The Soviet and Post-Soviet Anthrobscenes: Speculations from Cheburaska to Khulkulya

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the representation of and presence of non-human animals through the framework of new media theorist Jussi Parikka’s conceptualization of the “Anthrobscene.”Additionally, an examination of Marxist-Leninist thought concerning both environmentalist policies and practices of early childhood education is essential to formulating a well-rounded understanding of the innate political nature of these anthropomorphic representations and, in turn, how the treatment of animals, both domestic and wild, are considered reflexively by the Soviet state and the current Russian Federation through both a Soviet example (Cheburashka the abstracted and unspecified mouse-cat-primate creature) and a more modern environmentalist mascot (Khokhulya the Russian desman), both of which are duly reflective of their political contexts and social imaginings. Through an analysis of historical contextualizations and the modern mascot representation of the animal as a means of either social or philosophical change as well as practical environmentalist aims under the new capitalistic system post-1990s, Cheburashka and Khokhulya respectively serve to articulate and exemplify a comparison between the ideological functions of both economic systems within the broader field of animal and early childhood media studies.