Overview

An exploration of how comedy has shaped civil society--and become a form of subtle political resistance--in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine. Leagues of Laughter traces the evolution of a Soviet-created youth game called KVN (Klub veselykh i nakhodchivykh or Club of the Cheerful and Clever) over sixty years as students' nation-states collapsed, competed, and eventually went to war. Through cross-border narratives, the book shows how humor persists--and transforms--amid authoritarianism, censorship, and conflict. With insight and compassion, author A. Austin Garey reveals how laughter became a mode of resistance, identity, and cultural continuity in the long cultural context of the war in Ukraine. In addition to introducing a novel theory of ""tradition as stance"" to explain how traditions are reproduced and reinterpreted over time, the book offers a compelling comparative analysis of cultural production under political pressure.

Full Product Details

9781800088801

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Smart, funny, and by turns painfully sad, Leagues of Laughter shows how comedy became civil society in a formerly socialist world. Garey writes with insight and compassion about those who, even today, joust on battlegrounds of ruse and truth.""-- ""Bruce Grant, New York University"" ""Sophisticated and original, Leagues of Laughter explores transformations of comedy in Russia and Ukraine. It insightfully shows how people continue to laugh even during times of authoritarianism and war.""-- ""Neringa Klumbyte, Miami University"" ""An invaluable contribution to anthropology, this thorough study of a widely popular Soviet-born game proves that deep cultural immersion helps achieve the seemingly impossible - to understand the humour of another culture, not only in times of peace, but also of war."" -- ""Emil Draitser, Hunter College""

Author Information

A. Austin Garey is Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

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