Join Columbia University's Harriman Institute for a talk with Veera Laine, PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki and visiting scholar at the Harriman Institute, on nationalism in contemporary Russia. 

"I am the biggest nationalist in Russia", declared President Putin in October 2014, adding, however, that in his view nationalism should "benefit the people." Putin's remark illustrates the long conceptual battle over nationalism in Russia that still continues today. Veera Laine will focus on nationalism(s) in contemporary Russia by analyzing the concept of nationalist in self-descriptive contexts during the years 2008-2018. Who, in these media texts collected from the Integrum database, describe themselves as nationalists, and why? How do they explain the ideas behind this rarely defined concept, usually only used to criticize and label others? What do these cases tell us about the evolution of nationalism(s) in contemporary Russia? Laine will shed light on the changes and continuities in a particular nationalist discourse during the past decade, analyzing media texts discussing inter-ethnic tensions, nationalist opposition and national pride, among other things.

Political concepts are constantly changing, and history is intrinsically present in the political language. Laine investigates how the political competition between those in power and those who aim at challenging them is reflected in the discourses on nationalism. Moreover, the values attached to nationalism among the Russian people seem to be in flux: the concept is perceived more positively, but the meanings given to it might also have shifted. Laine looks beyond the frequent cited yet oversimplified notions of “growing nationalism” in today’s Russia.

Speaker:

Veera Laine, PhD candidate, University of Helsinki; visiting scholar, Harriman Institute