Afterlives & Other Lives: Semiosis & History in 21st Century Ukraine by Deborah Alison Jones A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) at The University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Bruce Mannheim (Chair) Professor Stuart Kirsch Professor Alaina Lemon Professor Brian Porter-Szűcs Deborah A. Jones [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2777-7181 © Deborah A. Jones 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In a way, this dissertation began at the turn of the millennium, at my family’s kitchen table. I had recently been admitted to Middlebury College and my parents and I were browsing the first-year seminar offerings. My dad spotted a course called “Russia: the Euro-Asian Nation,” and suggested I take it. My teenage tendency was to initially reject his suggestion, but over time, it grew on me. In the 1990s, the Chicago area had become home to tens of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. We called them “Russians,” but many were from Ukraine, and I grew up knowing vaguely of places like Kyiv, Odessa, and Dnipropetrovsk (though of course I couldn’t pronounce it)—places I would visit as part of this study. I was planning on learning another language in college, and my mom pointed out that Russian could be useful, and that I might even study abroad in Russia, a part of the world that had been, or at least appeared, closed to U.S. citizens just a decade prior. My parents were curious about what lay on the other side of the “Iron Curtain,” and their curiosity become mine. So thank you, Susan Gordon and Raymond Jones, for inspiring this journey, for supporting me throughout, and for instilling in me the open-mindedness, persistence, and sense of adventure I needed to complete it. I did end up taking that first-year seminar, majoring in Russian, and studying abroad in Siberia, so I next thank Sergei Davydov and Tatiana Smorodinska for giving me a lifelong love of Slavic languages and literature, and Raisa Dorofeeva and Misha Kozlov for homecooking and companionship in Irkutsk. At Berkeley, where I was a non- degree-seeking student, Johanna Nichols taught me to appreciate the history and structure ii of Russian—and suggested I pursue graduate studies in Ann Arbor. At Michigan, I thank Svitlana Rogovyk and Oksana Posa for introducing me to Ukrainian, and for modeling why two languages are better than one. I envy their ability to find just the right words for every occasion. Jessica Zychowicz, my colleague, friend, and one-time housemate, there are no words to explain how much it has meant to me to have a fellow traveler in our explorations of Ukraine. Your empathy, insight, on-point reading recommendations, and dumpling-making skills made this dissertation, and my time in Ann Arbor, much better. Not that my years at Michigan were remotely uncomfortable. From when I first arrived as a MA student in area studies, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies offered me a circle of like-minded investigators of former Soviet space. I am especially grateful to Michael Kennedy for bringing me to Michigan (telling me there was a great program in “linguistic anthropology”…before I even knew what that was), and to Valerie Kivelson, Olga Maiorova, Doug Northrop, and Geneviève Zubrzycki for introducing me to a diversity of spaces, times, and disciplines from which to think through the questions I had. I also thank the staff at CREES, especially Rachel Brichta, Julie Burnett, Marysia Ostafin and Donna Parmalee, for planning such stimulating programming, and for ensuring that I had the funding to make the most of my time at Michigan and in Ukraine. While CREES welcomed me to Michigan, the Anthropology Department quickly became my home. I am forever grateful to Judith Irvine, who welcomed me into her famous (notorious?) “Language as Social Action” class as a MA student, which made me fall in love with linguistic anthropology. Krisztina Fehérváry introduced me to a completely different way of thinking about (post)socialisms, and, nine years ago, saw the iii very first iteration of what would become the “Soil” chapter in this dissertation. Alaina Lemon encouraged me to channel both fascination and frustration into research and teaching, to think through perspectives I’d never considered, and to help students do the same. Stuart Kirsch cultivated my interests in property and environment, helped me locate this project’s ethnographic backbone, and always had my back. Bruce Mannheim guided this dissertation with a gentle hand, but his rich thinking permeates every page. Many other people at Michigan gave this dissertation its shape, and