CALL FOR PAPERS - 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS / eSamizdat 2025 (XVIII)

Timeline (valid for all sections)

Deadline paper: June 15th 2025

Publication: December 2025

Authors are invited to send their articles to esamizdat@esamizdat.it, along with an abstract (100-150 words ca.), a brief bio of the author (100-150 words ca.) and a list of keywords (up to 5). All the requested metadata should be in English.

eSamizdat accepts papers in Italian, English and all Slavic languages.

More info and details about the editorial guidelines: www.esamizdat.it

I. Monographic section

SUB- AND COUNTER-CULTURES IN SLAVIC COUNTRIES

edited by Alessandro Ajres and Simone Guagnelli

The development of subcultural and countercultural theory experienced a period of stagnation during the 1980s, in comparison to the initial surge of Anglo-Saxon studies[1]. However, the subsequent decade saw a notable resurgence in interest in the ideas and concepts expressed by youth cultures (and beyond). This shift can be described as a “postmodern turn in subcultural theory”[2]. Indeed, it was within the context of postmodernism that the debate also reached the Slavic countries, which were undergoing significant political and socio-cultural transformations during that period. In Poland, for instance, the influence of a musical genre such as rap music was disruptive, marking a significant departure from the recent past represented by the People’s Republic and its imposed “officialdom”. According to numerous scholars, rap music emerged as “the most important cultural phenomenon in the free country”[3] and contributed to what is defined as the “post-1989 linguistic revolution”[4].

The volume of research would increase rapidly. Mirosław Pęczak’s Mały słownik subkultur młodzieżowych [Small Dictionary of Youth Subcultures], published in 1992, was quickly followed by Marian Filipiak’s Od subkultury do kultury alternatywnej [From Subculture to Alternative Culture] in 1999. Mirosław Pęczak himself defined subculture as the code of “a relatively cohesive social group that remains on the margins of the dominant trends of social life in a given system, expressing its individuality by denying or undermining the established and commonly accepted models of culture”. This definition indicates that antagonism to the “official” or “high” culture is the primary element determining the reasons for a specific subculture or counterculture. It should be noted that in this definition, sub- and counter-culture are not distinguished[5].

With regard to Russia, the most recent publication is The Oxford Handbook of Soviet Underground Culture (2024). This work provides an in-depth analysis of artistic counter-movements from the 1930s until the fall of the Soviet Union, defining the hermeneutic categories underlying the study of underground culture. The book presents a variety of approaches to mapping counter-movements, including the non-conformist cultures of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Central Asia, and provincial settings. Additionally, the analysis encompasses communities formed around religious identity, as well as queer and feminist circles.

In the Italian context, Gian Piero Piretto has effectively reconstructed the relations between sub/counterculture and hegemonic culture in a Gramscian manner. Piretto posits that subculture is a phenomenon that exists in a state of passive resistance to the dominant culture. This dominant culture seeks to co-opt figures and symbols from the subculture that are willing to renounce their origins. The manner in which this occurs was elucidated by Pasolini in the article Contro i capelli lunghi [Against Long Hair, 1973]. The transition to counterculture, on the other hand, occurs when the subculture becomes aware of its capacity for opposition. From that moment onward, the hegemonic culture perceives an adversary, a destabilizing element that consciously confronts it. The musical genres of gospel and jazz, which originated as subculture phenomena, have been institutionalised and incorporated into the canon of high culture. This process of institutionalisation has arguably resulted in a loss of the subversive power that initially characterised these genres.

What are the implications of this transformation for the sub- and counter-cultures that arose and subsequently declined, or continue to persist in the context of Slavic countries?

The editors invite authors to submit original contributions focusing on the following themes:

- The development of individual sub- and counter-cultures in the context of one or more Slavic countries;

- The intertwining of sub- and countercultures with other cultural phenomena within the country of origin and/or with movements across the border (including across the Wall, for the period prior to 1989);

- The sub- and counter-cultures that emerged during the transition period, which encompassed the collapse of the communist system and the transformation and emergence of Slavic sub- and counter-cultures in relation to those of the West;

- The study of phenomena of censorship and/or confinement and the subsequent reaction of sub- and countercultures;

- The relationship between Slavic sub- and countercultures and the phenomenon of war, with regard to both past wars and the current war between Russia and Ukraine.

