The research project, due to run from September 2021 to August 2025, provides a novel perspective on the challenges and potential of feminist cultural politics in (semi-)authoritarian states.
Focusing on Russia, this approach combines the Socialist legacy of egalitarianism with contemporary infiltrations of neo-liberal celebrity culture and globally mediated feminisms producing unique feminist positions in popular imagination.
The project investigates ‘feminism’ as mediated practice and discourse in Russia and observes how Russian audiences make sense of and relate to these mediated feminisms.
The multiple sets of data (media material comprising both traditional and new media, and focus group interviews in three research sites) are analysed with the help of methods stemming from media, cultural studies, and sociology.
The project will generate an inclusive typology of mediated feminist positionality ranging from prominent female figures to online grassroots influencers that will be informative to academic research, policy-makers and societal actors.
Funding for the FEMCORUS project totals 479,081 € over the four years. Apart from Principal Investigator Ratilainen, other TaRC members involved in the project are Adjunct Professor Iiris Ruoho, who is a partner, and Professor Emerita Arja Rosenholm, who features in the project’s senior advisory board.
Dr Ratilainen’s research team consists of Senior Researcher Galina Miazhevich, Postdoctoral Researcher Inna Perheentupa, and PhD Candidate Daniil Zhaivoronok.
TaRC congratulates Saara on the funding and wishes her team the best of luck with the timely project!