corps volunteer arrived about eight months after we did). The difficulties and problems were exacerbated by the fact that we are an educated, affluent couple in our 60s. We had hoped to make some contribution to improving Russian life. A forlorn hope. My husband’s experience with the joint venture was even more discouraging than my struggle with daily living. He has also written a chapter of the book. In the epilogue I describe both my continuing frustrations with the difficult life the people of Pavlovo continue to be faced with and the improvements we observed. There are some positive changes that are being made in that city that give some hope that these Russians that we came to know and to love so well will not always suffer such deprivations. The young people are the hope of their nation. The following direct quotations are the opinions of some of the readers of my manuscript: “If you’ve ever looked at photos of Russian women stoically waiting in lines and wondered what it would be like to share their fate, travel with Missy Moore to Russia via her memoir ‘Americans in Bear Country.’ Russia, outside of Moscow, suffers from third world problems: inadequate roads, water supply, availability of necessities. The warmth of Russian hospitality softened these hardships. You will struggle and suffer with the Moores and wonder at their perseverance.” ______Susan Robertson, EFL instructor at Hillsdale College and advisor of Foreign students. “As a management consultant active in the former Soviet Union, I have seen with my own eyes much of what Ms. Moore describes in her book. The most noticeable characteristic of the New Russia, as I see it, is how much of the old USSR still remains. Ms. Moore has a keen eye for the stepping stones and stumbling blocks Russia has encountered in its headlong jump from Communism to a murky New World characterized by sloth, corruption, and drunkenness. She neatly balances her own experiences and perspective with an appreciation of the larger challenges faced by her ‘adopted’ country. This book would be a welcome addition to my library, and an invaluable primer for any businessperson or visitor hoping to navigate the minefield of Russia today. It is an invaluable resource for anyone trying to appreciate the Herculean task of transforming the sodden,