[1] Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, ed. by S. Hall – T. Jefferson, London 1976; D. Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Milton Park-Abingdon-on-Thames 1979; J. M. Yinger, Contraculture and Subculture, “American Sociological Review”, 1960, (25) 5, pp. 625-635.

[2] P. Magaudda, Ridiscutere le sottoculture. Resistenza simbolica, postmodernismo e disuguaglianze sociali, “Studi culturali”, 2009, 2, p. 306.

[3] T. “CNE” Kleyff, Rzut oka wstecz, in Antologia polskiego rapu, ed. by A. Cała – M. Flint – K. Jaczyński – T. Kleyff – D. Węcławek, Warszawa 2014, p. 22.

[4] Cfr. K. Ożóg, Nowy język polski po roku 1989, in Literatura i język wczoraj i dziś, ed. by E. Błachowicz – Ja. Lizak, Rzeszów 2007, pp. 13-24.

[5] In Italy, on the other hand, the term “subculture” or “sub-culture”, as defined by Luciano Gallino in the Dictionary of Sociology (Torino 1978), encompasses a subset of both material and immaterial cultural elements, including values, knowledge, languages, behavioural norms, lifestyles and working tools. These elements are typically elaborated and used by a specific sector, segment or stratum of society. It is important to note that this concept is distinct from that of the counterculture, which is characterised by alternative structures and explicitly political and ideological forms that stand in radical opposition to the dominant culture.

Essential bibliography

Amerio P. – Borgogno F., Introduzione alla psicologia dei piccoli gruppi, Torino 1975.

Controculture 1956-1995, ed. by Ciaponi F. – Sfligiotti S., Milano 2024.

Fine G. A. – Kleinman S., Rethinking Subculture: An Interactionist Analysis, “American Journal of Sociology”, 1979, 85 (1), pp. 1-20.

Gelder K., Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice, London 2007.

Gramsci A., Prison Notebooks, New York 1992.

Guarnaccia M., Ribelli con stile. Un secolo di mode radicali, Milano 2009.

Heath J. – Potter A., Révolte Consommée: le Mythe de la Contre-Culture, Paris 2005.

Hebdige D., Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Milton Park-Abingdon-on-Thames 1979.

Magaudda P., Ridiscutere le sottoculture, “Studi culturali”, 2009, 2, pp. 301-314.

Marchi V., La sindrome di Andy Capp. Cultura di strada e conflitto giovanile, Rimini 2004.

O’ Brien S. – Szeman I., Subcultures and Countercultures, in Idem, Popular Culture: A User’s Guide, Hoboken 2017, pp. 237-269.

Pardo P., Le controculture giovanili, Milano 1997.

Piretto G. P., Studiare e insegnare cultura russa, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y50q5devCQY

Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, ed. by Hall S. – Jefferson T., London 1976.

Roszak T., The Making of a Counter-Culture, New York 1969.

The Post-Subcultures Reader, ed. by Muggleton D. – Weinzierl R., Oxford 2003.

The Subcultures Reader, ed. by Gelder K. – Thornton S., London-New York 1997.

Thornton S., Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, Cambridge 1995.

Williams J. P., Subcultural Theory. Traditions and Concepts, Cambridge 2011.

Zellner W., Countercultures: A Sociological Analysis, New York 1995.

II. Translation section

MUSIC AND NATIONAL MUSIC IN IMPERIAL AND SOVIET RUSSIA

edited by Anna Giust

The Translation section of eSamizdat XVIII (2025) will be dedicated to the musicological debate and its ability to reflect crucial issues of Russian culture by participating in the broader discussion on national identity.

The section will present, for the first time in Italian translation, a series of texts drawn from publications devoted to imperial Russian and Soviet classical music, in a time span extending between the late 19th and the mid-20th centuries.

Starting from the controversy on the state of art music, arriving at the positions expressed on Soviet opera, the selected materials will touch on some of the most widely discussed themes in the field of operatic and symphonic music, ranging between expectations toward specific artistic genres, originality, and compliance with a national character hypothesized and formulated through this same debate, often embedded in the mental grid of the comparison with the West.

Those interested are invited to contact the editorial team for texts and instructions.