FORUM FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND CULTURE

ANTROPOLOGICHESKIJ FORUM
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Antropologicheskij forum, 2017, no. 32

 

“BLACK CAR” AS A SYMBOL OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE IN 1917: PHOBIA, MYTHEME, EMOTIONAL STIMULUS

Vladislav Aksenov

Institute of Russian history, Russian Academy of Sciences
19 D. Ulyanova Str., Moscow, Russia
vlaks()mail.ru

Abstract: This paper examines the phenomenon of rumours about “black cars” in 1917, which visualised inhabitants’ fears of different forms of violence. It is mentioned that those rumours were a form of mass phobia which spread in Petrograd and Moscow and other Russian cities. The methodological basis of this article draws from such disciplines as historical anthropology, history of emotions, and social psychology. An intertextual basis of rumours is discussed: rumours are tied with criminal city legends, literary and cinema fiction, political and religious discourses. The author notices the role of such rumours as an emotional stimulus provoking crowd violence. The article studies the dynamics of the image of “black cars” as the symbol of violence during the revolution, from the symbol of counterrevolution to the symbol of revolutionary tyranny and anarchy. It is mentioned that recent city legends are also tied with rumours about “black cars”.

Keywords: rumours, phobia, urban legends, history of emotions, revolution of 1917, black cars, mass consciousness.

To cite: Aksenov V., 'Chernoe avto kak simvol revolyutsionnogo nasiliya v 1917 g.: fobiya, mifologema, emotsionalnyy stimul' [“Black Car” as a Symbol of Revolutionary Violence in 1917: Phobia, Mytheme, Emotional Stimulus], Antropologicheskij forum, 2017, no. 32, pp. 112–141.

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/032/aksenov.pdf