J Kormina
Biographic Data
| ID | 43358 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Kormina |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Kormina |
| SIGNATURE | KORMINA J |
| AFFILIATIONS | National Research University Higher School of Economics |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8447-5625 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Migrations and Religious Secularization: Intersecting Dynamics in Contemporary Western Europe
This study explores the complex relationship between migration and secularization in present-day Europe, examining how each transforms, and focusing on post-Soviet migrants in Western Europe since the 1990s to maintain analytic depth. Migration entails both physical movement and the reconstruction of social and religious identities, processes that can support or contest host secular norms. We analyze the formation of novel religious environments,…
Popular Theopolitics and the Last Russian Tsar's Intangible Remains
The article tells the story of the remains of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who were killed in Ekaterinburg in 1918, discovered in 1979, found again in 1991, solemnly buried in 1998, and canonized as saints by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Thoroughly researched in the cause of official criminal investigation and identified with genetic tests in several labs in Russia and abroad, the royal remains have not been recognize…
Introduction. Marking Space: The Russian Orthodox Politics of Self-Assertion
Introduction. Marquer l’espace: Les politiques d’affirmation de l’orthodoxie russe
After the demise of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by the patriarchate of Moscow, has undergone spectacular growth. It has left the marginal cultural niche it once occupied and become a mainstream religious organisation. Orthodoxy has become a religion by default for everybody who has not claimed otherwise. The Church’s pervasive material presence is one aspect of this development. The legitimacy of this presence, however, …
Connecting Earth and Heaven: Tsar Cross Processions, Spiritual Infrastructure, and Orthodox Christian Citizenship
This article develops Michel de Certeau's concept of utopian space and applies it to the Russian Orthodox realities, considering space as created by practices and legitimized by certain texts. It argues that Russian Orthodox utopian space evokes social emotions of collectivity and belonging. The article analyses how utopian space is created and maintained in popular religious performances through walking, prayer chanting, the language of spiritua…
Fervent Christians: Orthodox activists in Russia as publics and counterpublics
In the post-Soviet context liberal publics in Russia often see the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a satellite of the state and its collaborator. Attempts by Church representatives, sometimes self-appointed, to enlarge the Church’s presence in public space are perceived by secular publics as violating certain principles fundamental to the functioning of the public sphere: individual membership and independence from the state…
Religious activism in Eastern Europe and beyond
This collection of contributions addresses the theme of religiously motivated and religiously framed civic activism by bringing together anthropology and theology. The main goal is to put forward a concept of religious activism as local, non-elitist responses challenging dominant discourses and regulation of the religious in authoritarian and more democratic societies. Highlighting complex entanglements of religion, civic engagement, and politica…
Multiple Moralities and Religions in Post-Soviet Russia
In the post-Soviet period morality became a debatable concept, open to a multitude of expressions and performances. From Russian Orthodoxy to Islam, from shamanism to Protestantism, religions of various kinds provided some of the first possible alternative moral discourses and practices after the end of the Soviet system. This influence remains strong today. Within the Russian context, religion and morality intersect in such social domains as the…
Martha’s Ladle: An Anthropology of Religious Infrastructure
The infrastructural turn in the social sciences comes from a tendency to change the anthropocentric epistemology in social research. This new approach corresponds to the classic program of social anthropology as it makes the known unknown and provides one more perspective which helps reveal the invisible politics, inequalities, and social tensions. Yet, when it comes to the social research in the field of religion, the interest to how infrastruct…
The Tsar’s Road: Invisible Infrastructure and Pious Labour in Contemporary Russian Orthodox Christianity
