The items for sale in this photo are ones that portray an easy, affluent lifestyle – the garden chair, popsicle stick molds, fake fruit trees, glass Tupperware containers. The items are featured in bright colors and shining plastic and metals, signs of a bright modern household for the rising Russian middle class who aspires to this image of modernity. Russia’s negotiation with commercial goods from the West has a fascinating history, from the import of foodstuffs and cultural items in the Imperial era to the craze over Pepsi and blue jeans during the latter years of Soviet Rule. In the last twenty years since the fall of the Soviet Union goods have taken on a new importance as a sign of social status and the caché of new prosperity and generational change. A decade ago IKEA stepped into the void between the ostentatious purchases and extreme wealth of the New Russian oligarchs and the continued (supposedly) impoverished masses to provide goods for a rising class of people looking to define themselves anew through consumer goods. With clean, simple furniture that can be adapted in a multitude of ways to suit personal style and needs, IKEA has done just that.
"Место под солнцем." Ikea Russia. Accessed May 5, 2014. http://www.ikea.com/ru/ru/.
In 1811, the Russian Orthodox Church takes over the Georgian Orthodox Church at the direction of Russian officials. Previously, the common Orthodox religion of Georgia and Russia had served as part of the means of bringing the two closer together.
Rapp, Stephen H., Jr (2007). "Georgian Christianity". The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 137–155. ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9.
In 1917 in Fatima, Portugal, accompanying a miracle that was seen by 50,000 people, three young children, including Lucia de Jesus Santos, saw several apparitions of the Virgin Mary. One of the messages was a vivid vision of hell. Another of her messages of the Virgin was that the Pope needed to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and then there would be a period of world peace and Russia would be converted. On the other hand, if there was no such consecration, then "Russia would spread her errors" and there would be war and persecution of the Church. The Pope issued several consecrations of the entire world to Mary's Immaculate Heart over the decades, and eventually Russia in particular was consecrated in 1952. Although there is still some controversy over whether the Pope fulfilled the specific conditions, Sister Lucia says that Russia was indeed consecrated in a valid way.
"Fatima: A Grace For Mankind." Accessed 4 May 2014 <http://www.ewtn.com/fatima/>. Mauriello, Matthew R. "Our Lady of Fatima." April 1999. Accessed 4 May 2014 <http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/Apr99.html>.
Our Lady of Kazan is a Russian icon that was found in the burnt ruins of the city of Kazan in 1579. Mary, the mother of God in Christian tradition, appeared three times to a small child, providing instructions on where to look for the icon. Over the next four hundred years, Our Lady of Kazan would be used by various military leaders to procure divine favor for the Russian army. In the early twentieth century, two copies of the icon were lost, and one was eventually returned by the Roman Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2004.
Kazan Mother of God Monastery http://sobory.ru/article/?object=06242
The Three Partitions of Poland took place in 1772, 1793 and 1795. These partitions erased an independent Poland from the world map for over one hundred years, dividing Polish territory up between Russia, Austria and Prussia. From the Russian perspective, Poland needed to be absorbed into Russia because, at this time, Poland was undergoing a process of national reform and democratization that threatened Russian power. The Three Partitions greatly increased Russian influence in the context of Eurasia. Note that the borders shown on our map correspond to the borders of 1750, not the modern-day Polish borders.
Congress, Library of. Ed. Glenn E. Curtis. "Poland: Historical Setting." About.com: Medieval History. About.com, 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Partitions_of_Poland.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Religions_in_Poland_1750.PNG
The Apostle Paul preaching in the synagogue of Damascus. Paul was a Jewish rabbi and persecutor of Christians until he became a Christian. While before this point all of the Christians were of Jewish background, God sent Paul to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. It was Paul who set out the theology that Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior are equal in the eyes of God, "for God shows no partiality." (Epistle to the Romans, 2:11) Paul preached this message of righteousness by faith throughout the Mediterranean, persecuted by Jews and Gentiles alike. Besides his preaching, he expounded this message in writing in several of the books of the New Testament (Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, in particular). If even the Jews, who were originally the sole inheritors of the promises to God, are no longer exceptional, then how could the Russians be?
