General information
This research project is aimed at academic understanding of the Soviet legacy in the manifestations that affect people's models of self-perception, identities, their social and political agency, their everyday practices, as well as their explicit assessment of the Soviet past.
“Traces” of the Soviet are inevitably present in modern Armenia for many reasons, including not only demographic continuity, but also social-historical inertia, according to the principle of pathdependency. Based on contemporary theories addressing Soviet legacy, imperial and colonial manifestations, and the vicissitudes of the transition processes, the project addresses its main research question: how the Soviet social and cultural legacy is manifested, perceived and understood in the public space of today’s Armenia at the level of intellectual discourse and particular social practices. The memory on the Soviet past and its current interpretations and assessment will be studied through public discourses, written, oral and visual texts, memorial and museum practices, and the transformations of academic discourses.
The project will be implemented using methodology of anthropological research. Its outcomes will be made available in the form of academic texts, academic and public presentations.
