Russians

Dimitri Shimkin and Teferi Abate Adem

Russkiy, Velikorusskiy formerly Rus', Ross

Russians are the largest subdivision of the Eastern Slavs, the other members of which are Ukrainians and Belarussians. The Russian language emerged from the common East Slavic tongue, Ancient Russian or Old Church Slavonic, by the fourteenth century AD in the Rostov-Suzdal area of Central Russia. In 1979 eight administrative provinces (oblasts) of central Russia were over 97 percent Russian; in addition, over 90 percent of the population in a north-south ellipse encompassed by St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Gorki, Volgograd, Rostov-na-Donu, Belgorod, and Smolensk was Russian. Three areas in the Urals and western Siberia—Kurgan, Novosibirsk, and Kemerovo oblasts—likewise were over 90 percent Russian. These Russian areas are flat or rolling, with a mix of forests and steppes, mostly glaciated in European Russia and loessial in western Siberia. They have cold, snowy winters, and summers ranging from cool to very hot. Soils are podzolic in the north and chernozemic in the south. The Russian lands are transected by important rivers, the Oka, Volga, Don, Donets, and Severnaya Dvina in Europe and the Ob system in western Siberia. Peripheral waters include Lakes Ladoga and Onega, the White Sea, and the Gulf of Finland in the European north and the Sea of Azov in the south.

Natural conditions in the Russian environment have been profoundly altered: by agriculture, which has left only residual forests south of Moscow; by extensive water development, especially on the Volga and Don; and especially by urbanization. Russian poetry, which remains a highly esteemed expressive form (and a mainstay of education), often celebrates the beauty of the land. Contrast Pushkin's "Winter Evening" and Yesenin's "The Golden Grove Has Ceased to Speak": although these poems were written years ago, the environment to which they refer—birches, oaks, pines, feather grass, nightingales and cranes, and the Russian rivers—has deep and pervasive meaning to this day.

Expanding with the rise of Muscovy, the Russian people numbered more than 8 million by 1678. Concentrated in central and northern Russia and thinly settled in the Urals and Siberia, they formed about 40 percent of the population of the Russian Empire of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By 1917 their numbers had grown to about 76 million, with somewhat less than half of these in their ancient core area but only 10 percent outside the boundaries of today's Russia. Prior to World War II the Russian population was characterized by high fertility and mortality—a crude birth rate of 33 per thousand, a death rate of 23.6 per thousand, and life expectancy of about 44 years. World War II and its aftermath had disastrous effects: the 1959 census reported that, for the ages 35 and over, there were only 54 men for 100 women, the absolute deficiency of men in these ages coming to 12.2 million. By 1979-1980 the Russian population had reached 137.4 million, with 25 percent of the gain between 1939 and 1979 coming from Russification, but the natural increase rate, with dropping fertility, averaged only about 6 per thousand over the same period. Russian life expectancies at birth are among the lowest for any urbanized population: the 1988 figures were 69.9 years for both sexes, 64.8 years for men, and 74.4 years for women. Infant mortality for the Russian Republic in that year was 18.9 per 1,000 births (three-quarters of the USSR average). By 1979 one-third of the Russian population of 137 million lived in the old core area, another half elsewhere in the Russian Republic, and only 17 percent in the other parts of the USSR where, however, they often constituted a large minority or a near majority (Estonia). In 1994, the population was about 150 million. The Russian population had grown at a historic low rate of 0.9 percent annually. The estimated number of ethnic Russians in the Russian Federation in 2020 was 110,118,153, and approximately 13 million more comprised sizeable proportions of the populations of certain former republics of the USSR: some 7.7 million (17.3 percent) in the Ukraine; 3.7 million (19.3 percent) in Kazakhstan; 0.8 million (8.3 percent) in Belarus; 0.5 million (25.2 percent) in Latvia; and 0.3 million (24.8 percent) in Estonia.

Cardiovascular stress associated with smoking, alcoholism, the workplace, and family life is the major cause of death. For women, the combination of heavy domestic workloads and full-time employment contributes to the death rate. This, as well as poor housing, spouse abuse (associated with alcoholism), and unplanned pregnancies partly account for a lifetime average of five abortions per woman—more than twice the number of live births. Fewer than sixty percent of Russian women practice a contraceptive method other than withdrawal or the rhythm method; the total number of women suffering from the consequences of abortions and related medical practices is hard to assess but certainly high.

