Anti-modernism, anti-globalisation, and ‘the Russian National Idea’ in radical Siberian Neo-Paganism: a case study of Rodoslavie

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the Neo-Pagan movement has developed into a significant cultural phenomenon throughout the globe. This article investigates the Pagan ‘renaissance’ in contemporary Russia, focusing on several movements with nationalistic, anti-modernist, and anti-globalist features. Rodoslavie, a lesser known movement with distinct local features, is presented as a representative example. This article describes the historical establishment, development, and collapse of this movement in Russia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, its social and cultural basis as well as its ideological framework. It focuses on the social-political and social-philosophical views of Rodoslavie and similar Russian Neo-Pagan movements (some are representatives of Rodnoverie). Social and utopian ideals of Rodoslavie (the ‘people’s monarchy’) and its ethnocentric interpretation of ‘the Russian National Idea’ are studied from this point of view. The study reveals messianic reminiscences inherited from monotheistic traditions and Islamic influences on the worldviews of Rodoslavie followers and their project known as ‘Exodus’