Aimar Ventsel | University of Tartu (original) (raw)

Papers by Aimar Ventsel

Research paper thumbnail of Punks and Skins Identity Class the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture

Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture, The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 2021

Keebet von Benda-Beckmann (2021) Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern G... more Keebet von Benda-Beckmann (2021) Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture, The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 53:2, 315-318, DOI: 10.1080/07329113.2021.1890429

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East.

Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, In: B... more Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, In: BartGaens,FrankJüris,KristiRaik (Eds.). Nordic-Baltic Connectivity with Asia via the Arctic: Assessing Opportunities and Risks. International Centre for Defence and Security. 178-193.

Research paper thumbnail of Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’

Aimar Ventsel, ‘Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’, B... more Aimar Ventsel, ‘Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’, Berghahn, August 2020.

CONTACT ME WHEN YOU WANT TO READ MY BOOK!

Research paper thumbnail of Peers, Eleanor, Ventsel, Aimar and Sidorova, Lena, 2020, Voices of the forests, voices of the streets: popular music and modernist transformation in Sakha (Yakutia)

Music, and especially song, have been the means by which Sakha communities in northeastern Siberi... more Music, and especially song, have been the means by which Sakha communities in northeastern Siberia have interacted with their environment over the centuries. And this environment has incorporated an enormous pantheon of deities, area spirits, ancestors, ghosts, and demons, particularly in the years before Soviet-era modernisation began in earnest. These entities and their relationships with Sakha communities were and are voiced through sung Olongkho epics, algys prayers, chabyrghakh chants, and Ohuokhai choral dances. Sakha men and women praised or petitioned deities and spirits through these musical genres. However, modernisation and urbanisation have radically changed Sakha peoples' relationships with their environment, in transformations replicated throughout the Circumpolar North. During the mid-twentieth century, Sakha people moved fi rst into Russian-style villages and then urban settlements-and in particular to Yakutsk, their Republic's capital. Modernised farming and industry have taken root in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), bringing their associated environmental challenges. And with modernisation and urbanisation have come a plethora of new musical genres, often emerging out of the adaptation of mainstream Russian or global musical forms. Soviet-era Estrada music has given way to Sakha-language rap, pop, and rock. In this chapter, we chart the Sakha people's changing interrelation with their environment, through a history of twentieth-and twenty-fi rst-century popular music. In doing so, we show how Sakha people have incorporated music into the articulation of new identities and relationships, in addition to ways of combating the negative impact of modernising change.

Research paper thumbnail of Полевые заметки и скрытая история

А Н Т Р О П О Л О Г И Ч Е С К И Й ФОРУМ, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Blurring masculinities in the Republic of Sakha Russia.pdf

Polar Geography, Vol 41, No. 3, 198-216., 2018

Siberia in general has traditionally been a region where men are expected to be ‘real’ men, i.e. ... more Siberia in general has traditionally been a region where men are expected to be ‘real’ men, i.e. to behave in a pronouncedly virile way. This perception is related to the history of the region – bringing ‘civilisation’ to the region was in direct relation to the intensive physical work. Urban life in Siberia was until recently dominated by such proletarian masculinity since urban centres were places where a large part of industrial workers lived. With the Western style urbanization and advent of new enterprises, this perception is changing. The new urban professional class mostly holds office jobs and is engaged in non-physical work. The article explains how socioeconomic factors have historically shaped the perceptions and performances of masculinity in Siberia. Further, I juxtapose ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ masculinity in the Republic of Sakha. In this region, softness is usually related with the office jobs. While certain masculine stereotypes continue to exist – like reliability, responsibility, loyalty – traditional understanding of toughness is often rejected. As one paradigm, I take the changes in attitudes towards alcohol consumption. The emergence of more diverse and ‘softer’ forms of masculinity do not generally question existing gender hierarchies, as I will point out toward the end of the article.

