This article presents an empirical analysis and theoretical reflections on the negotiation of memories in hyperconnected memory cultures. In order to describe the conditions of memory negotiation, we suggest using the notion of ‘hyperconnected memories’, which refers to the mediatization of memory in a nexus of contingent forms of communication. By conducting a critical discourse analysis (CDA), we show how the Soviet past is negotiated in contemporary Russia and analyse how national identity is discursively constructed alongside official narratives and individual memories. We argue that an important element in this process is nostalgia, which motivates people to join mnemonic online communities but also functions as an intermediary between cultural memory and national identity by making history a personal, sentimental matter. However, we will also demonstrate that the negotiation of official history and individual memory in mnemonic online communities does not automatically lead to emancipation from state-propagated narratives.

PurposeThe growing trends in talent migration, which in the extreme lead to brain drain, in step with an increasing female participation in labor markets and migration flows, set challenges for both business and governments managing these processes. In this vein, it is proposed that macro talent management (MTM) is effective in managing the above-mentioned macro-level issues. The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the determinants of talent migration with respect to gender and to analyze the role that talent management (TM) practices may play in the migration of diverse talent groups (male and female) within the Russian context.Design/methodology/approachAnticipating the possible differences in talent migration determinants between men and women and using data from 557 Russian graduates, considered to be high-potential talents, the authors found that these determinants converge.FindingsMale and female talent migration intentions in Russia are influenced by the same industry and individual push factors as well as family reasons, confirming that women are acting as independent economic migrants rather than tied movers. Moreover, the authors identified that talents in our sample evaluate highly the possibility of TM practices to change their migration intentions, and that female talents are more sensitive and responsive in this regard. Therefore, the TM system in the emerging economies' context, in particular Russia, is important for increasing the share of women in the workforce, in particular in leadership positions.Originality/valueThe study's results are important as they provide evidence on the gendered dimension of talent migration in particular in terms of the gendered assessment of talent migration determinants. Moreover, the study shows the positive role of TM in managing talent flows at the country level, in particular the ability of TM practices to attract talents to local organizations and, hence, retain them in a country.

The proliferation and recycling of Soviet popular culture and history is a central ingredient of post-Soviet film and television production, leading to accusations that the Russian media is nurturing nostalgia. Nostalgia can hardly account for the manifold uses of the Soviet past in contemporary Russian television programming. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the Crimean annexation, it became evident that nostalgia for a strong empire with a ‘strong ruling hand’ was part of Putin’s symbolic politics for several years. Keeping these considerations in mind, this article investigates how nostalgia extends into the domain of television and becomes an element of symbolic politics, employing a case study of two documentaries produced during Putin’s presidency to focus the analysis. This study also examines how contemporary Russian television uses footage and film clips from the socialist period and witness testimonies to ‘dismantle’ popular myths.

The article seeks to explore the common ground between biopolitics, fashion, patriotism and nostalgia. Taking off from the Foucauldian notion of biopolitics as a control apparatus exerted over a population, I provide an insight into the modern construction of the Russian nation, where personal and collective sacrifice, traditional femininity and masculinity, orthodox religion, and the Great Patriotic War become the basis for patriotism. On carefully chosen case studies, I will show how the state directly and indirectly regulates people's lives by producing narratives, which are translated (in some cases designers act as mouthpieces for the state demographic or military politics) into fashionable discourses and, with a core of time, create specific gender norms – women are seen as fertile mothers giving birth to new soldiers, while men are shown as fighters and defenders of their nation. In the constructed discourses, conservative ideals become a ground for the creation of an idea of a nation as one biological body, where brothers and sisters are united together. In these fashionable narratives, people's bodies become a battlefield of domestic politics. Fashion produces a narrative of a healthy nation to ensure the healthy work- and military force.

With regard to increasing politicization and instrumentalization of history in Russia and the development of digital tools allowing public access to previously non-available historical documents, analysis of digital platforms exhibiting potential for engagement with the past becomes of relevance to Russian and Digital Media Studies. Therefore this chapter focuses on a Russian case study Prozhito, a digital archive of personal diaries created by a community of volunteers. Being an example of public engagement with the past, Prozhito, nevertheless, has a number of constraints that raise ethical, political and techno-methodological questions concerning archival composition and affordances of the platform for participation. Therefore the aim of this chapter is to study Prozhito’s affordances to learn more about the potentials of such platforms for the production of historical knowledge.