Migration, particularly to and from Siberia, has had a marked effect on the population, with only 10 to 20 percent of the migrants remaining in their adopted homes after five years. Such movements of population are of course associated with social and political stress.

Speakers of Russian form the largest East Slavic speech community, the other members being Ukrainian and Belarussian. After the Common Slavic, Common East Slavic, and Old Russian stages, the Russian language emerged in about the fourteenth century in central Russia (centered on Rostov-Suzdal'). The Russian language has historically been divided among northern, central, and southern dialects and by marked differences between the popular, administrative, and ecclesiastical styles, that are still evident in vocabulary and syntax. Russian has also been influenced by other languages, notably Finno-Ugric in its early stages, Germanic, Turkic, Greek, Polish, and, above all, French and, most recently, English.

The rise and expansion of the Russian state in the midst of hostile states and peoples has been at enormous cost in wars, rebellions, famines, and epidemics. The Tatar raids, the Time of Troubles (a period of dynastic conflict, 1598-1613), the Swedish War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World Wars I and II brought great misery. For 150 years, the drafting of serfs for 25 years of military service was deeply mourned in every village. Tsar Peter I instituted a modest vehicle for military and civilian upward mobility, through a system of progressively earned ranks. A twentieth century parallel was the nomenklatura, a system of specified ranks in the former USSR.

Despite attrition through oppression, censorship and internal conflicts, the intellectual class has been of great significance in modern times. With its origins mainly in the educational reforms of the eighteenth century, and drastically enlarged through the intellectual explosion and political tensions of the nineteenth century, the intelligentsia, defined partly by intellectual and partly by political criteria, became a decisive factor in the revolutions of the twentieth century and remained peculiarly powerful in the chaotic scene of the early 1990s.

Autocratic, often capricious, political power has combined with other elements of Russian social culture to limit the extent and stability of social stratification. In earlier times, estates were constantly being dispersed because of falls from favor and the equal inheritance rights of all sons (as opposed to primogeniture). Although there were many merchant families, some of them extremely wealthy, trade was in general not highly valued and was prohibited for those of noble descent. Modest alternative avenues of social ascent (as defined in the Tables of Rank) were open even to Jews, who were otherwise a persecuted minority confined to the western Pale of Settlement.

Although permanent urbanization encompassed barely ten percent of the Russian population in 1913, a great part of the central and northern Russian population was engaged in migratory industrial labor as well as crafts. This permitted very rapid economic growth in the 1920s. With the rise of German and Japanese militarism, Soviet industrialization took a strategic direction, stressing widely-dispersed heavy industrial production, which has continued to dominate. Vast numbers of workers were essential for the huge tasks, and forced labor was a basic recruitment mechanism from 1933 to 1957. In addition, between 1940 and 1957, the State Labor Reserves drafted millions of young people, whose barracks life greatly depressed family formation, induced cultural discontinuity, and encouraged alcoholism and violence.

Since the fifteenth century, the Russian state has been distinguished by centralized, generally autocratic rule, strongly dependent upon a service class (oprichnina, dvoryanstvo, Communist party), most notably developed by Tsar Peter I. Even in 1987 a party monograph stated that "it is important that not only directors, but rank and file workmen, collective farmers, and intellectuals understand their place and role in perestroika" (Laptev, ed., 1987:22). Although alternative foci of power have emerged from time to time (the Orthodox church, a national assembly [Zemskiy Sobor], the high aristocracy, local assemblies [zemstva, sing. zemstvo]), they have been repeatedly co-opted and controlled. Only the widely dispersed, deeply devoted and secretive Old Believers have resisted control, despite persecution since the seventeenth century.

Generally, the new cities built standardized housing—apartment blocks with central play areas for children. But housing rarely approached real needs, nor did it provide the desired privacy. In 1984 in Kemerovo about forty percent of the population lived in apartment blocks, another forty percent resided in traditional wooden houses without running water or plumbing but with electricity, and the remainder were in dormitories.

A majority of Russians live in rural towns and relatively small industrial cities. In 1989 only 14 of 30 primarily Russian oblasts were under 70 percent urban. Tambov, 56 percent urban, was the most rural Russian area in Europe. Conversely, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ivanovo, and Yaroslavl in Europe and Kemerovo in Siberia were over 80 percent urban. The largest primarily Russian cities were Moscow (9 million), St. Petersburg (5 million), Nizhny Novgorod (1.4 million), and Novosibirsk (1.4 million).

Despite the degree of urbanization, Russians remain deeply attached to their natural environment. A dacha in the countryside, even if it is a humble cabin, is much sought after and often obtained.

State and cooperative retail trade, including food services, provide only a partial picture of consumption; the unofficial shadow economy is not measured in the official statistics, although it involves a large part of the economy; nor are the large price differences for various social groups included. Official figures for 1985 indicate that 51 percent of the total volume of sales was for foodstuffs, including: meat and fowl 5 percent; bologna 3 percent; dairy products, 3 percent; fats, 2.4 percent; eggs, almost 2 percent; bread (heavily subsidized), 2.6 percent; vegetables and fruits, 3.5 percent. Potatoes continue to be a mainstay of the diet, and most families seem to have a supply of them. Of nonfood items, clothes, footwear, and cloth were the largest component at 21.4 percent. Consumer durables (i.e., cars, furniture, carpets, bicycles, and motorcycles) came to 8.4 percent, whereas soap, detergents, and perfume took 1.6 percent. Printed matter—Russians are avid readers—was 1.4 percent. All else came to 15.7 percent.

These statistics reflect the austere way of life of the majority of the Russian population. Only occasionally can an average Russian enjoy traditional foods such as pirozhki (meat- or cabbage-filled turnovers) or go to the circus, enjoy recordings or concerts, or travel freely by car or motorcycle to escape overcrowded housing. These limitations contribute to high rates of alcoholism and family violence.

In 1985 the Russian Republic had about 83.8 million persons of working age (men 16 to 59 years of age; women 16 to 54). The number employed as workers and service personnel was about 63 million, whereas collective farmers numbered 4.5 million. Fifty-two percent of this civilian employment was female. Eighty-one percent of the working-age population was working. Non-workers, unemployed, and people working exclusively in the private sector composed the remainder—or somewhat more, since a fair proportion of older men were still employed. The total labor force, including that concerned with private agricultural plots, was divided as follows: industry and construction, 42 percent; agriculture and forestry, 14 percent; transport and communications, 10 percent; trade and food services, 8 percent; health, physical education, social security, and science, 18 percent: governmental administration, 3 percent; housing and miscellaneous, 5 percent.

Depending on the place of employment, party status, and other determinants, economic rewards included pay and entitlements. In 1985 pay averaged 210 rubles per month, running highest in water transport (287 rubles) and lowest in "cultural work" (123 rubles). Service in remote areas, such as the Arctic, led to large bonuses; all Siberians got "northern percentages" (prices being higher in Siberia). Entitlements covered housing, health care, day care, vacation sites, and even the right to purchase luxuries such as Volga cars, but these benefits were all but absent for the "unorganized" population, which included children not attending nurseries and schools, the unemployed, and the retired, particularly in rural areas.

Beginning in the 1930s, the Soviet Union manufactured a range of consumer products such as food, clothing, automobiles, and household durables. These products were manufactured by state-owned enterprises.

During the transition to democracy and a free market-led economy, a majority of Russians depended on what many observers termed as "the unofficial economy." When studied by Ries (2001:1858), this shadow economy encompassed "whole industries owned or controlled by organized crime, unreported trading activity, wages paid under the table to avoid taxes, wages and interenterprise payments made by barter, and rent-seeking and bribery schemes on the part of government officials." Government attempts to control these illegal activities have been largely ineffective.