Research paper thumbnail of РЭП КАК СРЕДСТВО ВЫРАЖЕНИЯ СОЦИАЛЬНЫХ ИЗМЕНЕНИЙ НА СЕВЕРО-ВОСТОКЕ СИБИРИ: ХИП-ХОП, УРБАНИЗАЦИЯ И ЭТНИЧНОСТЬ ЯКУТОВ (САХА

Ключевые слова: якуты (саха), хип-хоп, поп-музыка, урбанизация, село, сельский образ жизни, этнич... more Ключевые слова: якуты (саха), хип-хоп, поп-музыка, урбанизация, село, сельский образ жизни, этничность, трансформация. В статье рассматривается взаимосвязь молодежных культурных форм и социаль-ных трансформаций на примере Республики Саха (Якутия). Развитие современ-ных инфраструктур и технологий, массовая миграция населения из сел в города, а также распространение мировых культурных форм привели к ощутимым из-менениям в определении собственной идентичности современными городскими якутами (саха). Одним из наиболее ярких проявлений этого стало зарождение и необычайно быстрое развитие такого музыкального жанра как рэп или хип-хоп. Если ранее якуты ассоциировались во внешнем мире в основном с сельским образом жизни, то хип-хоп ознаменовал появление урбанизированной молоде-жи, открытой глобальным культурным движениям, но одновременно ценящей свое национальное культурное наследие. В конце 2012 г. в интернете появилась фотография зимней туманной улицы г. Якутска, столицы Республики Саха (Якутия). Фотография была подписана: " В Якутске мало рэперов потому что очень трудно вырасти на улице ". Люди, зна-комые с Якутском и его климатом, поймут шутку: туман здесь обычно появляется при температуре воздуха ниже 48 градусов Цельсия. Республика расположена на северо-востоке Сибири и занимает лишь немно-гим меньшую территорию, чем весь Индийский субконтинент, но при этом чис-ленность ее населения составляет чуть более 950 тыс. чел., согласно переписи 2010 г. (Перепись 2010). Современная территория Якутии вошла в состав Россий-ской империи в начале XVII в.; на данный момент половину ее населения состав-ляют якуты (саха), тюркоязычная этническая группа, традиционно занимавшаяся скотоводством. Массовая урбанизация якутского населения, вызванная упадком сельского хозяйства после развала Советского союза, а также распространение со-временных инфраструктур, технологий и различных культурных форм привели к существенной социальной трансформации якутов. Усиливающееся влияние глобальных культурных, экономических и технологических трендов поднимает вопрос о новом значении якутской идентичности в отрыве от сельских традиций и культурных форм, до недавнего времени определявших самобытность якутов в пределах России. В настоящей статье мы предполагаем, что появление якутского рэпа является одним из способов, с помощью которых молодежь выражает свою солидарность

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel_Peers_Hiphop_Chapter_NEW.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel, Aimar, 2017, Reluctant Entrepreneurs of the Russian Far East, in Robert W. Orttung and Marlene Laruelle (eds.), Urban Sustainability in the Arctic: Visions, Contexts, and Challenges, The George Washington University, pp. 383-387.

Research paper thumbnail of ENTRAPPING HISTORY IN SPACE: ON TUUNDRA AND ITS MASTERS

Research paper thumbnail of Lorenzo Canás Bottos, Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia. Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future.

Aimar Ventsel, 2010 in : Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 3, (2)p. 105-108, Lorenzo Canás... more Aimar Ventsel, 2010 in : Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 3, (2)p. 105-108,
Lorenzo Canás Bottos, Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia. Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future. Leiden, Boston: Brill 2008, 216 pages.

Research paper thumbnail of Bristol_Magic_Circle.pptx

Research paper thumbnail of Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-Pop

Aimar Ventsel, 2016, Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-pop, in Ewa Mazierska, Popular Music in ... more Aimar Ventsel, 2016, Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-pop, in Ewa Mazierska, Popular Music in Eastern Europe: Searching for a New Paradigm, Palgrave, pp. 69-88.

