Authors

Dmitry Arzyutov¹;  ¹ The Ohio State University, UK

Discussion

The present paper deals with the intellectual history of Tyko Vylka, a Nenets hunter, painter, author, and politician who lived on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Based on his recently discovered untitled story about the imagined transformations of the archipelago under Soviet industrial and military projects, the paper aims to reveal the complexity of the perception of the future by the "President of Novaya Zemlya," Tyko Vylka, one of the main figures in the history of the archipelago during the first half of the 20th century. This untitled story brings together personal, social, and environmental histories of Novaya Zemlya, which was transformed from a settler-colonial space of Nenets, Pomors, and Russian/Soviet scientists into one of the most terrifying nuclear test sites in human history. The paper is based on long-term archival research by the author and is part of the author's book project on the history of Novaya Zemlya