cheered me to its completion. Brian Porter-Szűcs advised my masters thesis and stayed on as the cognate member of my dissertation committe; his wit, wisdom, and generous feedback has sustained me for a decade. Michael Lempert taught me to analyze face-to-face interaction (an essential tool for any ethnographer), but perhaps even more importantly, he taught me to teach. Matthew Hull provided customized reading recommendations for thinking about land rights in Ukraine—both before and after the annexation of Crimea. Barb Meek introduced me to her favorite ethnographies in linguistic anthropology, which energized me as I set out for fieldwork. When I returned to Ann Arbor, David Akin at Comparative Studies in Society and History helped me regain confidence in my own writing, and later become an editor myself. Andrew Shryock revealed secrets of the trade, most notably that everyone, no matter how senior, has to revise, revise, revise. Gillian Feeley-Harnik and Tom Trautmann dazzled me with their unending enthusiasm for scholarship. Debbie Fitch, Darlinda Flanigan, Laurie Marx and other staff kept our department running swimmingly (and saved my neck on more than one occasion!). I was also privileged to be part of a cohort of exceptionally kind, creative, intelligent, and really quite sane fellow graduate students. Jeff Albanese, Hoda Bandeh- iv Ahmadi, Meghanne Barker, Smadar Brack, Lindsay (Ahalt) Champion, Robyn D’Avignon, Alysa Handelsman, Punnu Jaitla, Dia Karamaniola, Anna Maccourt, Josh Shapero, and Leigh Stuckey, I was so fortunate to have you as my closest colleagues. I also found friends and supporters in adjacent cohorts, including Erika Alpert, Tiffany Cain, Allison Caine, Courtney Cottrell, Erica Feldman, Geoffrey Hughes, Achirri Ismael, Jeremy Johnson, John Mathias, Ujin Kim, Jin Li, Jessica Lowen, Prash Naidu, Mike Prentice, Bruno Renero-Hannan, Elana Resnick, Perry Sherouse, Aleksandr Sklyar, Stuart Strange, Nikolas Sweet, Heather Tidrick, Cheryl Yin, and Chip Zuckerman. I am particularly grateful to those of you who workshopped my early and painful chapters in “Ling Lab” and “Ethnolab.” Colleagues beyond the department also energized this dissertation with new perspectives. My sincere thanks to Yanay Israeli, Dave Karczynski, Will Runyan, John Thiels, and Youngeun Yook. I now turn to the long list of people who facilitated my research in Ukraine. Among the most important: Nataliya Tsisar, my Ukrainian instructor at L’viv National University, who gave me my voice, and Marta Kolomayets and Inna Barysh at the U.S. Fulbright Commission in Kyiv, who secured my visa. In Kyiv, I am also grateful to the wonderful team at AgroInvest, especially Maryna Zaretska, Ruslana Piura, and Eric Bleich, and Yuliya Staroverova, my “roommate” when I was doing research there. In Odessa, I thank Ruslan Boldizhar, Elena Drozdova, Andrey Gorbenko, Anya Paraniuk, Lyosha Tkachenko, and Gleb Zhavoronkov for both friendship and assistance with all matter of messes I got myself into. In Vinnytsja, I am especially indebted to local historians archivists who helped me investigate rumors about soil stealing, and U.S. Peace Corps volunteers who helped me find a second fieldsite. I refrain from naming v them to preserve the anonymity of “Zelene Pole” but hope they know how much they helped me. (I hope “Marta” and “Tamara” do, too.) Last but not least, in “Sonjachne,” “Olena and Pasha Marchenko” took me in as their American daughter, and educated me in everything from regional dialect to picking beetles to cooking borshch. I arrived, as Olena put it, “hardly knowing how to do anything at all,” and I thank them for their patience, hospitality, and sense of humor. My time in the field also benefitted immensely from the company, and empathy, of fellow researchers. My deepest thanks to Jen Carroll, Emily Channell-Justice, Beth Ciaravolo, and Katie Davis. I also appreciated having a greater community of anthropologists of Ukraine to lean on, especially as the crisis in the country grew more severe. Laada Bilaniuk, Jennifer Dickinson, Monica Eppinger, Elizabeth Peacock, Sarah Philips and Greta Uehling inspire me with their accomplishments and continuing dedication to Ukraine. Finally, I’ve gained much from conversations with other scholars of the region, especially those facilitated by the Soyuz Network for Postsocialist Cultural Studies. Thanks both to the board members I have served with, as well as to the authors whose work I have edited. I learned a tremendous amount from you. As I wrote my dissertation, I leaned heavily on friends and family. Beyond those I have already mentioned, I would like to thank people in