“And Here We Have the Mother Swa”: The Transmission of (Quasi-)Ethnographic Knowledge in Modern Museums of “Russian Superstitions”

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-1/148-162

Authors

Keywords:

ethnography, scientific knowledge, ethnic museums, , folk culture, new paganism, popular culture

Abstract

The paper examines the current ethnographic knowledge and its distortions around old and new local history and ethnographic museums, both public and private. The current development of the concept of “museum” is discussed together with its semantic content, thanks to which commercial craft and other practices receive legitimation in the form of conventional museum activities. The paper analyzes the self-presentations of a special category of new Russian ethnic museums — museums of Russian superstitions, which aim to present the spiritual life of our ancestors, sometimes demonstrating an uncritical attitude towards the sources of information available in modern culture, subject to the obvious influence of uncertainty. Using the example of a museum-workshop in the village of Vladimirskoye, Nizhny Novgorod region, the author shows the ways by which quasi-ethnographic knowledge is transmitted and disseminated, and discusses the current position of ethnographic knowledge as perceived by the wide audience.

Author Biography

  • Cyril Korolev, The Patria Center for History and Culture, IEA RAS

    Korolev, Cyril M. — Ph.D., Director, The Patria Center for History and Culture (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation), Visiting Fellow, IEA RAS, (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: cyril.korolev@gmail.com ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8831-2970

    For citation: Korolev, C. M. 2025. “And Here We Have the Mother Swa”: The Transmission of (Quasi-)Ethnographic Knowledge in Modern Museums of “Russian Superstitions”. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 1: 148–162.

    Funding: The article was carried out as the framework of the research project: within the framework of the Scientific Research Program related to the study of the ethnocultural diversity of Russian society and aimed at strengthening Russian identity, 2023–2025.

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Published

15.03.2025

Issue

No. 1 (2025): Вестник антропологии

Section

Museums and Cultural Heritage