The reproduction of collective identity, or why the Kuban Cossacks need ritual collective actions
Research Article
Acknowledgments
The research was carried out with the support of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the HSE University
How to Cite
Puzankov I.A. (2025) The reproduction of collective identity, or why the Kuban Cossacks need ritual collective actions. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 28(2): 7-32 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.2.1 EDN: DSVABP
Abstract
The social community of the Cossacks, as well as, in particular, the Kuban army, becoming an increasingly prominent player in the socio-political field, is a fairly relevant object for consideration from various research positions. The article is devoted to the dynamics of traditional (or non-traditional) collective actions of the Kuban Cossacks, considered through the concepts of affectation, commemoration, performativity and ritual. This study analyzes various collective actions within the Cossack community (parade, commemoration, circle, etc.), each of which serves both as a "workshop" of construction and a stage for the manifestation of collective identity. In the theoretical section, the main concepts used in the analysis of empirical material are considered, and their interpretation is carried out in relation to the object of study under consideration. The empirical part focuses on the analysis of performative and ritual elements inherent in Cossack gatherings. The author deconstructs ritual collective performances through the analysis of ethnographic observation data, emphasizing the affective resonance and historical symbolism inherent in each action. Through affective interaction, ritual performances and the resulting collective solidarity, participants are involved in the (re) production of Cossack identity, relying on the rich cultural heritage and collective memory of the community. The rituals studied, from donning traditional uniforms to reciting prayers and electing chieftains, play a key role in shaping and consolidating the collective identity of the Cossacks and strengthening the sense of belonging among the participants.
Keywords:
cossacks, ritual, affect, performativity, commemoration, solidarity, collective identity
References
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Vasiliev I.Yu. (2019) The Russian Cossacks: a place in history. Nacional'nye prioritety Rossii [National Priorities of Russia], 33(2): 6–12 (in Russian).
Vodolatsky V.P. (2011) Cossacks in Modern Society: A Sociological Perspective. Dr. Sociol. Sci. diss. Moscow (in Russian).
Gorbatenko N.S., Sidorenkov A.V. (2008) Conceptual components of the approach of the theory of social identity to the study of groups. Izvestiia vuzov. Severo-Kavkazskii region. Obshchestvennye nauki [News of universities. The North Caucasus region. Social Sciences], 4: 112–116 (in Russian).
Durkheim E. (1991) Value and “real judgments”. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniia [Sociological Research], 2: 106–114 (in Russian).
Koretskaya M.A. (2019) Solidarity with victims and the effects of profanity. Vestnik Samarskoi gumanitarnoi akademii. Seriia: Filosofiia. Filologiia [Bulletin of the Samara Humanitarian Academy. Series: Philosophy. Philology], 26(2): 101–120 (in Russian).
Kuzmenkov V.A. (2018) Rituals as factors of the emergence of values. Sotsial'no-politicheskie nauki [Socio-political sciences], 1: 152–157 (in Russian).
Lysak I.V. (2017) Identity: the essence of the term and the history of its formation. Vestnik TSU. Filosofiia. Sotsiologiia. Politologiia [Tomsk State University Journal. Philosophy. Sociology, Political Science], 38: 130–138. https://doi.org/10.17223/1998863X/38/13 (in Russian).
Matvev O.V. (2007) Historical picture of the world of the Kuban Cossacks (late XVIII — early XX century): categories of military mentality. Kul'turnaia zhizn' Yuga Rossii [Cultural Life of the South of Russia], 6: 35–37 (in Russian).
Austin J. (1999) How to make things with words. Moscow: Idea Press; Dom intellektual'noi knigi (in Russian).
Puzankov I.A. (2022) "A Cossack's whole life is war, there is no fear in a Cossack's heart!", or how Cossacks become today. Interakciya. Interv'yu. Interpretaciya [Interaction. Interview. Interpretation], 14(4): 41–61. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2022.14.4.3 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2009) World Cossack Congresses: The Birth of a Tradition. Problemy istorii, filologii, kultury [Problems of History, Philology, Culture], 23(1): 464–472 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2016) The movement for the revival of the Cossacks in the south of Russia in the early 1990s: organizational forms, ideas and participants in the process. Vestnik VolSU. Istoriia. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia [Science journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 21(4): 124–134. https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2016.4.13 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2021) Revival of the Cossacks in the South of Russia at the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st century. Volgograd: Izd-vo VolGU (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2022) The revival of the Cossacks in the south of Russia in the Soviet period (mid–1920s — early 1940s) and in the post-Soviet period (1990s — 2000s): historical and comparative analysis: dissertation of the Doctor of Historical Sciences. Volgograd (in Russian).
Romanovskaya E.V., Fomenko N.L. (2015) Identity and commemoration. Vlast' [Power], 7: 81–84 (in Russian).
Ryblova M.A. (2010) Don Cossacks: On the Issue of “Origins” and Socio-Cultural Transformations. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review], 6: 158–174 (in Russian).
Ryabova T.B., Ryabov O.V. (2011) “The Real Man”": on the gender dimension of symbolic politics. Zhenshchina v rossiiskom obshchestve [A Woman in Russian Society], 3: 68–72 (in Russian).