Research paper thumbnail of SOCIAL MEANING OF CULTURE IN A STALINIST PRISON CAMP

The Stalinist prison camp system – popularly known as the Gulag archipelago – existed for a relat... more The Stalinist prison camp system – popularly known as the Gulag archipelago – existed for a relatively short period (from 1931–1960) and became world famous as a synonym for terror, humiliation and human suffering. This article focuses on the social significance of culture in one of the biggest Stalinist prison camp – Karlag in Central Kazakhstan. The first part of the article gives an overview of the institutions of culture in prison camps and their activities. It also gives an overview of unofficial cultural activities and the consequences of being engaged in the unsanctioned creation of art. In the second part of the paper, the social significance of culture in Stalinist prison camps is discussed. Official and non-official art were not separate and existed in symbiosis: people crossed the border between these spheres. Moreover, the camp administration recognised the material value of art produced in the camp and began to organise the production of pictures or handicrafts in order to sell them outside the camp. Nevertheless, both official and unofficial cultures had a deep social meaning for the people. Producing unsanctioned paintings and other objects of artistry can be seen as an act of resistance, producing sanctioned art helped the artists to create their own social and mental space and distance themselves from the everyday grind of the camp. In general, culture and its institutions in the prison failed to fulfill their original purpose – instead of re-educating and changing inmates, culture helped to maintain human dignity and integrity. Stalinist prison camps are infamous and their existence is now well known all around the world. These camps are correctly associated with inhuman living conditions, suffering, slave labour, humiliation, tragedy, hunger and death. One influential work in disseminating the scenes and images of suffering, which made the abbreviation Gulag famous is the " Archipelago in Gulag " , a book that has been translated into multiple languages (Solženitsõn 1990). However, " The Gulag Archipelago " and several other popular or academic books written about the Stalinist prison camps focus strongly on the injustice and inhuman conditions of this repressive system and touch lightly, if at all, on other aspects of the structure and how the Gulag functioned. The Gulag was a very complex institution and taking a closer look at the nature of the Gulag it is impossible to ignore

Research paper thumbnail of World music routes: the modification of the Sakha musical tradition

Research paper thumbnail of “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skinhead Culture

Ventsel, Aimar, 2014, “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skin... more Ventsel, Aimar, 2014, “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skinhead Culture, Russell Cobb (toim.), Genuine Copies: The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World, Palgrave MacMillan, 261-276.

Research paper thumbnail of Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ village

Aimar Ventsel, 2007, Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ vill... more Aimar Ventsel, 2007, Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ village, in Edited F.Pirie and K.Benda-Beckman, Order and Disorder. Anthropological Perspectives. Oxford, New York: Berghahn, 34-53.

Research paper thumbnail of Ostpunx: East German Punk in its Social, Political and Historical Context

Research paper thumbnail of HUNTER-HERDER CONTINUUM IN ANABARSKI DISTRICT, NW SAKHA, SIBERIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Anabarski district in NW Sakha was traditionally a region with mixed hunting/ reindeer herding ec... more Anabarski district in NW Sakha was traditionally a region with mixed hunting/ reindeer herding economy. Unusual for tundra reindeer herding, dotnestic reindeer herding in the Anabar tundra contained many features typical of taiga reindeer herding (riding on tnounted deer, milking). In the local economic system, rich reindeer owners focused more on herding and poor people either worked for rich reindeer herders or left their animals in the herds of wealthy people and hunted seasonally for wild reindeer and Arctic foxes. Soviet agriculture incorporated this modei into the collective farm ecology. While reindeer brigades focused on reindeer herding and hunted for their own needs, hunters migrated with small reindeer herds in their territory and left anitnals in the care of the reindeer brigades for the summer season. This practice continued up to the 'snowmobile revolution' in 1996. Although the reindeer economy prospered, i.e. the number of reindeer increased constantly, the district 'produced' meat of domestic reindeer only in these periods when the migration direction of wild reindeer was suitable. In post-socialist times, after the collapse of the planned econotny, most native people of the district started to hunt intensively for subsistence , but in addition to this, private hunting enterprises emerged. At the same time, the governtnent of the Republic of Sakha banned the slaughter of domestic reindeer. Since dotnestic reindeer were thus removed from the economic sphete, people in reindeer brigades either left for hunting enterprises or started to hunt wild reindeer to sell meat in order to have extra income. In this article, 1 argue that the hunter—herder continuutn and the model of land use in the Anabarski district was adapted as an economic strategy in Soviet industrial agriculture and resisted general reindeer herding standards based on Komi cotnmercial reindeer herding. This continuutn made the shift from the Soviet into the post-Soviet economy easier and regulated the use of common pool resources of the tundra (cooperation between hunting and reindeer herding enterprises). This article examines the economic system of reindeer hunting and breeding in the tundra of the Anabarskii district. Northwestern Sakha, Siberia, Republic of the Russian Federation. According to some anthropological theories which I will address briefly below, hunting and herding are different modes of production within a particular social setting. This paper questions this approach, indicating that at least in regard to reindeer, hunting and herding can exist in a single social and economic setting.

