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Faculty of Humanities

 

Ellen Rutten, “Sincerity after Communism”: seminar and book presentation

On May 23, Prof. Ellen Rutten, Professor of Literature and Chair of the Department of Russian & Slavic Studies at the University of Amsterdam presented a paper based on her new book “Sincerity after Communism” (Yale University Press, 2017) at the Research Center for Contemporary Culture Academic Seminar. Seminar was organised by the Center together with research groop "Participatory culture: communities and practices".

On May 23, Prof. Ellen Rutten, Professor of Literature and Chair of the Department of Russian & Slavic Studies at the University of Amsterdam presented a paper based on her new book “Sincerity after Communism” (Yale University Press, 2017) at the Research Center for Contemporary Culture Academic Seminar. Seminar was organised by the Center together with research groop "Participatory culture: communities and practices".

In present-day public discourse, concerns about the sincerity of individuals, institutions, and cultural objects thrive. To what extent does the philanthropy of Zuckerberg and other Internet billionnaires spring from sincere social commitment, and to what extent does it boil down to mere commerce-driven media manipulation? Do Danish arthouse films signal a move away from postmodern sarcasm to a cinematographic “neo-sincerity” or is full-fledged sincerity today impossible in art? Is opposition blogger Aleksei Navalny driven by genuine political engagement, is he introducing a public “new sincerity” that is primarily career driven, or is he doing both at the same time? In this talk, Ellen Rutten discusses her book Sincerity after Communism (Yale University Press, 2017). The study examines “new sincerity” rhetoric in literature, media, art, design, fashion, film, and architecture – as a global practice, but with special attention for post-communist Russia.

Ellen Rutten (1975) is Full Professor of Russian and Slavic studies at the University of Amsterdam and leader of the research project "Sublime Imperfections: Creative Interventions in Post-1989 Europe", which is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientifijic Research. Rutten is author of Unattainable Bride Russia (Northwestern University Press, 2010), Memory, Conflict and New Media (Routledge, 2013, with Julie Fedor and Vera Zvereva) and Sincerity After Communism (2017). She is editor-in-chief of the journal Russian Literature.