A religious infrastructure, from the point of view of a religious person, consists of two parts—tangible and intangible. Whereas a tangible part of a religious infrastructure includes material things and buildings which make religious life possible, an intangible part is created by invisible agents who govern people and material things. The invisible world is no less real for a believer than a visible part of the infrastructure, therefore in her …
‘The church should know its place: The passions and the interests of urban struggle in post-atheist Russia
Urban space is a familiar place of religious-secular struggles in postsocialist world today, foremost due to the deprivatization of religion followed by attempts of religious organizations and new non-secular publics to find an acceptable public space in the post-secular world. At the same time, secular publics tend to be highly sensitive to interventions of religious ‘Others’ into the public sphere. In some cases, these struggles between secular…
A new 'Great Schism'? Theopolitics of communion and canonical territory in the Orthodox Church
This article examines the recent 'schism' in Eastern Orthodoxy to show how religion and politics are strongly intertwined in disputes over territory and sovereignty. It argues that two logics are at play in this conflict: one grounded in the theological-political concept of 'canonical territory', the other in the notion of 'communion' at the basis of the Christian fellowship. The first is deployed in claims for national sovereignty as well as imp…
Unfinished conversations: A tribute to Sonja Luehrmann (1975-2019)
Dedicated to Philipp (b. 2007), Vera (b. 2010), and Lukas (b. 2016).Sonja Luehrmann, anthropologist and historian, passed away from cancer in Vancouver Canada on August 24, 2019. As her colleagues
Introduction: Religion and Borders in (Post-)Cold War Peripheries
The Social Nature of Prayer in a Church of the Unchurched: Russian Orthodox Christianity from Its Edges
The Russian Orthodox Church portrays itself as a hierarchically ordered and socially influential “public religion,” but occupies quite a tenuous position in contemporary Russian society. Following Marcel Mauss’s idea of prayer as a social phenomenon, we argue that lay intercessory prayer as a way of assuming social responsibility is key to extending the Church’s reach into the lives of casual believers (so-called zakhozhane). Although individuali…
Russian Saint under Construction: Portraits and Icons of Starets Nikolay
How to analyze the process of creation and promotion of a new type of saints, the so-called startsy (the elders), which emerged in the Russian Orthodox Church at the end of the 1990s? The debates about the "styles" of sanctity addressed by the term starets are supported by different groups of believers. These groups support different strategies to articulate the charisma embodied in starets in terms of its legitimization and characteristics. Thes…
Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Pilgrims, Priest and Local Religion in Contemporary Russia: Contested Religious Discourses
This article presents a case study of one rural sacred place in North-West Russia. It focuses on the folklore related to this particular sacred place, that is, narratives told by different groups of believers to confirm the sanctity of the shrine. These groups (pilgrims who come from urban centres, a local priest and church activists, local common people and migrants) choose different types of stories, or even genres, when they talk about the sac…
The Social Nature of Prayer in a Church of the Unchurched: Russian Orthodox Christianity from Its Edges
The Russian Orthodox Church portrays itself as a hierarchically ordered and socially influential “public religion,” but occupies quite a tenuous position in contemporary Russian society. Following Marcel Mauss’s idea of prayer as a social phenomenon, we argue that lay intercessory prayer as a way of assuming social responsibility is key to extending the Church’s reach into the lives of casual believers (so-called zakhozhane). Although individuali…
Fervent Christians: Orthodox activists in Russia as publics and counterpublics
In the post-Soviet context liberal publics in Russia often see the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a satellite of the state and its collaborator. Attempts by Church representatives, sometimes self-appointed, to enlarge the Church’s presence in public space are perceived by secular publics as violating certain principles fundamental to the functioning of the public sphere: individual membership and independence from the state…
Religious activism in Eastern Europe and beyond
This collection of contributions addresses the theme of religiously motivated and religiously framed civic activism by bringing together anthropology and theology. The main goal is to put forward a concept of religious activism as local, non-elitist responses challenging dominant discourses and regulation of the religious in authoritarian and more democratic societies. Highlighting complex entanglements of religion, civic engagement, and politica…
A new 'Great Schism'? Theopolitics of communion and canonical territory in the Orthodox Church
