Corporate Cancellation: The Odyssey of the “Myth of 922” between Academic and Ideological Discourses

Abstract

Methodological problems of the analysis of the phenomenon of “cancellation culture” are investigated. It is stated that “cancellation” was characteristic of all stages of history, but the actual “cancellation culture” could only arise with the development of civil society and mass media. It is proved that the concept of “corporate cancellation” is more acceptable for states of a transit of democracy type of development, when the main actors of the “cancellation” of an individual, social group or views (scientific, religious, etc.) are political elites. In order to develop the proposed theoretical approach, the extensive material of the “Myth of 922” case was analyzed. The following items were recorded: “cancellation” in the mass media of the academic version of the events of 922; cardinal changes in the historiographical field; intercorporate interaction of political elites and academic structures, which eventually led to the official celebration of the anniversary of the “1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria”; complex strategies of behavior of individual researchers who tried to use the “weaknesses” of the “myth of 922” to accumulate their own symbolic capital, but very rarely turned to the discourse of the “cancellation culture”. The theoretical outlines of “corporate cancellation” proposed in the article can be useful for a better understanding of the known facts of “cancellation” in the Soviet and contemporary Russian history.