by Debora Aberastury
This spring World Dip is shining the spotlight on Dr. Anatoly Reshetnikov, an assistant professor who joined the International Relations Department at WVPU in December 2018. Dr. Reshetnikov’s research interests include: identity politics, critical and linguistic approaches to social analysis, and Russia’s international politics -- to name just a few. He recently received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Central European University (Hungary) and holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies, also from the Central European University. Reshetnikov is currently teaching two BA courses on Methods of Political Inquiry and Key Concepts of Russian Foreign Policy. Next year he will be teaching a course on Eastern European Politics in addition to BA and MA-level courses on Research Methods. Debora Aberastury shares more.
Why did you choose to go into academia and teaching?
After finishing my master’s I was not sure where to go. So, I was trying out different options. I worked in the business sector for a while. Then I realized that something was missing. I disliked the 9-to-5 routine and longed for a creative job in a creative place. I was quite good at academic writing and going back to academia seemed like a logical choice, so I decided to apply for a PhD program.
While doing my PhD, I gradually realized that the teaching of social sciences and humanities was, in fact, extremely important. It touches upon the most fundamental questions of human life: “How to live well together?” “How to handle the irreducible difference between individuals’ aspiration and desires?” “How to build peace that lasts?” These questions do not have easy answers, but it is only by constantly trying to find answers that we can hope to understand the roots of the most pressing social problems. University is the place where this discussion can proceed freely without concern for political stakes and sworn allegiances.
“It is only by constantly trying to find answers that we can hope to understand the roots of the most pressing social problems.”
Tell us about the current book you are working on: the evolution of Russian great power discourse from the XI Century until the present day.
I recently defended my PhD and now I am trying to turn my thesis into a book. In terms of its theme, my PhD project is a conceptual history of several Russian notions related to political greatness, superiority, international status, etc. It includes a thorough textual analysis of many primary sources through which Russia, as well as its predecessor polities spoke about greatness. In a nutshell, I am trying to go back in time to see where this great power discourse originated, how it changed throughout history, and how we ended up where we are today – at yet another moment of confrontation between Russia and the West.
What other projects are you currently working on?
I am working on several other projects. One project is an edited volume that aims to represent and engage with different historical conceptions of greatness as they developed in Russia, the US, Turkey, China, Brazil and other major powers. This June, my colleagues and I will have the first serious workshop on this topic in Krakow.
Another project that I have been working on for a while with one of my co-authors is a series of articles (and hopefully a book) on the ‘trickster turn’ in Russian diplomacy. In that project, we are trying to understand the meaning of the recent ambivalent trends in Russia’s communication with the outside world. I am also working on an article with another colleague about the rhetorical foundations of political order and the anti-rhetorical bias of the current International Relations and social science as such.
Why did you choose Russia as your area of interest?
I started working on Russia because this was something I knew best, as a Russian national. I speak the language and possess cultural competence necessary to conduct in-depth analysis. Having lived outside Russia for more than eight years, I am also closely familiar with how Russia is represented in other countries. Studying Russia is also a way for me to reconnect with my country and culture of origin while living abroad.
Could you talk more about the 'trickster turn' in Russian foreign policy?
We draw on literature from the fields of literary studies and anthropology of religion to flesh out a distinct political role that Russia came to play in the current international system. This role is cognate to the role of the mythological trickster. In other words, Russia’s systemic position in the current configuration of the international order is similar to the position of Loki in Scandinavian folklore, of Prometheus and Coyote in Greek and North American mythologies respectively, and of Bart Simpson in “The Simpsons” universe. Tricksters are amoral, but not immoral. They are neither good nor evil; neither idealists, nor fools. They never have a secret plan to destroy humanity, but they always plot their little tricks. Even though they subvert the existing structures, they do not have any new structures to offer. They challenge their cultural systems from within by revealing and subverting their internal logic.
“[tricksters] never have a secret plan to destroy humanity, but they always plot their little tricks.”
At the same time, tricksters are not total outcasts banned from socialization. They are well-established and familiar figures and are often welcomed into discussion. Tricksters are also hostages of their environment: They did not create it and have little control over it. They are incapable of transforming it radically. Yet they are also too seasoned to take it seriously. So, they always try to cut corners, but often end up being fooled, because they cannot account for all the complexities of their cultural and natural systems.
We believe that this description fits Russia’s international politics very well. And if it does, this means that we now have a vast amount of cultural resources where we can find recipes of how to deal with tricksters. We can consult those resources trying to understand why they take up this systemic role and what their main grievances are.
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Debora Aberastury is currently a graduate student in the international relations Department at Webster Vienna Private University. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations with a minor in Spanish from Webster University in St. Louis, MO. Previously, she has studied abroad in Greece and England. Aberastury also writes for Pasquines and Voy Abroad, and has interned with the US State Department and the Missouri Coordinated Democratic campaign.
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