The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. Their former editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Kirill Martynov is now editor-in-chief for Novaya Gazeta Europe, operating from Riga, Latvia. He is the newspaper’s former political editor, a political scientist, and a former associate professor at Moscow State University. In an open lecture at Södertörn University November 22, Kirill Martynov discussed Russian journalism in exile and the new chapter in Novaya Gazeta’s life.
By
Ninna Mörner
January 18, 2023
The modern Russian state is built on random and unpredictable institutionalized violence, on fear and pain. Therefore, one of the most common reactions to the power abuse from the Russian government is to ignore the state and try to build your own little life.
Essay by
Elena Palenova
January 18, 2023
This article describes the current developments of feminist discourses and activism in Russia, as well as in the former USSR in general, towards inclusion of more intersectional perspectives: antiracist, disabled and trans*/non-binary. It reviews the contemporary feminist movement in Russia, provides some examples of intersectional projects and focuses on Feminist Translocalities – a project based jointly in the former USSR and Germany, as part of which an exhibition about intersectionality in the histories of these countries travelled across Russia. Describing this and other activities within the Feminist Translocalities project and focusing on anti-racism as a vector of the development of the feminist movement in Russia, the article shows that it is shifting towards more attention to other discriminations, thus also encouraging a similar trend in the broader society.
By
Alexandra Biktimirova and Victoria Kravtsova
June 22, 2022
The outbreak of the war on February 24, 2022, was a real shock for the Russian science and higher education, and completely turned the situation upside down, even in comparison with the negative trends of the previous years.
Essay by
Dmitry V. Dubrovskiy
June 22, 2022
Kivinen, Markku & Humphreys, Brendan (eds.). (London and New York: Routledge 2021). xxv and 368 pages.
By
Kristian Gerner
October 25, 2021
New Conservatives in Russia and East Central Europe. Eds. Katharina Bluhm and Mihai Varga (London: Routledge, 2019), 309 pages.
By
Anna Schwenck
October 25, 2021
The deinstitutionalization as a policy shift introduced an entirely new principle of care in contemporary Russia. It brought the right to live in a family to the center of the care system, seeing residential, collective care as being harmful to children. The analysis shows that children left without family and placed in institutional care are mainly “social orphans”, meaning that their parents are alive but deprived of parental rights.
By
Anna Tarasenko and Meri Kulmala
October 25, 2021
The 2021 Duma Elections have confirmed the Kremlin’s increased reliance on repression and manipulation to obtain the desired results. The 2021 elections show the top-down management of Russia’s electoral authoritarianism to be efficient. With electoral outcomes comprehensively managed, Russia’s political system has never before so closely resembled that of Belarus.
By
Matthew Blackburn
October 4, 2021
Russia’s relationship with the Nobel Prize in literature has always been dramatic. This, of course, is connected with the enormous and fundamental role the Word has played in Russian society. Contributing to the fascination surrounding the prize is surely the fact that the Nobel family, some of whom even spoke Russian, had such close ties to Russia.
By
Magnus Ljunggren
April 22, 2021
The formation of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran congregation in St. Petersburg had consequences for the Church of Sweden and for Swedish foreign policy. The aim of this article is to problematize the actions of the Church of Sweden and the Swedish state in connection with the revival of the Lutheran congregations on Soviet territory toward the end of the Cold War. The article combines the study of cultural memories with theories derived from research that focuses on spatial location and materiality.
By
Gunilla Gunner and Carola Nordbäck
April 22, 2021