Chronicles in Stone : : Preservation, Patriotism, and Identity in Northwest Russia / / Victoria Donovan.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Contemporary Collection eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Donovan, Victoria,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (246 p.) :; 13 b&w halftones, 2 maps

Chronicles in Stone is a study of the powerful and pervasive myth of the Russian Northwest, its role in forming Soviet and Russian identities, and its impact on local communities. Combining detailed archival research, participant observation and oral history work, it explores the transformation of three northwestern Russian towns from provincial backwaters into the symbolic homelands of the Soviet and Russian nations.The book's central argument is that the Soviet state exploited the cultural heritage of the Northwest to craft patriotic narratives of the people's genius, heroism and strength that could bind the nation together after 1945. Through sustained engagement with local voices, it reveals the ways these narratives were internalized, revised, and resisted by the communities living in the region.Donovan provides an alternative lens through which to view the rise of Russian patriotic consciousness in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, adding a valuable regional dimension to our knowledge of Russian nation building and identity politics.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Map of the Russian Federation -- Detail of the Russian Northwest -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. PHOENIXES FROM THE ASHES: Postwar Reconstruction as a Patriotic Duty -- 2. ZAPOVEDNIKS OR TOURIST RESORTS? Marketing Heritage to National Audiences -- 3. LANDSCAPES OF LIVING HISTORY: Folk Architecture in the National Imaginary -- 4. BURNT-OUT FAIRY TALES: Preservation as a Metaphor for Loss After Socialism -- 5. GUARDIANS OF OUR HERITAGE: Rebranding the Northwest in the Putin Era -- 6. "EVERY CENTIMETER OF THIS GROUND IS HISTORY": Heritage, Narrative, and Identity -- CONCLUSION -- APPENDIX -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- NOTES -- INDEX