Russian industrialization has varied between periods of intensive development and those of prolonged stagnation. In the Kievan Rus’ period the cities, as archaeology shows, were centers of local and even international trade, and for the production of many sophisticated crafts. By the sixteenth century Muscovy's trade with England and other parts of Europe had stimulated technological development. But it was not until Tsar Peter I that a strategically oriented program of industrialization was initiated and pushed forward with considerable success. Its central and persistent weaknesses were the dependence on facilities granted to court favorites and on serf (i.e., slave) labor. Nevertheless, in the eighteenth century there was phenomenal growth in many areas, the opening of mines and factories, and, among central and northern peasants, the growth of large cottage industries with an enormous inventory of goods such as wooden spoons for export to Asia via Kazan. By the nineteenth century steam power was used, especially in the growing textile industry. During the latter part of the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth centuries, Russia experienced historically unprecedented industrial growth. In general, though, government efforts failed to help small entrepreneurs, and the subsidization of inefficient favorites continued. By the eve of World War I, Russia had become an industrial world power, comparable to France, Germany, and the other Western powers that had aided it with their capital.

Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century the Soviet Union emerged as a major trading partner to countries that espoused a socialist ideology. Soviet exports during this time ranged from energy products to industrial machines and modern weapons. Russia’s major post-1991 trading partners are the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (former soviet republics, especially the Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan) as well as Germany, Italy, Poland, the United States, the Netherlands, Britain, and Japan.

During the soviet years, the ruling communist party demanded that each citizen be trained to acquire skills for a lifetime career. The goal was to produce as many specialists as needed in all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, academic institutions, armed forces, security agencies, and the performing arts. With the collapse of the socialist system, some of these skills reportedly became obsolete. This led to a large number of unemployed and underemployed people who needed to be retrained for work in emerging sectors such as banking and finance, advertising, marketing, commerce, tourism, telecommunications, and security.

Historically, a majority of rural Russians lived as serfs attached to particular aristocrats. Serfdom, which began during the medieval period, reached its nadir in the eighteenth century when Aleksandr Radishchev's A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow disclosed appalling abuses. Conditions on the great estates were those of true slavery, particularly for household serfs; they were better for land-working serfs, particularly those under the quitrent (obrok) system (the other system being to work on shares). Because, as in other frontier lands, there was no serfdom in Siberia, it provided an escape and some relief—hence the continuing stream of fugitive serfs, who settled these regions and often became Cossacks.

From the 1930s in the former USSR the collective farmer represented a dispossessed class lacking the internal passport needed for urban residence. Collective-farm chairmen—party appointees after 1956—were in a position to exclusively control farm resources and incomes. Virtually the only area of collective-farm freedom was the de facto possession of small private plots that produced an extraordinary share of Russian foodstuffs, including meat, dairy products, and vegetables. This is increasingly the case. Within this rural domain, elements of customary law have persisted with remarkable vitality. Despite the partial privatization of land and various programs and projects, as a matter of principle many Russian peasants are more interested in effective production (e.g., by working together) than they are in private ownership of land.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the bilateral kindred was the basic Russian social unit among both peasants and aristocrats. Within the kindred, patterns of behavior other than exogamy were largely determined by the specific co-residence patterns of each household.

Christenings, reverence of icons, and parental blessings of various kinds strengthen human relations. A basic, endearing term for all types of kin is rodnoy or rodnaya (kinsman, kinswoman), from rod (clan). Until recently, at least, god-parenthood (kum, kuma), often by a relative, constituted a lifelong tie of central importance.

Bilateral kindred was delimited in Russian kinship terminology by the exogamic units set by churchly canon: four "links" for consanguineal kin, two for affinal; only the archaic term dyadina (father's brother's wife, mother's brother's wife) extended further. The terminology is isolating, except that: no distinction is made among consanguineal kin between male and female lines of descent; cousin terms derive from sibling terms; gender suffixes distinguish the sexes among the consanguineal kin of ascending generations and among affinal kin (except daughter's husband and son's wife); and the terms for daughter's husband and sister's husband are merged.

Although premarital sex and single parenthood were always common among Russian peasants and workers, marriage continues to be a major socio-religious act. Traditionally, it was mainly an economic contract between the heads of two households, reinforced by the payment of the wedding costs by the groom's household and the provision of a substantial dowry by the mother of the bride. Both patrilocal and matrilocal marriages were practiced, although the former was preferred and more frequent. In matrilocal marriages, parents without sons adopted a son-in-law under a contract that stipulated that he support them for the remainder of their lives and give them a decent burial. Although marriages today are individual commitments, they are often associated with obligations to older female relatives. In Kemerovo, for example, families can gain prized housing rights by means of a co-resident grandmother, real or adopted, who is thus protected and in turn helps with child care and household tasks. (This "structural babushka" may be a grandparent's sister or other older female relative.)

