A cultural-linguistic examination of graffiti in the Soviet Union since 1978. Bushnell uses his study of the forms and formation of contemporary Russian graffiti to look closely at Soviet youth, popular culture, and countercultures. The author argues that graffiti functions as a language - not just as a generic sign system, but as a real language - and that that there is a connection between modern Soviet graffiti and subculture. His study is chiefly of graffiti in Moscow, but he has also drawn on graffiti gathered in Leningrad, Minsk, Kiev and Smolensk.
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