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Scientific article

Published:

Post Post-Sovjet, stil og opprør: Symbolikk og subversiv nasjonalisme i Gosja Rubtsjinskijs «nye Russland»

Written by

Tora Berge Naterstad
Former employee

Ed.

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Summary:

This article explores the resonance enjoyed by streetwear designer Gosha Rubchinskiy among young Russians, and the extensive network that has emerged under his wings and refers to itself as ‘the new Russia’. Analysis of Rubchinskiy’s work, with Dick Hebdige’s semiotic approach as the epistemological context, supplemented by insights from Simon Reynolds, Michel Foucault and Michel Maffesoli, reveals a continuous deconstruction of the Russian regime’s hegemonic narrative of Russianness – so-called ‘Putinism’. At the same time, Rubchinskiy constructs a countercultural form of Russian national belonging, one with room to accommodate those who feel alienated by mainstream Russian national- ism. From a social science perspective, a countercultural inclusive nation-building project is in itself a paradox – so how are we to understand Gosha Rubchinskiy’s ‘new Russia’?

Themes

  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Nationalism

Written by

Tora Berge Naterstad
Former employee