In a Dark, Dark Wood: Morality, Politics, and Ecological Inaction In Russia

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Date

2024-08-07

Authors

Listrovaya, Liudmila

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Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

This dissertation delves into the complex socio-environmental issues that lay at the intersection of natural resource governance, environmental injustice, and environmental discourse in Russia—a nation with an economy profoundly reliant on revenues from natural resources. Employing environmental sociology as its core analytical framework, this dissertation provides an analysis of the Russian case-study, underscored by a deep-rooted history of settler colonialism and extraction politics, diverse ethnic demographics, and centralized environmental governance. This dissertation consists of three empirical chapters that are written in the article style to be able to serve as standalone research projects while building upon one another to form a cohesive narrative that helps understand the state environmental affairs in an authoritarian Russian state. Using mixed methods—ethnographic fieldwork in the Russian Northwest, critical discourse study of the federal newspapers, and statistical analysis of the Rosstat and Census data—the three dissertation chapters provide a comprehensive analysis of forestry, politicization of environmental discourses, and the increasing role of extraction in shaping environmental disparities across the Russian regions. This dissertation aims to serve as a starting point for an academic conversation about the largely overlooked by environmental sociology Russian case-study, and it further calls for the much-needed development of this area of research.

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Keywords

Authoritarian populism, Environmental discourse, Environmental justice, Russia, Settler colonialism

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