Kapitlene i Greg Simons (red.), The Image of Islam in Russia drøfter ulike sider av forholdet mellom muslimer og staten i Russland siden 1990-årene og holder høy akademisk standard. Boken er et opptrykk av to-tre år gamle utgaver av tidsskriftet Religion, State and Society. The chapters in Greg Simons (ed.), The Image of Islam in Russia discuss various aspects of Muslim–state relations in Putin's Russia and are of high academic quality. This collected volume is a massive reprint of 2 to 3-year-old issues of the journal Religion, State and Society.
Abstract: Religion, Expression, and Patriotism in Russia: Essays on Post-Soviet Society and the StateYuliya Yurchuk (postdoctoral researcher, Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University) reviews Religion, Expression, and Patriotism in Russia: Essays on Post-Soviet Society and the State, edited by Sanna Turoma, Kaarina Aitamurto and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover.
Abstract in English: Crossing the Boundary into the Russian "Imagined Community". "Language", "Culture" and "Religion" in Russian Media Discourse on the Integration of ImmigrantsJussi Lassila reviews Christine Myrdahl Lukash' doctoral dissertation Crossing the Boundary into the Russian "Imagined Community". "Language", "Culture" and "Religion" in Russian Media Discourse on the Integration of Immigrants. The dissertation analyses how the Russian 'imagined community' is represented in the 2000–2015 Russian media discourse on the integration of immigrants, and the role of 'language', 'culture' and 'identity' in this respect. Also, it compares this media discourse with the presidential discourse of the same period.
Emil Edenborg (Swedish Institute of International Affairs and Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University) reviews The Shortest History of Russia: From the Vikings to the Present Day (Den korteste historien om Russland: fra vikingene til våre dager) by Peter Normann Waage (published in 2020 by Wigmostad & Bjorke).
Den ortodokse kirke er forholdsvist ukendt blandt den brede befolkning i de nordiske lande, selvom antallet af ortodokse kristne i disse år er stærkt stigende grundet øget migration fra ortodokse majoritetslande. Derfor er Caroline Serck-Hanssens bog Den ortodokse kirke: Historie – lære – trosliv et relevant og velkomment bidrag. Bogen formidler den ortodokse kirkes historie, lære og aktuelle situation med særligt fokus på den norske og russiske kontekst. Den er skrevet i et klart og letlæseligt sprog, og er primært henvendt til den alment interesserede læser.
The Orthodox Church has remained relatively unknown among the general population in the Nordic countries, even though the number of Orthodox Christians in the region has been rising, due to increased in-migration from Orthodox-majority countries. Caroline Serck-Hanssen's Den ortodokse kirke: Historie – lære – trosliv (The Orthodox Church: History – Doctrine – Religious Life) is a welcome and relevant contribution. It relates the history, doctrines and current situation of the eastern Orthodox churches, with particular attention to the Norwegian and Russian contexts. It is written in clear and concise prose and is primarily addressed to the interested general reader.
Abstract: A tragedy of the Galician diversity: Murder and commemoration of Polish professors killed in Lviv during WWIIIn popular imagery, the former Habsburg province of Galicia and its capital city Lemberg/Lwów/Lviv have been acclaimed for their unique mixture of religions, cultures and nationalities. However, there are also darker sides of this Galician diversity, as became evident during the wars and crises of the first half of the twentieth century. It is instructive to explore how the entanglements between collective and individual choices, cultural genealogies and political aspirations looked in practice in this part of Europe, and how historical events of the twentieth century have reflected this complexity. This article explores one such event: the murder of a group of eminent Polish academics during the Nazi occupation of Lviv/Lwów. After the war, this tragic episode was commemorated quite independently in the two parts of Galicia now divided by the redrawn Polish–(Soviet)Ukrainian border. The episode remains controversial due to the contradictory interpretative frameworks and agenda-setting of various actors involved into the memorialization. The author draws on Michael Rothberg's concept of multidirectional memory to highlight how reverberations of Galician diversity can be approached from an anthropological perspective, focusing on meaning-making and agency.
