Medical life. The materiality of late socialism. Golubev A.

What role do material objects play in public life? How much do the objects around us affect the construction of collective and individual identity?

Aleksey Golubev in his book “Militry Life” is looking for answers to these questions in the history of the late USSR. Unlike most researchers who focus on the role of language and ideology in the formation of the Soviet “I”, the author emphasizes the importance of materiality for the historical and social imagination that has developed among the inhabitants of the country during late socialism. He demonstrates how a variety of objects in the range from architectural monuments to televisions structured the social life of Soviet people, built their tastes and preferences, determined relations within groups and communities. Such a view of late -Soviet history not only helps to better understand it, but also allows you to see this experience as an integral part of global modernity.

Aleksey Golubev - historian, Phd University of British Columbia, Associate Professor of the University of Houston, Co -editor of the Anthology “XX Century: War Letters”, published in the publishing house “UFO”.