Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov | National Research University Higher School of Economics (original) (raw)

Papers by Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov

Routledge eBooks, Mar 20, 2023

Annual Review of Anthropology, Nov 6, 2018

Экономическая социология, 2012

Изменения в журнале на этом не заканчиваются. Следите за будущими событиями и следующими номерами... more Изменения в журнале на этом не заканчиваются. Следите за будущими событиями и следующими номерами. 6 Определение настроения автора по элементам текста.-Примеч. перев.

UMI Dissertation Services eBooks, 1998

Stateless society, state collectives, and the state of nature in sub-arctic siberia evenki hunter... more Stateless society, state collectives, and the state of nature in sub-arctic siberia evenki hunters and herders in the twentieth century SSORIN-CHAIKOV NIKOLAI.

Critique of Anthropology, Jun 1, 2012

This is a case study in the anthropology of anthropology. Its ethnographic focus is on a contempo... more This is a case study in the anthropology of anthropology. Its ethnographic focus is on a contemporary critical anthropologist, rather than on the figure of a colonial or nationalist scholar who is explored from a critical perspective of contemporary scholarship. I chart an episode in political biography and scholarship of Maxim Kuchinski, a Russian anarchist and ethnographer, and contextualise his views in a shifting landscape of critical theory. The broader change I am concerned with here is that from ‘the social’ to ‘power’ as a key explanatory category. The goal of this article is to explore how the category of power enables a particular ethnographic vision. If much of current anthropology explores Foucauldian micro-physics of power, what are the macro-physics of these micro-physics? What is the cosmology of power in the anthropology of power?

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2019

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of ... more Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of contemporary Russian anthropology focuses in detail on the work of several scholars and situates it in the changing landscape of Russian academia. The main issue I address is the debated academic identity of anthropology as 'historical science' as it is officially classed in Russia. Proceeding in a case-study manner, I aim to re-conceptualise the relationship between anthropology and history from the point of view of the anthropology of time, not merely by historicising anthropology but also by anthropologising history. I ask what temporal frameworks underscore the relationship between anthropology and history as it is thought about by the scholars I explore.

Журнал исследований социальной политики, 2011

Laboratorium. Журнал социальных исследований, Aug 1, 2013

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2019

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of ... more Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of contemporary Russian anthropology focuses in detail on the work of several scholars and situates it in the changing landscape of Russian academia. The main issue I address is the debated academic identity of anthropology as 'historical science' as it is officially classed in Russia. Proceeding in a case-study manner, I aim to re-conceptualise the relationship between anthropology and history from the point of view of the anthropology of time, not merely by historicising anthropology but also by anthropologising history. I ask what temporal frameworks underscore the relationship between anthropology and history as it is thought about by the scholars I explore.

Journal of Cultural Economy, Jan 30, 2020

ABSTRACT Ethnographic conceptualism takes its cue from conceptual art and uses artistic intervent... more ABSTRACT Ethnographic conceptualism takes its cue from conceptual art and uses artistic interventions as an anthropological research tool. The term ‘ethnographic conceptualism’ was coined to sum up the method of the exhibition project Gifts to Soviet Leaders (Kremlin Museum, Moscow 2006) as simultaneously a reflection on the vast and complex economy of public gifts to heads of Soviet state, a distinctly post-Soviet political and cultural artefact, and as a tool for ethnography of post-socialism. This article explores ethnographic conceptualism’s contribution to performativity theory. I look at how it makes visible the tension between what such projects perform and describe. In doing so, I use ethnographic conceptualism as a vantage point to revisit the foundational distinction of performativity theory between the constative and performative statements (Austin). Drawing in this artistic and research method, I redefine the performative, not as a domain or a type of utterance that is distinct from the constative, but as an act of drawing this distinction.

