Russian Protest Movement R(e)-Visited

Russian Protest Movement R(e)-Visited

Special issue of Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media

http://www.digitalicons.org/

The 2011-12 Protest Movement in Russia re-defined the country and the Russian-speaking community worldwide politically, socially and culturally. It began as a response to the 2011 Russian legislative election process, and it eventually grew to include various forms of opposition, dissent, political debate, cultural production and mediation. In spring 2012 Digital Icons published a special issue entitled ‘Russian Elections and Digital Media (issue 7), which was the first large-scale reflection on the phenomenon of Russian Protest Movement in the western academia. The issue documented the Russian political process of 2011-12 and its engagement with new media and assessed the overall social and cultural impact. Since the publication of the issue our understanding of the Russian Protest Movement and its reliance on new media has developed, and our spring 2013 issue of Digital Icons re-visits the turbulent events and re-considers our approaches to the study of the phenomenon. The issue specifically examines the connection between the Protest Movement and digital media by evaluating the general context of Russian dissent and by focusing on one case study, Pussy Riot.

9.0 Editorial | Vlad Strukov

9.1 Tweeting the Russian Protests | Galina Nikiporets-Takigawa

9.2 Quantifying Polarisation in Media Coverage of the 2011-12 Protests in Russia | Rolf Fredheim

9.3 Russians in the City – ‘Patriots’ with a Touch of Spleen | Oksana Morgunova (Petrunko)

Special Cluster: How Pussy Riot Rocked Russia and the World

9.4 Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer on Trial Online and in Court | Olga G. Voronina

9.5 Pussy Riot: From Local Appropriation to Global Documentation | Vlad Strukov

9.6 Defining Pussy Riot Musically: Performance and Authenticity in New Media | Polly McMichael

9.7 ‘Fashion Attack’: The Style of Pussy Riot | Claire Shaw

9.8 Book reviews

The special cluster was guest-edited by Vlad Strukov (University of Leeds, UK).

The issue was prepared by Sudha Rajagopalan, Ellen Rutten, Henrike Schmidt and Vlad Strukov, with editorial support from Pedro Hernandez.