In After Newspeak, Michael S. Gorham presents a cultural history of the politics of Russian language from Gorbachev and glasnost to Putin and the emergence of new generations of Web technologies. Gorham begins from the premise that periods of rapid and radical change both shape and are shaped by language. He documents the role and fate of the Russian language in the collapse of the USSR and the decades of reform and national reconstruction that have followed. Gorham demonstrates the inextricable linkage of language and politics in everything from dictionaries of profanity to the flood of publications on linguistic self-help, the speech patterns of the country's leaders, the blogs of its bureaucrats, and the official programs promoting the use of Russian in the so-called "near abroad."Gorham explains why glasnost figured as such a critical rhetorical battleground in the political strife that led to the Soviet Union's collapse and shows why Russians came to deride the newfound freedom of speech of the 1990s as little more than the right to swear in public. He assesses the impact of Medvedev's role as Blogger-in-Chief and the role Putin's vulgar speech practices played in the restoration of national pride. And he investigates whether Internet communication and new media technologies have helped to consolidate a more vibrant democracy and civil society or if they serve as an additional resource for the political technologies manipulated by the Kremlin.
In After Newspeak, Michael S. Gorham presents a cultural history of the politics of Russian language from Gorbachev and glasnost to Putin and the emergence of new generations of Web technologies. Gorham begins from the premise that periods of rapid and radical change both shape and are shaped by language. He documents the role and fate of the Russian language in the collapse of the USSR and the decades of reform and national reconstruction that have followed. Gorham demonstrates the inextricable linkage of language and politics in everything from dictionaries of profanity to the flood of publications on linguistic self-help, the speech patterns of the country's leaders, the blogs of its bureaucrats, and the official programs promoting the use of Russian in the so-called near abroad.
Gorham explains why glasnost figured as such a critical rhetorical battleground in the political strife that led to the Soviet Union's collapse and shows why Russians came to deride the newfound freedom of speech of the 1990s as little more than the right to swear in public. He assesses the impact of Medvedev's role as Blogger-in-Chief and the role Putin's vulgar speech practices played in the restoration of national pride. Gorham investigates whether Internet communication and new media technologies have helped to consolidate a more vibrant democracy and civil society or if they serve as an additional resource for the political technologies manipulated by the Kremlin.
Industry Reviews
"In this book Gorham decided to survey a very dynamic and unstable period of Russian contemporary history that has not yet been studied from the perspective of language culture... Gorham's innovative work, referring to numerous historical and socio-political contexts, not only enables a better undestanding of the last 25 years of the Russian Federation, but also offers a new perspective on the interrelation between language, culture, and politics."-Magda Dolinska-Rydzek, Europe-Asia Studies (June 2015) "There are very few books analyzing post-Soviet culture from the perspective of politics and vice versa. Michael Gorham's second monograph belongs to this rare and highly valuable breed, as it embraces the period from Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost to the anti-Putin protests of 2011-12. Michael Gorham has written a highly necessary book establishing a new approach to post-Soviet politics through the study of competition between language ideologies and rhetorical models warring for political prominence. Written in a highly accessible manner and rich with unique factual material, it should become an essential part of diverse courses on post-Soviet culture, language, and politics on both the undergraduate and graduate levels."-Mark Lipovetsky, Slavic Review(vol. 74, no. 4) "After Newspeak productively combines language theory and a wealth of sources-from TV to paper journalism, political speeches to blogs-to advance an original argument that covers more than three decades of Russian culture. Michael S. Gorham's impressively meticulous and wide-ranging scholarship and consistently analytical treatment of the material persuasively demonstrates the interplay among language, identity, and politics. Rich in content and sophisticated in its conceptualization, this book should engage not only Slavists, but also anyone invested in understanding the power of language."-Helena Goscilo, The Ohio State University, author of Dehexing Sex: Russian Womanhood During and After Glasnost "After Newspeak is a great book that gives tremendous insight into Russia's political culture, and it is a sheer delight to read."-Eliot Borenstein, New York University, author of Overkill: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Popular Culture "This fascinating book offers a sweeping analysis of Russia's changing 'language culture' in the past several decades, from the politics of language use and debates over language norms to the role Russian language plays in national identity, political culture, and international relations. But this is more than a book about language culture. From the stagnant discourse of post-Stalinist Soviet Union to the exciting linguistic openness of Gorbachev's perestroika, from the violent linguistic experimentation of the first post-Soviet decade to the authoritative linguistic grip and chaotic online utopia of Putin's years, this book provides an extraordinary perspective on Russia's cultural and political history."-Alexei Yurchak, University of California, Berkeley, author of Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation
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