Sokolova A. (2016) Interview with Jack Santino, author of Spontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorializations of Death. Arkheologiia russkoi smerti [The Archaeology of Russian Death], 3: 7–18 (in Russian).
Sokolova A.D. (2014) Spontaneous memorialization in the urban landscape: the case of the Yaroslavl Locomotive. Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov v Rossii i za rubezhom [State, Religion, Church in Russia and Abroad], 32(1): 67–106 (in Russian).
Tabolina T.V. (1997) Cossacks at the Turn of the 21st Century: Problems and Opportunities. Moscow: UOP In-ta etnologii i antropologii RAN (in Russian).
Turner V. (1983) Symbol and ritual. M.: Nauka (in Russian).
Tokmakov V.S. (2018) The daily life of the Kuban Cossacks in the dissertations of Russian historians: a review of dissertation research in the 2000s. Vestnik ASU [Bulletin of the Adyghe State University], 3: 58–67 (in Russian).
Fedotova N.G. (2020) Practices of urban commemoration: features of the formation of the cultural memory of the city. Vestnik TSU. Kul'turologiia i iskusstvovedenie [Tomsk State University Journal. Cultural Studies and Art Criticism], 39: 130–143. https://doi.org/10.17223/22220836/39/12 (in Russian).
Connell R., Messerschmidt J.W. (2005) Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6): 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639.
Fox N.J., Alldred P. (2013) The sexuality-assemblage: desire, affect, anti-humanism. The Sociological Review, 61(4): 769–789. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12075.
Homans G. (1941) Anxiety and Ritual: The Theories of Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. American Anthropologist, 43: 164–171. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1941.43.2.02a00020.
Marshall D. (2002) Behavior, Belonging and Belief: A Theory of Ritual Practice. Sociological Theory, 20–3: 360–380. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00168.
Massumi B. (2002) Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.40-1946.
Mazzarella W. (2009) Affect: What is it Good for? In: Dube S. (ed.) Enchantments of Modernity: Empire, Nation, Globalization. New York: Routledge: 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003071020-13.
Milosevic A. (2017) Remembering the present: Dealing with the memories of terrorism in Europe. Journal of Terrorism Research, 8(2): 44–61. https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1269.
Moghaddari S. (2020) The Affective Ambiguity of Solidarity: Resonance within Anti-Deportation Protest in the German Radical Left. Critical Sociology, 47(2): 235–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920520932661.
Roach J., Billman D. (1993) Issues in the Multiply Representation of Social Groups. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31(5): 84–97.
Tajfel H. (1972) La catégorisation sociale. In: Introduction à la Psychologie Sociale. Sous la dir. de S. Moscovici. T. I. Paris: Librairie Larousse: 272–302.
Assman Ya. (2004) Cultural memory. Writing, memory of the past and political identity in the high cultures of antiquity. Moscow: Yazyki slavyanskoy kul'tury (in Russian).
Berberova K.K. (2017) The evolution of masculinity models in Russian society. Sotsial'no-gumanitarnye znaniia [Social and humanitarian knowledge]: 201–205 (in Russian).
Bondar N.I. (2002) Warriors and grain growers (some aspects of the male subculture of the Kuban Cossacks). Voprosy kazach'ei istorii i kul'tury [Questions of Cossack history and culture]: 45–59 (in Russian).
Brubaker R. (2012) Ethnicity without Groups. Moscow: Izdatel'skiy Dom Vysshaya Shkola Ekonomiki (in Russian).
Bugai N.F. (2015) Cossacks of Southern Russia: Constitution, Evolution, Modernity (20th — 21st Centuries). Moscow (in Russian).
Vasiliev I.Yu. (2019) The Russian Cossacks: a place in history. Nacional'nye prioritety Rossii [National Priorities of Russia], 33(2): 6–12 (in Russian).
Vodolatsky V.P. (2011) Cossacks in Modern Society: A Sociological Perspective. Dr. Sociol. Sci. diss. Moscow (in Russian).
Gorbatenko N.S., Sidorenkov A.V. (2008) Conceptual components of the approach of the theory of social identity to the study of groups. Izvestiia vuzov. Severo-Kavkazskii region. Obshchestvennye nauki [News of universities. The North Caucasus region. Social Sciences], 4: 112–116 (in Russian).
Durkheim E. (1991) Value and “real judgments”. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniia [Sociological Research], 2: 106–114 (in Russian).
Koretskaya M.A. (2019) Solidarity with victims and the effects of profanity. Vestnik Samarskoi gumanitarnoi akademii. Seriia: Filosofiia. Filologiia [Bulletin of the Samara Humanitarian Academy. Series: Philosophy. Philology], 26(2): 101–120 (in Russian).
Kuzmenkov V.A. (2018) Rituals as factors of the emergence of values. Sotsial'no-politicheskie nauki [Socio-political sciences], 1: 152–157 (in Russian).
Lysak I.V. (2017) Identity: the essence of the term and the history of its formation. Vestnik TSU. Filosofiia. Sotsiologiia. Politologiia [Tomsk State University Journal. Philosophy. Sociology, Political Science], 38: 130–138. https://doi.org/10.17223/1998863X/38/13 (in Russian).
