terje toomistu

Chapter in “Dropping out of Socialism: The Creation of Alternative Spheres in the Soviet Bloc." Editors Juliane Fürst and Josie McLellan.

Abstract
While the hippie movement in Soviet Estonia manifested a global cultural flow of transnational origin, the socio-cultural appropriations embedded in the context of their appearance generated distinctive enactments. By using their bodies as the sites of affect and performative agency, the hippies opposed the normative assumptions on bodies and behavior and created common grounds for communication with kindred spirits across the urban Soviet Union.
Drawing substantially from affect theory, I argue that Soviet hippie subjectivity was deeply ingrained with resonances of what I have come to regard as the ‘imaginary elsewhere.’ The imaginary elsewhere encompasses both, the perceived West and the transcendent experiences hippies pursued through spiritual practices, mind-altering drugs and sensory experiences generated by distorted sounds of rock music. The realms achieved through these practices formed an elsewhere, catering to a sense of ‘dropping out’ of Soviet daily life. By turning on and tuning in, the hippies in Soviet Estonia chose to be in constant motion towards the affective promises of the imaginary elsewhere.

No 55 (2012): Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat

Abstract

On the Meaning of Soviet Symbolism among the Estonian and Russian Transition Generation

О значении советской символики среди переходного поколения в Эстонии и России

Popular culture involves many symbols with political background. Soviet symbols have also made their way to the popular culture in various countries of the world, thus making the symbols open to different interpretations. Meanings, which are attributed to the Soviet symbolism vary within different cultures and also depend on the individual and collective experience of the Soviet period in each particular country. Multiple memory processes influence the way meanings are formed and since transformations take place in the popular culture as well, a symbol which once used to carry a clear-cut political or ideological meaning can now take on entirely new connotations.
In this paper, I focus on the representations of Soviet symbolism among the Estonian and Russian youth who were brought up during the transition period. My findings are based on the fieldwork carried out in Voronezh, Russia and Tartu, Estonia in 2009–2010. The research focuses more specifically on the Soviet symbols on the clothing and the connotations that young people attach to them. The empirical data is analysed in the framework of two academic disciplines: consumer anthropology and memory studies.
The results show that the sample divides the people who wear Soviet symbols into two distinct groups: (1) there are those to whom symbols do not bear a deeper meaning, it is simply seen as a stylistic element or its use is more or less accidental; and (2) those, to whom the symbol is marked with a conscious stance and its wearer wishes to convey a message. The first group can furthermore be subdivided to those who wear symbols to stand out from the crowd or be provocative; those who want to appeal to different types of nostalgia, first with the retro style and second containing ironic humour of a bygone era. It is also relevant that the first group wears Soviet symbols as a result of having been exploited by the tourism industry.
In case of the group who wears symbols to take a conscious stance, the people can be divided into those who want to reflect the Russian national identity, antagonism or defiance. The presence of strong political convictions or ideological worldview sub-discourse proved to be relatively weak, although a sense of fear of these symbols could be detected among the youth with ethnic-Estonian background. The analysis revealed several sources of tension present in today’s Estonian society. The results show that the large gap between opposing interpretations of history dividing the Estonian society today also become reflected and emphasised by the use of symbols. The research highlighted the tensions within the ‘third generation’, but also in the Estonian identity politics and the ethno-political development in general.

