Project

Self-expression of silenced youth: Generation P's word-based art throughout Russia's totalitarian state transformation

Code
01D14823
Duration
01 October 2023 → 30 September 2027
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Humanities
    • Russian language
    • Literatures in Russian
  • Social sciences
    • Cultural sociology
Keywords
Russian cultural politics Generational research Modern Russian word-based art
 
Project description

During the 2010s Russia has transformed into an increasingly exclusive and totalitarian state. Generation P, Russians born after the end of the Soviet Union who have become politically aware under Vladimir Putin's reign, now find themselves in a Russia that strongly differs from the country they grew up in. Instead their country starts to resemble the Soviet Union, the state generation P's parents grew up in. A significant part of generation P is not the ideal image of patriotic citizens who adhere to the propagated 'traditional values'. They have their own ideas about themselves, Russia and the world. While young Russians loyal to the state's ideology are encouraged to voice their opinion as to amplify the state's agenda, those who do not agree with Russia's current course are being silenced. Post-WWII Soviet youth subcultures found themselves in a similar situation. They were known to use word-based art as forms of self-expression within their totalitarian state. Do those young silenced Russians of today also resort to word-based art to voice their views, opinions and ideas? Does their use of word-based art as self-expression resemble that of post-WWII Soviet youth, who also lived within a totalitarian regime? What does this say about Russia's current totalitarianism? To answer these questions, this research examines three types of Generation P's word-based art (prose, poetry and music) and compares this with what is known on post-WWII Soviet youth.