Soviet Self-Hatred
The Secret Identities of Postsocialism
About the Project
Until recently, this book was called “Russia’s Alien Nations,” but that is now the title of its introduction. Nontheless, the book examines imaginary constructs of postsocialist Russian identity through stories of encounters with an even more imaginary Other.
It's Raining New Men
The idea of the New Man is fundamentally utopian, based on the common utopian anthropology of human malleability.
What Was Postsocialism, and What Comes Next?
“Post-Soviet” is, initially, meaningless, but so was “Soviet”
Neoliberalism and Other Dirty Words
I have never liked the term “neoliberal,” because it is not a term one speaks; rather, it is a term that speaks itself through the person who utters it.
The Soviet Union in the Twenty-First Century
Russia becomes both a force to be reckoned with and an oppressed minority on the world stage.
A Hero of Someone Else’s Time
An alien visiting Russia, whether that alien is from America or Mars, is going to require a huge amount of information to get up to speed
UFOs after the USSR
It doesn’t hurt that the alien visitor happens to look like he would be equally at home in either his spaceship or on the cover of Tiger Beat.
A Hothouse Flower in a Communal Apartment
Sinyavsky exploits the alien metaphor to the fullest by making his narrator an exotic plant that can barely survive in the harsh Moscow winter and the harsher Soviet communal apartment.
Undocumented Aliens
“Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where Not to Find Them
Science fiction has inestimable value for considerations of alterity
Russians on the Verge of a Nerdish Breakdown
Russia’s Alien Nations: The Secret Identities of Postsocialism is the first volume in a two-book study. Each looks at postsocialist identify formation, but each with its own emphasis
Self-Hatred and Melancholia
Self-hatred and (racial) melancholia offer a productive way to address post-Soviet Russia
Philosophical Moving Pictures
Мikhalkov’s recreation of Russia is an exercise in sympathetic magic, meant to transform the derussified masses from de facto foreigners into the Russians they are meant to be.
Dancing Bear, Bring Me My Vodka!
The Barber of Siberia is not just a drag; it's a drag show.
“He’s Russian. That Explains a Lot.”
Had a foreigner made this movie, it would have been offensive.