Paper short abstract:

In preparation for a casebook on legend and politics, this presentation surveys the long-standing interrogation of the interpenetration of political life and contemporary legend and provides an initial framework for a more systematic approach to political uncertainty and explanatory narratives.

Paper long abstract:

Bill Ellis (1989; 2002; 2017) has noted that legend telling is an essentially political act: it suggests and intends action, anything from increased alertness to insurrection. Although the omnipresence of social media has arguably exacerbated misinformation, “fake news,” and conspiracy thinking—and made them more evident as the residue of legend’s essentially ephemeral performance context is trapped in the internet’s “self-archiving” nature (McNeill 2020; Tangherlini 2021)—rumor, gossip, and legend have always interpenetrated with our political understanding. Politics implies the effort to organize collaborative systems within groups of people too large to rely on the immediate bonds of affiliation and mutual obligation and concern of small groups. In urban, colonial, and post-colonial contexts one finds oneself impelled to negotiate the heretofore Other, and the uncertainty that arises from the unforeseeable consequences find succor in the surety legend often supplies, informing whether and how to act. In preparation of an edited and annotated casebook on “Legend and Politics,” which will bring together critical readings while inviting and presenting new work, this presentation draws on the history of legend scholarship and its intersection with politics, broadly understood, ranging from ideas of citizenship and class to issues of governance to elections, politicians, and parties.

Paper short abstract:

Continental legends about the urban phantom in the 20th century Russia, Czechia, Slovakia and Germany conspicuously correlates with construction of dominant historical narratives within the corresponding national traditions and commemorative density of periods of political and social uncertainty.

Paper long abstract:

Narratives about urban phantom Spring-heeled Jack, born during the industrialization of England in the early 1800s, became international migratory legend which was transmitted to the European continent after 1904. Continental versions of the legend then adapted to local conditions in the form of folklore of isolated working class communities. However, the situation changed in the moments when these narratives suddenly took on a lot more importance – often during waves of social unrest associated with important political events and/or processes. The most significant manifestations of this dynamics include the Russian "poprygunchiki" of the Russian Civil War (1918–1920) and during the Second World War (1941), Czech "spring man" of the Second World War (1942–1945), Slovak "phosphorous man" from 1943 in Bratislava, and the German "Hüpfemännchen" from the turbulent postwar period (1948–1953) in Saxony and Thuringia. The mass occurrence of narrations about these phantoms during this period conspicuously correlates with the commemorative density of these periods in the construction of dominant historical narratives within the corresponding national traditions. The subsequent pop-cultural treatments of these materials are then focusing on precisely these formative periods in modern history: in Russia in the period of the Russian Revolution, its aftermath, and the Great Patriotic War, in the Czech lands and Slovakia on the experiences of the Second World War, and in Germany in its postwar reconstruction. These narratives thus form a kind of interesting vernacular commentary on the key moments in these individual modern national histories.

Paper short abstract:

From Colorado Beetles to Combat Mosquitoes: How Conspiracy Theories about Secret Biolaboratories Appeared in Russia and Became a Pretext for the Russian-Ukrainian War

Paper long abstract:

From Colorado Beetles to Combat Mosquitoes

How Conspiracy Theories about Secret Biolaboratories Appeared in Russia and Became a Pretext for the Russian-Ukrainian War

On October 28, 2022 Vasily Nebenzya, the Permanent Representative from Russia to the United Nations, made the claim that Russian troops discovered American drones in Ukraine that can spread mosquitoes infected with dangerous viruses. This statement is not at all unique among representatives of the Russian political elite in 2022. Rather, as crazy as it sounds, it is a perfectly normal statement. After February 24, representatives of the Russian authorities justified the attack on Ukraine by the alleged ‘fact’ that secret American laboratories had been built on the territory, from where they prepared an attack on Russia with the help of animals infected with terrible diseases. Despite the absolute insanity of this argument, Russian officials and media have repeated it over and over again: about 92,000 Russian newspaper articles mentioned this topic from January to October, 2022. This argument is clearly of specific importance to President Putin. He uses this argument as a decisive one in his speeches when he talks about the danger posed by Ukraine.

The main question for analysts and anyone interested in understanding what is happening in Russia is how could this happen? Why has Russia suddenly plunged into such a biolab conspiracy?

However, there is no "suddenly" here. It all was happening gradually. And my talk will be dedicated to this actual question: how a marginal ab-conspiracy took the place of state ideology over the last 70 years.