Russia

Below you will find terminated research projects that concern Russia.

Duration: July 2006 - September 2013

Project leader: Dominika Borg Jansson | Project page

The dissertation focuses on how the international definition of trafficking in the Palermo Protocol has affected national provisions on human trafficking.

Duration: January 2010 - Sep 2015

Project leader: Susanna Rabow-Edling | Project page

The project aims to understand the experiences of these women as governors’ wives in the light of prescriptive notions of true womanhood and of the role of women in the civilizing mission. What was it like to be a young woman in the most remote part of the Russian empire and how can these experiences be related to the cult of domesticity and the new ideal of womanhood that took form in the nineteenth century? What was expected of them as representatives of the Russian empire and how did they themselves perceive this role?

Duration: October 2013 - ongoing

Project leader: Susanna Rabow-Edling | Project page

This project concerns the relationship between liberalism, nationalism and imperialism in Russian political thought. It strives to show that both nationalism and imperialism were part of the Russian liberal project and were seen as connected to the development of a modern Russia.

Duration: October 2011 - September 2014

Project leader: Igor Torbakov | Project page

The project’s objective was to explore how the nationalist “New Wave” critiques the Russian nationalist tradition – not least the relationship between Russian nationalism and the Russian state – and to analyze nationalists’ views on how Russian nationalism should be reinvigorated so that it can become a truly influential popular movement.

Duration: January 2014-December 2016

Project leader: Igor Torbakov | Project page

Duration: Oct 2013 - Sep 2016

Project leader: Igor Torbakov | Project page (coming soon)

Duration: 2011 - 2016

Project leader: Ingvar Svanberg | Project page

Book project: The book aims to present the forgotten Muslim communities in the Baltic Rim (Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Russia, Belarus). Various Tatar groups have settled in the region since 18^th century, and Tatar minorities have developed as ethno-religious minorities in cities like Helsinki, Tallinn, and Riga already by the end of the 19^th century. In Poland and Lithuania small groups of Tatars established themselves as minorities already two centuries ago. The chapters have been presented at workshops in Vilnius (2011) and during a Tatar network meeting within the framework of the EASR conference at Sodertorn University (Aug 23-26 2012) by those attending the conference. The book will be published in the autumn of 2014.

Duration: 2011-2014

Project leader: Ingvar Svanberg | Project page

Project leader: Greg Simons | Project page (coming soon)

Duration: November 2011 - 2013

Project leader: Greg Simons | Project page (coming soon)

Duration: 6-8 October, 2016 

Project leader: Greg Simons | Project page (coming soon)

Since the collapse of Communism and the emergence of the Russian Federation, in terms of official rhetoric and documents, the country prides itself on being a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state. Yet, there are counter-veiling tendencies in Russian society that openly do not embrace or are suspicious of ‘Other’ cultures and identities. This can be seen with the rise of nationalism and the current insurgencies in the Northern Caucasus, which can influence public opinion and perception of Islam. The issues of ethnic and religious identities are increasingly under pressure from political actors, and this causes a lack of the needed frank and open discussions on the matter. The conference will explore how Islam is understood, viewed and projected in the public and media sphere in contemporary Russia. A multidisciplinary perspective shall be used to try and illuminate the different aspects to the debate, both historical and contemporary – therefore the disciplines shall include, but not be restricted to history, political science, sociology, religion and mass communication. It shall include how Islam projects itself to other communities and how other communities perceive and react to Islam.

Duration: 2010-2013

Project leader: Julie Hansen | Project page

This project examines the ways in which memories of the Communist period are depicted in novels from post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe. The material for this study consists of novels from the Czech Republic, former East Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Russia, published since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The analysis draws upon previous research within the interdisciplinary field of Memory Studies, applying in particular Paul Ricoeur’s theory concerning the relations between history, narrative and memory. Ricoeur argues that historical accounts are similar to narratives in that they are formed by language and require interpretation. Through an analysis of literary depictions of historical events during the Communist period as well as of daily life in a totalitarian society, the various modes of memory—ranging from nostalgic to critical—portrayed in the selected novels are identified. This study also elucidates how the texts, through both their form and content, problematize the workings of memory and its relation to history and forgetting.

Duration: 2010 - 2013

Project leader: Julie Hansen | Project page

This project examines the ways in which memories of the Communist period are depicted in novels from post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe. The material for this study consists of novels from the Czech Republic, former East Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Russia, published since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The analysis draws upon previous research within the interdisciplinary field of Memory Studies, applying in particular Paul Ricoeur’s theory concerning the relations between history, narrative and memory. Ricoeur argues that historical accounts are similar to narratives in that they are formed by language and require interpretation. Through an analysis of literary depictions of historical events during the Communist period as well as of daily life in a totalitarian society, the various modes of memory—ranging from nostalgic to critical—portrayed in the selected novels are identified. This study also elucidates how the texts, through both their form and content, problematize the workings of memory and its relation to history and forgetting.

