"Knowledge is Power": Soviet Knowledge Dissemination Society and the Making of a Well-Rounded Person in the Postwar USSR, 1943-1991.”
PhD project
My dissertation explores the popularization of science and humanistic knowledge in the postwar USSR. It focuses on the Soviet Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge (Znanie), a mass-education institution that propagated new knowledge to Soviet citizens through public lectures and popular science brochures. My project examines how Soviet ideologists and Znanie activists conceived of popularly available science as means to mold all Soviet citizens into modern, educated subjects – seen as a key prerequisite for a future communist society. What often motivated Znanie activists was a belief in the liberating and progressive nature of science and its ability to transform people and societies. In terms of sheer effort, geographical scope, and allocated resources, Znanie was one of the largest organizations for the popularization of knowledge in the world, and its activities impacted millions of Soviet people. Tracing the impact of these activities, my work situates popular education as central to Soviet subjectivity and its lived experience after the Second World War.
During her stay at the ZZF Iuliia Cherniavskaia researches in Dep. I: Communism and Society.