'Russians' in israel as a post-soviet subject: Implementing the civilizational repertoire

This article argues that the post-Soviet perspective on Russians in Israel allows a deeper understanding of this collective's extreme socio-cultural heterogeneity and opens up the meanings of its 'Russianness' often taken for granted in research literature. Empirical examples in the article trace the meanings of key cultural and sociological categories - intelligentsia and ethnicity - in the post-Soviet context, and their implementation in the Russian-Israeli field. The article stresses the potency and dominance of these categories, as well as their pragmatic usage and modification within local political and ideological contexts. The contemporary manifestation of these categories preserves the 'civilizational' aspect of Russian-Soviet identity, allowing their creative use by this diasporic group.