Berlin, particularly the marvelous Martina Dopfer, who listened to me gripe about the same chapters for three years, as well as my peers at Weserland Coworking, Morven Houston, Daniele Mauri, and Sophia Söderquist, who supported my through the home stretch. I also send love to Matt, Jackie, and Grandma, who remind me there is much more to life than a PhD. vi I would not have completed this doctorate without the support of the Department of Anthropology, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the International Institute, or Rackham Graduate School, who provided extraordinarily generous funding for my education, research, and professional development. University of Michigan invested in me as a scholar and educator, and I am overwhelmed by their commitment. The fieldwork components of this project were also supported by: the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX), the Social Science Research Council, the American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training grant, the U.S. Fulbright Foundation, and the Ukrainian Women’s League of Southeastern Michigan. Duzhe djakuju! Finally, Robert Brückmann, I can’t believe I found a partner as wonderful as you. You make me laugh more, think harder, and see the world in its best light. You also make a killer cheese plate. Thank you for your support, care, and encouragement as I pushed through this project, especially during the moments when I was really cranky, or wanted to quit. You have my gratitude, and my heart. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…….………...………………………………………………….…ii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………..ix NOTES ON TRANSLITERATION………………………………………………...…………...xi ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………..xv CHAPTER 1. Introduction……………..……..……...…….....……………..………………………... 1 Naturalizing the Social…….…………………….…………………………...…. 6 Borderland, Breadbasket, Basket Case………………………………………... 13 The Ethnic and the Civil……………………………………………………..… 22 Overview of Chapters………………………………………………………..… 32 2. Soil…………………………….……………………………………………………... 35 The Emperor of Soils…………………………………………………………… 42 Cartographies of Famine………………………………………………………. 53 The Soil Stealers…………………………………………………………….….. 68 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...……… 80 3. Fields…………………………………………………………………………………. 83 Unruly Law………………………………….…………………...……………... 95 Idioms of Arbitrariness……...………………………………………………… 101 Paper with Potential………………………………………………………...… 117 Open Access…………………………………………………………………… 138 Conclusion……………………………………………...……………...……… 151 4. Beetles ……………………………………………………….………………………155 Kolorad in Context…………………………………………………………….. 172 Fascists and Anti-Fascists…………………………………………………….. 185 Seaside Rwanda……………………………………………………………….. 208 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 217 5. Sunflowers …………………………………………………………………………. 220 Fat and Friction.…………………………………………...………………….. 229 Fields Ablaze………………………...………………………………………… 240 Keepsakes………………………………...……………………………………. 251 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 261 6. Epilogue…………………………………………………………………………….. 266 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………..…….…………………………………………………… 277 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Did’ Vas’ja’s house in Sonjachne……….…………………………………….41 Figure 2: Dokuchaev’s 1883 map of the chernozem regions of European Russia………50 Figure 3: Beet seeds for sale at Olena’s store…………………………………….……...52 Figure 4: Map of population loss during the famine of 1932–1934……………………..63 Figure 5: Topsoil near Zelene Pole……….…………...…………………………………67 Figure 6: Early post-Soviet Ukrainian land deed (outside)…….….…………….………94 Figure 7: Early post-Soviet Ukrainian land deed (inside)……….………………………94 Figure 8: Land rights literature for distribution at USAID-sponsored event………...…101 Figure 9: An old tractor on a residential street in Sonjachne…………………………...117 Figure 10: Kurgan-dotted land plots in the electronic cadaster……...…………………132 Figure 11: A legal consultation in Dnipropetrovsk region…………………………..…138 Figure 12: The Maidan yolka in March 2014…………………………………………..149 Figure 13: Colorado beetle larvae on a potato plant…………………………………...168 Figure 14: Adult Colorado beetle………………………………………………………169 Figure 15: The judge’s apiary at Pasha’s strawberry farm………………………….….171 Figure 16: Vatnik meme…………………………………………………………….…..176 Figure 17: Kolorad meme “they believe in their great mission”………………….……178 Figure 18: Kolorad meme “Rashism: kolorady attack Ukraine”……………….………179 Figure 19: Kolorad meme “cleanliness is the guarantee of health”……………….……179 Figure 20: Competing protest posters in Odessa………………………………….……184 ix