Исторические исследования. Журнал Исторического факультета МГУ имени М.В. Ломоносова, 2016

О дискурсе как обмене и изобретении Запада в антропологии антропологии: предварительные заметки 2... more О дискурсе как обмене и изобретении Запада в антропологии антропологии: предварительные заметки 2 Аннотация. Статья посвящена памяти Алексея Алексеевича Никишенкова. Ученого, чьи идеи и лекции о западной антропологии оказали большое влияние на целое поколение российских этнографов, включая автора данной статьи. Автор считает, что работа Никишенкова о британском функционализме (1986) может быть одновременно вписана и в историографию отечественной этнографии и работы школы культурной критики, берущей начало в работах К. Гирца. В статье рассматривается проблема создания или конструирования западной антропологической традиции в трудах отечественных этнографов. Автор избрал подход к этому конструированию не через перспективу культурной критики, а через перспективу обмена между преподавателями и студентами, а также между западными и российскими учеными. На примере обсуждения автором и его студентами статьи Мэдлин Ривс о постсоветской Средней Азии и речи Катрин Вердери о возвращении антропологов в славистику. На основании анализа этих кейсов автор приходит к выводу, что обмен зачастую не происходит, а каждая сторона остается при своих «ценностях».

Laboratorium. Журнал социальных исследований, Aug 1, 2013

Особенно понравилась книга отзывов. Каждая запись интересная и познавательная». «Поражает фантази... more Особенно понравилась книга отзывов. Каждая запись интересная и познавательная». «Поражает фантазия наших людей-как изготовивших эти сумасшедшие экспонаты, так и оставляющих надписи в этой книге!» Книга отзывов, выставка «Дары вождям» (Москва, 2006) В качестве эпиграфа к этой работе приведены примеры отзывов посетителей выставки «Дары вождям»; кураторы Ольга Соснина и Николай Ссорин-Чайков (Музеи Московского Кремля, 2006). Выставка проработала в течение месяца, но успела

Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, 2013

Social Research: An International Quarterly, 2016

Abstract: This article approaches failure through the lens of the ruination, residue, and debris ... more Abstract: This article approaches failure through the lens of the ruination, residue, and debris that accumulated during the Soviet construction in northern Siberia. My focus is on the ambivalence of ruination and incomplete construction. I argue that debris as material and documentary product of the Soviet project is not merely an important component of the Soviet developmental machine but also a device for naming otherness—in particular, the imperial debris, the “enemies of the people,” and the resilience of “tradition.”

The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Sep 5, 2018

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2021

Anthropology of Consciousness, Mar 1, 2001

In this article, I explore cultural effects of Soviet religious policies in aboriginal Siberia by... more In this article, I explore cultural effects of Soviet religious policies in aboriginal Siberia by looking at the transformation of ritual identities and practices in a group ofEvenki hunters and herders between the 1920s and the 1990s. I focus on meanings of buhadyl ("spirits") which Evenki associate with old things and dead people. I read meanings and ritual frameworks of dealing with the buhadyl as sites for re-imagining Evenki identities and categories of belonging in the context of Soviet society and Soviet ethnographic gaze. In this article, I use results of my own field research in Central Siberia, as well as newly available Soviet archival materials.

Annual Review of Anthropology, Oct 21, 2018

This article reviews recent ethnographies of war that shed light on interconnected states of secu... more This article reviews recent ethnographies of war that shed light on interconnected states of security at home, international military interventions, and hybrid or rhizomic warfare doctrines. I suggest the notion of hybrid peace to explore global implications of these ethnographic perspectives and to ask what it means to inhabit spaces that are constituted by such hybrid warfare. I argue for the usefulness of Schmitt's “nomos of the earth” and his theory of the partisan to conceptualize this condition and bring together different approaches to warfare.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 30, 2000

Routledge eBooks, Mar 20, 2023

Annual Review of Anthropology, Nov 6, 2018

Экономическая социология, 2012

Изменения в журнале на этом не заканчиваются. Следите за будущими событиями и следующими номерами... more Изменения в журнале на этом не заканчиваются. Следите за будущими событиями и следующими номерами. 6 Определение настроения автора по элементам текста.-Примеч. перев.

UMI Dissertation Services eBooks, 1998

Stateless society, state collectives, and the state of nature in sub-arctic siberia evenki hunter... more Stateless society, state collectives, and the state of nature in sub-arctic siberia evenki hunters and herders in the twentieth century SSORIN-CHAIKOV NIKOLAI.

