- United Kingdom
Dmitri Zakharine
King's College London, History, Department Member
- History, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Eastern European Studies, History of Science, Social Media, Media and Cultural Studies, and 33 moreMedia and Communications, Medieval History, Russian History, Russian Politics, Russian Language, Comparative Literature, Film Studies, Radio, Central and Eastern Europe, Soviet, post-Soviet, Russian politics, Russian Studies, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Nationalism, Russian Nihilism, French Cinema, Russian Film, Early Russian and Soviet film, Contemporary Russian Film, Russian and Slavonic Studies, Russian Intellectual History, Cross-Cultural Communication, Cross-Cultural Studies, Cross-Media Studies, Soundscape Studies, Film Sound, Cultural Studies, History of Media Technology, Communication, Cultural_Sociology, Cultural_Studies, Cultural_History, Gender, and Oral Traditionsedit
Research Interests:
The article has to show that the synthesis of monster voices in fiction film projects on the one hand and the selection of newscaster voices for documentary film projects on the other hand, were subject to similar selection criteria. In... more
The article has to show that the synthesis of monster voices in fiction film projects on the one hand and the selection of newscaster voices for documentary film projects on the other hand, were subject to similar selection criteria. In order to draw the attention of the audience and to win the competition with written media and radio, sound film had to produce acoustic horror brands. These horror brands were initially designed in the fiction genre. Gradually sound effects that were initially intended for the fictional genre, wandered into the newsreel genre.
Research Interests:
The tradition of brotherly kissing that was crucial for representation of Soviet state elites, has Christian origin. The current research is based on the analysis of film documentaries and literary sources. It explores ways and specific... more
The tradition of brotherly kissing that was crucial for representation of Soviet state elites, has Christian origin. The current research is based on the analysis of film documentaries and literary sources. It explores ways and specific features of family-like communities in Russia from the perspectives of sociology, media history and cultural studies.
Research Interests:
""A greater awareness of electro-acoustic voice media increasingly defines the day-to-day experience of the modern historical witness. This witness is able to calmly read about catastrophes while eating breakfast, but will quickly lose... more
""A greater awareness of electro-acoustic voice media increasingly defines the day-to-day experience of the modern historical witness. This witness is able to calmly read about catastrophes while eating breakfast, but will quickly lose his appetite when he is confronted with the voices of catastrophe victims in audio or audio-visual real-time formats. Calculated strategies of “letting hear” can manipulate the individual’s sense of perception and guide it in various directions. And vice versa: by accessing electro-acoustic means of production, the contemporary individual seizes the possibility of manipulating the perception of others. By modifying amplitudes, frequencies and phase shifts, electronic “voice transformers” enable the user to model new identities by refining shrill voices or suppressing pronunciation mistakes.
In order to analyze the listening experience accumulated by this new historical witness, scholars of voice must develop a suitable set of instruments. The development of such a conceptual equipment, which must take place at the disciplinary boundaries between philosophy and media philosophy, linguistics and media linguistics, literary studies and film studies, sociology and sociology of the media, history and media history, is the primary goal of this conference. The program of the conference is divided into four thematic blocks. Within the first, participants will address broader questions regarding voice transmission. In blocks two and three, presenters will focus on the communicative functions of audio and audio-visual voice formats, whereas contributions in the fourth block will emphasize transformations of vocal stereotypes in national film cultures.""
In order to analyze the listening experience accumulated by this new historical witness, scholars of voice must develop a suitable set of instruments. The development of such a conceptual equipment, which must take place at the disciplinary boundaries between philosophy and media philosophy, linguistics and media linguistics, literary studies and film studies, sociology and sociology of the media, history and media history, is the primary goal of this conference. The program of the conference is divided into four thematic blocks. Within the first, participants will address broader questions regarding voice transmission. In blocks two and three, presenters will focus on the communicative functions of audio and audio-visual voice formats, whereas contributions in the fourth block will emphasize transformations of vocal stereotypes in national film cultures.""
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Broadcast & Multimedia Technology, Cross-Cultural Studies, Social Media, and 9 moreFilm History, History of Radio, History of Broadcasting, History of Sound Recording, Media and Communications, Media and identity, History of Media and Communication, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Gender and Computer Voices
"Voice – E-voice-design – E-voice community Early public debates about the emotional quality of radio and TV announcers’ voices in Germany, the Soviet Union and the USA (1920-1940) Dmitri Zakharine (Constance) This article focuses... more
"Voice – E-voice-design – E-voice community
Early public debates about the emotional quality of radio and TV announcers’ voices in Germany, the Soviet Union and the USA (1920-1940)
Dmitri Zakharine (Constance)
This article focuses on public debates about the emotional quality of electronically recorded voices of early radio and TV announcers. The following questions will be addressed in connection with this main research focus: Which technical problems did the sound designers of the early 1930s encounter in transforming a natural human voice into an electro-acoustic voice design? What psycho-acoustic and ethno-cultural aspects of voice performance have been rated most important in the context of such transformations? By which means were the boundaries of social communities and gender displayed in early e-voice-designs?
The analysis of discussions and surveys carried out by early radio magazines in Germany (Radio Amateur, Funk, Radio für alle), Russia (Radio front, Radio Vsem) and the United States (Radio broadcast; Radio service bulletin) with regard to the quality of female and male announcer voices should provide an answer to the posed questions. The first part of the study examines press materials, in which the problem of low vs. high voice pitch was discussed with regard to the semantic differentiation of hard vs. soft news in newsreels. Based on the analysis of early sound films, the second part of the study deals with the interrelationship between the voice stereotypes of radio and TV announcers on the one hand and the voice stereotypes of classical horror films (monster, scream queen) on the other hand. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the contribution of electronically reproduced voices to the emergence of mass media publicity."""""
Early public debates about the emotional quality of radio and TV announcers’ voices in Germany, the Soviet Union and the USA (1920-1940)
Dmitri Zakharine (Constance)
This article focuses on public debates about the emotional quality of electronically recorded voices of early radio and TV announcers. The following questions will be addressed in connection with this main research focus: Which technical problems did the sound designers of the early 1930s encounter in transforming a natural human voice into an electro-acoustic voice design? What psycho-acoustic and ethno-cultural aspects of voice performance have been rated most important in the context of such transformations? By which means were the boundaries of social communities and gender displayed in early e-voice-designs?
The analysis of discussions and surveys carried out by early radio magazines in Germany (Radio Amateur, Funk, Radio für alle), Russia (Radio front, Radio Vsem) and the United States (Radio broadcast; Radio service bulletin) with regard to the quality of female and male announcer voices should provide an answer to the posed questions. The first part of the study examines press materials, in which the problem of low vs. high voice pitch was discussed with regard to the semantic differentiation of hard vs. soft news in newsreels. Based on the analysis of early sound films, the second part of the study deals with the interrelationship between the voice stereotypes of radio and TV announcers on the one hand and the voice stereotypes of classical horror films (monster, scream queen) on the other hand. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the contribution of electronically reproduced voices to the emergence of mass media publicity."""""
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The author provides a step-by-step introduction into the history and sociology of collective sound images (such as "church bells", "piano", "jazzband" and "walkman") that are set to stabilize and destroy the social order. The study aims... more
The author provides a step-by-step introduction into the history and sociology of collective sound images (such as "church bells", "piano", "jazzband" and "walkman") that are set to stabilize and destroy the social order. The study aims to analyze the cultural and social factors that have shaped the innovation process in the field of audio technology. Providing a sophisticated discussion of how sound technologies could be rooted in the traditional cultures of Eastern European, Western European and Japanese societies, the present study attempts to set a counterpoint to the popular concept of a technological globalization. This can be achieved if two argumentation models, “technology push” and “demand pull” are pitted against each other. According to the first model (technology push) new technology results from a chain of technical experiments with the aim of producing new technology. According to the second model (demand pull) innovations are inspired by permanent demands of the communities.
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Zakharine ,Dmitri [Захарьин, Дмитрий]: 2013, Medieval perspectives in Europe: Oral culture and bodily practices, in: Body - Language - Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction, Edited by C.Mueller et al. De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 343-364, ISBN: 978-3-11-026131-8more
Prior to the invention of book printing, Western culture had no efficient storage medium that served to unburden human memory. Instead of writing a mnemotechnics based on the visual perception of bodily movements, took over the functions... more
Prior to the invention of book printing, Western culture had no efficient storage medium that served to unburden human memory. Instead of writing a mnemotechnics based on the visual perception of bodily movements, took over the functions of orienting, identifying, and stabilizing the social order in the medieval period. In medieval instructions on ecclesiastic and secular norms of behavior, the categorization of the most wide-spread and relevant bodily practices was ordered according to the various functions of the body parts involved, such as neck, back, and knee muscles, arms, hands, lips, and facial muscles. Naturally, such a system of signifiers (like the prostration, the genuflection with inclined body, the genuflection with erect body, bowing to the waist, bowing to the chest, the foot kiss, the knee kiss, the shoulder kiss, the hand kiss, etc.) which will be reconstructed here on the basis of various source corpora, could not encompass all the motion sequences that took place in the context of different interactions. Nevertheless, it has proven useful to treat socially meaningful actions as communicative acts within the contexts of 1) religion, 2) law, 3) ceremonial and 4) etiquette.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Russian Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Sociology, Medieval History, and 17 moreHistory of Religion, Social Representations, Oral history, Memory Studies, Nonverbal Communication, Body Image, History of Art, Sociology of the Body, Phenomenology of the body, Russian History, Body in Performance, Orality, Body Language, Oral History and Memory, History of Law, Representaciones Sociales, and Ceremonial and Symbolic Representations of Sovereignty In Early Modern Europe
The question concerning the logical relationship between the structures and media of totalitarianism has been treated controversially in contemporary scholarship. A large part of the relevant publications (represented by Franz Borkenau,... more
The question concerning the logical relationship between the structures and media of totalitarianism has been treated controversially in contemporary scholarship. A large part of the relevant publications (represented by Franz Borkenau, Walter Laqueur and Hannah Arendt) defines totalitarian power primarily as the power of the minority over the majority and, following Aristotle, sees the latter as rooted in structures of political order. A second corpus of research increasingly interprets totalitarianism as technological power and associates it with scientific inventions in the field of telecommunications. In this second corpus, the radio, the loudspeaker and sound film, i.e. media forms that realize the principle of optical sound recording, are assigned a structuralizing function with regard to the reproduction and continuity of totalitarian power.
Research Interests: Russian Studies, Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Sound and Image, and 13 moreFilm Sound, Totalitarianism, Sound studies, Sound, Film History, Russian Film, Russian History, Soviet Union (History), Film and Media Studies, History of Sound Recording, Sergei Eisenstein, Media and Communications, and History of Media and Communication
The article examines the transition to sound and the rise of the new listening communities in Russia at the beginning of electric sound reproduction. The particular focus is placed on the implementation of signals and industrial noise in... more
The article examines the transition to sound and the rise of the new listening communities in Russia at the beginning of electric sound reproduction. The particular focus is placed on the implementation of signals and industrial noise in the early film sound designs. One of the discussed issues refers to theories of electro-acoustic telepathy coined by Soviet engineers, psychiatrists and sound designers
Sounds can be firstly culled from field recordings, secondly from studio recordings and thirdly from sound libraries. They can be fourthly generated by means of an electronic frequency synthesizing. Designers take sounds from libraries to... more
Sounds can be firstly culled from field recordings, secondly from studio recordings and thirdly from sound libraries. They can be fourthly generated by means of an electronic frequency synthesizing. Designers take sounds from libraries to imitate the world, and they turn to field recordings to explore the world. So my question is: How specific types of sound production were used in the thirties in order to meet the needs of listening communities?
Research Interests: Russian Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Sound and Image, Soviet History, Film Music And Sound, and 9 moreSoundscape Studies, Sound studies, Film History, Russian Film, Soviet, post-Soviet, Russian politics, Film and Media Studies, History of Sound Recording, Media and Communications, and History of Media and Communication
Since the introduction of electronic sound recording less than a hundred years ago, it has never been studied comparatively. How did electroacoustic media modify the traditional cultural concepts of music in Eastern and Western Europe?... more
Since the introduction of electronic sound recording less than a hundred years ago, it has never been studied comparatively. How did electroacoustic media modify the traditional cultural concepts of music in Eastern and Western Europe? What did the shared beliefs about the social role of musical instruments consist of and which of these beliefs have been incorporated into the new sound media? How was the production and use of musical instruments organized before the advent of radio and sound film? How did the relationship between musical instrument production and sound production develop at the beginning of the electroacoustic era? How has the overall social acoustic culture changed? Answers have been missing to these and similar questions, whereas almost everyone would agree that the electroacoustic era has radically changed our concept of music. While the idea of music at the beginning of the 20th century generally followed mechanically produced sounds, today it is understood more along the lines of a continuum of electronic oscillations, organized by sound design.
Research Interests: Eastern European Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Media Anthropology, Film Sound, Film Music And Sound, and 13 moreSoundscape Studies, Sound studies, Russian media, Russian Film, Anthropology of Media, Sound Design, Sociology of the Media, History of Radio, Russian Language, History of Mass Media, History of Sound Recording, Russian and Soviet Music, and History of Media and Communication
Zakharine, Dmitri [Захарьин, Дмитрий]: 2009: Soundfilm as a sound weapon [Тонфильма как звуковое оружие. Ранний опыт советского звукового кино], in: Zakharine (Ed.): Stumm oder vertont – Krisen und Neuanfänge in der Filmkunst um 1930, München [Die Welt der Slaven, Jg. LIV (2009) Heft 2], S. 243-261.more
The first striking trend in the development of the acoustic culture in Russia in the 1920s was the glorification of radio as a driving force for the formation of a new community. In this sense the music of broadcast media, such as radio... more
The first striking trend in the development of the acoustic culture in Russia in the 1920s was the glorification of radio as a driving force for the formation of a new community. In this sense the music of broadcast media, such as radio and sound film, was designed as an ideological alternative to live music. Broadcast media was accredited with the ability to break down the boundaries between individual and collective perception. The discovered ability of the radio and the brain to generate electrical signals dominated popular and academic discourses and created the basis for early utopian communication projects such as the project of electroacoustic telepathy.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
""Acknowledging the efficiency of historical and hermeneutical approaches to the analysis of cultural identity, the article is dedicated to intensive, long-term fieldwork as the empirical backbone of linguistic and anthropological... more
""Acknowledging the efficiency of historical and hermeneutical approaches to the analysis of cultural identity, the article is dedicated to intensive, long-term fieldwork as the empirical
