A fresh look at post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia and at the Soviet historical background that shaped the present.

Introduction Mark Bassin and Catriona Kelly; Part I. The Status of National Identity: 1. The contradictions of identity: being Soviet and National in the USSR and after Ronald Grigor Suny; 2. Tales told by Nationalists Nancy Condee; Part II. Institutions of National Identity: 3. National identity through visions of the past: contemporary Russian cinema Birgit Beumers; 4. Archaising culture: the Museum of Ethnography Dmitry Baranov; 5. Rituals of identity: the Soviet passport Albert Baiburin; Part III. Myths of National Identity: 6. 'If the war comes tomorrow': patriotic education in Soviet and post-Soviet primary school Vitaly Bezrogov; 7. Conquering space: the cult of Yuri Gagarin Andrew Jenks; 8. Nation-construction in post-Soviet Central Asia Sergei Abashin; Part IV. Spaces of National Identity: 9. Soviet and post-Soviet Moscow: literary reality or nightmare? Dina Khapaeva; 10. From the USSR to the Orient: national and ethnic symbols in the city text of Elista Elza-Bair Guchinova; 11. The place(s) of Islam in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia Victoria Arnold; Part V. Languages of National Identity: 12. Language culture and identity in post-Soviet Russia: the economies of mat Michael Gorham; 13. Policies and practices of language education in post-Soviet Central Asia: between ethnic identity and civic consciousness Olivier Ferrando; 14. Surviving in the time of deficit: the narrative construction of a 'Soviet identity' Anna Kushkova; Part VI. Creeds of National Identity: 15. Competing orthodoxies: identity and religious belief in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia Catriona Kelly; 16. 'Popular orthodoxy' and identity in twentieth-century Russia: ideology, consumption and competition Alexander Panchenko; 17. Religious affiliation and the politics of post-Soviet identity: the case of Belarus Galina Miazhevich; Index.