Med sine pyramider, faraoer, mumier og hieroglyfer er det få kulturer som stimulerer nysgjerrigheten og fantasien mer enn Det gamle Egypt. Men hvordan så hverdagslivet ut for oldtidens kvinner og menn langs Nilen, selve livsåren i det samfunnet vi fortsetter å la oss fascinere av? Hvordan levde de, og hva tenkte de om livet og døden? Og hvordan har det gått til at vi vet så mye om den imponerende sivilisasjonen de klarte å skape? Nå samles for første gang kunnskapen om denne kulturen på norsk, i en bredt anlagt bok. Mot et geografisk bakteppe trekker egyptolog Anders Bettum opp de store linjene i den gammelegyptiske historien og gir smakebiter av egyptisk språk, religion, politikk og litteratur. Et av bokens mange høydepunkter er fortellingen om dechiffreringen av hieroglyfene, andre er møtet med en familie fra arbeiderlandsbyen Deir el-Medina og funnet av Tutankhamons grav. Det gamle Egypt har stor plass i vår moderne bevissthet og historieforståelse. Det samme gjaldt også i antikken, som i likhet med ettertiden har tillagt de gamle egypterne en særlig visdom. Egypt har utøvd en magisk tiltrekningskraft på både vitenskapsmenn, antikvitetssamlere og gravrøvere, grupper det ikke alltid har vært like lett å skille mellom. Også slikt får vi vite mer om i denne boken, der forfatteren til slutt trekker tråder frem til dagens politiske situasjon hvor den nasjonalistiske faraonismen kniver med panarabisme og islamisme om forrang i egypternes identitetsfølelse
Abstract: The Collapse of the Planned Economy – and Other Widespread Misconceptions of the Transitions in Russia and Eastern EuropeAccording to the prevailing view, the Soviet planned economy collapsed around 1990; it was a failure, because a planned economy cannot work. Comparing this common view, as it appears in numerous quotations from special and general sources, with basic empirical evidence reveals deep discrepancies. This also applies to other common conceptions regarding the transition in Russia and Eastern Europe e.g. environmental problems, agricultural crisis, poverty and inequality. The command economies in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union did not collapse; they were dismantled, and until then they functioned and delivered growth rates comparable to those of western countries. The transition after 1989 was driven by marketliberalistic enthusiasm as a short cut to imitation of western prosperity and entailed a refusal of economic planning in the East and in the West. A more realistic evaluation of the planned economy is important for how we politically and economically address our two great challenges, the global environment, and the global distribution.
Abstract: What happened to the 'East'? An introduction and a postscriptIs it still – if it has ever been – relevant to talk about the "East" as a special region? This article introduces, frames, and concludes on the Nordisk Østforum special theme series What happened to the "East"? It provides the theoretical foundation for the four empirical studies included in the special theme series. The article discusses the historical roots and general negative connotations surrounding the notion of "East" in both the "West" and the "East" as well as the recent revival of "Eastern" identities and their relations to the surge of illiberal currents on the global scene. Before outlining the findings of the four empirical studies, the article discusses the notion of region, offering a more dynamic concept than implied by the classical focus on geographical proximity. The article concludes by discussing the continued relevance of the "East" prefix in light of the findings of the four empirical studies. While there are manifest differences between "East" and "West" we need to caution ourselves against stereotypifications that disregard the variance and dynamics within and across the members of the two regions. The demarcation between the two are in no way fixed.
Abstract: Between generations: Attitudes towards family responsibilities in the East and the West of Europe The article addresses the strength and character of family responsibility norms in Eastern and Western Europe. The strength is measured by the level of support for filial and parental responsibilities (i.e., adult children's obligations towards older parents and vice-versa) and the character is indicated by the priority given to the older or the younger generation. For the analyses, we employ data from thirteen Eastern and Western European countries participating in the Generations and Gender Survey. In general, family norms are stronger in the East than in the West, but it is difficult to establish where to draw a dividing line. The contrast between the two extremes, Norway and Sweden in the north-west and Georgia in the south-east, is striking. The remaining countries line up quite close along the geographical diagonal (from Scandinavia to Georgia). The character of the norms is less clearly distributed – whereas almost all countries in Eastern Europe give priority to the older generation, the picture in the West is more mixed. The results partly confirm earlier conclusions about east-west differences in family responsibility norms, but adding more countries to the analyses has revealed a more complex and ambiguous picture than presented in previous studies.
