Deterritorialized Nationality: Viktor Tsoi Saves the World

This article uses Alexei Yurchak's account of late socialist performance and the deterritorialization of authoritative discourses to discuss the half-Korean identity of Viktor Tsoi, the most prominent rock start emerging from the perestroika period. It uses representations and perceptions of Ts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSlavic review Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 159 - 183
Main Author Lee, Steven S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.01.2023
Subjects
Citizenship
Cultural groups
Deterritorialization
Discourses
Ethnic identity
Group identity
Motion pictures
Music
Musical performances
National identity
Passports & visas
Polarization
Race
Radicalism
Slogans
Socialism
Student writing
Tsoi, Viktor
Asia
Russia
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Summary:This article uses Alexei Yurchak's account of late socialist performance and the deterritorialization of authoritative discourses to discuss the half-Korean identity of Viktor Tsoi, the most prominent rock start emerging from the perestroika period. It uses representations and perceptions of Tsoi from the 1980s to argue that in this period, it was possible to perform the nationalities listed in each Soviet citizen's passport, as well as official slogans like “the friendship of peoples,” in ways that allowed for flexible understandings of group identity—what the article conceptualizes as “deterritorialized nationality” via overviews of Soviet nationalities policy and the history of Soviet Koreans. The article illustrates deterritorialized nationality through readings of the landmark films Assa (1987), which concludes with a performance by Tsoi, and Needle (1988), which stars and features the music of Tsoi. In both films Tsoi's racial difference is evident in ways not possible in his music alone, but race takes on unanticipated meanings—hearkening to radical internationalisms that help us to think beyond our ever more polarized discussions surrounding identity in the west, as well as the renewed polarization of Russia and the west.
ISSN:0037-6779
2325-7784
DOI:10.1017/slr.2023.98