DFG Collaborative Research Centre 640
Socialist Campaigns in Central Asia: A comparative agent-centered research on representation of "purity".
Subproject C1 of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 640)
Representations of Social Order and Change. Intercultural and Intertemporal Comparisons
(www.repraesentationen.de)
(www.sfb-repraesentationen.de)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Baldauf.
Research associates: Dr. Olaf Günther; Dr. Mona Schrempf; Dr. Ines Stolpe
Our comparative research project is focused upon socialist campaigns in the central Asian regions of Turkestan, Mongolia and Tibet that were conducted between 1921 and 2000. One of the interesting parallels between the three research areas is the connection between the notion of creating the "new socialist person" and claims for the "purity" of his/her body, morality and ideology. Accordingly, we are engaged in research into a number of different campaigns that convey the notion of "purity" in the widest sense, including those on hygiene, language purification, culture, and patriotic education.
Another parallel between Turkestan, Mongolia and Tibet is that certain campaign themes have been re-implemented again and again, engendering campaign waves over a longer period of time. By examining these in more detail and in a comparative way, we aim to grasp and examine both social change and social reality in its manifold representational forms.
Next to official statements and propaganda materials, we concentrate especially upon the experiences, actions, and reactions of all agents - including adressees - involved in campaigns in order to elucidate processes of negotiation in the performance of campaigns.
Field of research 1 : Turkestan | Field of research 2 : Mongolia | Field of research 3 : Tibet
Research associates:
Dr. Olaf Günther
Dr. Mona Schrempf
Ines Stolpe, MA
This project was completed in June 2008.
last update : 05 December 2011