„Zoo” i „makieta”. O dominujących sposobach pisania o Birobidżanie
A “zoo” and “mock-up”: On the most frequent ways of portraying Birobidzhan

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the most common ways of depicting Birobidzhan by journalists, bloggers, film-makers and writers. Established in 1934, The Jewish Autonomous Region is an administrative unit within the Russian Federation. Foreign visitors and visitors from other parts of Russia usually perceive it as “exotic”, “funny”, “absurd”, “grotesque” or “artificial”. Its history is seen as a “failure”, especially when compared to Israel. In various representations, the notion of “utopia” is used in a very narrow, negative sense of “unrealistic pipe dream”. This orientalisation results in the objectification of local residents and delegitimisation of their practices of making sense of the region's history.

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