| Summary/Abstract |
The essay inquires into the cultural production of ‘Novorossiya’ as a politically-coloured territorial ‘brand’, promoted by pro-Kremlin intellectuals, activists of the Donbas rebellion, and internet users. It argues that ‘Novorossiya’ is not only constructed from the building blocks of historical traditions, but also framed by geographical metaphors in popular imagination. Drawing on studies in critical geopolitics and fan fiction, this research interprets ‘Novorossiya’s’ constituency in the Russian-language internet as a sort of political ‘fandom’. Relative to the annexation of Crimea, however, this ‘brand’ has been less successful on the ‘market’ of geopolitical projects.
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