Dynamising Things: Essays on Objects, Relations, and People

Serguei Alex. Oushakine

ISBN 10: 9004760350 / ISBN 13: 9789004760356

Published by Brill, NL, 2026

About this Item

Using diverse historical and ethnographic materials, this collection explores the various relationships between people and things that were actively fostered during the seven decades of Soviet socialism. It demonstrates how things, not always fully socialist, energized social relations, shaped communities, cultivated new identities, objectified emerging attitudes, and provoked affective attachments. In particular, this collection pays close attention to what Viktor Shklovsky, the founder of Russian Formalism, called "long-term things"-palpable, non-fictitious objects that refuse to disappear, insisting instead on their active presence and enduring relevance.

Seller Inventory # LU-9789004760356

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dynamising Things: Essays on Objects, Relations, and People
• Publisher: Brill, NL
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004760350
• ISBN 13: 9789004760356
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 1262 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Using diverse historical and ethnographic materials, this collection explores the various relationships between people and things that were actively fostered during the seven decades of Soviet socialism. It demonstrates how things, not always fully socialist, energized social relations, shaped communities, cultivated new identities, objectified emerging attitudes, and provoked affective attachments. In particular, this collection pays close attention to what Viktor Shklovsky, the founder of Russian Formalism, called “long-term things”―palpable, non-fictitious objects that refuse to disappear, insisting instead on their active presence and enduring relevance.

About the Author

Serguei Oushakine is Professor of Anthropology and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University. His research deals with Soviet and post-Soviet cultures in Eurasia. His current projects include a study of early Soviet pedagogy of images, and the history of Russian Formalism.