Academics tend to disapprove and disgrace journalistic inquieries as lacking a theoretical and ideatic basis, but for contemporary analysts of political events they need the backbone provided by journalists in order to create realistic interpretations of facts.
Russia is not an easy topic to write about and live in. Under Putin´s reign for too many years to remember when it really started, the country is playing the maskirovka game internationally where its people are battling poverty and restriction of their basic rights. Internationally though, and in the field of memory policies, there is business as usual, with new and old ideologies being concocted for political survival reasons.
The Long Hangover: Putin´s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past is a work of journalistic investigation into the genesis of the memory revival and policies underwent by Putin. Through interview with simple people, some of them inmates in the Gulag or former participants to WWII-related events, Shaul Walker the then Moscow correspondent of The Guardian, offers a lot of hints about the directions of the politics of memory as dictated by Putin and his trustees. Taking over a country in a desolate state of affairs the Russian president played hard the cards of pride and identity, reshaping collective memory and reigniting feelings of pride and self-reliance. Such moves operate on medium-term and according to the interviews related in the book, almost succeeded.
I would have been keen to read - or hear, as I had access to the book in audio format - more critical perspectives and maybe some theoretical sources too, but journalistic work, as I know myself well, does not have too much time to deal with this part of the investigation, as it needs to stay connected on facts and specific details.
At the history scale, the strategies and policies implemented in the field of memory policies deserve a more extended academic consideration. I would be very curious to explore more into detail those moves and their unique genesis applied to other countries from the region, including former Soviet republics, as Russia and the Soviet Union in general is part of their history and everyday life.
Neglected for various reasons, this part of the world continue to offer interesting topics of study for academics and researchers of contemporary politics and mentalities. No matter how fast the geopolitical interests are shifting, keeping an educated eye into this region is rewarding and always intellectually challenging.
Rating: 3 stars
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