A Small-Scale Russia: Indi Identity in Russian Popular Music Culture (2008-2018)

Abstract

The present thesis analyses the cultural musical phenomenon of Russian indie music (indi) in the years 2008-2018. It contextualises the indi community's characteristics, values, missions, transformations and power struggles in their relationship with Russian society and politics, as well as globally. Through interviews with indi practitioners and audiences, personally conducted during fieldwork, participant observation and the analysis of music zines, this work argues that indi occupies a place in Russian society that differs from traditional schemes of resistance or non-involvement. From the hope for modernisation of Putin's first two terms and Medvedev's interregnum (2000-2012) to the isolationism of Putin's third and fourth term (2012-present), indi has constantly and significantly engaged with Russia's questions of self-identification, and has oscillated, like Russian society, across the spectrum between affiliation with the West and stand-alone patriotism. By revealing how 'independent' music in Russia is 'dependent' not so much on commercial considerations as primarily on epistemic inquiries and political situations, this thesis demonstrates the coexistence and similar aims of top-down and bottom-up discourses in today's Russia, and complicates studies of both resistance and conformity of non-state-sponsored culture in Post-Soviet Studies and Popular Music Studies.

Date of Award	4 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Barbara Lebrun (Supervisor)