"Fairyland": Kin’s domain as a place of utopia and experiment

Abstract

The article focuses on kin's domains - plots of at least one hectare, which became so called since the early 2000s, after the publication of the series of books by Vladimir Megre - Ringing Cedars of Russia. Megre described his meeting with the Siberian hermit Anastasia and her nostalgic stories about the kin’s domain settlements of the Vedic Russia. Readers, inspired by this narrative of the 'golden age', tried to create this utopia in different Russian regions - according to the followers, there are more than 500 such settlements. Kin's domain is usually organized on agricultural land and needs the entire infrastructure, so practical skills, technical knowledge and creativity are valued by the participants. In many ways, such settlements follow the global trend of ecovillages as laboratories of sustainable development, autonomy, harmonious coexistence of man and nature, spiritual development and healing. The author shows how the economic and ideological crisis of the 1990s determined the rise of alternative teachings and the enthusiasm of builders of a bright future. At the same time, many active participants of first ecovillages and kin's domains followed the Soviet discourse, emphasizing the significance of Soviet morality and creative self-activity. The article is based on the field studies conducted in 2008-2021 in kin's domain settlements and at the meetings of Anastasians, and on the Internet sources.