This article examines the recent 'schism' in Eastern Orthodoxy to show how religion and politics are strongly intertwined in disputes over territory and sovereignty. It argues that two logics are at play in this conflict: one grounded in the theological-political concept of 'canonical territory', the other in the notion of 'communion' at the basis of the Christian fellowship. The first is deployed in claims for national sovereignty as well as imp…
Popular Theopolitics and the Last Russian Tsar's Intangible Remains
The article tells the story of the remains of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who were killed in Ekaterinburg in 1918, discovered in 1979, found again in 1991, solemnly buried in 1998, and canonized as saints by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Thoroughly researched in the cause of official criminal investigation and identified with genetic tests in several labs in Russia and abroad, the royal remains have not been recognize…
Unfinished conversations: A tribute to Sonja Luehrmann (1975-2019)
Dedicated to Philipp (b. 2007), Vera (b. 2010), and Lukas (b. 2016).Sonja Luehrmann, anthropologist and historian, passed away from cancer in Vancouver Canada on August 24, 2019. As her colleagues
Russian Saint under Construction: Portraits and Icons of Starets Nikolay
How to analyze the process of creation and promotion of a new type of saints, the so-called startsy (the elders), which emerged in the Russian Orthodox Church at the end of the 1990s? The debates about the "styles" of sanctity addressed by the term starets are supported by different groups of believers. These groups support different strategies to articulate the charisma embodied in starets in terms of its legitimization and characteristics. Thes…
Pilgrims, Priest and Local Religion in Contemporary Russia: Contested Religious Discourses
This article presents a case study of one rural sacred place in North-West Russia. It focuses on the folklore related to this particular sacred place, that is, narratives told by different groups of believers to confirm the sanctity of the shrine. These groups (pilgrims who come from urban centres, a local priest and church activists, local common people and migrants) choose different types of stories, or even genres, when they talk about the sac…
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home
Russian Saint under Construction: Portraits and Icons of Starets Nikolay
How to analyze the process of creation and promotion of a new type of saints, the so-called startsy (the elders), which emerged in the Russian Orthodox Church at the end of the 1990s? The debates about the "styles" of sanctity addressed by the term starets are supported by different groups of believers. These groups support different strategies to articulate the charisma embodied in starets in terms of its legitimization and characteristics. Thes…
The Social Nature of Prayer in a Church of the Unchurched: Russian Orthodox Christianity from Its Edges
The Russian Orthodox Church portrays itself as a hierarchically ordered and socially influential “public religion,” but occupies quite a tenuous position in contemporary Russian society. Following Marcel Mauss’s idea of prayer as a social phenomenon, we argue that lay intercessory prayer as a way of assuming social responsibility is key to extending the Church’s reach into the lives of casual believers (so-called zakhozhane). Although individuali…
Introduction: Religion and Borders in (Post-)Cold War Peripheries
A new 'Great Schism'? Theopolitics of communion and canonical territory in the Orthodox Church
This article examines the recent 'schism' in Eastern Orthodoxy to show how religion and politics are strongly intertwined in disputes over territory and sovereignty. It argues that two logics are at play in this conflict: one grounded in the theological-political concept of 'canonical territory', the other in the notion of 'communion' at the basis of the Christian fellowship. The first is deployed in claims for national sovereignty as well as imp…
Unfinished conversations: A tribute to Sonja Luehrmann (1975-2019)
Dedicated to Philipp (b. 2007), Vera (b. 2010), and Lukas (b. 2016).Sonja Luehrmann, anthropologist and historian, passed away from cancer in Vancouver Canada on August 24, 2019. As her colleagues
‘The church should know its place: The passions and the interests of urban struggle in post-atheist Russia
Urban space is a familiar place of religious-secular struggles in postsocialist world today, foremost due to the deprivatization of religion followed by attempts of religious organizations and new non-secular publics to find an acceptable public space in the post-secular world. At the same time, secular publics tend to be highly sensitive to interventions of religious ‘Others’ into the public sphere. In some cases, these struggles between secular…
Multiple Moralities and Religions in Post-Soviet Russia
