RU | EN
Submenu

Kutyavin N. The Concept of “Waves” in the Context of the History of Russian Neopaganism: Attempt of Classification

Nikita Kutyavin
Udmurt State University
Izhevsk, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-4244-2283
E-mail: nikitakutyavin@yandex.ru

 

 Download  |  Go to Issue #1. 2023

 

ABSTRACT. The article proposes a view of the history of Russian neopaganism as a gradual emergence and coexistence of three waves of movement. Each of them has its own characteristics in ideology and political, activist and religious practice. The first wave of neopaganism was represented by such publicists as A. M. Ivanov, V. N. Emelyanov and A. A. Dobrovolsky and laid the foundations of the worldview, as well as formulated the major claims against Christianity and Judaism. These claims, formulated in the form of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian conspiracy narrative, considered by the author as an element of the “scapegoat mechanism” described by the anthropologist R. Girard. Two other fundamental elements of the worldview were ethnic primordialism and esoteric religiosity. The second wave was represented by the leaders of religious groups and popular writers such as I. G. Cherkasov, N. N. Speransky, L. R. Prozorov, A.  Yu. Khinevich and focused on the “invention of tradition” (in the terminology of the historian E.  Hobsbawm). Within this wave, two trends can be distinguished — traditionalist and modernist. The trends differ from each other in their approach to the invention of tradition. The third wave was associated with youth right-wing extremism and originated among former neo-Nazi skinheads, such as members of the Combat Terrorist Organization D. A. Borovikov and A. M. Voevodin. Ideologically, it had continuity from the first wave, but was more radical in practice. Representatives of this wave tended to be critical of their own nation, which does not follow the young right-wing radicals in their uprising against the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG).

 

KEYWORDS: nationalism, traditionalism, invention of tradition, concept of waves, right radicalism, Rodnoverie, Neopaganism

 

FOR CITATION: Kutyavin N. The Concept of “Waves” in the Context of the History of Russian Neopaganism: Attempt of Classification. Kunstkamera. 2023. 1(19): 205–217. (In Russian). doi 10.31250/2618-8619-2023-1(10)-205-217  

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2022-4(18)-205-217
УДК 299.572

 

REFERENCES

  • Aitamurto K. Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism: Narratives of Russian Rodnoverie. New York, London: Routledge, 2016.
  • Eco U. Vechnyi fashizm [Eternal fascism]. Piat esse na temy etiki. Moscow: Astrel Publ., 2012,pp. 61-98. (In Russian)
  • Florovsky G. (2006). Puti russkogo bogosloviia [The ways of Russian theology]. Minsk: Kharvest Publ., 2006. (In Russian)
  • Girard R. Kozel otpushcheniia [Scapegoat]. St Petersburg: Ivan Limbakh Publ., 2010. (In Russian)
  • Hanegraaff W. Zapadnyi ezoterizm. Putevoditel’ dlia zaputavshikhsia [Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed]. Moscow: Tsentr knigi Rudomino Publ., 2016. (In Russian)
  • Hobsbaum E. Izobretenie traditsii [Invention of traditions] Vestnik Evrazii, 2000, no. 1, pp. 47-63. (In Russian)
  • Juergensmeyer M. Sacrifice and Cosmic War. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1991,vol. 3, no. 3,pp. 101-117.
  • Kavykin O. I. “Rodnovery”. Samoidentifikatsiia neoiazychnikov v sovremennoi Rossii [“Rodnovers”. Self-identification of neopagans in contemporary Russia]. Moscow: Institute of Africa RAS Publ., 2007. (In Russian)
  • Koroleva T. A. Politicheskoe dvizhenie zhenshchin v Kanade pervoi, vtoroi i tret'ei volny feminizma [Political movement of women in Canada of the first, second and third waves]. Nauchnoe mnenie, 2014, no. 7, pp. 53-59. (In Russian)
  • Kostyrchenko G. V. Tainaia politika: ot Brezhneva do Gorbacheva. V 2 ch. Chast’ I. Vlast’ – Evreiskii vopros – Intelligentsiia. [Secret policy: from Brezhnev to Gorbachov. In 2 vol. Vol. 1. – Power – Jewish question - Intellectuals] Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 2019. (In Russian)
  • Kutiavin N. A. Analiz neoiazychestva i natsionalizma v antropologii Rene Girard [Neopaganism and nationalism in the anthropology of Rene Girard]. Vestnik antropologii, 2022, no. 2, pp. 320-332. (In Russian)
  • Kutyavin N. A. Traditsionalizm i modernizm v mirovozzrenii slavianskikh neoiazychnikov Rossii [Traditionalism and Modernism in the Worldview of russian slavic neopagans] Al’manakh Konferentsii molodykh uchenykh Instituta etnologii i antropologii RAN: vypusk I. Moscow: IEA RAN Publ., 2020, pp. 242-252. (In Russian)
  • Malakhov V. S. Ponaekhali tut… Ocherki o natsionalizme, rasizme i kul'turnom pliuralizme [Came in numbers here... Essays on nationalism, racism and cultural pluralism]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2007. (In Russian)
  • Nosachev P. G. (2015). “Otrechennoe znanie”: Izuchenie marginal'noi religioznosti v XX i nachale XXI veka: Istoriko-analiticheskoe issledovanie [“Relinquished Knowledge”: The Study of Marginal Religiosity in the 20-th and Early 21-st Centuries: A Historical and Analytical Study.]. Moscow: PSTGU Publ., 2015. (In Russian)
  • Pribylovskii V. V. Ideinye tsentry russkikh neoiazychnikov [Ideological centres of Russian neopagans] URL: https://anticompromat.panchul.com/yazych/yaz01.html (accessed 19.09.2022) (In Russian)
  • Shizhensky R. V. Filosofiia dobroi sily: zhizn' i tvorchestvo Dobroslava [Philosophy of good power: the life and work of Dobroslav]. Nizhnii Novgorod: Povolzh'e Publ., 2014. (In Russian)
  • Shnirelman V. A. “Chistil'shchiki moskovskikh ulits”: skinkhedy, SMI i obshchestvennoe mnenie [“Moscow street cleaners”: skinheads, media and public opinion]. Moscow: Moskovskoe biuro po pravam cheloveka, “Academia”, 2010. URL: https://scepsis.net/library/id_2723.html (accessed 19.08.2022) (In Russian)
  • Shnirelman V. A. “Porog tolerantnosti”: Ideologiia i praktika novogo rasizma. Vol. II [“The threshold of tolerance”: Ideology and practice of new racism. Vol. II]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2011. (In Russian)
  • Shnirelman V. A. Ariiskii mif v sovremennom mire. Vol. [Aryan myth in modern world. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015. (In Russian)
  • Shnirelman V. A. Russkoe rodnoverie: neoiazychestvo i natsionalizm v sovremennoi Rossii [Russian Rodnoverie: Neopaganism and Nationalism in Modern Russia]. Moscow: BBI Publ., 2012. (In Russian)
  • Shnirelman V. A. Uderzhivaiushchii. Ot Apokalipsisa k konspirologii [Catechon. From Apocalypse to conspiracy theories]. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2022. (In Russian)
  • Sokolov M. M. Konets russkogo radikal'nogo natsionalizma [The End of Russian Radical Nationalism]. Antropologicheskii forum, 2008, no. 8, pp. 183-197. (In Russian)
  • Voslenskii M. S. Nomenklatura [Nomenclature]. Moscow: Zakharov Publ., 2016. (In Russian)