The Battle for (Pre‐)Modernity
Medieval Festivals in Contemporary Russia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10483393 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bradley A Gorski (0000-0002-3697-0581, Assistant Professor of Russian and East European Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches a range of courses on Russian and comparative literature, culture, and film., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 547-568 |
| Publication date | 2019-09-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Russian Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-0341 • E-ISSN: 1467-9434 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/russ.12244 |
| OpenAlex | W2972835141 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
In May 2016 a medieval Russian “knight” lanced a drone out of the skies above Lipetsk. The assailant was part of the Rusborg Historical Festival, one of hundreds of medieval re‐enactment events that have sprung up across Russia since 2000 and have gained widespread popularity in recent years. This article considers these festivals as part of a larger trend in neomedievalism that has come to occupy a surprisingly prominent place in contemporary Russian culture. I examine this trend in historical reconstruction and show how it is motivated by contemporary concerns about globalization and modernity and Russia's place in the modern world. Though these issues are not explicitly discussed at medieval festivals, I argue that such events build towards an “affective public sphere,” that is, a space of public experience centered on aesthetics and affect rather than rational discourse. The immersive imaginary environments provided at these festivals, I suggest, encourage participants to explore the anxieties, nostalgias, and hopes evoked by contemporary life through emotional, affective experience, rather than rational political debate
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Battle · Globalization · Knight · Modernity · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Public sphere · Sociology · The Imaginary · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |