Russian Talk, Nancy Ries
perestroika = rebuilding (stroit', to build, pere- as a prefix means amongst other
things "to do something again")
glasnost' = openness (from R. glasnyj, meaning open / public, which in turn
derives from Russian golos = voice / vote; you can see the
connection more easily in Serbo-Croat, where glas = voice)
R. golos / SC. glas derive from the Indo-European root *gal- found in
the English word "call",
Norw. "kalle"
Goal- Russian Talk: "to illustrate various historical and human vantage points, as
expressed through the daily narratives and practices Russians themselves, and
tease out abstract from these narratives the social and ideological orientations
they convey and produce" (p.3).
Main theoretical argument: "spontaneous and conversational discourses are
primary mechanism by which ideologies and cultural stances are shaped and
maintained" (p.3).

Discourse: "broadest and most comprehensive level of linguistic form,
content and use" (Sherzer, 1987).

Ries: stresses the process of discourse structuring (the locus of the
language –culture relationship).
Russian discourse is a crucial field for the production and negotiation of cultural
meanings and value.
Language is a primary facilitator of both hegemonic authority and resistance to it.
The Soviet project was constructed, shaped, promoted, maintained and
challenged through talk.
Russian talk is both description of values creation and also activity of production
of value (p.21).
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
Value: what is actually an unruly, contingent, multidimensional field in
which evaluative oppositions and significations are in perpetual play,
negotiation, and exchange (p.20).

In non-socialist societies other types of practice such as the exchange or
destruction of objects, through consumerism, ritual participation and
hospitality may produce social value.

In Russia other domains of action have been restricted, therefore talk is a
significant domain of value creation (p.21).
Russian national ideology is conceptualised in terms of a common history or tale.
Underlying cultural ideology of national relations based upon narrative and NOT
organic metaphors.
Russianness is an organic quality that precipitates from the experience or
endurance of the Russian story.
Blood
Story  body, body  story
Pattern of identification began to shift
Orienting framework of the patterns did not (p.27).
Narod:
People, the citizens of a nation, ethnic group, people, crowd, Russian people…
Ambiguous attributions: faithful, devout, brave, simple, modest, honest, innocent,
solid, strong, self-sufficient, all-enduring, long-suffering, and much deserving
(p.28).
Dusha: soul, spirit, inborn quality.
Practice or praxis: a concept pioneered by French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu
holding that society and culture are constructed by purposeful, creative agents
who bring to life their society and culture through talk and action, making their
creations appear to be objective facts of nature rather than arbitrary constructs
imagined and assembled by people.
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