Abstract
This thesis examines the articulation of St. Petersburg identity in the media in the first half of the 1990s through a case study of Chas Pik, an independent newspaper with wide circulation. The study approaches the problem of regional identity from two perspectives—discourse (symbolic and rhetorical) and concrete initiatives to represent and reify the idea of Petersburg’s distinctiveness. The study demonstrates that post-Soviet Petersburg witnessed a resurgence of symbolic discourse and urban myth-making, grounded in temporal consciousness of the opportunity to revive the old and embrace the new. Nostalgic perceptions of the city’s prerevolutionary times as the golden age and the Soviet era as a rupture were widespread not only among democratically oriented citizens and urban intelligentsia but also among some conservative monarchist groups. Significantly, the search for a new post-Soviet identity was not limited to symbols and rhetoric: it also produced concrete projects aimed at economic and civic transformation, which were actively discussed in Chas Pik and other media. Rather than articulating a coherent political vision or mobilizing a stable constituency, however, advocates of these initiatives found that symbolic language did not immediately translate into political action.Visions of a “Petersburg revival” and greater independence from the federal center—key principles promoted in Chas Pik and elsewhere—provoked concern in Moscow and failed to generate sufficient support in St. Petersburg itself. As a result, the movement to restore the city’s prominence failed to fully realize the dream of a “Petersburg renaissance” that seemed so promising in the early post-Soviet years.