Russian Cyberspace 2: CfP Comrades to Classmates

[Ellen Rutten]

*The Russian Cyberspace Journal no 2 - Call for Submissions
'From Comrades to Classmates: Social Networks on the Russian Internet'
<http://www.russian-cyberspace.com/forthcoming-issue_call-for-submissions.html>
****Deadline: July 1, 2009**

*
**At the beginning of 2009, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
had approximately 150,00 members, while there were over 20 million users of
odnoklassniki.ru, a social networking site for former "classmates."* *Russia's
dominant political party, "United Russia," commands some 2 million members;
however this pales in comparison to the 35 million registered members of the
popular networking platform vkontakte.ru. While political activity in party
organizations is certainly different from the spontaneous, informal, and
often apolitical participation in social networks on the web, these
comparisons demand inspection. Over the coming decade, sociologists predict
a general shift from formal to informal organization of social groups and
communities. Undoubtedly, this shift will be shaped by contemporary
networking technologies.

*The Russian Cyberspace Journal <http://www.russian-cyberspace.com/>*, issue
2, aims to examine the structure, taxonomy, function, and significance of
social networks on the RuNet. What role do these new web-based forms of
socializing play in contemporary Russia, particularly given the paradoxical
stereotypes of Russian society as collectivistic on the one hand, and
amorphous or apathetic on the other? Does social networking in Russia
represent a cultural form specific to post-Soviet Russia, or is it a mere
unreconstructed and uncritical adaptation of "Western" net practices?

For 'For Comrades to
Classmates<http://www.russian-cyberspace.com/forthcoming-issue_call-for-submissions.php?lng=English>',
we seek contributions that approach social networks as a critical component
of politics, society, culture, education, and economics. We are interested
in exploring a number of questions, including: Have new social networks
replicated and/or replaced Soviet traditions of social mobilisation? What is
the role of social networks in maintaining Russia's regional integrity and
binding together the widely-dispersed Russian- speaking diaspora? What can
we learn about post-millennial everyday practices-dating, business
associations, public relations-from the operation of Russian social
networks?

This message serves as a call for submissions - the deadline for which is *July
1, 2009*. For more information, including guidelines and contact
information, please visit the CfP
link<http://www.russian-cyberspace.com/forthcoming-issue_call-for-submissions.html>
on
our website <http://www.russian-cyberspace.org/>, or
contact<russian.cyberspace at yahoo.com>the RC team.

Best regards,

The editors

Ekaterina Lapina-Kratasyuk (Moscow)
Ellen Rutten (Bergen/Amsterdam)
Robert A. Saunders (New York)
Henrike Schmidt (Berlin)
Vlad Strukov (Leeds/London)

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