The nuclear family, often supplemented by a grandmother or aunt, was particularly important in the south, but in the central regions patrilocally or fraternally extended families were common; in the north the large extended family was typical, often numbering more than twenty persons in the household. Within these households, whatever their size, parental, especially paternal, authority prevailed. On the collective farms and, to a lesser extent, in the cities, various joint household budgets persist.

Inheritance rules in the pre-revolution period varied by social classes. The private estates of the gentry and aristocracy were equally divided among surviving sons. This led to the fragmentation of family estates across generations. By contrast, land owned or used by ordinary farmers was not automatically passed down to sons. It was instead collectively held and regularly redistributed by the village community on a fairly equal basis to all resident married men. However, the sons of a deceased man inherited his personal objects, such as his tools, clothes and related domestic items. Other heritable property is the family’s home/apartment and dacha.

Under the soviet system the state provided mothers with generous maternity benefits, including paid leave of absence. Mothers are encouraged to swaddle, wrap and tightly bundle infants at all times, except during bathing and diapering. Mothers also are also customarily advised to speak to coddled young babies. The presumption is that babies understand socially accepted behavior and should be scolded for crying, grabbing, or hair pulling. Socializing practices at government nurseries and schools emphasized that children should follow instructions and rules. Inculcating creativity and initiative was less valued.

In contrast to the abundance of pre-Revolutionary data, recent materials on Russian social structure are fragmentary. Yet much has changed since 1985. It may be surmised that traditional kin groups, informal networks, and elements of customary law have persisted to a considerable extent in areas least disturbed by migration (e.g., Ryazan and Tambov provinces). The pervasive social controls of the Communist party, designed to suppress alternative sources and processes of power, seem to have had major limitations and were often mitigated by kindred and friends engaging in a "handshake all around" (krugovaya poruka)—that is, exchanging and sharing food and other commodities in informal networks.

Post-communist reforms led to the rise of a new class of political elite drawn mostly from former dissident Communist party members and critically vocal professionals. Early during Russia’s transition to a market-driven economy, some of these elites enriched themselves by controlling the terms by which state-owned enterprises were privatized and transferred.

Adopted by referendum in 1993, Russia’s constitution provides for a democratic federation with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The parliament is divided into two houses. One is the lower house or Duma, consisting of 450 elected members. The other is the upper house, comprising local governors and legislators from all constituent administrative regions of the Federation.

Prior to the 1917 communist revolution, Russia was ruled by a long-line of hereditary monarchs, supported by a class of aristocrats. Some of the aristocrats doubled as senior military officers, while others accumulated wealth as merchants and/or owners of large estates. Led by a class of communists known as Bolsheviks, the Soviet Union was a nominal coalition (union) of multiple national soviet republics. In theory, each union was ruled by elected councilors drawn from the working masses. Over the years, however, these officials evolved into a distinct political class that wielded enormous power over the distribution of goods, services, and public housing.

Russia’s national political culture tends to favor bureaucratic centralization and a strong security apparatus. Under the Soviet system, political dissent within any branch of government or party structure was severely punished. Russians have experienced increased freedom of speech and related basic rights in the post-communist period. The loosening of state control has contributed to rampant corruption and crime. In the absence of political willingness to address these problems, and a lack of transparency in decision making, a majority of people tend to be cynical about government, including the police and other law enforcement officials.

After the end of the Cold War, Russia fought two wars against insurgency groups that fought for the independence of the Chechen republic. Russia justified its action on two grounds. The first was the apprehension that allowing Chechnya to succeed would open space for the spread of political Islam into its territory. The other was the need to proactively discourage Russia’s other autonomous regions from pursuing independence. With the eastward expansion of NATO into former Soviet republics, Russia experienced renewed fear of imminent war and political instability.

