Atmosphere and inspiration in the Soviet Gulag

In this essay I use Peter Sloterdijk's and Gernot Böhme's theories of atmosphere to describe the production of atmospheres in the Soviet Gulag. I rely on eight memoirs written by Gulag prisoners. I develop the idea that atmospheres are formed out of co-inspirational practices between persons and the objects in their world. The Gulag is an extreme social situation in which these inspirational practices are manipulated and/or destroyed. Nevertheless, I claim that prisoners find opportunities to develop atmospheres that shelter, protect, and uplift them. I describe the practices through which these atmospheres are created and emphasize their relationship to an inspirational approach to social psychological theories of selfhood and social life.