Re-enacting “Cossack roots”: embodiment of memory, history, and tradition among young people in southern Russia

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Abstract

This article draws upon ethnographic research which was conducted among young Cossacks (members of officially registered and informal Cossack clubs) in southern Russia. It presents young people’s participation in the Cossack “nativism” as a physical and material mode of socialization into the mnemonic community. The research puts forward an argument that such corporal and sensorial experiences is effective in recruiting some young members to the Cossack movement. At the same time, the performative character of neo-Cossack identity destabilizes contemporary
Cossacks’ claims of authenticity related to the status of the legitimate heirs of
historical Cossackdom. At the more general level of discussion this paper juxtaposes bodily activities, social memory, and revivalist discourses.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-19
Number of pages19
JournalNationalities Papers
Volume46
Issue number1
Early online date2 Nov 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Bibliographical note

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, publishing as Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Nationalities Papers on 2/11/17, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00905992.2017.1354363.

Keywords

  • cossacks
  • social memory
  • embodiment
  • southern Russia
  • young people

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