Dear colleagues,
NZ No. 2(34)/2004 is now out. Some of its contents are
already online at www.nz-online.ru, the rest will be up
over the coming days.
Below you will find a brief English summary of this issue.
For an English-language table of contents, see
http://www.eurozine.com/partner/nz/current-issue.html.
I would also like to direct your attention to our list of
links to the web sites of Russian-language journals in the
humanities and social sciences ? the most comprehensive
available anywhere on the Web:
http://www.nz-online.ru/index.phtml?cid=5000075
Our English-language page, featuring translations from NZ
as well as articles originally written in English, can be
viewed by choosing ?ENG? in the menu at the top of each
page.
Subscription information is available at
http://www.nz-online.ru/index.phtml?cid=5010268 (scroll
down for international subscriptions).
Mischa Gabowitsch
Editor-in-chief
No. 34 continues our inquiry into the multifarious
relations between people and things. The Liberal Heritage
section presents an article by sociologist of science
Bruno Latour entitled Where are the Missing Masses?
Sociology of a Door. Latour argues that, beyond their mere
instrumental value, there are several respects in which
things need to be taken into account in social and moral
considerations, and that because of this, they are the
'glue' which holds society together.
Our first thematic rubric addresses the issue of brands,
prompted by the recent publication of the Russian
translation of Naomi Klein's best-selling book No Logo.
Alexander Tarasov reports on different attitudes to brand
names found in the course of an inquiry in a number of
Russian provincial cities (Not Peace but a Brand). Alexei
Kozlov, an activist with various 'anti-globalisation'
movements, reflects about the way in which
'anti-globalism', which struggles against brands as used
by big trans-national corporations, has itself become a
brand name. Kozlov argues that, rather than posing a
problem, this should be welcomed by members of the
movement as it increases their public visibility ('People
against Brands' as a New Brand?). NZ's web version also
features an article by Jyoti Mistry on how Nelson Mandela
beat Coca Cola as the world's most popular brand name.
In the Humane Economics column, Yevgeny Saburov recounts
his experience as advisor to schoolchildren taking part in
a game modelling local politics and economics in a large
Russian town. He shows how, without any previous knowledge
of economics, they found it useful to apply criteria of
economic viability and efficiency to judge the work of the
local administration (Economics Ante Portas!).
Our second topic features two different perspectives on EU
enlargement, taking place a day after this issue goes to
press. Sociologist Georg Vobruba reflects on the dynamics
of EU expansion, while Slovenian poet Ales Debeljak
strikes a cautious note and draws attention to the EU's
lack of substantive cultural content, which, he writes,
puts European integration on the wrong tracks. In his
Sociological Notes, Alexei Levinson sets out on a search
for state-independent social structures having evolved in
Russia over the post-Soviet period; he concludes that the
Mafia and the Internet are the most developed of them for
the time being (Citizen, Which Way to Civil Society?).
In the Culture of Politics rubric, Anton Oleinik compares
the Russian presidential election to the Spanish general
elections which took place on the same day, and considers
ways how Russia could emulate Spain's successful
transformation into a functioning democracy (Spanish
Lessons).
Our third topic deals with another aspect of people &
things: entitled The Repair Society, it features three
articles dealing with different aspects of the Soviet-era
mania of never throwing anything away but instead mending
and re-arranging it, sometimes out of recognition.
Katerina Gerasimova and Sofia Chuikina provide a
conceptual framework for thinking about this and review
the making of the Soviet 'repair society'; Olga Gurova
looks specifically at the fortunes of underwear under this
aspect; and Galina Orlova analyses the mentality behind
the practical hints on repairing household items given to
readers of Soviet-era mass magazines.
The topic is taken into the present day by Olga Brednikova
and Zoya Kutafyeva, who look at The Old Thing as a
Character of the Flea-Market, illustrating their analysis
with data gained from field-work at Saint-Petersburg's
biggest flea-market.
The Politics of Culture section features an essay by
Kirill Kobrin on contemporary uses of the heritage of
literary scholar and memoirist Lidia Ginzburg. The New
Institutions section presents a new think tank called
Demos which intends to bridge the gap between the human
rights community and the world of sociology and policy
analysis. Our Journals Reviews section features the usual
reviews of Russian journals, as well as the second part of
Yakov Anderer's large-scale panorama of the Ukrainian
media landscape, this time focusing on cultural and
intellectual journals. Finally, the New Books rubric, as
usual, presents critical reviews of a large variety of
recent books in Russian and English.
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