Appropriating History - by Matthias Schwartz & Nina Weller (Paperback)

About the Book

Popular media plays an important role in collective imaginations of history. The volume investigates this phenomenon by examining examples from Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian popular cultures.

Book Synopsis

Popular media play an important role in reconstructing collective imaginations of history. Dramatic events and ruptures of the 20th century provide the material for playful as well as neo-imperialist and nationalist appropriations of the past. The contributors to the volume investigate this phenomenon using case studies from Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian popular cultures. They show how in mainstream films, TV series, novels, comics and computer games, the reference to Soviet history offers role models, action patterns and even helps to justify current political and military developments. The volume thus presents new insights into the multi-layered and explosive dynamics of popular culture in Eastern Europe.

About the Author

Matthias Schwartz is head of the project »Adjustment and Radicalisation. Dynamics in Popular Culture(s) in Pre-War Eastern Europe« and co-head of the program area World Literature at the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL), Berlin, Germany. His research interests include the cultural history of Russian and Soviet space flight, adventure literature, science-fiction and science popularisation, Eastern European youth cultures, memory cultures, and contemporary literatures in a globalised world.
Nina Weller is a postdoctoral researcher in the project »Adjustment and Radicalisation« at the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research. 2018-2022 she was the head of the BMBF project »Designing the Past« at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Her research focuses on contemporary literature, popular culture, memory studies and representations of history in Eastern European cultures (Belarusia, Russian, Ukrainian).