TY  - JOUR
A1  - Erley, Mieka
T1  - 'Obmen veshchestv' : the Russian and Soviet concept of metabolism and beyond
T2  - Forum Interdisziplinäre Begriffsgeschichte
N2  - Metabolism has long served as a broad organizing concept in Russian and Soviet culture for the exchange of material and energy between organisms and their environment. The Russian term 'obmen veshchestv', literally meaning "exchange of substances", semantically ranges beyond the Latinate 'metabolizm' (metabolism) and provides a framework for reflecting on bodies and material objects as open systems engaged in a constant process of transformation. 'Obmen veshchestv' appears in public discourse in mid-19th century Russia as a calque from the German term 'Stoffwechsel' (or 'Wechsel der Materie'). Its usage in Russia reflects the enduring influence of German science. In this entry, I will explore the development and expansion of this concept of material and energy exchange between organisms and their environment in Russia and the Soviet Union. In the course of a century, metabolism migrated from discussions of plant nutrition into physiology, thermodynamics, and ultimately into the Soviet practice of state economic planning. This entry will therefore pay particular attention to the early Soviet period when existing debates on metabolism took on new urgency as tools for praxis on every scale, from the body of the individual worker to humanity's future collective management of planetary material and energy flows.
KW  - Stoffwechsel
KW  - Begriff
KW  - Russland
KW  - Sowjetunion
Y1  - 2023
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/74812
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-748121
UR  - https://www.zfl-berlin.org/files/zfl/downloads/publikationen/forum_begriffsgeschichte/ZfL_FIB_12_2023_1_Erley.pdf
SN  - 2195-0598
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
SP  - 29
EP  - 35
PB  - Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin (ZfL)
CY  - Berlin
ER  -