Резюме Терье Тоомисту
Некоторые символы, имеющие политический фон, активно фигурируют в поп-культуре. И советская символика в разных местах мира нашла свой путь в поп-культуру и в качестве этой части эти символы открыты для различных интерпретаций значения, которые присваиваются советской символике, ва- рьируются в зависимости от культуры и связаны с индивидуальным и коллек- тивным опытом, приобретенным в советский период. На формулировку зна- чений влияют различные процессы памяти, но в то же время символ, который когда то имел четко ограниченное политическое или идеологическое значе- ние, может через происходящую в поп-культуре трансформацию приобрести совершенно новые значения.
В представленной статье рассматриваются репрезентации советской сим- волики среди молодежи, выросшей в Эстонии и России в переходный период, опираясь на экспедиционные работы, проведенные в 2009–2010 гг. в Воронеже в России и в Тарту в Эстонии. Более пристальное внимание уделено советской символике, представлен- ной на одежде молодежи и значениям, присвоенным такому явлению. Теоре- тически работа располагается в основном в двух более широких теоретических направлениях: антропология потребления и исследования памяти.
В широком смысле молодые люди разделили использующих в одежде символику по их мотивам на две группы: (1) для которых символ не имеет глубокого значения, это просто элемент стиля или его использование явля- ется случайным; и (2) для которых символ является выражением осознанной точки зрения и его носитель хочет донести какое-нибудь сообщение. В первом случае можно в свою очередь выделить желание использующего символику бросаться в глаза или провоцировать, апелляцию к ностальгиям различного рода, под которыми раскрылся как стиль с ориентацией на ретро, используя символы в форме ироническо-юмористического китча, так и эксплуатацию символов со стороны туристической индустрии.
В случае использования символики в качестве выражения осознанной по- зиции можно в качестве сквозных подкатегорий привести русский националь- ный идентитет и желание противопоставления и протеста. Поддискурс с силь- ными политическими убеждениями или идеологическим мировоззрением обнаруживался достаточно слабо, хотя среди молодежи, имеющей этничес- кое эстонское происхождение, можно было заметить связанное с символами чувство страха. С помощью анализа выявилось несколько точек напряжения в сегодняшней Эстонии, особенно, что касается проецируемого на символичес- ком уровне усиления раскалывающего толкования истории, возможной т.н. «проблемы третьего поколения», а в более широком смысле и политику иден- титета Эстонии и этнополитическое развитие.

Hipidest ja hipiliikumise ajaloost rääkides antakse neile sageli kahte tüüpi hinnanguid – nad kas väljendasid protesti või kujutasid endast hoopis eskapismi: ennast ja maailma unustavat sukeldumist hedonistlikku hellitusse, psühhedeelsesse sisekosmosesse või meditatiivsesse (üks)kõiksusesse. Küsimus vabaduse olemuse kohta sellesama binaarsuse pingeväljas köitis mindki, kui asusin uurima nõukogude hipiliikumist. Kas vabadus on pigem saavutatav aktiivse sekkumise ja protesti kaudu või on see paratamatult seespidine teekond? Käesolev kirjatükk ei lasku filosoofilisse arutellu vabaduse olemuse üle, ent küsimus sellest, kas ja kuivõrd saab nõukogude hipide tegevusi käsitleda vastupanuna, on ajendiks siingi.

While Timothy Leary was preaching " Turn on, tune in, drop out " in the late 1960s in the United States, young people in the Soviet Union were practising another kind of tuning in. Radio Luxembourg and other foreign radio signals leaked through the Iron Curtain, bringing with them " the strange vibration " that sparked new social arenas and aff ective engagements. Iconic hippie-era albums were illicitly distributed , copied on reel-to-reel tapes, and exchanged within the networks of music lovers. In Soviet Estonia a distinctive rock music scene evolved. Rock music was the key source and the means of divergence for the nonconformist youth of Soviet Estonia, many of whom identifi ed as or were connected to the hippies. The radically diff erent sound of psychedelic rock prompted ecstatic states of mind and triggered new imaginaries. The aff ective engagements with music created a sense of connection with the global pop culture and youth movements and, ultimately, fostered the sense of an imaginary elsewhere. Since these engagements diverged from the predominant discourses, and the Soviet authorities often regarded them as dangerous for societal well-being, the aff ectively loaded practices and experiences of music guided the youth to redefi ne their relationship to the daily reality and ideology of Soviet life. Hence, the rock music milieu became the site in which certain aff ects (interest in rock music), aff ective states of mind (kaif) and expressions (practices of style, artistic languages) fostered the agency of the nonconformist youth by creating a space of sensory divergence.

Indonesian transgender women, locally and internationally recognised as waria, share some lifestyle patterns that have emerged under conditions of limited social acceptance. These patterns include involvement in sex work. The high number of waria who are sex workers is usually explained in economic terms. However, their presence in certain locations around the city known for waria sex work is not only for work, and quite often not even for sex. Waria street nightlife fosters waria agency, which emerges from self-affirmation through pleasurable bodily practices involving intimate (sexual partners) and both proximate (other waria and men nearby) and distant others (structuring ideals). Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2010 and 2015 in Java and West Papua, this paper describes the political and economic organisation of sex work among waria, then highlights the social and sensorial qualities of waria street nightlife.