Original scientific paper
CHURCH KRAEVEDENIE: THE POLITICS OF MEMORY AND RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA
Milena Benovska-Sabkova
; New Bulgarian University, Department of History of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract
This paper is going to address the proliferation of so called church
"kraevedenie" ["cerkovnoe kraevedenie"] as a manifestation of the
politics of memory as intersection of religious and secular activities. It is based on field research carried out in the city of Kaluga (for three moths in 2006 and in 2007). "Kraevedenie" includes expertise in local history and in local cultural heritage. Church kraevedenie, on the other hand, has gained momentum after 2000, after President Putin has come into power. This could be explained by the aspiration to strengthen national-affirmative views in Russian society. Church kraevedenie is, therefore, an aspect of the return to Orthodoxy as (historic) identification, after abandoning Soviet political identity.
Keywords
Russia; politics of memory; post-socialism; Orthodox Christianity; kraevedenie
Hrčak ID:
39158
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2009.
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