Description
FEMCORUS questions the nature and potential of feminist cultural politics using the underexplored case of Russia, where a particular media environment is combined with a pronounced ‘conservative turn’. As the state media’s status is waning, the role of online media becomes more prominent. Following global and regional campaigns such as #MeToo and #Iamnotafraidtotell the feminist agenda is mainstreamed in Russian culture and public sphere. By investigating the mediated processes of (re)appropriation and (re)translation of global feminist ideas in the Russian context, this project provides a novel perspective on the challenges and potential of feminist politics. The project fulfils this task by analysing ‘mediated feminisms’ on the level of media representations (both state and alternative media), perception by popular public, and online communities. The project claims that mediatisation of feminisms in Russia feeds off the western ‘celebrity feminism’, embodied by national celebrity personas, who appropriate certain aspects of feminism, sporadically and eclectically using feminist slogans and ideas, and targeting audiences through convergent media. The project asks: What does feminism as mediated practice and discourse mean in Russia and how do Russian audiences make sense of and relate to mediated feminisms? The media data encompass both traditional (TV) and new media (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, VKontakte); a set of focus groups are to be held in three geographically and ethno-culturally different sites (St-Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, and Kazan’). The analysis combines qualitative methods from sociology, media and cultural studies. The project will result in de-westernising knowledge on contemporary feminism and its regional variations. It will develop a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of 1) the interrelationship of the global feminist movement, networked media, and local intersectional communities and 2) the potential of mediated feminism for sustainable societal development in semi-authoritarian contexts. The research results will be used to inform future journalistic and cultural practices, ethical choices and code of conduct when producing media content on gender, equality and sexuality. The project will build practices of knowledge sharing between media and cultural industries, journalists and bloggers, activists and the popular audience. It will open new avenues for collaboration and impact between academics and third-sector communities.| Aikajakso | 1 syysk. 2021 → 8 jouluk. 2025 |
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| Pidetty | Academy of Finland, Suomi |
| Tunnustuksen arvo | International |