Critique of Anthropology, Jun 1, 2012

This is a case study in the anthropology of anthropology. Its ethnographic focus is on a contempo... more This is a case study in the anthropology of anthropology. Its ethnographic focus is on a contemporary critical anthropologist, rather than on the figure of a colonial or nationalist scholar who is explored from a critical perspective of contemporary scholarship. I chart an episode in political biography and scholarship of Maxim Kuchinski, a Russian anarchist and ethnographer, and contextualise his views in a shifting landscape of critical theory. The broader change I am concerned with here is that from ‘the social’ to ‘power’ as a key explanatory category. The goal of this article is to explore how the category of power enables a particular ethnographic vision. If much of current anthropology explores Foucauldian micro-physics of power, what are the macro-physics of these micro-physics? What is the cosmology of power in the anthropology of power?

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2019

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of ... more Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of contemporary Russian anthropology focuses in detail on the work of several scholars and situates it in the changing landscape of Russian academia. The main issue I address is the debated academic identity of anthropology as 'historical science' as it is officially classed in Russia. Proceeding in a case-study manner, I aim to re-conceptualise the relationship between anthropology and history from the point of view of the anthropology of time, not merely by historicising anthropology but also by anthropologising history. I ask what temporal frameworks underscore the relationship between anthropology and history as it is thought about by the scholars I explore.

Журнал исследований социальной политики, 2011

Laboratorium. Журнал социальных исследований, Aug 1, 2013

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2019

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of ... more Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II This two-part overview of contemporary Russian anthropology focuses in detail on the work of several scholars and situates it in the changing landscape of Russian academia. The main issue I address is the debated academic identity of anthropology as 'historical science' as it is officially classed in Russia. Proceeding in a case-study manner, I aim to re-conceptualise the relationship between anthropology and history from the point of view of the anthropology of time, not merely by historicising anthropology but also by anthropologising history. I ask what temporal frameworks underscore the relationship between anthropology and history as it is thought about by the scholars I explore.

Journal of Cultural Economy, Jan 30, 2020

ABSTRACT Ethnographic conceptualism takes its cue from conceptual art and uses artistic intervent... more ABSTRACT Ethnographic conceptualism takes its cue from conceptual art and uses artistic interventions as an anthropological research tool. The term ‘ethnographic conceptualism’ was coined to sum up the method of the exhibition project Gifts to Soviet Leaders (Kremlin Museum, Moscow 2006) as simultaneously a reflection on the vast and complex economy of public gifts to heads of Soviet state, a distinctly post-Soviet political and cultural artefact, and as a tool for ethnography of post-socialism. This article explores ethnographic conceptualism’s contribution to performativity theory. I look at how it makes visible the tension between what such projects perform and describe. In doing so, I use ethnographic conceptualism as a vantage point to revisit the foundational distinction of performativity theory between the constative and performative statements (Austin). Drawing in this artistic and research method, I redefine the performative, not as a domain or a type of utterance that is distinct from the constative, but as an act of drawing this distinction.

Исторические исследования. Журнал Исторического факультета МГУ имени М.В. Ломоносова, 2016

О дискурсе как обмене и изобретении Запада в антропологии антропологии: предварительные заметки 2... more О дискурсе как обмене и изобретении Запада в антропологии антропологии: предварительные заметки 2 Аннотация. Статья посвящена памяти Алексея Алексеевича Никишенкова. Ученого, чьи идеи и лекции о западной антропологии оказали большое влияние на целое поколение российских этнографов, включая автора данной статьи. Автор считает, что работа Никишенкова о британском функционализме (1986) может быть одновременно вписана и в историографию отечественной этнографии и работы школы культурной критики, берущей начало в работах К. Гирца. В статье рассматривается проблема создания или конструирования западной антропологической традиции в трудах отечественных этнографов. Автор избрал подход к этому конструированию не через перспективу культурной критики, а через перспективу обмена между преподавателями и студентами, а также между западными и российскими учеными. На примере обсуждения автором и его студентами статьи Мэдлин Ривс о постсоветской Средней Азии и речи Катрин Вердери о возвращении антропологов в славистику. На основании анализа этих кейсов автор приходит к выводу, что обмен зачастую не происходит, а каждая сторона остается при своих «ценностях».

