Dissertations supervised

Heghine Barseghyan: Language Policy in the Caucasus from the Late 1910s to the End of the 1930s: The Cases of Armenia and Dagestan

This research investigates language policy in the Caucasus region, focusing on Armenians and Dagestanis from the late 1910s to the end of the 1930s. Employing a bottom-up methodology, the study seeks to delve into the grassroots reactions and practical implementations of these policies on the ground. Utilizing archival materials, newspapers, and historical documents in Armenian, Arabic, and Russian, the research aims to provide a holistic understanding of the impact of language policies beyond formal decrees and legislation, considering the socio-cultural dynamics that influenced their enactment and enforcement. Furthermore, drawing on comparative analysis, the research seeks to discern patterns of convergence or divergence in language policies and their outcomes between Armenia and Dagestan. By comparing the experiences of Armenians, with their well-established literary tradition, and Dagestan, characterized by its linguistic diversity, the study seeks to highlight the divergent trajectories of language policy implementation. The findings will contribute to broader discussions on nationalism, state-building, and the role of language in identity formation during the late Imperial and early Soviet era.

Laura Innocenti: War and Migration: Russian Activists’ Memory Debates in their New Host Countries

Following Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many Russian memory activists left the country, providing a unique opportunity for scholars to explore the interaction between Russian memory activism traditions and the memory debates in their new host countries. Because the Kremlin framed the invasion as a war over territory as much as memory and historical legacy, the conflict itself is deeply rooted in – and discursively legitimated through – competing historical narratives and the struggle over collective memory between the two nations. I will adopt a multi-method approach that includes conducting in-depth interviews with exiled memory activists and analysing their social media activities. My research has two main objectives. First, I aim to investigate how these activists use memory practices and narratives to challenge state discourse and promote social change, particularly in the context of war and exile. Second, I will examine how activists' engagement with memory debates varies based on their host countries. For example, Russian activists in post-Soviet nations often reclaim historical narratives that highlight independence and resistance to oppression, aligning with these countries' emphasis on sovereignty and defence against Russian aggression. In contrast, Russian activists in Western countries focus on promoting historical accuracy and encouraging dialogue about the impact of memory politics, as discussions tend to revolve around issues like authoritarianism, nationalism and historical revisionism.

Niginakhon Uralova: Contested Soviet Social Memories and Central Asian Youth

This project studies post-Soviet memory transmission among young people in Central Asia. It explores how young people in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan perceive the Soviet past and how this perception influences their understanding of present social realities. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 granted independence to Central Asian states. Elderly people in the region have sometimes responded to the various post-independence crises with nostalgia about their past life under Moscow’s rule. Existing studies show that this nostalgia is partly linked to a widespread lack of socio-economic stability, a stability that many project into their Soviet-era youth. The governments of Central Asia, on the other hand, cultivate a narrative of repressive pre-independence years in their efforts of nation-building. This study seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature by exploring the dual influence of these narratives on the self-understanding, identification, and groupness of Central Asian youth, using a mixed-method approach that includes semi-structured interviews and participant observation in educational settings. It will contribute to a deeper understanding of how historical memory is reconstructed and instrumentalized in post-Soviet societies, and how it shapes the identities of the new generation.

Second supervisor

Anastasiia Serikova (Bielefeld University): Historical Museums under Putin and Stalin: Propaganda of Wars. First supervisor: Kornelia Kończal

This dissertation project examines Soviet and Russian history museums as instruments of state ideology and propaganda in non-democratic regimes. The state turns to museums and heritage to reinforce ideological meanings when it particularly needs to justify its legitimacy. In this study, I examine two periods of Soviet and Russian history: 1920–1945 and 2000–2025. This diachronic symmetric comparison enables me to trace the evolution and transformation of Soviet/Russian heritage discourse at various stages, including the formation of systems and their ideological institutions, periods of crisis necessitating the search for new meanings, and wars, particularly the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 and the full-scale war in Ukraine since 2022. This multi-methods study is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining museum and heritage studies, history, and digital humanities. It uses qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze historical and open data on state propaganda in the exhibitions of Russian history museums, with a focus on exploring the continuity of Soviet museum propaganda in modern Russian museums.

Kira Valter (Universität Basel): Staatliche Erinnerung an den Großen Vaterländischen Krieg und die Oktoberrevolution am sowjetischen Staatsfeiertag (1945-1987). Verschränkte Narrative und Außenkommunikation im Kalten Krieg. First supervisor: Frithjof Benjamin Schenk

Das Dissertationsprojekt widmet sich der Geschichte sowjetischer Staatsfeiertage in der Nachkriegszeit. Am Beispiel der Feiertage der Großen Sozialistischen Oktoberrevolution (7. November) und des Sieges im „Großen Vaterländischen Krieg“ (9. Mai) soll gezeigt werden, wie die sowjetische politische Führung die Erinnerung an diese beiden für das sowjetische Projekt wichtigen Ereignisse konstruierte und versuchte, den Staatsfeiertag zur Lösung eigener, überwiegend außenpolitischer Probleme zu nutzen. Ziel des Projektes ist es, anhand der Analyse der beiden Erinnerungsprojekte zu zeigen, wie sich der Charakter des Staatsfeiertages nach dem Krieg veränderte. Der Fokus wird dabei auf die Analyse der Feierlichkeiten, insbesondere der Militärparaden auf dem Roten Platz, zwischen Mitte der 1940er Jahre und Ende der 1980er gelegt. Das Projekt befindet sich an der Schnittstelle von politischer Geschichte und Geschichtspolitik und konzentriert sich auf die Erforschung der Bemühungen des Staates, Feiertage und staatliche Gedenkprojekte zu gestalten und zu nutzen.

Memberships

Arbeitskreis Historische Soziologie in der Sektion Kultursoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)

Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN)

British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES)

Center for Independent Social Research (CISR) Berlin

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde (DGO)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS)

European Sociological Association (ESA)

Georg Forster Forum

History and Translation Network

International Sociological Association (ISA)

Memory Studies Association (MSA)

Netzwerk Nachhaltige Wissenschaft

PoSoCoMeS (working group on post-socialist and comparative memory studies in the Memory Studies Association)

RC47 ISA - Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements of the International Sociological Association

RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, and Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asian Studies in Global Conversation

Sociological Association of Ukraine

Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (VHD)

Verband der OsteuropahistorikerInnen (VOH)

Zentrum für Schul-, Bildungs- und Hochschulforschung (ZSBH) an der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz