Sociologist travels to Russia to study war's impact on society
How are you spending your summer?
I’m in St. Petersburg, Russia continuing my new project on war and political legitimacy. For my research, I’m working primarily out of the former local Communist Party archive and the Museum of the Defense and Blockade of Leningrad. Because I’m studying the “900 Days” Blockade of Leningrad (1941-44), it’s important for me to be able to read personal experiences and views of Leningrad civilians as well as NKVD reports and propaganda materials.
Why the “900 Days” Blockade of Leningrad?
The blockade was a horrifying ordeal that tested the personal and political ideals of inhabitants who survived starvation, constant bombing and shelling, cold and a magnification of the general horrors of war. I’m looking at how the state, regime and “society” interacted and interpreted each other, which I hope will help me understand how political legitimacy and normality are created and articulated.
Have you always been interested in Russia?
My dissertation, and an expanded book manuscript that followed the dissertation, both focused on post-Soviet market reforms and economic change. Rather than taking a typical economic or political economic approach to the data, I looked at it from a more ethnographic angle, using interviews and participant observation to draw conclusions.
I’ve continued to take an interest in post-socialist economic and political change, and for me, there is no substitute for living within that context – it’s only then that we can understand just how change occurs in those everyday practices that make up institutions, economies, and the like.
It hasn’t always been about Russia for me. I did spend six years living and researching in Great Britain and hope that some of those insights will be relevant in future research as well as my course Europe/USA. But I do keep coming back to Russia – to stay up-to-date on everyday tacit knowledge beyond the reach of statistics or news reports. On this trip, for instance, I’m becoming more aware of the illusions and weaknesses of Putin’s regime and of policies that go ignored in the Russian and foreign press. I hope some of that information will be able to come through in the classes I teach as well as my writing.
You’ve got to be eating well this summer. What’s your favorite Russian dish?
Actually, my favorite food here isn’t Russian! It’s a dish called Shashlyk – it’s a bit like a shish-kabob and originated from the Caucuses.