Tolstaya and Pozner on Putin's era, Russian character, etc.

Sun Jan 22 10:59:00 UTC 2012

Dear colleagues,

Yesterday we've discussed the use of the word "era' (epokha)in  
Platonov's text. You might be curious to see Pozner's definition of  
Putin's Russia as a new era/rezhim Putina:
"10 лет тому назад мы с вами встречались в программе "Времена", 2001  
год. И я думаю, что и вы (а я-то точно нет), и многие не понимали,  
что, на самом деле, начинается какая-то совершенно новая эпоха, эпоха,  
которую сам премьер назвал "режимом Путина". Это его слова. Вот я  
хотел вас спросить, что вы думаете, что изменилось за эти 10 лет в  
стране и в головах людей?"

The interview is available on this site (both the video recording and  
the text of the interview):
http://www.1tv.ru/sprojects_edition/si5756/fi12648

All best,
Alexandra

---------------------------------------------
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Reader in Russian Studies
Department of European Languages and Cultures
School of  Languages, Literatures and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
fax: +44- (0)0131 651 1311
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

Quoting Curt Woolhiser <cwoolhis at GMAIL.COM> on Sat, 21 Jan 2012  
19:05:47 -0500:

>  *Dear SEELANGers,**As the January 31st deadline for submission of
> abstracts for the 19th Sociolinguistics Symposium at the Freie Universität
> Berlin (August 22-24) is rapidly approaching, I wanted to bring to your
> attention a proposed thematic session that may be of interest to SEELANGS
> subscribers. In connection with this year’s symposium theme of “Language
> and the City,” Natalia Kosmarskaya *(Department of the CIS, Institute of
> Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences) and *Anastassia Zabrodskaja
> (Tartu University/Tallinn University, Estonia) have proposed a session on
> “Language, Culture and Ethnicity in the Post-Soviet Multi-Ethnic City.” The
> session description follows below, along with a link to a complete list of
> thematic sessions and other information about the 2012 Sociolinguistics
> Symposium.*** *Ethnicity, Language and Culture in the Post-Soviet
> Multi-Ethnic City*
>
> Proposed by: Kosmarskaya, Natalia; Zabrodskaja, Anastassia
> Submitted by: *Zabrodskaja, Anastassia* (University of Tartu / Tallinn
> University, Estonia)
>
> The last decade has witnessed a rise in scholarly interest towards the
> post-Soviet language situation. The agenda remains dominated by research in
> language policy and macro-sociolinguistics (Korth 2005, Hogan-Brun et al.
> 2008) as well as overall descriptions of the status change of Russian
> (Pavlenko 2008a, 2008b).
>
> Under post-Soviet conditions one of the most topical socio-linguistic
> dilemmas covers a variety of issues related to changing language
> hierarchies (Russian versus titular languages). Numerous manifestations of
> this radical turn include top-down initiatives of the so called
> nationalizing states (incl. the legislative measures) as well as shift in
> individual linguistic behaviour and cultural orientations (in the everyday
> life, in career building, educational choices, marriage preferences, etc.).
> Big cities, especially capital cities, provide a very good site for
> exploring these changes, with their thick communicative environment;
> variety of cultural products produced and consumed; rapidly changing public
> spaces; visualization of “national revival” measures embodied in changes in
> toponymy, re-symbolization of city space, appearance of new cultural
> markers, etc. In addition, population of many cities of the New Independent
> States (NIS) has undergone serious ethno-cultural transformation after the
> break-up of the USSR, starting with massive outflow of the so called
> Russian-speakers (ethnic Russians and other non-titular Russophones) during
> the 1990s, and ending with influx of transnational and/or internal rural
> migrants during the current decade.
>
> The general aim of the session is to throw light on everyday linguistic
> practices and identities’ (re)negotiation of urban dwellers contextualized
> within transformation of post-Soviet urban socio-cultural and linguistic
> environment. As far as more concrete objectives are concerned, we expect
> contributions which will take into account striking heterogeneity of
> regions within post-Soviet space and between the countries within these
> regions in what is related to *de facto* and *de jure* status of the
> Russian language and popular perceptions of challenges provoked by changes
> in socio-linguistic situation. Thus, as minimum, two distinct regions might
> be defined; these are the Baltic countries and those of Central Asia (the
> cases polarity of which in regard to Russophones’ position and Russian
> language status is deeply rooted in the pattern of colonization of the two
> regions). These territories within the post-Soviet space, in their turn,
> provide a contrasting picture in comparison with Ukraine, Belarus and
> Azerbaijan, also being the regions with a noticeable presence of
> Russian-speakers.
>
> Questions to be raised by the session participants may include, but not are
> limited to, the following ones:
>
> - Can mastering of Russian as a native language be taken as a synonym of
> urban culture and a base for urban identity?
>
> - Do parameters of cultural identity overlap or not with those of ethnic
> self-identification?
>
> - What urban ethno-cultural groups are most liable to this kind of
> divergence/convergence?
>
> - How is identity negotiated in bilingual (multilingual) environments?
>
> - To what extent do post-Soviet cities of the NIS, being multi-ethnic,
> still retain practices of Russian or titular monolingualism?
>
> - What ethno-cultural groups are most successful in maintaining/enriching
> these practices?
>
> - Can Russian linguistic and cultural space in post-Soviet cities be taken
> as a “Cheshire cat smile”, functioning without Russians themselves? What
> could be the factors contributing to maintenance/erosion of this space?
>
> The other themes of interest might include:
>
> - Russian-based cultural urban spaces versus those dominated by titular
> languages;
>
> - Monolingual versus multi-lingual public spaces (linguistic landscapes);
>
> - Pragmatism versus cultural nostalgia as motors of titulars’ interest
> towards studying of the Russian language;
>
> - Last but not least, differences in attitudes towards above-mentioned
> issues among Russian-speakers, members of titular groups and non-Russian
> and non-titular minority groups.
>
> *References*
>
> Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle, Uldis Ozolins, Meilute Ramoniene, Mart Rannut 2008.
> Language Politics and Practice in the Baltic States. – Ed. by Robert Kaplan
> & Richard Baldauf, *Language Planning and Policy in Europe. The Baltic
> States, Ireland, and Italy* (pp. 31–193). Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto:
> Multilingual Matters.
>
> Korth, Britta 2005. *Language Attitudes Towards Kyrgyz and Russian.
> Discourse, Education and Policy in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan*. Bern · Wien:
> Peter Lang.
>
> Pavlenko, Aneta 2008a (ed.) Multilingualism in post-Soviet countries.
> – *International
> Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism*, 11 (3&4).
>
> Pavlenko, Aneta 2008b. Russian in Post-Soviet Countries. – *Russian
> Linguistics*, 32, 59–80.
> *Call for Papers and list of thematic sessions:* *
> http://www.sociolinguistics-symposium-2012.de/thematic_sessions*
>
> ===========================
>
> Curt Woolhiser
>
> Department of German, Russian and Asian
>
> Languages and Literature
>
> Brandeis University
>
> 415 South Street MS-024
>
> Waltham, MA 02454 USA
>
>
> Tel. (781) 736-3200
> Fax (781) 736-3207
> Email: cwoolhis at brandeis.edu
>
> ============================
>
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