Post-socialism and notions of context in St Petersburg

Author: Nafus, Dawn

Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Volume 12, Number 3, September 2006 , pp. 607-624(18)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

The anthropology of post-socialism has largely been framed around a suspension of judgement of the so-called `transition to market capitalism'. In this article I explore this theme as an ethnographic question and ask how social context is marked locally. I argue that while suspending judgements about the nature of context is nearly impossible in a sustained fashion - marriages must be planned, universities attended, etc. - in many ways people have a practical disposition that does in fact resemble the anthropological hesitance to pass judgement. I argue that ways of imagining context have more to do with historically informed practices of personhood and `pretence' than with crisis and chaos.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00355.x

Publication date: 2006-09-01