Ilya Kalinin

Scholarship on contemporary Russia frequently describes its economy as a system focused on the exploitation of natural resources. Description of Russia’s “conservative turn” and cultural politics that legitimate the current regime is no less commonplace. Escaping the attention of commentators, however, is the connection between these two dimensions. My project seeks to demonstrate the mutual link between forms of economic activity dependent on natural resources and forms of cultural life emphasizing a beneficial dependence on the past and national traditions.