Politics of Visibility and Belonging

This is an important book in which the role of visibility in general and the media as its facilitator in particular is added to the theorization of political projects of belonging. It focuses on fascinating contesting case studies from the Russian media but is of generic theoretical and political importance as well. - Professor Nira Yuval-Davis, Director of the research centre on Migration, Refugees and Belonging, University of East London This book offers an interesting account of why and how the Kremlin tolerates disparate voices and alternative media, while retaining the commanding heights of media capacity. It shows how a populist-authoritarian regime exploits contradictory and illogical media narratives to frame particular emotional responses. It suggests how and why opponents of the Kremlin struggle to achieve effective traction in the public sphere. - Dan Healey, University of Oxford, Salvic Review This book is a monumental research effort. The attention to Russian sources of various kinds and technical knowledge (regarding pathogens, life sciences, military applications, and the Russian bureaucratic process) is remarkable. - Lisa A. Balionee, Saint Joseph's University

Emil Edenborg is Postdoctoral Researcher at Sdertrn University, Sweden.

Introduction Tverskaya Ulitsa, Moscow, May 2006 Projects of belonging in contemporary Russia 1: Politics of belonging: from speech to visibility Politics of belonging: the issues at stake Politics of belonging as speech: (counter)narratives and (counter)publics Politics of belonging as visibility contestations 2: Russian media as a space of appearance A historical overview of media in Russia Containing, amplifying and contesting visibility in Russia Revisiting the audience(s) Conclusion 3: "Homosexual propaganda": regulating queer visibility Queer visibility, belonging and geopolitics Regulating queerness in Russian history The dominant interpretation of the propaganda law Tensions in the narrative Conclusion 4: Sochi: the nation on display Politics of belonging and the spectacular Contexts and controversies around the Sochi Games Sochi-2014 as a project of belonging Contesting the Sochi spectacle Conclusion 5: Ukraine: spectacles and specters of war War, (in)visibility and belonging Part one: satire and violent cartographies Part two: spectacular and spectral homecomings Conclusion Conclusion: nothing more to see? The limits of speech Arrangements of visibility and the production of belonging Visibility, invisibility and resistance Russian politics, belonging and visibility Seeing ahead