backbone of linguistic and anthropological research. An essential part of the encompasses the qualitative analysis of interviews with carriers of culturally rooted values. The aim of these interviews, conducted in Russia, Germany, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, was to understand why young people might avoid bodily contact with representatives of their own as well as foreign cultures. The research began with the premise that the reasons for avoiding
bodily contact (in situations of greeting, for instance) might be explained in rather different terms by carriers of culturally rooted values. Typical scenarios include arguments such as
‘sin’, ‘shame’, ‘differences in social status’ ‘impoliteness’, ‘dirt’, ‘disease’, ‘fear of infection’, etc. During the survey, interview partners were asked to describe the following experiences and
whether they had encountered them in the preceding year: drinking from the same glass, eating from the same plate, smoking the same cigarette, wearing the same underwear, sleeping in the same bed with one's own (1) mother, (2) father, (3) brother, (4) sister, (5) relatives of the same sex, (6) relatives of the opposite sex, (7) friends of the same sex, (8) friends of the opposite sex, (9) unknown persons of the same sex, and (10) unknown persons
of the opposite sex. In other situations, respondents were asked to characterize typical gestures used to greet one's spouse, mother, father, partner, and male or female colleagues. The subjects could choose one of the following answers: (1) long wet kiss on the mouth/tongue kiss, (2) dry kiss on the lips, (3) kiss on the cheek, (4) kiss on the forehead or hand, (5) hugging without a kiss, (6) tapping on the shoulder, shaking hands, (7) tapping on the bottom, (8) waving (without touching), (9) nodding (without touching), etc. The investigation led to the development of frameworks,
which had to explain the use of nonverbal behavioral patterns both within and outside of the family. It was discovered, for instance, that Russians and Ukrainians tend to practice bodily
contact much more often (in comparison to Germans) when greeting members of their own family. Germans proved to be more open with regard to accepting direct and indirect bodily
contact from representatives of non-primordial communities, such as school classes, groups of colleagues, political parties, etc. One can attempt to explain this difference in terms of the opposition between oikos (big family, home) and polis in terms of the definition proposed by Aristotle. Yet one should still conclude that the meaning of a number of cultural taboos (whose origins might derive from antiquity) is mostly hidden for the representatives of the respective culture. Such taboos are anchored in nonverbal behavioral stereotypes of everyday life. Taboos can be increasingly understood and described if scholars are to combine textual and praxeological approaches.""
backbone of linguistic and anthropological research. An essential part of the encompasses the qualitative analysis of interviews with carriers of culturally rooted values. The aim of these interviews, conducted in Russia, Germany, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, was to understand why young people might avoid bodily contact with representatives of their own as well as foreign cultures. The research began with the premise that the reasons for avoiding
bodily contact (in situations of greeting, for instance) might be explained in rather different terms by carriers of culturally rooted values. Typical scenarios include arguments such as
‘sin’, ‘shame’, ‘differences in social status’ ‘impoliteness’, ‘dirt’, ‘disease’, ‘fear of infection’, etc. During the survey, interview partners were asked to describe the following experiences and
whether they had encountered them in the preceding year: drinking from the same glass, eating from the same plate, smoking the same cigarette, wearing the same underwear, sleeping in the same bed with one's own (1) mother, (2) father, (3) brother, (4) sister, (5) relatives of the same sex, (6) relatives of the opposite sex, (7) friends of the same sex, (8) friends of the opposite sex, (9) unknown persons of the same sex, and (10) unknown persons
of the opposite sex. In other situations, respondents were asked to characterize typical gestures used to greet one's spouse, mother, father, partner, and male or female colleagues. The subjects could choose one of the following answers: (1) long wet kiss on the mouth/tongue kiss, (2) dry kiss on the lips, (3) kiss on the cheek, (4) kiss on the forehead or hand, (5) hugging without a kiss, (6) tapping on the shoulder, shaking hands, (7) tapping on the bottom, (8) waving (without touching), (9) nodding (without touching), etc. The investigation led to the development of frameworks,
which had to explain the use of nonverbal behavioral patterns both within and outside of the family. It was discovered, for instance, that Russians and Ukrainians tend to practice bodily
contact much more often (in comparison to Germans) when greeting members of their own family. Germans proved to be more open with regard to accepting direct and indirect bodily
contact from representatives of non-primordial communities, such as school classes, groups of colleagues, political parties, etc. One can attempt to explain this difference in terms of the opposition between oikos (big family, home) and polis in terms of the definition proposed by Aristotle. Yet one should still conclude that the meaning of a number of cultural taboos (whose origins might derive from antiquity) is mostly hidden for the representatives of the respective culture. Such taboos are anchored in nonverbal behavioral stereotypes of everyday life. Taboos can be increasingly understood and described if scholars are to combine textual and praxeological approaches.""
