The Pussy Riot affair: gender and national identity in Putin's Russia

Abstract

The Pussy Riot affair was a massive international cause célèbre that ignited a widespread movement of support for the jailed activists around the world. The case tells us a lot about Russian society, the Russian state, and Western perceptions of Russia. It also raises gender as a frame of analysis, something that has been largely overlooked in 20 years of work by mainstream political scientists analyzing Russia's transition to democracy. It has important implications for how Western feminist categories can be applied to the Russian context. This introduction summarizes the main events associated with the trail of the three group members who were accused of staging a “punk prayer” performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February 2012. It also introduces the findings of the six papers that make up this special section.

Keywords:

• Pussy Riot
• Russia
• feminism
• national identity

Notes

^†The papers by Channell, Johnson, Sharafutdinova, and Sperling originated in a panel at the Association for the Study of Nationalities. New York, 18 April 2013: a panel which included Yitzhak Brudny. Thanks to Karen Beckwith for her insightful comments on the finished papers.

1. Exceptions include political scientists Chandler (2013), Johnson (2009), and Sperling (1999), and among sociologists and anthropologists Ashwin (2000), Rivkin-Fish (2005), Hemment (2007), and Salmenniemi (2008).

2. The video can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCasuaAczKY.

3. The full text of the indictment can be accessed at “Prigovor Pussy Riot,” www.snob.ru/selected/entry/51999.

4. Some suggest that the Cossack attackers were themselves part of the performance – Lurie (2014).

5. https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/statuses/452130729691201536.