Regional Museums of Space Exploration in Russia

Denis Sivkov and Makar Tereshin will discuss their recent ethnographic study of regional space museums in the Republic of Chuvashia, the Volgograd Region, and the Pskov Region of Russia. Describing the key imageries promoted by the museums established amidst socio-political changes of the 1980-1990s, they will outline how these museums represent the Soviet space legacy for contemporary audiences in regions of Russia. Makar and Denis will be talking about the engagement of these regional authorities with the histories of the first Soviet, and then Russian, space explorations. Through an ethnography of the museums' exhibits and space memorabilia which are devoted to the lives of their fellow countrymen-cosmonauts the speakers will address how the museums entangle global imagery of the Soviet space programme with intimate local histories and personal perceptions of the country's past and future.

*This research was supported by V-A-C Foundation as a part of the Centre for Experimental Museology’s grant programme “Museum in a Liminal State”.

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