Research paper thumbnail of Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups

Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups, Review on... more Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups, Review on Siberian Studies at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Ethnic Publishing House, China, February, 78-103

in Chinese

Research paper thumbnail of Punks and Skins Identity Class the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture

Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture, The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 2021

Keebet von Benda-Beckmann (2021) Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern G... more Keebet von Benda-Beckmann (2021) Punks and Skins: Identity, Class & the Economics of an Eastern German Subculture, The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 53:2, 315-318, DOI: 10.1080/07329113.2021.1890429

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East.

Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, In: B... more Ventsel, Aimar, 2021, China’s impact on local communities in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, In: BartGaens,FrankJüris,KristiRaik (Eds.). Nordic-Baltic Connectivity with Asia via the Arctic: Assessing Opportunities and Risks. International Centre for Defence and Security. 178-193.

Research paper thumbnail of Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’

Aimar Ventsel, ‘Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’, B... more Aimar Ventsel, ‘Punks and Skins United: Identity, Class and Economy of East German Subculture’, Berghahn, August 2020.

CONTACT ME WHEN YOU WANT TO READ MY BOOK!

Research paper thumbnail of Peers, Eleanor, Ventsel, Aimar and Sidorova, Lena, 2020, Voices of the forests, voices of the streets: popular music and modernist transformation in Sakha (Yakutia)

Music, and especially song, have been the means by which Sakha communities in northeastern Siberi... more Music, and especially song, have been the means by which Sakha communities in northeastern Siberia have interacted with their environment over the centuries. And this environment has incorporated an enormous pantheon of deities, area spirits, ancestors, ghosts, and demons, particularly in the years before Soviet-era modernisation began in earnest. These entities and their relationships with Sakha communities were and are voiced through sung Olongkho epics, algys prayers, chabyrghakh chants, and Ohuokhai choral dances. Sakha men and women praised or petitioned deities and spirits through these musical genres. However, modernisation and urbanisation have radically changed Sakha peoples' relationships with their environment, in transformations replicated throughout the Circumpolar North. During the mid-twentieth century, Sakha people moved fi rst into Russian-style villages and then urban settlements-and in particular to Yakutsk, their Republic's capital. Modernised farming and industry have taken root in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), bringing their associated environmental challenges. And with modernisation and urbanisation have come a plethora of new musical genres, often emerging out of the adaptation of mainstream Russian or global musical forms. Soviet-era Estrada music has given way to Sakha-language rap, pop, and rock. In this chapter, we chart the Sakha people's changing interrelation with their environment, through a history of twentieth-and twenty-fi rst-century popular music. In doing so, we show how Sakha people have incorporated music into the articulation of new identities and relationships, in addition to ways of combating the negative impact of modernising change.

Research paper thumbnail of Полевые заметки и скрытая история

А Н Т Р О П О Л О Г И Ч Е С К И Й ФОРУМ, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Blurring masculinities in the Republic of Sakha Russia.pdf

Polar Geography, Vol 41, No. 3, 198-216., 2018

Siberia in general has traditionally been a region where men are expected to be ‘real’ men, i.e. ... more Siberia in general has traditionally been a region where men are expected to be ‘real’ men, i.e. to behave in a pronouncedly virile way. This perception is related to the history of the region – bringing ‘civilisation’ to the region was in direct relation to the intensive physical work. Urban life in Siberia was until recently dominated by such proletarian masculinity since urban centres were places where a large part of industrial workers lived. With the Western style urbanization and advent of new enterprises, this perception is changing. The new urban professional class mostly holds office jobs and is engaged in non-physical work. The article explains how socioeconomic factors have historically shaped the perceptions and performances of masculinity in Siberia. Further, I juxtapose ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ masculinity in the Republic of Sakha. In this region, softness is usually related with the office jobs. While certain masculine stereotypes continue to exist – like reliability, responsibility, loyalty – traditional understanding of toughness is often rejected. As one paradigm, I take the changes in attitudes towards alcohol consumption. The emergence of more diverse and ‘softer’ forms of masculinity do not generally question existing gender hierarchies, as I will point out toward the end of the article.

