Russian Talk: Culture and Conversation During Perestroika

by Nancy Ries

Release Date: May, 1997

Edition: Paperback

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Insights into daily Soviet life through conversation

Ries's book has become one of the must-cite books among anthropologists working in Russia or the xSSR. This is one of the first, if not the first ethnographic work based on research in an urban setting. Anthropologists typically head to the tundra or the villages, but most Russians live in very large cities. She presents an ethnography of conversations, usually in the kitchen around drinking tea, which provides fascinating insights into the daily lives of urban people during perestroika. She includes an epilogue describing some of the changes after the fall of the Soviet Union.

This is an ethnography, and not linguistic analysis or conversation analysis, so people looking for that kind of work may be disappointed. On the other hand, this is a book accessible to non-academics if you are willing to put in a little effort working through the subtle arguments.