Suchergebnisse

Organizing the Voice of Women: A Study of the Polish and Swedish Women's Movements' Adaptation to International Structures, by Eva Karlberg, is reviewed by Kirsti Stuvøy, Associate Professor, Faculty of Landscape and Society, International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

Abstract: Review of Revolution! Swedish experiences from RussiaBirgitte Beck Pristed reviews Revolution! Swedish experiences from Russia, edited by Alexander Husebye, with contributions by Bengt JAngfeldt, Ulrika Knutson, Martin Kragh, Benito Peix Geldart, Gunnar Åselius. The volume is issued by the Swedish Center for Business History on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution and examines the postrevolutionary fate of Swedish entrepreneurs and their extensive business activities in Russia.

Håvard Bækken, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, reviews Putin's Russia and the Falsification of History: Reasserting Control over the Past, by Anton Weiss-Wendt (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).

Helge Blakkisrud (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs) reviews the anthology Nationhood and Politization of History in School Textbooks: Identity, the Curriculum and Educational Media, edited by Gorana Ognjenović and Jasna Joselić.

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).

Svein Mønnesland, professor emeritus at the University of Oslo, reviews Yugoslavia and Political Assassinations: The History and Legacy of Tito's Campaign against the Émigrés, by Christian Axboe Nielsen, published in 2020 by I.B. Tauris.

In 2019, the Swedish government officially switched terminology from using the traditional endogenous term Vitryssland to the exogenous Belarus. Vitryssland (lit: White Russia) had been in use in the Swedish language since the 17th century, and the decision was neither easy nor swift. There was no consensus about the utility of the change, and significant opposition from linguists and editors against abandoning a term which had emerged and become established over centuries of contact. The debate preceding the switch was often shrill, led by activists and steeped in identity politics. In fact, controversies regarding what to call the country were nothing new, highlighting diverging visions of its geopolitical and cultural position between East and West. Discussions mirrored the far more emotional and polarized discussions among Belarusian nationalists in the 20th century, which at times became violent. Kryvia, Byelorussia, Greatlitva were but some of contenders. This article is an attempt to place discussions about the Swedish terminology in the larger context of history, memory, geopolitics and identity politics.

I Mina ryska vänner skriver den svenske journalisten Johanna Melén godt og innsiktsfullt om egne opplevelser i Russland fra Putins maktovertakelse. Likevel støter hun på et kjent problem: Hvor mye mer kan en bok om Russlands nære historie bli enn en nok en Putin-biografi?
Mina ryska vänner (My Russian Friends) is a well-written and insightful book by the Swedish journalist Johanna Melén about her experiences in Russia after Putin's ascent to power. However, she encounters a common problem: How much more can a book on Russia's recent history be than yet another Putin biography?

Abstract in English:Russia and the Beginning of HistoryMorgan Olofsson's Russia and the Beginning of History consists of several interviews that the former Swedish news correspondent made with people he met in the 1990s. The purpose, he says, is to see how people have fared in the timespan from the 1990s to 2018, but also, more ambitiously, to sustain a dialogue between people on topics like the gradual dissemination of authoritarian political systems. Olofsson argues that we "need to learn from history" to protect democratic values; that is, values that connect people. The structure of the book is reminiscent of Mikhail Zygar's All the Kremlin's Men (2016), short annotated chapters, with introductions. The interviews stand out as sharp and perceptive, but the structure and editing of the book leaves more to be desired.

Denna festskrift innehåller tio informativa artiklar, mest om Georgien, dess språk, historia och samhälle, men också om tjerkesserna och Tjetjenien i det ryska Nordkaukasus, samt om det armeniska folkmordet. De flesta artiklarna är skrivna av georgiska och svenska forskare som är eller varit knutna till forskningsplattformen The Russia and Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR) vid Malmö universitet.
This Festschrift contains ten informative chapters, mainly about Georgia, its language, history and society, but also about the Circassians and Chechnya in the Russian North Caucasus, as well as the Armenian genocide. Most of the contributions are written by Georgian and Swedish scholars associated with the Russia and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR) platform at Malmö University.

Bjørn Svenungsen, of the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, reviews Carolina Vendil Pallin's report for the Swedish Defence Research Agency titled The Key Players in Russia's Cyber Strategy: 2000–2020 (Nyckelaktörerna för rysk cyberstrategi: 2000–2020).

Abstract: "Even if it didn't happen, it's true" – Houston, We Have a Problem!Houston, We Have a Problem! (director: Žiga Virc, 2016) is a mockumentary film from Slovenia that stirred up controversy in the former Yugoslavia. The film deals with the Yugoslav space program, which Josip Broz Tito sells to the United States under President Kennedy for $2.5 billion. However, it turns out that the Yugoslavs have nothing to sell: their space program is utterly useless. The payment is then converted into a loan, forcing Yugoslavia into an economic crisis. Tito dies, and with more or less direct involvement from the US side, Yugoslavia dies with him. The content of this film, and the debate surrounding it, show that popular culture dealing with the past has inherited traces of the ideologizations of the past. This article presents interpretations of public reactions to the film, but also analyzes what it seeks to convey regarding Yugoslav historiography, through this fable of Yugoslavia, its purported space program, and US involvement.

Martin Kragh, Deputy Director of the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) and Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, reviews Ingerid M. Opdahl's book, The Russian State and Russian Energy Companies, 1992–2018 (Routledge, 2020).

Abstract: The Past Is a Foreign Country. Mediated Memories of Yugoslavia in Post-Yugoslav Documentary FilmSvein Mønnesland (University of Oslo) reviews The Past Is a Foreign Country. Mediated Memories of Yugoslavia in Post-Yugoslav Documentary Film, by Sanjin Pejkovic.

Abstract: Hans Christian Andersen in RussiaBrita Lotsberg Bryn (University of Bergen) reviews the anthology Hans Christian Andersen in Russia, edited by M.S. Jessen, M. Balina, B. Hellman and J. Nørregaard Frandsen, which investigates the influence of H.C. Andersen's work on Russian culture. It demonstrates that Andersen's fairy tales, broadly employed by authors and artists and valued by generations of readers and audiences in Russia, constitute a specific cultural code. The book comprises articles by seventeen scholars of Danish and Russian literature, art, film, theatre, music and media, exploring this code from various angles.