Research paper thumbnail of РЭП КАК СРЕДСТВО ВЫРАЖЕНИЯ СОЦИАЛЬНЫХ ИЗМЕНЕНИЙ НА СЕВЕРО-ВОСТОКЕ СИБИРИ: ХИП-ХОП, УРБАНИЗАЦИЯ И ЭТНИЧНОСТЬ ЯКУТОВ (САХА

Ключевые слова: якуты (саха), хип-хоп, поп-музыка, урбанизация, село, сельский образ жизни, этнич... more Ключевые слова: якуты (саха), хип-хоп, поп-музыка, урбанизация, село, сельский образ жизни, этничность, трансформация. В статье рассматривается взаимосвязь молодежных культурных форм и социаль-ных трансформаций на примере Республики Саха (Якутия). Развитие современ-ных инфраструктур и технологий, массовая миграция населения из сел в города, а также распространение мировых культурных форм привели к ощутимым из-менениям в определении собственной идентичности современными городскими якутами (саха). Одним из наиболее ярких проявлений этого стало зарождение и необычайно быстрое развитие такого музыкального жанра как рэп или хип-хоп. Если ранее якуты ассоциировались во внешнем мире в основном с сельским образом жизни, то хип-хоп ознаменовал появление урбанизированной молоде-жи, открытой глобальным культурным движениям, но одновременно ценящей свое национальное культурное наследие. В конце 2012 г. в интернете появилась фотография зимней туманной улицы г. Якутска, столицы Республики Саха (Якутия). Фотография была подписана: " В Якутске мало рэперов потому что очень трудно вырасти на улице ". Люди, зна-комые с Якутском и его климатом, поймут шутку: туман здесь обычно появляется при температуре воздуха ниже 48 градусов Цельсия. Республика расположена на северо-востоке Сибири и занимает лишь немно-гим меньшую территорию, чем весь Индийский субконтинент, но при этом чис-ленность ее населения составляет чуть более 950 тыс. чел., согласно переписи 2010 г. (Перепись 2010). Современная территория Якутии вошла в состав Россий-ской империи в начале XVII в.; на данный момент половину ее населения состав-ляют якуты (саха), тюркоязычная этническая группа, традиционно занимавшаяся скотоводством. Массовая урбанизация якутского населения, вызванная упадком сельского хозяйства после развала Советского союза, а также распространение со-временных инфраструктур, технологий и различных культурных форм привели к существенной социальной трансформации якутов. Усиливающееся влияние глобальных культурных, экономических и технологических трендов поднимает вопрос о новом значении якутской идентичности в отрыве от сельских традиций и культурных форм, до недавнего времени определявших самобытность якутов в пределах России. В настоящей статье мы предполагаем, что появление якутского рэпа является одним из способов, с помощью которых молодежь выражает свою солидарность

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel_Peers_Hiphop_Chapter_NEW.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Ventsel, Aimar, 2017, Reluctant Entrepreneurs of the Russian Far East, in Robert W. Orttung and Marlene Laruelle (eds.), Urban Sustainability in the Arctic: Visions, Contexts, and Challenges, The George Washington University, pp. 383-387.

Research paper thumbnail of ENTRAPPING HISTORY IN SPACE: ON TUUNDRA AND ITS MASTERS

Research paper thumbnail of Lorenzo Canás Bottos, Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia. Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future.

Aimar Ventsel, 2010 in : Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 3, (2)p. 105-108, Lorenzo Canás... more Aimar Ventsel, 2010 in : Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 3, (2)p. 105-108,
Lorenzo Canás Bottos, Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia. Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future. Leiden, Boston: Brill 2008, 216 pages.