Drovdahl, Robert. "Close to Corinth." Accessed 4 May 2014 <https://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/new/2012-spring/bible-theology/close-to-corinth.asp>. (image)
Kamiya, Gary. S.F.s 19th century Russian battle over bigamy, child abuse. 19 April 2014. Accessed 27 April 2014 <http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-s-19th-century-Russian-battle-over-bigamy-5414114.php> OCA - Parishes - Holy Trinity Cathedral. 2014. Accessed 27 April 2014 < https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=w-d4Igp78vtCRM&tbnid=tbDApNcqqbIKjM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=https%3A%2F%2Foca.org%2Fparishes%2Foca-we-sfohtk&ei=mN5dU7OgNpHJsQTOoIGYDw&bvm=bv.65397613,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNFWSFVZZ-QIOpvVHDoYDSWxMyM8PA&ust=1398747158594302.> Parish History. 2014. Accessed 27 April 2014 < http://www.groca.org/community/about-ascension-cathedral/> The Forgotten Saint of the Forgotten Church on the Forgotten Island. 20 January 2010. Accessed 27 April 2014 <http://orthodoxhistory.org/2010/01/20/the-forgotten-saint/>
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was one of the most famous Russian-born classical music composers. He played a significant role in the establishment and development of a national musical culture. As a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, he worked fruitlessly disseminate Russian classical music. As a composer, Tchaikovsky wrote some of the greatest masterpieces of all time which are still popular today including "The Nutcracker", "Swan Lake", and "Sleeping Beauty". In recognition of his musical genius and efforts, the government officially added his name to the Moscow Conservatory which became the Moscow 'Tchaikovsky' State Conservatory after 1940.
James Bakst, "A History of Russian-Soviet Music." New York: Dodd, Mean & Company, 1966, 181-232. "Pytor Ilich Tchaikovsky," accessed May 5, 2014, http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/tchaikovsky.php.
Photo and Lecture: The New Russian Protest Movement and Cultural Policy
Activist Artemy Troitsky gave a recent lecture at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Bridging together the fields of history, visual arts, and journalism, the attached lecture is an excellent example of the kind of contemporary interdisciplinary work that the center does. Like most lectures at the Center, this one too begins with a discussion of Soviet origins and history. Not only was the lecture offered on-site, but also is entirely online and is accessible to anyone with a computer. The work that Harvard does in Russian studies is available to the American public at large.
"Lecture: The New Russian Protest Movement and Cultural Policy." Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Given, February 21, 2013. Accessed May 5, 2014. <http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/digital-resources/lecture-new-russian-protest-movement-and-cultural-policy>
In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited Poland and was greeted by massive crowds of Poles demanding to worship God. These crowds, in part for want of religious freedom, later contributed to the Solidarity movement that overturned the Communist government of Poland. This set the stage for the collapse of the Berlin Wall and then the fall of the Soviet Union.
Bernstein, Richard. "Did John Paul Help Win the Cold War? Just Ask the Poles." Accessed 10 February 2014. 6 April 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/international/worldspecial2/06communism.html?_r=0 Noonan, Peggy. "'We Want God.'" Accessed 10 February 2014. 7 April 2005 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122479408458463941 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastoral_visits_of_Pope_John_Paul_II_outside_Italy (for image)
Problems of Idealism (collection of essays)
“Problems of Idealism” is by far one of the most directly socio-politically motivated texts to have been produced by or in relation to the Moscow Psychological Society. Thus, this text is an excellent example of just how interwoven the early relationship between the field of psychology and the development of socio-political ideals truly was. This is important to keep in mind particularly when thinking about some of the later events of the Psychological Society and how they came to pass. This set of 12 essays focused on cementing the on-going philosophical and more theoretical motivations behind many of the Society’s other publications during the turn of the century. Namely, “Problems of Idealism” was a landmark socio-political publication because it made the argument for liberalism in relation to neo-liberalism (Poole). In fact, some scholars claim that not only did “Problems of Idealism” build the philosophical foundation for the later Liberation Movement in Russia, but also helped further the “social and intellectual history of Russian liberalism” as it relates to the development of the Moscow Psychological Society (Poole). Note: although the main individuals behind the publication of this set of essays were “looser” members of the Psychological Society at the time, they were still members of the Society.
Poole, Randall. Problems of Idealism: Essays in Russian Social Philosophy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. Print.