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On Monday, March 8, 2021, Miami University\u2019s Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies welcomed its third colloquium lecturer of this spring semester, Dr. Kateryna Yeremieieva, to discuss the Ukrainian satirical magazine \u201cPerets [Pepper]\u201d. A senior lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy at Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport, Yeremieieva joined us on zoom from Kharkiv, Ukraine. She is also the author of over 40 scholarly publications and a monograph on Soviet Ukrainian humor and satire. Her lecture, “Not Just for Fun: The Soviet Satirical Magazines As a Weapon, Mediator, and Entertainment,\u201d was an interesting discussion of \u201cPerets\u201d covering topics such as Soviet humor in Ukraine, censorship, editorship, and the reception of jokes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPerets\u201d was a Ukrainian satirical magazine first published in 1941 by \u201cRadyanska Ukraina\u201d, which was a publishing house controlled by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. It began wartime production in Moscow, where it stayed until 1942, and then moved to Kiev. During the Postwar era, there were two different versions of Perets published, one in Eastern Ukraine and the other in Western Ukraine. The journal was reunified by 1951, and had a circulation over 100,000. Between 1954 and 1964, there were over 400,000 copies in circulation, and by 1979 there were about 3.3 million copies, according to Yeremieieva\u2019s research. There was a sharp decline in production in 1991, and by the 2000s there were only about 10,000 copies in circulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Yeremieieva\ndiscussed how one of the primary functions of humor–and why satirical\nmagazines such as \u201cPerets\u201d were so popular and influential–is because satire\nparticipates in the desacralization of the political leaders while at the same\ntime prolonging their rule. This is achieved through the ambiguity of satire.\nOne of the psychological functions of humor is to relieve stress. By allowing\nthe readers to laugh at the government, Yeremeieiva points out that it allows\nthe citizens to \u201cblow off steam\u201d and therefore avoid possible conflict with the\nauthorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeremieieva\nargued that humor also functions to create and establish social group\nidentities and norms, creating a form of organized laughter. As she describes,\nyou can tell a political joke to determine someone else\u2019s political views. If\nthe reaction is negative, the joke contains an exemption of liability, allowing\nthe teller to claim \u201cit was just a joke\u201d and thus releasing them from any\npolitical ramifications. If the reaction is positive, it can act as the first\nstep in the creation of a social group, using the ideologies present in the\njoke as the foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPerets\u201d was a Communist Party publication,\nand because of this, humor was often used as a weapon to push the political\naesthetics of the Central Committee onto the populace. Satire was considered to\nbe a strong weapon or tool of the Party, however, because of the ambiguity of\nhumor, it served as a double edged sword. Yeremieieva discussed the difference\nbetween \u201creal\u201d resistance, and \u201ceveryday\u201d resistance. \u201cReal\u201d resistance can be\ndefined as organized, collective, open, and principled, while \u201ceveryday\u201d\nresistance is more disorganized, private, hidden, and opportunistic, and\nthrives through rumors and jokes about authorities, or a \u201csmall sabotage\u201d. And so, satire acts as a double edged sword\nby using its ambiguity to simultaneously support the political aesthetics of\nthe Central Committee, while also acting as a medium for everyday resistance to\ntake place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeremieieva\u2019s\nlecture on the use of humor in \u201cPerets\u201d magazine uncovered a complex world of\nhumor in Soviet Ukraine. Her perspective on the functions of humor, from\ncreating organized laughter and relief of stress, to expressing political\nopinions of others, to being used for political aspirations as well as\nresistance to the authorities, was detailed, engrossing, and unforgettable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anna\nSimile is an Anthropology Major at Miami<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Anna Simile On Monday, March 8, 2021, Miami University\u2019s Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies welcomed its third colloquium lecturer of this spring semester, Dr. Kateryna Yeremieieva, to discuss the Ukrainian satirical magazine \u201cPerets [Pepper]\u201d. A senior lecturer … Continue reading