Presenting Empire and Representing Regionalism
Sport Parades and Regional Festivals under Stalinism
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Under Stalinism, imperial presentations and regional representations existed alongside one another. This coexistence was loaded with conflict. This was also expressed in festival practices. The Bol’sheviki, as in an empire, tried to implement in the regions norms directed from the centre. One instrument for presenting the empire was the sport parade. By contrast, local party elites made efforts to propagate regional consciousness with regional festivals. The regional idiom even came to facilitate the communication of Soviet ideals at the regional level.
(Osteuropa 5/2006, pp. 99–122)