contributors

Articles by Ekaterina Kalinina

1. Introduction. To be or not to be? Russian civil society under repression

   This special issue contributes to the ongoing analysis of the transformations Russian society has undergone since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tthe contributions examine acts of resistance within professional communities, as well as specific identity-based and issue-based forms of activism, including decolonial, feminist, climate, and environmental initiatives. The issue seeks to offer a bird’s introduction eye perspective on the transformation of activist initiatives over the past four years.

2. TRANSFORMATION OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN RUSSIA AFTER 2022

   This article examines the transformation of civic engagement in Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with civic and political activists across several Russian regions, the article traces how anti-war and oppositional initiatives transformed under conditions of escalating repression. Using a micro-sociological approach, the article foregrounds emotions and strategic dilemmas as key (dis)enables of civic engagement alongside with the political opportunity structures. It argues that Russian civil society has not collapsed, but has moved through several stages of the initial moral shock and immediate mobilization, towards fragmentation and cautious re-mobilization. By 2026 civic engagement persists primarily through informal and low-visibility forms, using strategic depolitization as a tactic to survive.

3. Let the right one in. Building relations of trust

   Building mutual trust was for years one of the desired aims of international cooperation in the Nordic region; the existence of trust was intended to contribute to the reduction of political tensions and lead to more sustainable and peaceful region. In practice, working with international cooperation in the Nordic region, where Russia was one of the actors until 2022, has never been easy. One of the main obstacles on the way was the deficit of trust.

4. The Janus of Russian modernization. Discussions at the 3rd Cultural Forum of the Regions of Russia

   The growing sector of heritage industry and creative uses of the past in Russia illustrate that, besides the undeniable existence of restorative nostalgia, there are other, more progressive forms of nostalgia that address social change and the protection of heritage sites.

5. Breakin’ Revolution

   We believed that a conference on arts and aesthetics is hardly imaginable without a cultural program and therefore included one, comprising a dance performance, Breakin’ Revolution, on the opening night at Färgfabriken on October 19, and a public screening of the art film To The New Horizons at the closing session at Moderna Museet on October 21, conceptually marking the beginning and the end of the Russian Revolution.

6. Fashion Talks

   The exhibition Fashion Talks: Fashion as Communication, which was shown for several months at the Museum for Communication, Berlin, was designed to explore — by looking at the messages conveyed by clothes — how people deal with fashion, both individually and collectively.

7. Report from Aurora Fashion Week Russia russian glamour in competition

   The fact that Moscow and St. Petersburg house in total five fashion events every season makes one think that the fashion business is considered attractive and economically sound in Russia. However, despite the growth of the Russian fashion market since the 1990s, the fashion industry is losing ground to other promising fashion hubs.