Dear all,
Please find below information about the first event of the newly-formed
BASEES Study Group on 'Religion and Spirituality in Russia and Eastern
Europe'. For further information about the Study Group, please see our
web site: http://www.basees.org.uk/sgrsree.shtml
The event will be a seminar at The University of Leicester, at which all
are welcome:
Dr Stella Rock: ‘Living chronicles of our Fatherland’: The revival of
the krestnyi khod (procession of the cross) in post-Soviet Russia.
Friday 4 December 2009, 3.00-4.30pm
Attenborough Seminar Block Second Floor LR SB2.07, The University of
Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH.
This paper will explore the interplay of history, piety and politics at
work in the creation and recreation of pilgrimage traditions in
post-Soviet Russia. Focusing on the Velikoretskii and Ekaterinburg
krestnye khody, the paper will address the astonishing flourishing of
the procession of the cross as a form of pilgrimage. The former is a
revived tradition which is promoted by the Church as being over 600
years old, the latter a post-Soviet construction which commemorates the
murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Pilgrims’ perceptions will be
compared and contrasted with clerical representations of these
pilgrimages, examining the role of historical memory in the creation of
post-Soviet sacred space and ritual.
Dr Stella Rock is currently researching the post-Soviet revival of
pilgrimage in Russia with the support of a British Academy Small
Research Grant and a scholarship from the Keston Institute. She is the
author of numerous publications, including the book Popular Religion in
Russia: "Double Belief" and the Making of an Academic Myth (Routledge,
2007) as well as articles in History Today and Russian Life.
The university campus is about 15 minutes walk from Leicester Rail
Station. Maps showing how to get to the campus by rail, coach and car
can be found here, along with a campus map showing the Attenborough
Building: http://www2.le.ac.uk/maps
If you can forward this on to anyone who might be interested we would be
very grateful.
Best wishes,
Zoe Knox and Miriam Dobson
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