@article{113251,
  author = {Serguei Alex. Oushakine},
  title = {New Lives of Old Forms: On Returns and Repetitions in Russia},
  abstract = { I argue that the general epistemological conservatism, typical for the post-socialist {\textquotedblleft}transition,{\textquotedblright} taken together with the imagined or experienced feeling of radically limited spatial choices, gave rise to a series of interesting symbolic shifts. An urgent search for a {\textquotedblleft}new beginning,{\textquotedblright} a perceived state of semantic {\textquotedblleft}indeterminacy{\textquotedblright} and {\textquotedblleft}cognitive vacuum,{\textquotedblright} a recognition of the loss of all meaningful bearings was often represented as a disintegration of speech, as a deficiency of symbolic forms that could no longer express essential qualities of the current condition. The absence of comprehensive cognitive {\textquotedblleft}maps{\textquotedblright} capable of representing the trajectory of development led to a pronounced preoccupation with the domain of minutiae, with tangible yet fragmented context. Also, this {\textquotedblleft}being at a dead end{\textquotedblright} precipitated a move from the symbolism of space to the symbolism of time: {\textquotedblleft}geography{\textquotedblright} gave place to {\textquotedblleft}history.{\textquotedblright} },
  year = {2010},
  journal = {Genre XLIII},
  pages = {409-457},
  language = {eng},
}