Remembering Science Cities: Urban Space and Community Identity of Post-Soviet Scientific and Technical Intelligentsia
Remembering Science Cities: Urban Space and Community Identity of Post-Soviet Scientific and Technical Intelligentsia

Summary/Abstract: Based on 17 in-depth interviews conducted in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, Dubna, and Chernogolovka, this study focuses on identifying and analyzing the specifics of the post-Soviet scientific and technical intelligentsia’s cultural memory of Soviet science cities from the late 1960s to the present. The socio-cultural environment and institutional goals of Soviet science cities seem to have fostered a collective memory that transcends geographical and institutional boundaries, creating shared narratives despite the isolation and secrecy of these settlements. In the context of urban life in science cities, my informants downplay the complex relations between the Soviet intelligentsia and the communist state, and focus on class tensions: while the state provides scientists with a high level of care, it is the workers and their families who represent “others” in their narratives.

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