Duration: 01.01.2014-01.08.2014

Project leader: Julie Hansen | Project page

This conference explored the theory, practice and history of translation in various Russian contexts. By bringing together leading scholars within the fields of Slavic Studies and Translation Studies, the conference transcended traditional disciplinary boundaries and aimed to illuminate the many aspects of Russian translation from a variety of scholarly perspectives.  

Duration: 01.03.2012-31.08.2012

Project leader: Julie Hansen | Project page

Nelson Mandela has claimed that “no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” In Russia, prisons have had a far-reaching impact on society and culture, from tsarist times to the Soviet Gulag. The threat and experience of imprisonment continue to be significant factors in the post-Soviet Russian Federation.

On 15-17 August 2012, the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University hosted an interdisciplinary workshop which examined questions related to prison experience in Russia.

The workshop aimed to elucidate the many ways in which prisons in Russia have influenced and interacted with cultural, political and social spheres, from tsarist Russia through the present day. The project brought together internationally prominent scholars who have conducted research on various aspects of the culture, history and sociology of prisons in Russia.

Duration: August 2011 - July 2013

Project leader: Kåre Johan Mjør | Project page

The project explores the historiography of Russian philosophy, focusing in particular on two different periods: The debates over a national philosophy in late imperial Russia and the maintenance and dissemination of a philosophical canon in post-Soviet Russia, in both cases with particular emphasis on how philosophy has been used in processes of identity formation.

Duration: September 2014 – December 2015

Project leader: Leonid Polishchuk | Project page

According to the famous dictum by De Soto, land ownership improves economic performance, especially since it facilitates access to finance. We argue that the payoff to land ownership is contingent on the quality of surrounding institutions, such as the rule of law and protection of property rights. When surrounding institutions are of inferior quality, land ownership could make matters worse and turn out to be a net liability. We test this hypothesis on Russian industrial firms using survey data, and show that indeed under poor investment climate the costs of land ownership could exceed its benefits.

Duration: March 2012 - Sep 2013

Project leader: Leonid Polishchuk | Project page

The project develops a theory and uses empirical evidence to explain the mechanism of political mobilization and collective action that was at work during the 2011-2012 political protests in Russia. It is argued that the surge of protests was driven by a peer effect enhanced by social media. While this mechanism was sufficient to power up protests over a short period of time, it failed to sustain massive political participation in longer term. The project gives evidence of the “strength of weak ties” effect in political participation by making use of social media communication data.

Duration: September 2011 - June 2016

Project leader: Marina Henrikson | Project page

This thesis examines the discursive construction and re-construction of Russian state and national identity and the subsequent articulation of foreign policy through the 2008 war in Georgia, and how the role of lexicon and terminology within international relations assists in creating, maintaining and reformulating the identity of states and nations and their respective practices.

Duration: November 2011 - November 2015

Project leader: Fabian Heffermehl | Project page

For the Russian-Armenian mathematician and theologian Pavel Florensky the so called reversed perspective of the icon did not only function as an method of visual expression, but also as symbol for a world view, which in the end should define a difference between orient and occident. But because of Florensky’s ambiguity in his definitions of the phenomena reverse perspective it was not so much his ideas of art, as his mathematical and metaphysical thinking of the universe as a whole, which inspired other thinkers around him to elaborate new theories about the icon. The aim of the project is to study the theories about the reverse perspective in the context of a complex development of modern time and space conceptions. This development will be related to transformations in the Russian identity discourses after the revolution.

Duration: Sep 2011- Nov 2013

Project leader: Ann-Mari Sätre | Project page

The aim of the project is to create a network between university teachers and doctoral students / students for comparative research and developments regarding the issue of poverty and survival strategies in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Duration: 1 Dec, 2015 - 31 Dec, 2016

Project leader: Ann Mari Sätre | Project page

The aim of the project is to strengthen regional capability on local authority level through joint activities (workshops, seminars) in selected districts in Russia and Latvia. The ambition is to demonstrate how a supportive and creative attitude towards small business development will be of social and economic benefit to the public and thereby a step towards local democracy.

Project leader: Elena Namli | Project page

The project examines Russian Orthodox Church’s involvement in Russian politics and aims to suggest a critical analysis from a theological perspective.

Duration: September 2010 - May 2011

Project leader: Irina Karlsohn | Project page (coming soon)

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Duration: January 2013 - December 2015

Project leader: Irina Karlsohn | Project page

The aim of the project is to investigate the conception of history and time in the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The  question that is being asked is the following: what is Solzhenitsyn’s view of history as such – its driving forces and its leading actors. The question of Solzhenitsyn’s conception of modernity is also being raised. The project examines Solzhenitsyn’s conception of history as a complex conception which points in different directions and will hopefully cast light on the more general theme of Russian identity formation and Russian appropriation of the past.   

Duration: 1 Dec, 2015 - 31 Dec, 2016

Project leader: Ann Mari Sätre | Project page

The aim of the project is to strengthen regional capability on local authority level through joint activities (workshops, seminars) in selected districts in Russia and Latvia. The ambition is to demonstrate how a supportive and creative attitude towards small business development will be of social and economic benefit to the public and thereby a step towards local democracy.