Research paper thumbnail of Bristol_Magic_Circle.pptx

Research paper thumbnail of Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-Pop

Aimar Ventsel, 2016, Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-pop, in Ewa Mazierska, Popular Music in ... more Aimar Ventsel, 2016, Estonian Invasion as Western Ersatz-pop, in Ewa Mazierska, Popular Music in Eastern Europe: Searching for a New Paradigm, Palgrave, pp. 69-88.

Research paper thumbnail of SOCIAL MEANING OF CULTURE IN A STALINIST PRISON CAMP

The Stalinist prison camp system – popularly known as the Gulag archipelago – existed for a relat... more The Stalinist prison camp system – popularly known as the Gulag archipelago – existed for a relatively short period (from 1931–1960) and became world famous as a synonym for terror, humiliation and human suffering. This article focuses on the social significance of culture in one of the biggest Stalinist prison camp – Karlag in Central Kazakhstan. The first part of the article gives an overview of the institutions of culture in prison camps and their activities. It also gives an overview of unofficial cultural activities and the consequences of being engaged in the unsanctioned creation of art. In the second part of the paper, the social significance of culture in Stalinist prison camps is discussed. Official and non-official art were not separate and existed in symbiosis: people crossed the border between these spheres. Moreover, the camp administration recognised the material value of art produced in the camp and began to organise the production of pictures or handicrafts in order to sell them outside the camp. Nevertheless, both official and unofficial cultures had a deep social meaning for the people. Producing unsanctioned paintings and other objects of artistry can be seen as an act of resistance, producing sanctioned art helped the artists to create their own social and mental space and distance themselves from the everyday grind of the camp. In general, culture and its institutions in the prison failed to fulfill their original purpose – instead of re-educating and changing inmates, culture helped to maintain human dignity and integrity. Stalinist prison camps are infamous and their existence is now well known all around the world. These camps are correctly associated with inhuman living conditions, suffering, slave labour, humiliation, tragedy, hunger and death. One influential work in disseminating the scenes and images of suffering, which made the abbreviation Gulag famous is the " Archipelago in Gulag " , a book that has been translated into multiple languages (Solženitsõn 1990). However, " The Gulag Archipelago " and several other popular or academic books written about the Stalinist prison camps focus strongly on the injustice and inhuman conditions of this repressive system and touch lightly, if at all, on other aspects of the structure and how the Gulag functioned. The Gulag was a very complex institution and taking a closer look at the nature of the Gulag it is impossible to ignore

Research paper thumbnail of World music routes: the modification of the Sakha musical tradition

Research paper thumbnail of “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skinhead Culture

Ventsel, Aimar, 2014, “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skin... more Ventsel, Aimar, 2014, “That Old School Lonsdale”: Authenticity and Clothes in Streetpunk and Skinhead Culture, Russell Cobb (toim.), Genuine Copies: The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World, Palgrave MacMillan, 261-276.

Research paper thumbnail of Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ village

Aimar Ventsel, 2007, Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ vill... more Aimar Ventsel, 2007, Pride, honour, individual and collective violence: order in a ‘lawless’ village, in Edited F.Pirie and K.Benda-Beckman, Order and Disorder. Anthropological Perspectives. Oxford, New York: Berghahn, 34-53.

Research paper thumbnail of Ostpunx: East German Punk in its Social, Political and Historical Context

