Exceptions to Authoritarianism? Variegated sovereignty and ethno-nationalism in a Siberian resource frontier

Abstract

This paper explores how the governance of culture and nationalism in Russia is far from uniform but rather, characterized by exceptions and diffuse sovereignty. It responds to a literature exploring the use of culture and identity in the Kremlin’s governing practices through the idiom of “exceptions to authoritarianism.” The dominant conception that culture is strictly instrumentalized by the Kremlin for regime legitimation and the maintenance of the so-called power vertikal is countered by anthropologically examining cultural institutions and identity politics in the Altai Republic. More specifically, the Gazprom-sponsored renovation of a museum celebrating Altaian indigenous culture is explored. This contribution highlights the agendas, interests, and players defining the culture-political fields of practice in authoritarianstates by analyzing how Gazprom enables the blossoming of indigenous cultural institutions. It repositions Gazprom, which successfully enabled a temporary exception to centrist policies, as a parastatal company, located between the global market and authoritarian state.