Log in
Professor Kelly`s studies of national identity in Russia seek to challenge stereotypes about enduring traditions of political oppression and social decay as the culture`s main characteristics. Focusing on everyday life rather than high politics, they work towards an understanding of change within Russian culture, and of the part played by factors such as generation and locality in producing often very diverse forms of self-expression and self-understanding. A central topic is the role of social memory, whether as a force of solidarity or as an engine of argument. Kelly`s work draws directly on collaborations with Russian scholars and informants and has been widely noted in media and online discussions within the country, as well as informing media discussion of Russia and social policy work in the UK and elsewhere in the West.
There is enormous public interest in the Russian Revolution and Soviet Communism. Robert Service's biographies of the three early Soviet leaders - Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky - together with his general histories of twentieth-century Russia have reached an international mass public and, in particular, have had a deep influence on the teaching of the subject in secondary schools and universities through the central place they occupy on A-level and degree-level history syllabi. In addition, Service is regularly invited to lecture to parliamentary select committees, the FCO, the Defence Academy and national business organisations.
Donald Rayfield's biography of Chekhov, Anton Chekhov: A life has transformed Russia's understanding of its cultural icon, as attested by the fact that the Russian government has bought 200 copies of it to disseminate among higher education institutions. The biography has achieved this: 1. by challenging myths about the great humanity of the playwright and stimulating public debate around this — both in Russia and further afield — in light of the facts it unearthed about Chekhov's tumultuous private life, which had been excised from Soviet editions of his works and correspondence; and 2. by inspiring filmmakers, theatre directors and actors to create new works that disseminate new interpretations of Chekhov's personality and of the relationship between his writings and his life.
Previously unexplored aspects of the life and works of Russia's first Nobel Prize winner for literature, Ivan Bunin (1870-1953), were used in supporting new translations of the author's books, Dark Avenues and The Village. Glasgow researcher Andrei Rogatchevski supplied the key supplements to what were the first new translations of Bunin's work in three decades. These volumes, published by Alma Classics, have sold a combined total of 3,433 copies in the UK and overseas, exceeding the publisher's sales target and garnering positive critical acclaim.
University of Glasgow research has contributed to the founding and development of two unique research networks, the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) and Translating Russian and East European Cultures (TREEC), creating new, innovative forums for dialogue and influence on refugee, asylum and migration policy across Scotland and beyond. By cultivating relationships with policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholders, Glasgow researchers have enhanced service delivery for marginalised groups such as LGBT asylum seekers, and informed policy debates at local, regional and national level. GRAMNet and TREEC have also fed directly into a series of public engagement events and activities around the translation, performance and memorialisation of different cultures in Scotland.
Francis Spufford's book Red Plenty has been acclaimed as an ironic reflection on contemporary problems, despite being apparently devoted to the deadest of issues: central planning in the former USSR. The book has helped stimulate debate about alternative economic strategies, with the title becoming shorthand for non-market forms of organisation, and has contributed to rising interest in Soviet history. But besides achieving these topical resonances, it has been saluted for its innovative fusion of fiction and non-fiction, and its contribution to an ongoing erosion of literary boundaries. It has been released in eight languages and in the USA, with in excess of 25,000 copies sold to date; it has been shortlisted for several major book prizes. Spufford has engaged in extensive public discussion of the work, both at live events and in the broadcast media, and this has sparked voluminous on-line commentary from the wider public.
Mass Observation has encouraged public participation in the creation of knowledge since 1937 and pioneered the dissemination of social research to a mass audience. Active collaboration between Sussex historians and the Mass Observation Archive continues to shape popular understandings of modern British social history, specifically through work with the media. This partnership has also created an Open Educational Resource through which the public can gain a hands-on understanding of the very recent past. Working with the Mass Observations Project, Sussex academics encourage `ordinary' people to write directly about their lives within a structured environment, creating historical sources for the future.
Dr Matt Cook's research on domestic queer cultures has enabled lesbian and gay organisations and individuals, as well as wider networks, to engage with oral histories and archival material and to explore the complexities within conventional ideas about histories of identity and community. His research has been influential in lifelong learning and in schools where it has supported the exploration of LGBT histories. He is increasingly called upon by the media, nationally and internationally, to discuss his research insights to various contexts.