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, German Studies, Russian Studies, Intercultural Communication, Self and Identity, and 25 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Comparative History, Cross-border cooperation, History of the Senses, Identity (Culture), Cross-Cultural Psychology, Cross-Cultural Studies, Czech & Slovak Studies, Survey Research, Intercultural Identity, Cultural Anthropology, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Comparative and historical sociology, InterCultural Studies, Cross-Cultural Communication, Russian culture, Greeting rituals, Taboo, Touch, Russian and Slavonic Studies, German and Russian languages and the culture, History of social hygiene, eugenics, exchange of medical knowledge across national and ideological borders in the 19th and 20th centuries, Intercultural training, Comparative and Historical Methods, and Thanking and Greeting
The article examines how the ideas of "dirt", "sin", "rubbish", "disease" were used and modified in the context of Russian and Soviet cultures
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Purification rites serve to indicate borders in tribal societies. Newcomers have to wash off traces of the outside world in order to become integrated in a closed community. It is quite usual that elites performing purification rites... more
Purification rites serve to indicate borders in tribal societies. Newcomers have to wash off traces of the outside world in order to become integrated in a closed community. It is quite usual that elites performing purification rites strive for total control over the financial resources of a clan, a village, or an entire country. Some of these rites turn out to be important with regard to the processes of constitution and reproduction of political elites in postmodern societies. This was the primary argument of a study that analyzed the phenomenon of “bath friendships” between Russian and German politicians from a historical and sociological perspective.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Russian Studies, Cultural Sociology, Soviet History, Post-Soviet Regimes, and 9 moreRussian Politics, Post-Soviet Politics, Post-Soviet Studies, Soviet, post-Soviet, Russian politics, History of Communism; Soviet; Post-Soviet; Russia; Eastern Europe, Colour Revolutions, Elections in Authoritarian states, De Facto States, and Caucasus and Central Asia
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The concepts of intimacy (e.g. intimate distance, intimate space, etc.) are being analyzed comparatively in the contexts of Eastern and Western European History.
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The continuity of symbolic codes of communication and representation of power is the subject of this article
Research Interests: Russian Studies, Visual Studies, Soviet History, Early Modern History, Visual Culture, and 15 moreSocial Representations, Post-Soviet Regimes, Symbolic Interaction, Visual Communication, Post-Soviet Studies, History of Elites, Russian History, Symbolic Anthropology (Anthropology), Russian Language, Russian Intellectual History, Putin's foreign policies, Vladimir Putin, Brezhnev era Soviet history, Self Representation, and Russian Political Elites
The history of bodily practices, such as fencing and boxing, is being analyzed comparatively. The evolution of visual representation of power in Eastern and Western Europe forms the background of the analysis
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The article investigates the evolution of verbal and nonverbal (kinetic) behavioral stereotypes
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The author claims that Russian duels are of different origin than those in Germany, France and Great Britain. The article is devoted to the evolution of the concept of honor in Early Modern Europe.
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The article investigates the impact of the treatises of good comportment on the formation of modern behavioral patterns
The article investigates the history and symbolic meaning of socialized body postures from the comparative perspective
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While seeking access to the European literary salon, Nabokov played up the crucial motives of the contemporary French and German literature, such as "The Double", "Counterfeiting" and "Homosexuality", transforming and parodying the... more
While seeking access to the European literary salon, Nabokov played up the crucial motives of the contemporary French and German literature, such as "The Double", "Counterfeiting" and "Homosexuality", transforming and parodying the decadent way of writing
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""Since the Enlightenment smell has been regarded as the lowest level at the hierarchy of sences. Civilization produced concert halls and art galleries, but no museums of smell. Following on the methods of New Historicism and Annales... more
""Since the Enlightenment smell has been regarded as the lowest level at the hierarchy of sences. Civilization produced concert halls and art galleries, but no museums of smell. Following on the methods of New Historicism and Annales (Aries, Chartier, Braudel), the author is comparing the Russian smell policy with its European prototypes.
According to Freud, smell does not play any role in sexual relationships of human beings and is replaced by vision at the early stages of human development. However, Freud's statement contradicts the data of social research. Perfumes made from anal and sexual secretions of animals, amber and musk were the integral part of sexual activity in Europe in the 17th century. In Russian baths at that time musk was also a very common aphrodisiac. Smell was a sign of presence, a reference to memory and power.
Animal smells disappeared in Europe under the influence of the English sentimental fashion. The new urban space, being considered a "natural" one, presupposed a high olfactory sensitivity. As a remainder of English "pleasure gardens", lavender and thyme became the basic "cultural" smells at that time. Russian culture was not unaware of these changes, but experienced them later than the Western world. This delay has usually been considered by the Europeans as a "lack of culture" (Herberstein 1526, Fletcher 1591, Petreius de Erlesunda 1605, Olearius 1656, de Custine 1825 etc.).
Russia joined the new, culturally-oriented system of smells only in the 19th century. To illustrate this statement, the last part of the paper is devoted to the "olfactory" analysis of texts by Gogol' ("The Inspector General", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikan'ka), Tolstoj (Anna Karenina), Saltykov-Shchedrin ("The Tale of The One City"), Dostoevskii (Poor Folk), Chexov ("The Cherry Orchard", "The Seagull", "Three Sisters"). Some statistical information on the use of different smell designations is being provided as well""
According to Freud, smell does not play any role in sexual relationships of human beings and is replaced by vision at the early stages of human development. However, Freud's statement contradicts the data of social research. Perfumes made from anal and sexual secretions of animals, amber and musk were the integral part of sexual activity in Europe in the 17th century. In Russian baths at that time musk was also a very common aphrodisiac. Smell was a sign of presence, a reference to memory and power.