The Christianization of Russia in AD 988 was a formal royal act that signified the continuing closeness of church and state. Even during Mongol domination the church was exempt from taxation and enjoyed vast possessions. Through ritual, saintly example, and legal innovations, the church promoted such values as the cardinal importance of love, the respect due to parents, the obligation to give alms, and the abhorrence of suicide. Much of customary law, including aspects of women's rights, came from the church. The veneration of icons (e.g. in the "red corner" in peasant homes) was adopted in various figurative ways by the Communist party for its own sacred imagery. Prayers and blessings by family elders on important occasions, religious processions, and fasting as a major expression of religious devotion became deeply embedded in peasant and worker culture. Christening and burial in consecrated ground have retained much of their significance, even though priests as ritualists were never very close to peasant or worker life. Such non-Christian practices as soothsaying on New Year's have persisted. Over half of all Russians, particularly in Europe, appear to be active religious believers, their Orthodox Christian dogma and ritual having changed very little.

The revitalization of Christian Orthodoxy has gone hand in hand with the rapid growth of various Eastern religions, mysticisms, parapsychology, and a belief in "paranormal phenomena" (some of the latter being regarded as "scientific").

Headed by the Moscow patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church comprises 128 dioceses that are served by bishops and metropolitans. Monasteries and parish churches are serviced by trained priests. Religious functionaries of Russia’s demographically minor religions include Muslim muftis and mullahs and Buddhist lamas.

Weddings and other rituals still have a traditional character. Easter ritual trappings, such as painted eggs and kulich cake, persist in a quasi-secular setting. Russians also celebrate several public holidays. May 9 is recognized as "The Day of Victory," commemorating the Soviet capture of Berlin and the end of World War II. June 12 is called "The Day of Russia," marking independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Other important secular celebrations include International Women's Day on March 8, and May Day or Labor Day on May 1.

Russians also have a rich body of folktales, epic poems, riddles, jokes, and verbal games, transmitted across the years through village elders and itinerant storytellers. To this list, one can also add Russia’s sacred ritual verses, ribald ditties, and the classic novels and master poems written by celebrated authors.

Russian culture encompasses an array of performing arts, ranging from professional symphonic music, opera, ballet, and theater to highly impressive folk forms such as gypsy ballads, popular choruses, local rock music, raves, and other participatory musical events. Under the Soviet system, the state subsidized tickets for classical music and dance performances believed to enrich the culture of the working class. State agents also brought ballets and orchestras to perform in remote regions in an attempt to "bring culture to the masses." Over the years, these official efforts inculcated a high level of appreciation for, and amateur performance of, music.

Under the socialist system the state provided free medical care to all citizens. For the most part, however, the demand was reportedly greater than the capacity of hospitals and clinics. Lack of adequate and timely health care was especially severe in remote and underserved areas. By contrast, party officials and senior managers of enterprises enjoyed privileged access to special clinics that offered world-class services.

Privatized medical services and insurance programs developed after the dissolution of the USSR. However, these services remain unaffordable for unemployed and low income citizens. This gap has led to a rise in the spread of communicable diseases like tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and AIDS.

Alongside modern medicine, a majority of Russians also rely on herbal medicine and other traditional remedies. This includes city dwellers who grow a variety of medicinal herbs at their dachas. Other widely-used alternative treatments include the application of leeches, spiritual healing, mineral baths, and light therapy. In order to provide these remedies, the practitioners need to hold government-issued licenses.

Deceased persons are buried in ways that exhibit a continuity of elements of pre-Christian beliefs, including mystical practices to prevent the spirit of the deceased from staying or returning. One example is how all mirrors in the room where the body is displayed have to be covered with black cloth. The soul is believed to stay on earth for forty days, after which it departs for heaven; family and close relatives of the deceased gather on this date to bid farewell. Surviving family members are also expected to memorialize the dead with annual feasts and by visiting the grave.

This culture summary is based on the article "Russians" by Dimitri Shimkin, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 6, Russia and Eurasia/China, Paul Friedrich and Norma Diamond, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. 1994. Leon G. Doyon restructured the sections in October 2018 and updated population figures in January 2021. In May 2019 Teferi Abate Adem added the sections Trade, Division of Labor, Inheritance, Socialization, Political Organization, Social Control, Conflict, Religious Practitioners, Arts, Medicine, and Death and Afterlife.

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