Lost in translation: concerning the development of applied urban anthropology in Russia

Abstract

Applied urban anthropology in Russia is still in its youth, but is developing rapidly. A few years ago the very idea of commercial anthropology was doubted by many, although even before 2012 anthropological research ordered by business customers had been conducted in Russia and applied anthropology began to become institutionalized soon. The author draws on his personal experience of a 5 years’ career of a corporative urban anthropologist in Strelka KB, a Russian urban consulting company, and dwells upon the peculiarities of uneasy relationships between anthropologists and commercial and state customers, as well as upon communication difficulties between anthropologists and architects. E.g., the papers unfolds upon research conducted in 2012: a long-distance contract with a French company concerning a research upon banquets that was required to draft an adequate promotion strategy for a new slow-cooker, and a joint research upon urban space of Tikhvin town (Leningrad region) for Strelka that had been working upon an urban land improvement project. This essay is the first in a planned series of applied research case reports that are going to be published in the following issues of the journal.