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Russia, made in France

How do we talk about Russia and who sets the agenda of the conversation about soviet and post soviet Russia?

Research

How do we talk about Russia and who sets the agenda of the conversation about soviet and post soviet Russia? This question is both timely and lasting, as scholars have long noted that we have been deeply embarrassed to formulate theories about Imperial, soviet and post soviet Russia (hereafter Russia) without either embracing blindly the ideological dogma served by the object of study or reading this object from our own domestic considerations (Besançon 1980, Malia 1999, Werth 1999). Although this oscillation is not unique to russian studies, one needs to acknowledge the difficulties that studying Russia has entailed. On the other hand, few countries have generated as many views, statements, commentaries or more ambitious theories among a wide range of intellectuals. Russia, Made in France (RMF) is the first effort - to the best of our knowledge - to study systematically and thoroughly the production of these varieties of discourse, from the most articulate to the flimsiest, between 1985 and 2017, a period when the object of study has undergone massive and repeated changes. The morphing of the USSR into the Russian Federation, under its gorbatchevian, eltsinian then multiple putinian guises, has challenged the expertise of soviet and sovietology scholars and has driven a wedge into their monopoly, opening up the market of ideas about Russia. Russia, Made in France will provide an understanding of:

  • the role of migration and translation on the French russian agenda,
  • the diffusion of academic based productions across disciplines and media,
  • the effect of Russia as an object of study on French social theories.