Animal smells disappeared in Europe under the influence of the English sentimental fashion. The new urban space, being considered a "natural" one, presupposed a high olfactory sensitivity. As a remainder of English "pleasure gardens", lavender and thyme became the basic "cultural" smells at that time. Russian culture was not unaware of these changes, but experienced them later than the Western world. This delay has usually been considered by the Europeans as a "lack of culture" (Herberstein 1526, Fletcher 1591, Petreius de Erlesunda 1605, Olearius 1656, de Custine 1825 etc.).
Russia joined the new, culturally-oriented system of smells only in the 19th century. To illustrate this statement, the last part of the paper is devoted to the "olfactory" analysis of texts by Gogol' ("The Inspector General", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikan'ka), Tolstoj (Anna Karenina), Saltykov-Shchedrin ("The Tale of The One City"), Dostoevskii (Poor Folk), Chexov ("The Cherry Orchard", "The Seagull", "Three Sisters"). Some statistical information on the use of different smell designations is being provided as well""
Research Interests: Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Eastern European Studies, Russian Studies, Russian Literature, and 12 moreHistorical Anthropology, Cultural Sociology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Enlightenment, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Absolutism, Russian History, History of Everyday Life, Courts and Elites (History), Russian culture, Smell, and History of Perfumes
Zakharine, Dmitri [Захарьин, Дмитрий]: 1999, Onania and indecent exposure in the context of Russian Postmodernity [orig. Onania und Selbstentblössung im Spiegel der russischen Postmoderne, in: Poetik der Metadiskursivität. Hrsg. v. D. Burkhart (= Die Welt der Slaven. Sammelbände. Bd. 6). S. 167-179more
The article investigates gestures of masturbation which are used in the Post-Soviet Russian literature in terms of meta-discursive techniques . These techniques highlight the popular Postmodern analogy between writing acts and intimate... more
The article investigates gestures of masturbation which are used in the Post-Soviet Russian literature in terms of meta-discursive techniques . These techniques highlight the popular Postmodern analogy between writing acts and intimate bodily acts
Research Interests:
The article examines the idea of "OBSCENE" relating to verbal and nonverbal behaviour in the time of the Enlightenment (18 cent.)
According to Freud, smell does not play any role in sexual relationships of human beings and is replaced by vision at the early stages of human development. However, Freud's statement contradicts the data of social research. Perfumes made... more
According to Freud, smell does not play any role in sexual relationships of human beings and is replaced by vision at the early stages of human development. However, Freud's statement contradicts the data of social research. Perfumes made from anal and sexual secretions of animals, amber and musk were the integral part of sexual activity in Europe in the 17th century. In Russian baths at that time musk was also a very common aphrodisiac (Bachmann 1824, Breuer 1832, Pochhammer 1824). Smell was a sign of presence, a reference to memory and power.
Animal smells disappeared in Europe under the influence of the English sentimental fashion. The new urban space, being considered a "natural" one, presupposed a high olfactory sensitivity. As a remainder of English "pleasure gardens", lavender and thyme became the basic "cultural" smells at that time. Russian culture was not unaware of these changes, but experienced them later than the Western world. This delay has usually been considered by the Europeans as a "lack of culture"
Animal smells disappeared in Europe under the influence of the English sentimental fashion. The new urban space, being considered a "natural" one, presupposed a high olfactory sensitivity. As a remainder of English "pleasure gardens", lavender and thyme became the basic "cultural" smells at that time. Russian culture was not unaware of these changes, but experienced them later than the Western world. This delay has usually been considered by the Europeans as a "lack of culture"
The article investigates the role of treatises on good comportment in regard to the history of behavior in Russia. The research focuses on the parallel reglementation of verbal and nonverbal behavioral stereotypes
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Education, Social Anthropology, Early Modern History, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 9 moreEnlightenment, Early Modern Europe, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Nonverbal Communication, Russian History, History of Communication, Nonverbal Behavior, Cultural Anthropology, and Inter-civilization contact and conflict
Following on the theory of speech acts the author investigates the verbal and nonverbal techniques that have been used to interrupt the other speaker, to let the other speaker shut up or change the subject of speech
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The article examines the context of cultural contacts between Old Novgorod and the German Hanseatic League. It was context in which the first Russian treatise about grammar appeared. Methods of linguistic description provided by Latin... more
The article examines the context of cultural contacts between Old Novgorod and the German Hanseatic League. It was context in which the first Russian treatise about grammar appeared. Methods of linguistic description provided by Latin and German grammars were applied by translator Dmitri Gerasimov in terms of playful search for analogies between Russian and Western languages.
