The Pulse in the Machine: Automating Tibetan Diagnostic Palpation in Postsocialist Russia

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Chudakova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Diagnostic System ◽  
Diagnostic Techniques ◽  
Tibetan Medicine ◽  
The Core ◽  
System A ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
Knowledge And Practice ◽  
Forms Of Knowledge

AbstractThis article analyzes efforts by Soviet and present-day scientists in Russia to “rationalize” and ultimately automate the diagnostic techniques of Tibetan medicine. It tracks the institutional and conceptual histories of designing a pulse diagnostic system, a project that began in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. It has recently been re-enlivened in Buryatia, an ethnic minority region in Southeastern Siberia, in efforts to mobilize indigenous medical practices in response to local and national public health concerns. I focus on the translational ideologies that informed efforts to develop the pulsometer as a medical imaging technology, and analyze obstacles to these efforts found at the core of the device. Scientists working on the pulsometer have systematically tried to discern whether their measurements indicate sustained bodily pathologies, or instead reflect only technological white noise, and they still recruit and rely on the embodied expertise of practitioners of Tibetan medicine to validate their findings. In so doing they reaffirm claims that Tibetan medicine in Buryatia is inextricable from the forms of knowledge and practice that their projects work to standardize. I show how the apparent failures at perfect mechanization have made the pulsometer a surprisingly productive site for creating new kinds of expert communities and forms of knowledge making.

Comintern Aesthetics in the Andes: The Indigenous Revolutionary

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-473
Author(s):  
Anna Björk Einarsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
World System ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Cesar Vallejo ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Andes ◽  
The Soviet Union

The fight against imperialism and racism was central to the Comintern's political and cultural program of the interwar period. Although the more immediate interests of the Soviet state would come to overshadow such causes, the cultural and political connections forged during this time influenced later forms of organizing. Throughout the interwar period (1918-39), the Soviet Union served as the core location of a newly formed world-system of socialist and communist radicalism. The origin of Latin American Marxism in the work of the Peruvian theorist and political organizer José Carlos Mariátegui, as well as the politically committed literature associated with the interwar communist left in the Andean region of Latin America, shows how literature and theory devoted to the indigenous revolutionary contributed to interwar Marxist debates. The interwar influence of Mariátegui and César Vallejo makes clear the importance of resisting attempts to drive a wedge between the two authors and the broader communist movement at the time.

scholarly journals The Psychopharmacological Revolution in the USSR: Schizophrenia Treatment and the Thaw in Soviet Psychiatry, 1954–64

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Benjamin Zajicek
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nervous Activity ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
The West ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Stalin Era ◽  
System A ◽  
The Soviet Union

Twentieth-century psychiatry was transformed in the 1950s and 1960s by the introduction of powerful psychopharmaceuticals, particularly Chlorpromazine (Thorazine). This paper examines the reception of Chlorpromazine in the Soviet Union and its effect on the Soviet practice of psychiatry. The drug, known in the USSR by the name Aminazine, was first used in Moscow in 1954 and was officially approved in 1955. I argue that Soviet psychiatrists initially embraced it because Aminazine enabled them to successfully challenge the Stalin-era dogma in their field (Ivan Pavlov’s ‘theory of higher nervous activity’). Unlike in the West, however, the new psychopharmaceuticals did not lead to deinstitutionalisation. I argue that the new drugs did not disrupt the existing Soviet system because, unlike the system in the West, the Soviets were already dedicated, at least in theory, to a model which paired psychiatric hospitals with community-based ‘neuropsychiatric dispensaries.’ Chlorpromazine gave this system a new lease on life, encouraging Soviet psychiatrists to more rapidly move patients from in-patient treatment to ‘supporting’ treatment in the community.

The Evolution of Centripetal Fraternalism: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

1985 ◽  
Vol 481 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-103
Author(s):  
MARCIN SAR
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Economic Independence ◽  
The West ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Soviet Union

The author comments on the dynamics of Moscow's effort to reconcile its pursuit of control over Eastern Europe with its interest in a viable Eastern Europe, one that is stable and capable of self-sustaining development. Although Moscow has always exercised control in military matters, it allowed some Eastern Europeans economic independence in the 1970s. Changing circumstances in the 1980s, however, have caused the Kremlin to rethink its relationships with its Eastern European “satallies”— half satellites, half allies. Moscow faces dilemmas in areas such as energy, agriculture, the Eastern European states' relations with the West, economic reforms occurring in Eastern Europe, and integration within COMECON. How Moscow resolves these dilemmas lies at the core of its future relationships with Eastern Europe. Other important factors include the lessons learned from Poland, East Germany's evolving relationship with the Federal Republic of Germany, and China's growing economic and political initiatives vis-à-vis Eastern Europe.

scholarly journals DEVELOPMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW IN GEORGIA

2019 ◽  
pp. 28-42
Author(s):  
Ketevan Tskhadadze
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Judicial Process ◽  
Important Place ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Administrative Body ◽  
Administrative Code ◽  
Administrative Justice

