01/07/2026 15:00
- 16:00
HALL: Pola - A107
Contact:
Matricini B.
Chair:
Stoeckl K.
authorAMC:
Kolstø P.
Speaker:
Kolov B.,
Uzlaner D.
As the communist regimes of Eastern Europe collapsed towards the close of the twentieth century, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) reemerged as an influential actor in Russian society. In Family, Sex, and Faith: The Biopolitics of the Russian Orthodox Church, Pål Kolstø investigates the manifestations of the ROC's newfound influence and legitimacy and the purposes of its strategic action. Here, Kolstø makes the argument that the fulcrum of the ROC's intrusion of the private sphere and its negligence of socioeconomic issues lies in a detailed ethical program and advocacy for traditional family values. These cardinal points, however, cater to different audiences. The ethical program of traditional values speaks to broader Russian and international society, whereas the inculcation of traditional values targets a more restricted circle of hardcore adherents. The ethics of private life, moreover, serve as instruments of regimentation of individual sexuality and sexual relations. In his book, Kolstø points out that the moral teachings of the ROC involve what Foucault called "biopolitics": The management of life itself in the modern age as opposed to ancient right to take life and let live. At the heart of Foucault's concept of biopower lies the regulation of sexuality: This power is invested in the individual discipline of the body (anatomo-politics) and the control over populations and biological processes (biopolitics). As the bridge between the individual and populations, normative prescriptions on families becomes the object of the ROC's biopower. In this Author-Meets-Critics session, the author will discuss his book with Bojidar Kolov, author of "Ecclesiastical populism in contemporary Russia? 'The people' in the political discourse of the orthodox church" (2024) and with Kristina Stoeckl and Dmitry Uzlaner, authors of The Moralist International. Russia in the Global Culture Wars (2022).