In the post-Soviet period morality became a debatable concept, open to a multitude of expressions and performances. From Russian Orthodoxy to Islam, from shamanism to Protestantism, religions of various kinds provided some of the first possible alternative moral discourses and practices after the end of the Soviet system. This influence remains strong today. Within the Russian context, religion and morality intersect in such social domains as the…
Martha’s Ladle: An Anthropology of Religious Infrastructure
The infrastructural turn in the social sciences comes from a tendency to change the anthropocentric epistemology in social research. This new approach corresponds to the classic program of social anthropology as it makes the known unknown and provides one more perspective which helps reveal the invisible politics, inequalities, and social tensions. Yet, when it comes to the social research in the field of religion, the interest to how infrastruct…
The Tsar’s Road: Invisible Infrastructure and Pious Labour in Contemporary Russian Orthodox Christianity
A religious infrastructure, from the point of view of a religious person, consists of two parts—tangible and intangible. Whereas a tangible part of a religious infrastructure includes material things and buildings which make religious life possible, an intangible part is created by invisible agents who govern people and material things. The invisible world is no less real for a believer than a visible part of the infrastructure, therefore in her …
Fervent Christians: Orthodox activists in Russia as publics and counterpublics
In the post-Soviet context liberal publics in Russia often see the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a satellite of the state and its collaborator. Attempts by Church representatives, sometimes self-appointed, to enlarge the Church’s presence in public space are perceived by secular publics as violating certain principles fundamental to the functioning of the public sphere: individual membership and independence from the state…
Religious activism in Eastern Europe and beyond
This collection of contributions addresses the theme of religiously motivated and religiously framed civic activism by bringing together anthropology and theology. The main goal is to put forward a concept of religious activism as local, non-elitist responses challenging dominant discourses and regulation of the religious in authoritarian and more democratic societies. Highlighting complex entanglements of religion, civic engagement, and politica…
Introduction. Marking Space: The Russian Orthodox Politics of Self-Assertion
Introduction. Marquer l’espace: Les politiques d’affirmation de l’orthodoxie russe
After the demise of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by the patriarchate of Moscow, has undergone spectacular growth. It has left the marginal cultural niche it once occupied and become a mainstream religious organisation. Orthodoxy has become a religion by default for everybody who has not claimed otherwise. The Church’s pervasive material presence is one aspect of this development. The legitimacy of this presence, however, …
Connecting Earth and Heaven: Tsar Cross Processions, Spiritual Infrastructure, and Orthodox Christian Citizenship
This article develops Michel de Certeau's concept of utopian space and applies it to the Russian Orthodox realities, considering space as created by practices and legitimized by certain texts. It argues that Russian Orthodox utopian space evokes social emotions of collectivity and belonging. The article analyses how utopian space is created and maintained in popular religious performances through walking, prayer chanting, the language of spiritua…
Popular Theopolitics and the Last Russian Tsar's Intangible Remains
The article tells the story of the remains of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who were killed in Ekaterinburg in 1918, discovered in 1979, found again in 1991, solemnly buried in 1998, and canonized as saints by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Thoroughly researched in the cause of official criminal investigation and identified with genetic tests in several labs in Russia and abroad, the royal remains have not been recognize…
Migrations and Religious Secularization: Intersecting Dynamics in Contemporary Western Europe
This study explores the complex relationship between migration and secularization in present-day Europe, examining how each transforms, and focusing on post-Soviet migrants in Western Europe since the 1990s to maintain analytic depth. Migration entails both physical movement and the reconstruction of social and religious identities, processes that can support or contest host secular norms. We analyze the formation of novel religious environments,…
Religious Tourism and Spaces (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Politics (9 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (8 works) · History (6 works) · Religious studies (6 works) · Theology (6 works)