Purpose. In 1999 the adoption of the General Administrative Code and Administrative Procedure Code in Georgia gave basis for creation of the new administrative law, since before the entry into force of the above-mentioned codes, Georgia had no tradition of the administrative law and, hence, no practice of the administrative justice. In Georgia being part of the Soviet Union, and in the Soviet Union overall, the administrative law did not exist with the understanding that is regulated by the modern administrative law. The communist doctrine of the administrative law radically differs from the modern administrative law because in those times the administrative legislation was mainly defining the citizens’ obligations before the administration, rather than ensuring citizens’ rights and protection of their interests. Methods. Therefore, the article discusses development stages of the administrative law, the path gone through by the administrative law starting from the formulation until present time, also the Soviet heritage and its influence on the development of the administrative law is discussed, along with the influence of the European reception and establishment within the Georgian legislation, the core factors are analyzed, which caused the necessity of the creation of new administrative law. Results. The significant part in the article is devoted to the discussion of the subject of administrative law and system of administrative law on the example of the Georgian administrative law. The core elements of the implementation of public administration are discussed, the notion of the administrative body, forms of activity of the administrative body and basic principles that are characteristic to the Georgian administrative law. Conclusions. In this regard, the important place is given to particularities of the administrative proceeding and judicial process in Georgia, namely, so called “prejudicial” rule of appealing within the administrative body, suspensive effect of the administrative appeal, principles of disposition and inquisition in the administrative process, as well as the institute of the amicus curiae is discussed, as a particularity of the Georgian administrative justice.

Terror in Soviet Architecture: The Murder of Mikhail Okhitovich

Slavic Review ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh D. Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Creative Work ◽  
Common People ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Soviet Union

Throughout the 1920s and into the years of Stalinism, progressive architects in the Soviet Union sought to construct new forms of housing and settlement that would offer the best of modern technology and whose design would include provisioning of services that would allow all citizens, especially women, to partake in creative work. Schools, dining facilities, laundries, parks, cinemas, clubs and housing in a choice of styles formed the core of these architectural dreams. In the tradition of the Populists, modernist architects initially saw themselves as teachers but some came to appreciate the necessity of listening and began to learn from worker assessments of housing and urban design. This communication formed the basis for bridging, at least in housing, the cultural gap between revolutionary elites and common people. Inherent in the modernist movement in architecture, as reflected most eloquently in the work of the Association of Contemporary Architects (OSA), was a greater democratization of political and social life.

Super Powers and the Changing International System: A Third World Perspective

1982 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
P.S. Jayaramu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Third World ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
System A ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Future ◽  
World Perspective

In any analysis of the role that the Super Powers—the United States and the Soviet Union—would play in the international system in the 1980s and beyond, one has to be careful of the fact that the projections that can be made cannot bear the stamp of definitiveness and are therefore debateable. Consciousness of this limitation notwithstanding, this paper attempts such an analysis. It is the belief of this writer that any projection of the Super Powers' role in the future has its roots in an understanding of the role they played in the past and are playing at present.

Yesterday Today

2018 ◽  
pp. 203-206
Author(s):  
Anthony Rimmington
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Biological Warfare ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
The Core ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Military ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Full Operation

Knowledge of Stalin’s historical biological warfare network is crucial to making sense of the vast offensive biological warfare program launched by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. It is also a crucial aid to a full understanding of Russia’s current biological defense program. Nearly the entirety of the core infrastructure that was created during Stalin’s leadership remains in place today. The Shikhany proving ground, in existence since the 1920s, remains at the heart of Russia’s network and the three BW facilities created by Stalin at Kirov, Ekaterinburg and Sergiev Posad remain in full operation. As well as having originally created much of Russia’s existing physical military biological infrastructure, Stalin’s BW program is also likely to have resulted in the development by the military of technology for the manufacture of a range of new bioweapons. This technology presumably underwent further development during the offensive program launched in the 1970s by the Soviet Union and was eventually inherited by Russia.

The Double Edge of the Information Sword

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Aki-Mauri Huhtinen
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Core Values ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Free World ◽  
The West ◽  
Global Village ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Double Edge

In 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its clandestine propaganda machine, the West became increasingly confident that globalization supported by an information technology network, the Internet, would increase openness, liberalism, and democracy; the core values of the ‘free world'. Western leaders knew then, just as they know now, a quarter of a century later that the power of the Internet would grow as the technology that controls its use develops. And developed it has. However, no development is all good and the Internet is no exception. It seems that the technology that has enabled us to create a “global village” where people are able to communicate in a way that is open, free and that bypasses the encumbrances of class and ethnicity has also brought with it a very dark underworld, an uncontrolled rhizome or meshwork, where propaganda, trolling and hate speeches are rife.

scholarly journals The Holodomor of 1932–33: How and Why?

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Stanislav Kulʹchytsʹkyi
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Joseph Stalin ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
The Way

The study of the Ukrainian Holodomor has reached a point where it is sufficiently voluminous that it is worthwhile to establish the core concepts and events vital to its thorough scholarly understanding.  This paper seeks to put forth one such possible outline.  It supports the position that the Holodomor is genocide; it rebuts arguments against this position; and it examines the way in which it differs from the Holocaust to which it is often compared.  By revealing the ideological and economic conditions of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and the motivations of Stalin’s leadership and his desire to eliminate the threat of Ukrainian nationalism to the Soviet state, this paper shows how the Holodomor was made possible, and why it took the course it did, and that it was deliberate, and different from the All-Union famine that preceded it.  It briefly surveys the main sources upon which research on the topic relies and the major works pertinent to the development of scholarship on the Holodomor.  Once the necessary components for understanding the Holodomor are determined, a coherent and truthful narrative about it can be established and the false narratives that deny the deliberate nature of the famine can be revealed.

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