Nothing more to see : Contestations of belonging and visibility in Russian media
(2016) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the role of visibility in the production and contestation of belonging to political communities. On the basis of an empirical enquiry of Russian media during the 2010s, a theoretical conceptualization of the relation between visibility and belonging is suggested, starting in the idea that what becomes visible to publics and how, and what is rendered invisible, are the objects of constant political regulation and contestation. The suggested theory seeks to move beyond both an exclusively speech-oriented approach to belonging, and a binary view on visibility as either emancipatory or repressive. In three case studies, the thesis explores aspects of the problem of belonging and visibility. In all... (More)
- The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the role of visibility in the production and contestation of belonging to political communities. On the basis of an empirical enquiry of Russian media during the 2010s, a theoretical conceptualization of the relation between visibility and belonging is suggested, starting in the idea that what becomes visible to publics and how, and what is rendered invisible, are the objects of constant political regulation and contestation. The suggested theory seeks to move beyond both an exclusively speech-oriented approach to belonging, and a binary view on visibility as either emancipatory or repressive. In three case studies, the thesis explores aspects of the problem of belonging and visibility. In all cases – each of which focuses on a specific project of belonging as enacted in contemporary Russian media – gendered, sexualized and ethnicized conceptions of community are at the center of the contestations. First, by analyzing narratives in Russian media about the 2013 ban on “homosexual propaganda”, the thesis shows that as projects of belonging produce specific gendered and sexualized conceptions of community, they seek to regulate the visibility of undesired, non-normative subjectivities. However, those regulatory efforts contain tensions that may serve as starting points for contestation. Second, by studying media narratives about the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the thesis shows that spectacular media events may serve to depoliticize particular notions of community by making them hypervisible and producing them as natural and inevitable, but such events may also serve as sites of repoliticization. Third, by analyzing how the Russian state-promoted narrative on the war in Ukraine 2014-15 was challenged, by Russian internet satire and by the media exposure of how Russian soldiers who had died in Ukraine were secretly buried, the thesis shows that contestations of dominant projects of belonging draw on invisibility, and often have an ambivalent, inside/outside relation to dominant narratives. The central claim of the thesis is that projects of belonging, aimed at (re)constituting political communities and their boundaries, seek to produce particular arrangements of visibility regulating what can be seen and how it can be seen in the public sphere, and what cannot be seen. Moreover, as visibility cannot be fixed entirely, precisely those arrangements become the target of political contestation. On a more analytically useful level, it is suggested that politics of belonging involves efforts to contain, amplify and contest visibility. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka vilken roll synlighet spelar i skapandet och utmanandet av tillhörighet till politiska gemenskaper. Baserat på en empirisk studie av ryska medier under 2010-talet föreslås ett sätt att teoretiskt begreppsliggöra förhållandet mellan synlighet och tillhörighet, som utgår från idén att vad som blir synligt för en publik och hur, samt vad som blir osynligt, är föremål för ständig politisk reglering och konflikt. Denna teori försöker nå bortom både ett synsätt på tillhörighet som enbart fokuserar på tal och en binär förståelse av synlighet som antingen emancipatorisk eller repressiv. I tre fallstudier undersöker avhandlingen olika aspekter på problematiken... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka vilken roll synlighet spelar i skapandet och utmanandet av tillhörighet till politiska gemenskaper. Baserat på en empirisk studie av ryska medier under 2010-talet föreslås ett sätt att teoretiskt begreppsliggöra förhållandet mellan synlighet och tillhörighet, som utgår från idén att vad som blir synligt för en publik och hur, samt vad som blir osynligt, är föremål för ständig politisk reglering och konflikt. Denna teori försöker nå bortom både ett synsätt på tillhörighet som enbart fokuserar på tal och en binär förståelse av synlighet som antingen emancipatorisk eller repressiv. I tre fallstudier undersöker avhandlingen olika aspekter på problematiken kring tillhörighet och synlighet. I varje fall – vilka samtliga fokuserar på konflikter kring specifika tillhörighetsprojekt som utspelar sig i samtida ryska medier – står könade, sexualiserade och etnifierade föreställningar om gemenskapen i centrum för konflikterna. För det första, genom att analysera narrativ i ryska medier om 2013 års förbud mot ”homosexuell propaganda”, visar avhandlingen att eftersom tillhörighetsprojekt vilar på särskilda könade och sexualiserade föreställningar om gemenskapen, strävar de efter att reglera hur ej