Laboratorium. Журнал социальных исследований, Aug 1, 2013

Особенно понравилась книга отзывов. Каждая запись интересная и познавательная». «Поражает фантази... more Особенно понравилась книга отзывов. Каждая запись интересная и познавательная». «Поражает фантазия наших людей-как изготовивших эти сумасшедшие экспонаты, так и оставляющих надписи в этой книге!» Книга отзывов, выставка «Дары вождям» (Москва, 2006) В качестве эпиграфа к этой работе приведены примеры отзывов посетителей выставки «Дары вождям»; кураторы Ольга Соснина и Николай Ссорин-Чайков (Музеи Московского Кремля, 2006). Выставка проработала в течение месяца, но успела

Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, 2013

Social Research: An International Quarterly, 2016

Abstract: This article approaches failure through the lens of the ruination, residue, and debris ... more Abstract: This article approaches failure through the lens of the ruination, residue, and debris that accumulated during the Soviet construction in northern Siberia. My focus is on the ambivalence of ruination and incomplete construction. I argue that debris as material and documentary product of the Soviet project is not merely an important component of the Soviet developmental machine but also a device for naming otherness—in particular, the imperial debris, the “enemies of the people,” and the resilience of “tradition.”

The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Sep 5, 2018

Social Anthropology, May 1, 2021

Anthropology of Consciousness, Mar 1, 2001

In this article, I explore cultural effects of Soviet religious policies in aboriginal Siberia by... more In this article, I explore cultural effects of Soviet religious policies in aboriginal Siberia by looking at the transformation of ritual identities and practices in a group ofEvenki hunters and herders between the 1920s and the 1990s. I focus on meanings of buhadyl ("spirits") which Evenki associate with old things and dead people. I read meanings and ritual frameworks of dealing with the buhadyl as sites for re-imagining Evenki identities and categories of belonging in the context of Soviet society and Soviet ethnographic gaze. In this article, I use results of my own field research in Central Siberia, as well as newly available Soviet archival materials.

Annual Review of Anthropology, Oct 21, 2018

This article reviews recent ethnographies of war that shed light on interconnected states of secu... more This article reviews recent ethnographies of war that shed light on interconnected states of security at home, international military interventions, and hybrid or rhizomic warfare doctrines. I suggest the notion of hybrid peace to explore global implications of these ethnographic perspectives and to ask what it means to inhabit spaces that are constituted by such hybrid warfare. I argue for the usefulness of Schmitt's “nomos of the earth” and his theory of the partisan to conceptualize this condition and bring together different approaches to warfare.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 30, 2000

What is the place of art and aesthetics in the anthropology of the state? What is the place of th... more What is the place of art and aesthetics in the anthropology of the state? What is the place of the state in the anthropology of art? This panel will bridge the anthropology of art and of the state through a comparative exploration that draws on a broad range of ethnographic case studies. Long abstract What is the place of art and aesthetics in the anthropology of the state? What is the place of the state in the anthropology of art? The second question seems more universal in a comparative ethnographic perspective — the state is a recognizable artistic patron across societies — while the first seems denote legacies of authoritarianism. Existing scholarship in this field takes its cue from Benjamin's observations about the 'aestheticization of politics' under fascism, as well as from the role of art, from constructivism to socialist realism, in Soviet-type societies. This line of research is contingent on the understanding of art as a specific modern cultural concept, the one that isolates aesthetics as an autonomous field and reassembles it with politics in specific locations. But this view holds neither for contemporary art, which critiques this 'purely aesthetic' perspective, nor for the contemporary anthropology of art — specifically for Alfred Gell's reconceptualizaton of art as a form of agency. How might the relationship of the anthropology of the state and the anthropology of art look like given these two advances? What, from this point of view, is the relationship between the state and political aesthetics today? In what ways might contemporary governance be approached as an art? What is contemporary political art, and what are modalities of contemporary politicized art? The panel seeks a comparative exploration of these questions that would draw on a broad range of ethnographic case studies. This panel is closed to new paper proposals. Papers State of the art: the anthropology of art and the anthropology of the state