Social Theory and Culture of Elites in the Context of Post-Soviet Developments

About the lecture
The lecture will discuss the concept of elite in an anthropological context. It will provide some theoretical premises for the anthropological study of elites, based on functional, value and power-based approaches. In particular, elites will be analyzed as part of social structure and cultural groups. A case study of Armenian Soviet and post-Soviet elites will illustrate the theory. Students will learn about the main processes of new elite formation in independent Armenia and the main transformations of the elite groups in power before and after the Velvet Revolution of 2018. The composition of power groups and their socio-cultural characteristics will be analyzed taking into account the economic and geopolitical context. Some national discourses on "true" and "false" elites will be addressed as part of the process of elite transformation.

About the speaker
Yulia Antonyan is Associate Professor at the Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University (since 2008). Her professional interests are in anthropology of religion and anthropology of social structures with special focus on Soviet and Post-Soviet periods. Her fieldwork was mainly in Armenia and Armenian communities of Georgia, Syria and Lebanon. Dr. Antonyan has published around 45 articles in English, Armenian and Russian, a collective monography on religious landscapes of Armenia of 20th century (2023) and edited volumes on anthropology of elites in the South Caucasus (2016) and the concept of Armenian-Soviet culture (2023). Her most recent work is the edited volume on political and social situation in post-revolutionary and post-war Armenia (2024).

Venue:
J. Kovalevskio auditorija
(Universiteto g. 5, Vilnius)

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