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The subject of this book is Eastern and Western European acoustic culture at the beginning of electric sound reproduction. The term ‘acoustic culture’ includes the idea of sensory and social activities, such as perception,... more
The subject of this book is Eastern and
Western European acoustic culture at
the beginning of electric sound
reproduction. The term ‘acoustic
culture’ includes the idea of sensory
and social activities, such as perception,
interpretation and mediation of
auditory events. For a hundred years
now (a very short time, historically
speaking) people have been presented
with new possibilities of perception due
to the rapid development in the field of
audio technology. The author tries to
grasp the social use of these possibilities
laying a special emphasis on the history of mediatisation and mediatised communities, on the
interconnection between
psychoacoustic, historical and
cross-cultural perspectives on auditory
perception. First the reconstruction of
perception contexts that assigned
significances in the past will be
addressed. Next you will find out how
the cultural significance of sound
sources is captured verbally, in other
words how do technical, religious and
gender-related descriptions of sound
sources get included in public
discourses. Thirdly it will be
determined, how material sound objects
and voices get represented in
audiovisual media, in particular sound
film. By a more sophisticated discussion
of how early methods of electrical voice
and sound reproduction could be rooted
in the traditional cultures of Germany,
Great Britain and Russia, the present
study attempts to set a counterpoint to
the popular concept of a technological
globalization.
Western European acoustic culture at
the beginning of electric sound
reproduction. The term ‘acoustic
culture’ includes the idea of sensory
and social activities, such as perception,
interpretation and mediation of
auditory events. For a hundred years
now (a very short time, historically
speaking) people have been presented
with new possibilities of perception due
to the rapid development in the field of
audio technology. The author tries to
grasp the social use of these possibilities
laying a special emphasis on the history of mediatisation and mediatised communities, on the
interconnection between
psychoacoustic, historical and
cross-cultural perspectives on auditory
perception. First the reconstruction of
perception contexts that assigned
significances in the past will be
addressed. Next you will find out how
the cultural significance of sound
sources is captured verbally, in other
words how do technical, religious and
gender-related descriptions of sound
sources get included in public
discourses. Thirdly it will be
determined, how material sound objects
and voices get represented in
audiovisual media, in particular sound
film. By a more sophisticated discussion
of how early methods of electrical voice
and sound reproduction could be rooted
in the traditional cultures of Germany,
Great Britain and Russia, the present
study attempts to set a counterpoint to
the popular concept of a technological
globalization.
Research Interests:
The book is focusing on the following problem clusters: reflections on the societal level about the task of electronic voice transmission; the mediation of gendered voices in audio and audio-visual formats as well as the genesis of vocal... more
The book is focusing on the following problem clusters: reflections on the societal level about the task of electronic voice transmission; the mediation of gendered voices in audio and
audio-visual formats as well as the genesis of vocal stereotypes in national radio and film cultures. Such a historicizing approach to societal experience in the field of voice mediation is of great relevance today in light of the collective learning processes currently triggered by rapid advances in technology.
audio-visual formats as well as the genesis of vocal stereotypes in national radio and film cultures. Such a historicizing approach to societal experience in the field of voice mediation is of great relevance today in light of the collective learning processes currently triggered by rapid advances in technology.
The project entitled “How to steal a billion” referred to the contemporary economic history of Russia. The project was the result of a cooperation between the internet portal ‘Economic crime today’ (Russia, http://econcrime.ru/) and the... more
The project entitled “How to steal a billion” referred to the contemporary economic history of Russia. The project was the result of a cooperation between the internet portal ‘Economic crime today’ (Russia, http://econcrime.ru/) and the Chair for Macro-Sociology of the University of Konstanz (Germany, http://www.uni-konstanz.de/zakharine/). The primary subject of the investigation was the scandal involving the misappropriation of public funds from the budget of Moscow Region in the period from 2000 to 2008. The true reason for the economic downturn was the continuous misuse of state and public funds, whose resources had been embezzled by a mysterious group of crooks.
Over a long period of time, investors kept purchasing securities issued by a number of state companies hidden behind undecipherable abbreviations like MOITK, IKMO etc.. These companies were overseen by the former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov and managed by RIGroup Finance, a joint venture owned by Kuznetsov’s wife Janna Bullock. RIGroup was engaged in the construction of a chain of commercial and entertainment plazas, called ‘Happy Family’ a name full of symbolism. Today five years have passed since the swindle called “Podmoskovye Corporation” was exposed and publicly condemned. But, effectively, little has changed regarding the lack of investment in the Moscow Region. Financial and legal relationships between the former borrowers and the former creditors are not regulated up to date. The authorities need money to perform the tasks which the citizens entrust to them. But no one is about to provide assistance to institutions that have been involved in fraud, corruption and money laundering. No repercussions have followed so far for the officials of the Moscow Region Administration who are alleged to have been the primary beneficiaries of the gigantic financial affair.
The author has been analyzing strategies on how companies can successfully participate in the promising market of international money laundering. It was to be demonstrated that the consequences of so-called globalization for national economies worldwide were extremely inconsistent. There is a discrepancy between a weak impact of national states on global markets on the one hand and the free circulation of financial resources, commodities and people on the other hand. The first conclusion that can be extracted from the analysis is that the risks associated with corruption are increasing against the backdrop of wide-spread electronic commerce. There appears to be a growing temptation for state officials to take advantage of their status. High posts in finance have a good chance of being sold at a “higher price” on the world market than offered in the local market. The second conclusion one has arrived at is that international monitoring policy has a week influence on combating corruption. It seems to be due to the wave-like character of media campaigns and a genuine lack of political commitment on the part of quarrelsome independent states.
