Bernstein A., Sivkov D. Yu. “Resurrection is possible not only for people” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №3. P. 119-126.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-3-119-126
Annotation
This interview with Anya Bernstein, Professor of Anthropology at the Harvard University, the author of books on immortality and transhumanism in Russia, focuses on her new research — ethnography of the Pleistocene Park in Yakutia. The anthropologist Denis Sivkov discusses the context of this study and the main ideas of the Zimovs, father and son, creators of the park, about the ecosystem restoration — the mammoth steppe, the revival of species and the preservation of permafrost. The interview considers a broader context — the concepts of Russian cosmism and the issues of regulating nature, immortality and resurrection.
Keywords
Pleistocene Park, soil, ecosystem, permafrost, cryonics, cosmism, future, revival of species.
About the authors
Anya Bernstein, Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
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Denis Yu. Sivkov, PhD (Philosophy), Senior Researcher, Center for Cosmism Studies, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Gazetny Per., 3–5, bldg. 1, Moscow, 125009.
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Additional Info
- Submitted Thursday, 29 August 2024
- Copyright © Auhtors, 2024
- Distribution Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Visser O. Western agricultural investors in Russia and Ukraine: From fascination with soil to disappointment with climate // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2021. V.6. №4. P. 21-49.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2021-6-4-21-49
Annotation
This article looks at how imaginaries of land and climate play a role in farmland investment discourses and practices. Foreign farmland investors in the fertile black earth region of Russia and Ukraine have ‘celebrated’ soil fertility while largely ignoring climatic factors. The article shows a centuries-long history of outsiders coming to the region lured by the fertile soils, while grossly underestimating climate which has had disastrous implications for farm viability and the environment. Comparisons with historical and contemporary literature on other regions (e.g. the US prairies and North Africa) suggest that the underestimation of climatic risks by newcomers is remarkably prevalent in resource frontiers.
Keywords
Land imaginaries, ignorance, soil, farmland investment, climatе.
About the author
Oane Visser, Senior Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherland The Hague, Kortenaerkade 12, 2518 AX.
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