Shattering event: The sensory mechanics of infrastructural breakdown in Kolyma, Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent debates in anthropology and sociology have focused on non-events, with the difference between everyday violence and abrupt life-changing events disappearing, though abundant studies on disaster memories demonstrate the significance of collective shattering events even in lives characterized by immense ordinary suffering. This article uses the historical example of the large-scale breakdown of public utilities in an industrial community in Kolyma, Russia, in 1993–94 to bridge the gap between these two poles by describing the sensory mechanics of shattering. Based on insights from the cultural theory of modern senses, I argue that, in Kolyma, shattering involved the restructuring of the inhabitants’ sensorium shaped by the ecology of effortless modern amenities, particularly centralized heating. It occurred through redressing of attention and transformation in the shared materiality, with new substances, such as wastewater or bodily heat, coming into sensory exchanges in defiance of previous social conventions. I conclude by demonstrating the importance of collective shattering for local history, even in the absence of a discernible political turning point.