önskvärda, icke-normativa subjekt blir synliga. Men dessa regleringsförsök innehåller spänningar som kan fungera som utgångspunkt för konflikt. För det andra, genom att studera medienarrativ kring Olympiska spelen i Sotji 2014 visar avhandlingen att spektakulära mediehändelser kan bidra till att avpolitisera specifika föreställningar om gemenskapen genom att göra dem hyper-synliga och få dem att framstå som naturliga och oundvikliga, men sådana händelser kan också fungera som utgångspunkt för återpolitisering. För det tredje, genom att analysera hur den ryska statens narrativ om kriget i Ukraina 2014-15 utmanades, av rysk satir på internet och av medieavslöjandet om hur ryska soldater som dött i Ukraina begravdes i hemlighet, visar avhandlingen att försök att utmana dominerande tillhörighetsprojekt tar sin utgångspunkt i osynlighet och ofta har ett ambivalent förhållande till dominerande narrativ, samtidigt innanför och utanför dem. Avhandlingens centrala argument är att tillhörighetsprojekt som syftar till att (om)forma politiska gemenskaper och deras gränser strävar efter att skapa särskilda synlighetsarrangemang vilka reglerar vad som kan ses och hur det kan ses i offentligheten, liksom vad som inte kan ses. Dessutom, då synlighet inte kan låsas fast blir precis dessa arrangemang utgångspunkter för politisk konflikt. På ett mer analytiskt tillämpbart plan föreslås att politik kring tillhörighet innefattar strävanden att begränsa, utvidga och utmana synlighet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8840122
- author
- Edenborg, Emil LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Yuval-Davis, Nira, University of East London
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- belonging, visibility, media, sexuality, gender, nationalism, Russia
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 177
- pages
- 244 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Niagara, auditorium B0E15, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1, Malmö
- defense date
- 2016-04-08 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 978-91-7623-705-2
- 978-91-7104-668-0
- 978-91-7623-706-9
- 978-91-7104-669-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f0daf370-44e5-471a-8b15-21db36546a8e (old id 8840122)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 09:44:14
- date last changed
- 2019-07-05 13:18:15
@phdthesis{f0daf370-44e5-471a-8b15-21db36546a8e,
abstract = {{The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the role of visibility in the production and contestation of belonging to political communities. On the basis of an empirical enquiry of Russian media during the 2010s, a theoretical conceptualization of the relation between visibility and belonging is suggested, starting in the idea that what becomes visible to publics and how, and what is rendered invisible, are the objects of constant political regulation and contestation. The suggested theory seeks to move beyond both an exclusively speech-oriented approach to belonging, and a binary view on visibility as either emancipatory or repressive. In three case studies, the thesis explores aspects of the problem of belonging and visibility. In all cases – each of which focuses on a specific project of belonging as enacted in contemporary Russian media – gendered, sexualized and ethnicized conceptions of community are at the center of the contestations. First, by analyzing narratives in Russian media about the 2013 ban on “homosexual propaganda”, the thesis shows that as projects of belonging produce specific gendered and sexualized conceptions of community, they seek to regulate the visibility of undesired, non-normative subjectivities. However, those regulatory efforts contain tensions that may serve as starting points for contestation. Second, by studying media narratives about the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the thesis shows that spectacular media events may serve to depoliticize particular notions of community by making them hypervisible and producing them as natural and inevitable, but such events may also serve as sites of repoliticization. Third, by analyzing how the Russian state-promoted narrative on the war in Ukraine 2014-15 was challenged, by Russian internet satire and by the media exposure of how Russian soldiers who had died in Ukraine were secretly buried, the thesis shows that contestations of dominant projects of belonging draw on invisibility, and often have an ambivalent, inside/outside relation to dominant narratives. The central claim of the thesis is that projects of belonging, aimed at (re)constituting political communities and their boundaries, seek to produce particular arrangements of visibility regulating what can be seen and how it can be seen in the public sphere, and what cannot be seen. Moreover, as visibility cannot be fixed entirely, precisely those arrangements become the target of political contestation. On a more analytically useful level, it is suggested that politics of belonging involves efforts to contain, amplify and contest visibility.}},
author = {{Edenborg, Emil}},
isbn = {{978-91-7623-705-2}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{belonging; visibility; media; sexuality; gender; nationalism; Russia}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{177}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{Nothing more to see : Contestations of belonging and visibility in Russian media}},
year = {{2016}},
}