Baldwin, Rowenna Jane (2011) Rethinking patriotic education in the Russian Federation : invitations to belong to 'imagined communities' : (a case study of St Petersburg). PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The thesis discusses how patriotic education is openly promoted by the government in contemporary Russia through a series of programmes, entitled the ‘State Programme for the Patriotic Education of the Citizens of the Russian Federation’, promoted since 2001. However, this thesis presents the argument that patriotic education cannot fully be understood through examination of these formally organised initiatives. Instead, the thesis contributes towards a rethinking of patriotic education as a communicative process whereby multiple ideas of the nation are delivered to young people, both in formal and informal settings. The thesis argues that this promotion of patriotic education is connected to long-standing debates on nations and nationalism in Russia, but also places these within the more general discourse on nations and nationalism, in particular Anderson’s (2006) definition of the nation as an ‘imagined community’. The thesis is positioned within, and contributes to, more recent arguments surrounding the need to examine everyday ideas of the nation, but maintains a sense of the role played by elites in producing ideas of the nation by intercepting state-produced ideas represented within the education system. Importantly, the three-stage research design maps not only the delivery of these state ideas, but also accesses how these ideas are received and articulated by young people themselves, thus contributing to an understanding of cultural production. This is achieved through triangulation of three qualitative methods: analysis of textbooks, classroom observation, and semi-structured interviews with teachers and students, conducted in St Petersburg. The data generated demonstrates that young people articulate both a sense of local and national belonging, cultivated just as much through their surroundings (historic buildings etc.) as through formal education. The thesis contributes to studies of (Russian) youth by demonstrating that young people negotiate with formal and informal ideas of belonging as they formulate their own understandings and expressions of belonging.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Citizenship -- Study and teaching -- Russia (Federation), Education and state -- Russia (Federation), Patriotism -- Russia (Federation)
Date:	June 2011
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Pilkington, Hilary, 1964- ; Carter, Bob, 1948-
Sponsors:	Arts & Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) (AHRC) ; University of Warwick
Extent:	x, 382 leaves : ill.
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/47099

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item