Matvev O.V. (2007) Historical picture of the world of the Kuban Cossacks (late XVIII — early XX century): categories of military mentality. Kul'turnaia zhizn' Yuga Rossii [Cultural Life of the South of Russia], 6: 35–37 (in Russian).
Austin J. (1999) How to make things with words. Moscow: Idea Press; Dom intellektual'noi knigi (in Russian).
Puzankov I.A. (2022) "A Cossack's whole life is war, there is no fear in a Cossack's heart!", or how Cossacks become today. Interakciya. Interv'yu. Interpretaciya [Interaction. Interview. Interpretation], 14(4): 41–61. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2022.14.4.3 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2009) World Cossack Congresses: The Birth of a Tradition. Problemy istorii, filologii, kultury [Problems of History, Philology, Culture], 23(1): 464–472 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2016) The movement for the revival of the Cossacks in the south of Russia in the early 1990s: organizational forms, ideas and participants in the process. Vestnik VolSU. Istoriia. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia [Science journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 21(4): 124–134. https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2016.4.13 (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2021) Revival of the Cossacks in the South of Russia at the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st century. Volgograd: Izd-vo VolGU (in Russian).
Rvacheva O.V. (2022) The revival of the Cossacks in the south of Russia in the Soviet period (mid–1920s — early 1940s) and in the post-Soviet period (1990s — 2000s): historical and comparative analysis: dissertation of the Doctor of Historical Sciences. Volgograd (in Russian).
Romanovskaya E.V., Fomenko N.L. (2015) Identity and commemoration. Vlast' [Power], 7: 81–84 (in Russian).
Ryblova M.A. (2010) Don Cossacks: On the Issue of “Origins” and Socio-Cultural Transformations. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review], 6: 158–174 (in Russian).
Ryabova T.B., Ryabov O.V. (2011) “The Real Man”": on the gender dimension of symbolic politics. Zhenshchina v rossiiskom obshchestve [A Woman in Russian Society], 3: 68–72 (in Russian).
Sokolova A. (2016) Interview with Jack Santino, author of Spontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorializations of Death. Arkheologiia russkoi smerti [The Archaeology of Russian Death], 3: 7–18 (in Russian).
Sokolova A.D. (2014) Spontaneous memorialization in the urban landscape: the case of the Yaroslavl Locomotive. Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov v Rossii i za rubezhom [State, Religion, Church in Russia and Abroad], 32(1): 67–106 (in Russian).
Tabolina T.V. (1997) Cossacks at the Turn of the 21st Century: Problems and Opportunities. Moscow: UOP In-ta etnologii i antropologii RAN (in Russian).
Turner V. (1983) Symbol and ritual. M.: Nauka (in Russian).
Tokmakov V.S. (2018) The daily life of the Kuban Cossacks in the dissertations of Russian historians: a review of dissertation research in the 2000s. Vestnik ASU [Bulletin of the Adyghe State University], 3: 58–67 (in Russian).
Fedotova N.G. (2020) Practices of urban commemoration: features of the formation of the cultural memory of the city. Vestnik TSU. Kul'turologiia i iskusstvovedenie [Tomsk State University Journal. Cultural Studies and Art Criticism], 39: 130–143. https://doi.org/10.17223/22220836/39/12 (in Russian).
Connell R., Messerschmidt J.W. (2005) Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6): 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639.
Fox N.J., Alldred P. (2013) The sexuality-assemblage: desire, affect, anti-humanism. The Sociological Review, 61(4): 769–789. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12075.
Homans G. (1941) Anxiety and Ritual: The Theories of Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. American Anthropologist, 43: 164–171. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1941.43.2.02a00020.
Marshall D. (2002) Behavior, Belonging and Belief: A Theory of Ritual Practice. Sociological Theory, 20–3: 360–380. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00168.
Massumi B. (2002) Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.40-1946.
Mazzarella W. (2009) Affect: What is it Good for? In: Dube S. (ed.) Enchantments of Modernity: Empire, Nation, Globalization. New York: Routledge: 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003071020-13.
Milosevic A. (2017) Remembering the present: Dealing with the memories of terrorism in Europe. Journal of Terrorism Research, 8(2): 44–61. https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1269.
Moghaddari S. (2020) The Affective Ambiguity of Solidarity: Resonance within Anti-Deportation Protest in the German Radical Left. Critical Sociology, 47(2): 235–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920520932661.
Roach J., Billman D. (1993) Issues in the Multiply Representation of Social Groups. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31(5): 84–97.
Tajfel H. (1972) La catégorisation sociale. In: Introduction à la Psychologie Sociale. Sous la dir. de S. Moscovici. T. I. Paris: Librairie Larousse: 272–302.
Article
Received: 10.12.2024
Accepted: 27.06.2025
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Puzankov, I.A. 2025. The reproduction of collective identity, or why the Kuban Cossacks need ritual collective actions. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 28, 2 (Jun. 2025), 7-32. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.2.1.
Section
Sociology of Culture
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