Research paper thumbnail of HUNTER-HERDER CONTINUUM IN ANABARSKI DISTRICT, NW SAKHA, SIBERIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Anabarski district in NW Sakha was traditionally a region with mixed hunting/ reindeer herding ec... more Anabarski district in NW Sakha was traditionally a region with mixed hunting/ reindeer herding economy. Unusual for tundra reindeer herding, dotnestic reindeer herding in the Anabar tundra contained many features typical of taiga reindeer herding (riding on tnounted deer, milking). In the local economic system, rich reindeer owners focused more on herding and poor people either worked for rich reindeer herders or left their animals in the herds of wealthy people and hunted seasonally for wild reindeer and Arctic foxes. Soviet agriculture incorporated this modei into the collective farm ecology. While reindeer brigades focused on reindeer herding and hunted for their own needs, hunters migrated with small reindeer herds in their territory and left anitnals in the care of the reindeer brigades for the summer season. This practice continued up to the 'snowmobile revolution' in 1996. Although the reindeer economy prospered, i.e. the number of reindeer increased constantly, the district 'produced' meat of domestic reindeer only in these periods when the migration direction of wild reindeer was suitable. In post-socialist times, after the collapse of the planned econotny, most native people of the district started to hunt intensively for subsistence , but in addition to this, private hunting enterprises emerged. At the same time, the governtnent of the Republic of Sakha banned the slaughter of domestic reindeer. Since dotnestic reindeer were thus removed from the economic sphete, people in reindeer brigades either left for hunting enterprises or started to hunt wild reindeer to sell meat in order to have extra income. In this article, 1 argue that the hunter—herder continuutn and the model of land use in the Anabarski district was adapted as an economic strategy in Soviet industrial agriculture and resisted general reindeer herding standards based on Komi cotnmercial reindeer herding. This continuutn made the shift from the Soviet into the post-Soviet economy easier and regulated the use of common pool resources of the tundra (cooperation between hunting and reindeer herding enterprises). This article examines the economic system of reindeer hunting and breeding in the tundra of the Anabarskii district. Northwestern Sakha, Siberia, Republic of the Russian Federation. According to some anthropological theories which I will address briefly below, hunting and herding are different modes of production within a particular social setting. This paper questions this approach, indicating that at least in regard to reindeer, hunting and herding can exist in a single social and economic setting.

Research paper thumbnail of Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups

Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups, Review on... more Creating traditional economy: state reindeer economy and preservation of ethnic groups, Review on Siberian Studies at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Ethnic Publishing House, China, February, 78-103

in Chinese

Research paper thumbnail of 'Nation within a nation: Cultural citizenship as a tool in the struggle for land and against migration in the Republic of Sakha, the Russian Far East'

In my talk I challenge the political studies approach to the Russian Federation as a monolithic e... more In my talk I challenge the political studies approach to the Russian Federation as a monolithic entity with a strict top down subordination structure. My research shows that after an open struggle for sovereignty and autonomy in the 1990s Russia's regions continue to struggle for more independence, but in a less confrontational form. In this process, non-Russian regions of the Russian federation make use of federal legislation that guarantees cultural and language rights for non-Russian ethnicities. In the first part of my talk I give a brief overview on how federal reforms of centralisation have strengthened ethnocracy in the Republic of Sakha. In the second part of my talk I discuss how Sakha culture and language is instrumental, in the Republic of Sakha, in legitimising ethnic domination of the titular ethnic group in politics and economy. The attempts to dominate social, cultural, political and economic spheres in the republic are manifold. On the one hand, Sakha people have strengthened the position of the Sakha language and presence of ethnic Sakha in the political life of the republic against the Russian domination of the past. On the other hand, Sakha culture is being used to counteract Central Asian and Caucasian migration. I will discuss several strategies that the government applies in order to emphasise the 'Sakhanisation' of the physical and social space discretely dominated by migrants.

Research paper thumbnail of PUNKS AND SKINS UNITED IDENTITY, CLASS AND THE ECONOMICS OF AN EASTERN GERMAN SUBCULTURE

Germany has one of the liveliest and well-developed punk scenes in the world. However, punk in th... more Germany has one of the liveliest and well-developed punk scenes in the world. However, punk in this country is not just a style-based music community. This book provides an anthropological examination of how punk reflects the larger changes and contradictions in post-reunification Germany, such as social segmentation, east-west tensions and local politics. Punk in eastern Germany is a reaction to the marginalization of the working class. As a cultural, social and economic niche, punks create their own controversial "substitute society" to compensate for their low status in mainstream society. "[This book] is really interesting, provides fascinating insights and presents questions for the scholarship and future study.

CONTACT ME THROUGH MY UNI EMAIL IF YOU ARE INTERESTED READING MY BOOK!