Les travaux d'Alexander Etkind explorent la littérature et l'histoire culturelle russes, en se concentrant sur la colonisation interne au sein de l'Empire russe et sur des études comparatives de la mémoire culturelle. Son œuvre examine de manière critique la dynamique des mouvements de protestation en Russie, en explorant l'interaction complexe entre les forces historiques et l'expression culturelle. Etkind dirige d'importants projets de recherche qui étudient les dynamiques culturelles de la mémoire en temps de guerre en Europe de l'Est. Son approche synthétise une analyse historique rigoureuse avec une profonde compréhension des changements sociétaux.
Based on Bullitt's unpublished papers and diplomatic documents from the Russian archives, this new biography presents Bullitt as a truly cosmopolitan American, one of the first politicians of the global era.
This bold and wide-ranging book views the history of humankind through the prism of natural resources - how we acquire them, use them, value them, trade them, exploit them. History needs a cast of characters and in this story the leading actors are peat and hemp, grain and iron, fur and oil, each with its own tale to tell. The uneven spread of available resources was the prime mover for trade, which in turn led to the accumulation of wealth, the growth of inequality and the proliferation of evil. Different sorts of raw material have different political implications and give rise to different social institutions. When a country switches its reliance from one commodity to another, this often leads to wars and revolutions. But none of these crises go to waste - they all lead to dramatic changes in the relations between matter, labour and the state. Our world is the result of a fragile pact between people and nature. As we stand on the verge of climate catastrophe, nature has joined us in our struggle to distinguish between good and evil. And since we have failed to change the world, now is the moment to understand how it works.
This book gives a radically new reading of Russia s cultural history. Alexander Etkind traces how the Russian Empire conquered foreign territories and domesticated its own heartlands, thereby colonizing many peoples, Russians included.
The book delves into the intricate history of Russian psychoanalysis, highlighting key figures and their contributions. It explores various historical periods, examining how the perception, development, and transformation of psychoanalysis evolved in Russia. Through individual stories and broader analyses, it reveals the unique cultural and intellectual contexts that shaped the discipline in this region.
Focusing on memory politics in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, this collection examines the instrumentalization and re-mythologization of World War II memories in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. It highlights the enduring influence of Soviet commemorative culture and the Great Patriotic War myth. The book reveals how geopolitical, cultural, and historical factors shape differing political narratives surrounding World War II in these countries, offering insights into their implications for future regional developments.
Putin's war is a 'special operation' against modernity. The invasion has been directed against Ukraine, but the war has a broader target: the modern world of climate awareness, energy transition and digital labor. By trading oil and gas, promoting Trump and Brexit, spreading corruption, boosting inequality and homophobia, subsidizing far-right movements, and destroying Ukraine, Putin's clique aims at suppressing the ongoing transformation of modern societies. Alexander Etkind distinguishes between Russia's pompous, weaponized paleomodernity, on the one hand, and the lean, decentralized gaiamodernity of the Anthropocene, on the other. Putin's clique has used various strategies, from climate denialism and electoral interference to war and genocide, to resist and subvert modernity. Working on political, cultural, and even demographic levels, social mechanisms convert the vicious energy of the oil curse into all-out aggression. Dissecting these mechanisms, Etkind's brief but rigorous analyses of social structuration, cultural dynamics, and family models reveal the agency that drives the Russian war against modernity. This short, sharp critique of the Russian regime combines political economy, social history, and demography to predict the decolonizing and defederating of Russia.