Over a long period of time, investors kept purchasing securities issued by a number of state companies hidden behind undecipherable abbreviations like MOITK, IKMO etc.. These companies were overseen by the former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov and managed by RIGroup Finance, a joint venture owned by Kuznetsov’s wife Janna Bullock. RIGroup was engaged in the construction of a chain of commercial and entertainment plazas, called ‘Happy Family’ a name full of symbolism. Today five years have passed since the swindle called “Podmoskovye Corporation” was exposed and publicly condemned. But, effectively, little has changed regarding the lack of investment in the Moscow Region. Financial and legal relationships between the former borrowers and the former creditors are not regulated up to date. The authorities need money to perform the tasks which the citizens entrust to them. But no one is about to provide assistance to institutions that have been involved in fraud, corruption and money laundering. No repercussions have followed so far for the officials of the Moscow Region Administration who are alleged to have been the primary beneficiaries of the gigantic financial affair.
The author has been analyzing strategies on how companies can successfully participate in the promising market of international money laundering. It was to be demonstrated that the consequences of so-called globalization for national economies worldwide were extremely inconsistent. There is a discrepancy between a weak impact of national states on global markets on the one hand and the free circulation of financial resources, commodities and people on the other hand. The first conclusion that can be extracted from the analysis is that the risks associated with corruption are increasing against the backdrop of wide-spread electronic commerce. There appears to be a growing temptation for state officials to take advantage of their status. High posts in finance have a good chance of being sold at a “higher price” on the world market than offered in the local market. The second conclusion one has arrived at is that international monitoring policy has a week influence on combating corruption. It seems to be due to the wave-like character of media campaigns and a genuine lack of political commitment on the part of quarrelsome independent states.
This research project starts out with the premise that the symbolic orders of any society should include constant typological distinctions, such as 1) spatial order, 2) movement order, and 3) speech order. All these orders involve... more
This research project starts out with the premise that the symbolic orders of any society should include constant typological distinctions, such as 1) spatial order, 2) movement order, and 3) speech order. All these orders involve time-dependent configurations of symbols, which are represented in systems of 1) proxemic, 2) kinetic, and 3) verbal signs. The results of this semiotic analysis are summarized in my postdoctoral thesis, which I presented to the faculty of sociology and history at the University of Constance (Germany). The study examined processes of standardization and differentiation of verbal and nonverbal behavioral patterns (such as dance, fencing, greeting, politeness in speech and comportment, etc.) in the context of establishing diplomatic and court ceremonial in Germany, Ottoman Empire, Russia and France. Communicative practices in Eastern and Western Europe have been studied comparatively. The phenomenon of the so-called modernization of behavior has been considered with regard to the dissolution of traditional forms of community and the emergence of formal and bureaucratic structures of communication. The author has attempted to develop sociological frameworks in order to explain cases of unsuccessful nonverbal communication as well as the continuity of visual stereotypes in the 17-20 cent. from Peter the Great up to Stalin.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Diplomatic History, Cultural Studies, Eastern European Studies, Russian Studies, and 45 moreVisual Studies, Visual Anthropology, Media and Cultural Studies, Early Modern History, German History, Medieval Studies, Gesture, Visual Culture, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ritual, Visual Semiotics, Kinetics, Russian Politics, Enlightenment, Eastern European history, Early Modern Europe, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Visual Communication, Nonverbal Communication, Early modern Ottoman History, History of Daily Life, Russian History, History of Communication, Ceremonial Dress, Nonverbal Behavior, Cultural Anthropology, Courts and Elites (History), History of Dance, Early modern Germany, Proxemics, Greeting rituals, Central and Eastern Europe, Ceremony, Ritual and Performance, Smell, Sports History, Sociology of Sport, History in General, Russian and Slavonic Studies, Inter-civilization contact and conflict, Nonverbal Communication, Pragmatics, History of Fencing, Ancient history, history of behavior, State Ceremonial, History of Furniture Design, History of Duel, Early History of Boxing, and Ceremonial and Symbolic Representations of Sovereignty In Early Modern Europe
Approaching language as communicative practice, the author investigates relationships between 1) techniques for storing knowledge, 2) practices of memorization, 3) ways of teaching, and 4) epistemic bases of linguistic classifications,... more
Approaching language as communicative practice, the author investigates relationships between 1) techniques for storing knowledge, 2) practices of memorization, 3) ways of teaching, and 4) epistemic bases of linguistic classifications, such as grammatical systems of tense, mode, or gender in different historical periods. First, the study explores ways in which structures of grammatical paradigm could be made to intersect with methods of memorization. Secondly, it investigates how practices of memorization had been transmitted to Eastern Europe, where they served as models for early descriptions of Russian. Thirdly, the work examines the interrelation between different fields of knowledge, such as mathematics and linguistics. The research showed that, for instance, the privileged position of modus infinitivus in grammars and dictionaries of the seventeenth century was anticipated by Newton’s investigations on the infinite universe. The research has given rise to a mediological model of knowledge transfer in Early Modern Russia.