Unfinished conversations: A tribute to Sonja Luehrmann (1975–2019)

Canadian Slavonic Papers

Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 2018

History and Anthropology, 2020

American Ethnologist, 2009

Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research

Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2012

a comment in a discussion of the current situation in Russian social sciences, initiated by Mikhail Sokolov

2010

Although my name appears under the title. fundamentally, this thesis could never have been possible without the dedication, insight and intelligence of a number of individuals. I am extremely grateful to all scven participants that agreed to participate in the research and the film. I am indebted to Susanna Solomonovna Pechuro for opening up her home and exposing me to the true meaning of humanism, and in turn, to Malva Noevna Landa for showing the true meaning of courage. I have appreciated every moment shared with Anna Mihaylovna Lavrova and Elena Vasilievna Yecheistova and I thank them for their candour, wit and hospitality. And most of all. I want to thank the three sisters who appear in the film: Irina Pavlovna Gavrilova, Tatiana Pavlovna Gavrilova and Svetlana Pavlovna Gavrilova. for being graceful in their wisdom, humble about their achievements, and exceptionally loving as a family. This thesis is dedicated to them. I feel extremely lucky to have been graced with the support, wisdom and tireless elTorts of Professor Sharon Roseman. who was much more than a supervisor and a mentor. Both a source of constant inspiration and motivation, Dr. Roseman dedicated what seemed at first to be an unfair amount of anention to educate me in rudimentary ethnographic texts, expose me to ethnographic film and vastly improve my writing. All the while, Sharon delicately showed inconsistencies in my early thesis drafts, proofread endless versions of my chapters, and guided me intellectually along the entire thesis•writing process. In the meanwhile, I found out that this was the attitude that Dr. Roseman adopted for mentoring each one of her students. Sharon. I am very grateful to be amongst the small army of graduate students that have shared in the privilege of your supervision: you have been a phenomenal intellectual innuence, and I can only hope that I was attentive enough to try to apply your guidance in my future. It is difficult to find words to express my gratitude to the person who has positively motivated every important decision in my life: my Mom. I wish to thank Olga Gan for every moment of her vigorous and unselfish support that has undoubtedly allowed me to both start and finish this thesis. As banal as it sounds, thank you for instilling in me a love for anthropology through our travels and for cultivating me as a person through constant exposure to performing arts, literature and cinema. Your respect for others and your personal strength were an inspiration for this thesis, since you are unquestionably the embodiment of the spirit of the Russian intelligentsia. I am also grateful for your careful and erudite proofreading of the final draft. The initial idea for this thesis project was borne out of a warm conversation sitting on a summer patio in Toronto with Professor Michael Lambek. I am grateful for his initial enthusiasm that allowed the idea to ferment over the course of the next several months. As I moved to Newfoundland to stan my Master's at Memorial,l was awestruck by both the personal attention and the congeniality of each faculty member at the Department of Anthropology. I am grateful for the guidance of Dr. Robin Whitaker, Dr. August Carbonella. Rex Clark and Professor Wayne Fife. I am especially grateful to Dr. Reade Davis for often blurring lhe lines of mentor and vi Abridged Timeline of Soviel and Russian Hislory oflhe 20 th Century.1 1905 -Russian Revolution of 1905; political terrorism and strikes led to an establishment of a new legislative body, the State Duma of the Russian Empire, and a new Constitution in 1906 1917 -February Revolution of 1917; Russian provisional government was formed after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.

Academia across the Borders , 2024